video essay

A Structural Critique of IMMORTALITY

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Ian here—

Five years ago, I posted a video analysis of Sam Barlow’s game HER STORY that I’m especially proud of. Now, I follow it up with a lengthy discussion of Barlow’s 2022 game IMMORTALITY. This video serves as the twelfth video in my Shape Up! series, and I’m also considering it the long-belated sixth entry in my detective games series.

Full script below the jump, with ample citations. (I leaned heavily on the newly-released book IMMORTALITY: Design Works for background research on this one.)

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OMORI’s Fantastical Pacing Problem

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Ian here—

Upon first playing it several years back, it struck me that OMORI, while having rather spectacular high points, it didn’t quite cohere and stick the landing as much as Rakuen, with which it shares many similarities (and which I dearly love). It took me awhile, but with this eleventh video in my Shape Up! series, I break down why. (And define an entire genre along the way, with plenty of graphs.)

Script below the jump.

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Wanderstop and Perverse Design

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Ian here—

Wanderstop had already been announced at the time I made my video on auto-critical cozy games, so it was already a given that I would play it (especially given the talent involved in making it), and more than likely that I would also make a video on it. So here it is: a sequel of sorts to Un-cozy Games. I also mention to slip in some analysis of my old favorite Walden, a game, which Wanderstop ended up reminding me of quite a lot.

More videos to come in the coming months—I’m finally pushing out a bunch I’ve been working on simultaneously for awhile! Script for this one below the jump.

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Mouthwashing, Flashbacks, and Agency

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Ian here—

I haven’t been having my students write blog posts for the past few quarters, which has left some significant gaps between posts. This has been exacerbated by the fact that I took a 6-month break from posting any video essays, which I’m returning from now, with the ninth video in my ongoing Shape Up! series. (With still more to come!)

Script below the jump.

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Recommending the ENIGMA TRILOGY

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Ian here—

In celebration of Halloween, I’ve posted a new video recommending the Enigma Trilogy, a series of games by Enigma Studio including MOTHERED (which I’ve raved about before), THE ENIGMA MACHINE, and this year’s [ECHOSTASIS]. This also serves as the eighth video in my ongoing Shape Up! series.

Script below the jump.

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SHAPE UP!: The Beat Bottleneck

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Ian here—

The seventh episode of the ongoing Shape Up! series is posted. This one is about moments in a few games—2064: Read Only Memories, Unpacking, and Signs of the Sojourner are my main case studies—that have always stuck out to me in how they deliver narrative beats through somewhat unfair gameplay mechanics. I suppose you could describe all of them as moments of “forced failure,” but there’s a range of tactics on display here of varying subtlety, and I thought it best to coin a new, more inclusive term to describe all of these moments: a beat bottleneck.

Full script below the jump.

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SHAPE UP!: Repetition and Difference

Ian Bryce JonesLeave a comment

Ian here—

The sixth episode of the ongoing Shape Up! series is posted. This one addresses a structural innovation present in Oxenfree and NieR: Automata—two old favorites of mine I’ve mentioned before in videos and/or posts—as well as Doki Doki Literature Club! and Kitty Horrorshow’s ANATOMY, which I haven’t written about before but am excited to do so now.

Full script below the jump.

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SHAPE UP!: No Exit

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Ian here—

A quick break from the regular flow of student blog posts to announce that the fifth episode of the Shape Up! series is posted. It is on Save the Date and Elsinore, both games that I have taught before but never written about myself on the blog before, despite them being favorites of mine. More videos in this series are forthcoming, although it will be awhile before I can return to the one-a-month schedule.

Full script below the jump.

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SHAPE UP!: Hostile Loop

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Ian here—

Fourth episode of the Shape Up! series is here, this time on a game I’ve taught several times in classes and long wanted to do a video about: P.T.

Due to the busyness of this academic quarter, I won’t be able to keep up with the one-video-per-month schedule I’ve set for myself since October. Hoping to get at least one more episode of the Shape Up! series out between now and summer, and then return to the one-video-per-month schedule during the summer.

The script that follows below the jump is the shooting script for the video. (It differs from the actual transcript in one key respect.)

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SHAPE UP!: Un-cozy Games

Ian Bryce JonesLeave a comment

Ian here—

This will be my last post of year year, slipping in the third episode of my Shape Up! video essay series before 2023 comes to a close.

Any longtime readers of the blog will know that I have a longstanding interest in what Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky has dubbed “the process genre,” applying her concept to games well before her book on the subject even came out. This is my first video essay to dabble in the subject, with a suite of all-new examples to chew over. (Be prepared for a surprisingly lengthy introduction about the historical reception of Jeanne Dielman for a video nominally about videogames.)

Full script below the jump. Happy (almost) new year, everyone!

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