For years, I’ve been trying to think about what makes certain moments in games work. Part of the joy of criticism is that kind of self-reflection; why does x scene, film or video game work for me where another one doesn’t - and what does that reflect about what works for me about media? Sometimes …
It’s been a good year at the cinema – following the stall of 2020, when films found themselves delayed by the pandemic, this year truly feels like a revival. Being able to watch films on the big screen again is a welcome relief, but it does bring back one annoying thing – country-specific film release …
I was finally in the position earlier this year to get my hands on a PS5, finally making me a true "next-gen" gamer. Only one game exclusive to that console actually ended up making my list though – mostly I used it to play old PS4 games or surf Netflix. Instead, the Switch made a …
This post is about the 1984 film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, and I would recommend watching that before this. This post contains full spoilers for that film, as well as for the film First Reformed. The contents of this post were originally written as my university dissertation, and have been minimally edited here …
For the first time in 22 years living in London, I have been able to attend the BFI London Film Festival. Waking up at 6am everyday so that I can queue up for hours to pack into press screenings of new films is a tiring privilege, but completely worth it - even just to say …
This is the surprise twelfth post in a series of Ace Attorney reviews, and I recommend reading the others before this. This post contains spoilers for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and all other Ace Attorney games. Thanks for reading! Table of Contents: IntroductionPart One: A History Class & The Adventure of the Great DeparturePart Two: Sir Arthur Conan …
Bloodborne, the brain-child of From Software and Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, is well known and cited for its incredible labyrinthine story, detailed through NPC interactions, environmental storytelling and lots of encyclopaedic item descriptions. Following in the footsteps of Dark Souls and Demon Souls, which also told their stories in similarly obtuse ways, Bloodborne is …
This post contains full spoilers for Resident Evil Village and its predecessor Resident Evil 7. I would recommend playing both games before this. I have tried to refrain from discussing other Resident Evil games in this review and judge this specific duology on their own terms. Thanks for reading. As many people have noted before, …
This essay was not originally written for this blog, so the style might seem a little different. I'm currently busy with work so I've decided to lightly edit this and post it here. This post contains spoilers for Memories, Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, Millennium Actress and Paprika and I recommend watching them before reading. Kon …
This post contains full spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077, and I recommend playing before reading. A lot of “Triple A” games launch with controversy, but CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 launched with a litany of technical issues and even life-threatening features. Before I get to a proper look at the game, I’d like to address this …
Toatali Reviews 