December Roundtable: Coziness in Games

December Roundtable: Coziness in Games

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re beginning to wind down from the holiday seasons by curling up beneath warm blankets with a mug of hot chocolate, while the Southern Hemisphere is no doubt basking in the sun on a beach. Naturally, this got us thinking about coziness and the recent conversations the gaming industry has been having about how to capture it and what it can add to a game. Our own Maddi Butler wrote a piece on coziness in the Nancy Drew series, which served as a perfect jumping-off point for this discussion.

What does it mean to be cozy? Should games strive to make us feel that way? Let’s find out! (more…)

Game Review: Child of Light

January is Amnesty Month! We’re writing about things we missed in 2014.

Child of Light

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: PC, Playstation 3/4/Vita, XBox 360/One, WiiU

Just a month after the maligned and female-less co-op mode launch of Assassin’s Creed Unity, another development team at Ubisoft Montreal was celebrating some great news: the “playable poem” Child of Light had officially turned a profit since its April 2014 launch. Child of Light was marketed on its beautiful, hand-painted backgrounds, the fairy tale setting of Lemuria, and its throwback to JRPG combat. The game is rated E (for everyone), but as an adult playing the game, I found it lovely and charming, but lacking the depth I’m hungry for as a gamer. (more…)