Pathologic as a series of games has always focused on how players interact with the medium of video games. The third game explores this same topic through its own interesting lens. With the main character jumping back and forth across the timeline trying to find the “right” solution to every problem, it invites the player to think about the nature of canon itself and what the “true” world is behind a game’s story.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Stories of Ownership and Wealth in Games
The NFT craze a few years back gave rise to a lot of narratives about things like owning items and making money. These narratives were appealing, but hollow, as their real purpose was to sell a technology. I take those stories and break them apart to help illustrate how we can be more skeptical of these attempts to sell something that doesn’t work, in case the same (or another) technology rises to try and do the same thing.
A Brief Return: What’s New and What’s Happening
This post serves as an update on the status of this blog, a table of contents for various new essays coming out at the same time, and an announcement of some planned projects.
On Soulslikes: Redux
A revisit of one of my first essays about trying to define the term “soulslike.” However, in this essay I grapple with the possibility that this term may no longer have any real meaning that can be fixed, and that the nature of genre itself means being prepared for those kinds of outcomes.
“I’ll Bet I Can Take ‘Em…”
A sense of mystery is a powerful way to get players engaged and wanting to push forward. I use this essay to talk about how something incredibly simple – a powerful foe that players can encounter but not defeat until they come back later – provides a sense of scale that can mystify players and give them something to look forward to.
Re-Rolling the Dice
I believe in sitting down to explore your own feelings on a game, both good and bad. In this essay I do just that with Baldur’s Gate 3 to examine my own dislike of it and how the game’s mechanics meshed poorly with how I personally approach games.
On Interpretation: Redux
Revisiting one of my first essays, I look at the topic of “canon” when it comes to reading a game’s story, and how the insistence on confirmation limits our ability to interpret.
On Cheating: Redux
A revisit of some older ideas about the nature of cheating and legitimate play. This essay explores a broader definition of “cheating” and the role cheating plays within a single-player context in stories about what players should and should not be allowed to do.
On Storytelling: Rime
An analysis of the themes of Rime, and in particular how we engage with thematic analysis and narratives more broadly.
On Storytelling – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
A thematic analysis of FromSoftware’s Sekiro which covers the concept of immortality – how the pursuit of immortality is corrupting and it is important to accept our finite lives.
Abstracting Games 