Review: No Longer Home Tenderly Examines Liminal Spaces

Review: No Longer Home Tenderly Examines Liminal Spaces

Sidequest was provided with a copy of No Longer Home for Mac in exchange for a fair and honest review.

No Longer Home is a game that popped into my awareness at a time of transition. I graduated from my MFA in May, I turned 30 in August, and for the next year, I’ll be writing full-time. There’s a certain amount of uncertainty in my life right now, and that sort of uncertainty, the type that appears when one’s in a liminal space, is at the center of No Longer Home.

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August Roundtable: Stars in Games and Space Games

August Roundtable: Stars in Games and Space Games

It’s August, which we refuse to think too deeply about. But you know what’s great to think too deeply about? Stars. On nice, clear summer nights, you can see all kinds of stars if you’re lucky, even if those stars are in games. So let’s talk about them! (more…)

Not Mad, Just Disappointed: Animal Crossing’s Fantasy Capitalism Fails to Imagine a Better World

Not Mad, Just Disappointed: Animal Crossing’s Fantasy Capitalism Fails to Imagine a Better World

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is my first Animal Crossing, save for a few unpleasant hours with Pocket Camp. But before I got into the series, I encountered one inescapable conversation about the game—Tom Nook is (or isn’t) a raging capitalist, a vile landlord, a benevolent man donating his Bells to charity. (more…)

Gamer Mom: Animal Crossing Is Teaching My Kid Financial Literacy

Gamer Mom: Animal Crossing Is Teaching My Kid Financial Literacy

Animal Crossing is not the game for me, which is why I paid no attention to the goings on around the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. But two weeks into social distancing with my 14-year old, and I decided that this is indeed the perfect game for this situation.

To be clear, I still have not played this game myself and my understanding of it is limited. My knowledge is relegated to memes, passing comments and tweets from friends, and what I can glean from the mind-piercing shrieks that come from my daughter’s room when something good or bad occurs. She frequently brings her Switch to me to show off some new accomplishment (she took me on a museum tour recently), laments about her wasp stings, visits friends, and designs outfits based on her favourite show, Bee and Puppycat.

Based on her interactions and the internet buzz, I understand that it is a good, sweet way to pass the time, but little did I know that it could also teach my child to be a responsible, financially literate person. (more…)

At Home with the Ghosts: Kentucky Route Zero’s Reworking of Capitalist Space

At Home with the Ghosts: Kentucky Route Zero’s Reworking of Capitalist Space

Equus Oils is a gas station like any other. There’s a superintendent, a general store, a few tanks, that strange sloped roof and a giant metallic horse. A sculpture of craftsmanship, of individuality, not given a name. When we move Conway into the basement of the station, the writhing mess of wires and pipes unveils a secret world. It is still haunted by its prior inhabitants, still echoing with their voices. The horse’s head has a body, a soul, but it is still shaped by the business it embodies. (more…)