by Alenka Figa | Nov 7, 2022 | Roundtables, Video Games
I’ve written pretty thoroughly about how I am a particular type of gamer. I prefer games that are story and relationship focused, and that don’t require a lot of level grinding or random quests. This includes my tabletop play style—apologies to my DM/wife who is sitting on a bunch of Kingmaker sidequests that our party has ignored! Because of my pickiness, I don’t play a lot of games, but lately I’ve been feeling like this framework of “pickiness” is unfair. Am I a gamer aberration? What makes me different from all of you? Why the heck do y’all enjoy repetitive level grinding?! (more…)
Alenka Figa is a queer librarian obsessed with D&D podcasts that have solid queer rep. They frequently tweet about them @alenkafiga. Catch their reviews of zines and indie comics over at Women Write About Comics.
by Elvie Mae Parian | Oct 3, 2022 | Reviews, Video Games
Holland is rattled by a recent breakup. She struggles to resist the urge to constantly check her phone to see the fallout of it. Thankfully, she finds herself preoccupied with plans to go to an important networking event for her writing job. Along the way, she catches up with old friends while also blocking in some additional time for her family reunion. But the thoughts of what people are thinking about her online still weigh heavy on her mind. As she hits the road, Holland tries to rekindle old connections and new ones—all without the use of social media. (more…)
Elvie somehow finds bliss in purposefully complicating the art of storytelling and undertaking the painful practice of animation. If you see her on Twitter at @lvmaeparian, she is doing neither of those things. She currently helps with managing the socials to ensure that the secret recipe will never be revealed.
by Alenka Figa | Aug 8, 2022 | Reviews
In Shing Yin Khor’s Remember August, players exchange letters with a former friend who’s become unmoored in time. The live game was played by mail (or email, or digital files) in February 2022, with Khor sending out letters through the USPS that players could respond to and send back to themselves with the assurance that August, the recipient, would find and read them in their journeys through time. Rather than leaving randomness up to dice rolls or other typical game mechanics, Remember August used the postal service. Letters could arrive out of order or not at all, changing the narrative and the player’s response to it. (more…)
Alenka Figa is a queer librarian obsessed with D&D podcasts that have solid queer rep. They frequently tweet about them @alenkafiga. Catch their reviews of zines and indie comics over at Women Write About Comics.
by Elvie Mae Parian | Dec 27, 2021 | Reviews, Video Games
Carrying a lighthearted phone conversation with her boyfriend, Nevin, Maya touches upon her anxieties and expectations after having just freshly moved into a new city. Unexpectedly, a mass fire breaks out. When the telephone lines jam and power goes out, the long-distance communication limitations of the year 1990 cut Maya and Devin’s conversation short. The two soon take their own separate journeys across the city and through memory lane in order to reunite.
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Elvie somehow finds bliss in purposefully complicating the art of storytelling and undertaking the painful practice of animation. If you see her on Twitter at @lvmaeparian, she is doing neither of those things. She currently helps with managing the socials to ensure that the secret recipe will never be revealed.
by Naseem Jamnia | Mar 30, 2021 | Roundtables, Video Games
In theory, March is about renewal—the weather warms up, the little flowers that grow in grasses spring up, and the month marks the Persian New Year. (What do you mean I’m the only person who cares about that??) Anyway, this kind of renewal has us thinking about rebirth (we already talked about renewal in games, after all!), and rebirth in games means remakes and remasters. (more…)
Sidequest’s former managing editor Naseem Jamnia used to do sciencey things, but they now slam their keyboard and call it art. Their debut novella, THE BRUISING OF QILWA, introduced their queernorm, Persian-inspired secondary world; their middle grade horror debut SLEEPAWAY comes out in 2025.
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