That Horrible Pen

Lovey-Dovey The irony of me posting this little impressions piece about solo developer Moonless Formless’ demo for the upcoming action-horror RPG Withering Realms is that I don’t think you should read it—at least not without playing at least the demo, if not the previous game ( Withering Rooms , from 2022/2024), for yourself. Withering Rooms belongs to two exceedingly short lists of videogames, for me: favorite games I’ve played on my big, fat PlayStation 5 (see also: this console generation) and games I wish I could re-experience again for the first time. I first played Withering Rooms back in 2024, and I made the critical (connotation: positive) choice to start it in the very early morning on a summer night with headphones on. I am deeply possessive of the experience—but not the game since that would be weird—to the point that I have barely watched anyone else play it, because I didn’t want to override the… texture of my feelings about the game with anyone else’s. I think it’s ...

My personal relationship with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand is a weird one: On the one hand, I closely associate them with my childhood thanks to the 2003 animated series, which felt/feels like a staple of my Saturday morning TV-watching—and I more routinely than one might think remember an episode that I hope actually exists where the Turtles employed meditation while adrift in space to prevent themselves from using up their oxygen—but, on the other hand, I don’t think I could call myself a fan given my overall lack of contact/interest, despite the fact that I was one of the eight or so people who enjoyed the 2016 Mutants in Manhattan video game (and played the shell out of it). (And give or take the 2007 TMNT film and the video game based on it.) The 2023 Mutant Mayhem caught my attention when I saw a clip of Splinter’s solo fight from late in the movie posted on Twitter . Although somewhat visually reminiscent of the influential Spider-Verse movies (2018/2023), which I have...

         Talking about the quality of Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (2006) is an undertaking immediately complicated by the seeming ubiquity of “Thing Good, Actually” narratives these days that renders any such claims immediately suspect. “Thing Childhood, Ergo Thing SEEMS Good TO YOU” is a valid-enough reflexive rebuttal. Let’s get that out of the way immediately: Barnyard is undeniably part of the post- Shrek (2001) dam-burst of pop-culture-fried CG whimsies of varying visual and conceptual quality that contributed, long-term, to the cultural, spiritual de-valuing of both the Shrek property—a real hoisted by its own petard of a splash-back scenario—and also the output of pop-behemoth Pixar, whose work has undoubtedly been rendered less impactful over time by the presence of so many imitators, actual quality aside. When everyone and their brother-in-law is putting out a 3D fart-and-giggler per-month, the lines get blurred. For the discerning gentleperson...

No grave is animated You’re buried all alone So let her work a wonder And wake your flesh and bone Powerwolf, “Resurrection By Erection” (2009) One “promise” implicitly made by the currently available Mortal Shell 2 pre-release material is that this game will remedy the first’s enemy variety problem. Roughly man- sized or shaped enemies like the ones pictured above are almost certainly easier to implement, but the first Mortal Shell was unfortunately short on true monsters. The new trailer in particular shows off a good many enemies of different sizes and builds (and species?). The 2020 “ Souls -like” action-adventure-with-light-RPG-elements Mortal Shell was a video game I enjoyed a lot, despite its noticeable rough edges—especially “The Virtuous Cycle” DLC expansion roguelite mode. I wrote a pretty big review of the original game and then an even bigger review of its DLC . Those are my credentials, in a sense. Poking around on Twitter and Bluesky for reactions to the Mortal S...