The final chapter in Bioware’s creation narrative
It’s a beautiful planet — a garden-world, verdant and eden-esque, but it’s also at war with itself. The planet’s forebears, a powerful race, attempted to harness an ancient artifact, building instruments to channel its power. They planned to make a world in nine days, but in just three, they were gone — a harsh reminder that creation and destruction are kindred forces, often amounting to the same thing. A race of humans inherit this unfinished world, of hostile alien creatures and storms which constantly batter and reshape the landscape. …
Or teenagers say the darndest things
We all have them — moments in our lives when we wish we could’ve said the right thing. Where if we’d managed to put words into that elusive, perfect order, we could’ve averted disaster, or gotten what we wanted. Everything could have been different. But instead, more often than not, we are left with regrets — memories of what we couldn’t, or didn’t say, best jettisoned when we find ourselves fixating on the past. But eloquence is our salvation— we can’t perfectly determine fate with numbers, but we can arrange words to suit our needs, using the power of language…
Or how I learnt to stop worrying and love Endless Space 2
When Endless found me, I wasn’t in a very good place — having just moved back in with my parents after completing a Masters degree (which I had only taken because I couldn’t think of anything else to do) my life was drifting. I had no confidence, few friends, and no real idea what I wanted. At the same time, my first girlfriend was also in the process of coming out, which precipitated a very long and difficult break-up.
As with many of the other difficult periods in my life, I turned to my constant companion: games. I used the…
The Dwarfs of the Warhammer Fantasy world are an absurd race: a collection of stubborn, tenacious, innovation-fearing, mountain dwellers, who love nothing more than holding a grudge. But they are also a race of great artificers, engineers and architects — before the Karaz Ankor (‘the everlasting realm’) fell into decline, they were one of the two most powerful races in the Old World, building huge underground cities and mega structures. …
(May contain spoilers for What Remains of Edith Finch)
It rises into the sky — a strange, sprawling structure, more of a tower than a house. A labyrinth of rooms climbing into the air around the trunk of an ancient tree — but that is no mistake. For the image of the family tree is an eternal one, a strong trunk branching ever upwards, anchored by deep roots, because family is what grounds us. Even if you hate your family, by understanding the conditions of your growth, you are given a counterpoint by which to clarify your own identity. …
Sean Martin
Poet and Game Journalist // Bylines at PCGamer, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, GamesRadar, Kotaku UK, Strategy Gamer and Wireframe // Warhammer, anime, tea, dogs
