John Walker's saved articles

Aryan vs. Predator? Read more

Up-and-coming games journalist Jason Schreier reports Read more

Completely arbitrary here:
Read more

“corel-strewn seascapes for Squirtle or Milotic” Read more

I am terrible at playing Returnal, and I’m loving it...And with the chance that maybe—just maybe—I might get less dreadful at it, I keep on going, imagining the glorious levels that lie beyond my current ability level. Read more

This is one of my favorite best-of lists of the year, not only for the diverse lineup, but for the recognition of loving games we don’t play (and might never play) particularly well. Returnal was one of those games for me, too. Long after I consigned myself to mediocrity and looked up YouTube videos of the lore and… Read more

So, if Wolfenstein New Order’s Wolf3d level with new order gameplay counts as a game hidden in a game, do the Wolf3d levels hidden in the original doom, which is thus hidden in doom eternal, count as a game hidden in a game hidden in a game? Read more

I feel like omitting Yakuza games here is a big thing. They have so many games in the games you can play. Virtual On, Virtua Fighter etc. And don’t forget Timesplitters 2 where you could collect cartridges of games to play.  Read more

I usually dislike sparky tirades such as these, but this is some of the most on-point shit I've ever read! Yes! Thank you! I had the exact experience playing this game AND being surprised by Returnal. Love it! Still excited to play Halo, though, but damn.  Read more

I did something kinda similar decades ago.. but I’m not entirely sure it was because of point ‘n click games or just movies. But I’m pretty sure I had seen the scene in a point ‘n click adventure game.... Sierra or Lucasarts. Read more

Everyone talks about the goat puzzle, but I feel the metronome-banana-hypnotised-monkey-turned-into-a-faucet-fixer puzzle from Monkey Island 2 is underrated. That was literally unfathomable without the patented “combine everything in the game with everything else in the game in every possible situation” approach, or… Read more

On a positive note, she lasted two months longer than all other gay Asian-American female co-lead’s in the company’s history. Read more

Inglorious Basterds works because it doesn’t pull punches or pretend it’s something it’s not, and it’s extremely self-aware. This game is the polar opposite, without any of the self-awareness. It’s crass and dumb, and it gets a lot wrong, even besides its clumsy handling of racism (and weirdly absent antisemitism).… Read more

The other big issue that it causes is a purposeful ignorance of real stories and real people that are just as captivating, if no moreso, than the fantastical stories they bandy about in an incredibly clumsy manner.

Merely plopping a black person, or a gay person, or a trans-person in a role and saying “diversity”… Read more

Here’s the thing though: I have seen far too many bad faith arguments that try to argue that “it’s really about virtue signaling,” except that apparently, any fucking notion of mentioning progressive values, LBGTQ issues, racism, etc, is merely virtue signaling.

So then I’m left to wonder if “worrying about virtue… Read more

The main thing I will remember about this article was the use of the word:
“pusillanimous”.

great word. Read more

This is my problem with the push for diversity in games. Read more

This was interesting and very thorough. Well written, and good luck with bad faith bullshit that’s sure to come your way. Read more

How does one have undeserved confidence? Read more

I see you’ve written a deeply personal recommendation for a game and the gamers are upset you said it’s theoretically better than the higher budget game. Read more