The Line Between “Inspired By” and “Copying” — One of the constants when it comes to the game industry is that whenever a game blows up in the indie or AAA space, there will be other developers and studios looking to it for their own titles. …

Why Approachability is About the Middle — Last year I made a post about a trap I see developers falling into when it comes to relying on assist modes and accessibility to course-correct approachability issues, and since then I’ve played three very different games. Toodee and Topdee, Ikenfell, and Young Souls. …

Where Does Elden Ring’s Combat Slip Up? — I’m about three-quarters through my play of Elden Ring and I keep feeling like I’m circling the drain in terms of my interest in the game. I already talked about in my review how I felt that the game’s focus on open-world exploration clashed with the intricate nature of the…

Wang’s Revenge — Shadow Warrior has come a long way since its original release in the 90’s, and then a reboot in the 2010’s. Violent, over-the-top, and crude, are some of the words you could describe the series. When studio Flying Wild Hog took over development, we saw games that attempted to mirror…

Prepare to Get Lost, In More Ways Than One — Tunic is one of those games that I feel is not going to be talked about enough given its quality and unique selling points. On the surface, it looks like yet another isometric action-adventure game, of course in the same style as Zelda. …

The Souls Like Goes Open World — From Software still holds the crown as the company that created, refined, and made the best soulslikes over the 2010’s. Dark Souls pushed their formula first conceived with King’s Field and then Demon’s Souls into a wider, but not open world. Since then, the company has iterated on the design…

Coining the term “Player Friendly Design” — A major reason for wanting to write “Game Design Deep Dive: F2P” was to explore the idea of video game ethics. There have been several attempts at trying to define an unwritten contract between developers and consumers, but none of them have stuck. With the acceptance of Free to Play(F2P)…

When fandom, video games, and entitlement combine — This is a bit different from the kinds of posts I like to write about, but it’s something that has been in the back of my head for years now, especially after doing talks about the industry and YouTube with teens and parents. Part of what I do with Game-Wisdom…

And succeeds because of it — If you’re one of the few people who missed the news, Elden Ring, the latest game by FromSoftware is out now. My massive review for it should be out after this piece, but spoiler alert: the game has gotten high praise all around. In an interesting turn, there are developers…