Game-Notes on thinking (of) video games

Poverty in Mina the Hollower

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It’s pretty obvious from the get-go that Mina the Hollower has stuff to say about wealth inequality. I’m only a third of the way through, so I can’t say where exactly it’s going. The town the game plays in is at a turning point. But the way the inhabitants of the main town are portrayed and the ambiguity of Mina’s perceived main antagonist makes it clear the direction the mayor wants to take it, probably isn’t a good one.

How Age of Imprisonment makes you feel like a leader

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is excellent at making you feel like a leader. The story puts a great emphasis on the fact that you play as these chiefs of the kingdom that don’t just sit there while their soldiers fight their wars for them. They love their land and their people and so they dirty their hands on the battlefield.

The most obvious way they represent you as a leader is that you can choose where the other characters should go on the map. But the thing I got obsessed with while playing this game is this games overworld map. On the most surface level it acts as a mission select screen. Besides showing the current state of the occupied or freed regions it also has shops, training camps and side quests. Although they are very minimalist I really liked these smaller points of interest.

Mother 3 - Building character through combat

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The combat of the mother series is in several aspects unique. These games are known for their surreal heartfelt narratives and absurd mashup of real world and JRPG elements. Something that doesn’t get mentioned enough though is that they are exploring interesting gameplay mechanics and use the fights to further build their characters.

Take the way your party uses their PSI powers for example. PSI, being the mother-equivalent of magic in other games. Lucas who starts out as a very passive person and gets called a crybaby by the game numerous times, is able to buff the party. The very direct and high-energy Kumatora on the other hand can use debuffs on your enemies. This further characterizes Lucas as someone who supports and protects his friends. Something that gets reinforced by the story later on. He also learns to shield the party and gets stronger healing techniques way earlier. Kumatora meanwhile gets increasingly stronger elemental attacks which are effective on different types of enemies.

Mother 3's spin on turn-based combat

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Something I find fascinating about Mother 3’s combat is how the player’s health gets displayed. For the un-initiated: Damage and healing don’t happen instantly but instead count up or down gradually. In a typical turn-based RPG it doesn’t matter how fast you decide your next action. In the mother series it does. This gives the round-based combat a faster pace since you can negate the damage of even the strongest attacks, if you beat the enemy before the damage subtracts.

Demon's Souls and iteration

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

After having experienced all of the modern FromSoftware Soulslikes, I finally got around to playing the original Demon’s Souls for the first time. Going back to the first game in this From Software lineage made me realize just how much of the Dark Souls, Bloodborne and also Elden Ring DNA was already there in this game. The team iterated on many of those ideas throughout the years in small and big ways. One example of this is the use of the Stormruler. The Stormruler is a gimmick weapon that allows the player in one specific boss fight to shoot a storm beam. A variation of this re-occurs from time to time in their games but the origin of it was in Demon’s Souls. Of course there are other traditions like the moonlight sword as well. I could talk about the clear counterparts that many Demon’s Souls levels have in Dark Souls and how their level design evolved.

Getting lost in Demon’s Souls

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Something that Demon’s Souls isn’t afraid of is letting the player get lost. All of it’s five areas are designed in drastically different styles. The classic fantasy palace of Boletaria is pretty straightforward, which makes sense. It was built by humans to be used. Traversing the catacombs of level 2-2 on the other hand is trickier. You get lost and whilst trying to find the way there’s always the possibility of falling into a hole. The game throws you in these dark tunnels without a clear sense of your destination. This made me feel like kind of an explorer. Or the Tower of Latria which is a maze-like labyrinth that deliberately doesn’t have a lot of landmarks so it’s easy to end up confused. You’re just as much fighting the enemies, as well as a mental battle of keeping up where you are and where you should go. I’m not saying this is “fun” in a direct sense all the time.

The many styles of Fate/Samurai Remnant

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The first hour of Fate Samurai Remnant really impressed me. A story setup that has great potential for interesting ideological conflict, a fun and diverse combat and a small open world akin to the Yakuza games. The most surprising part though was the presentation. No joke I counted five different styles in that first hour alone. And the insane part? All of them were looking great and added something to the overall feeling of the game. They use these different styles with intention. Especially in this AA anime space these games can end up looking kinda janky in a mostly endearing way. There’s still some of that but overall Fate Samurai Remnant is an audiovisual treat.

Pokopia feels constructed... in a good way

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t know how they pulled it off, but Pokopia has the perfect framing for it’s gameplay. The game communicates with the player transparently what they should do but this never feels inorganic which is just… incredibly designed. Since there already are half-destroyed environments the game shows you what possibilities exist. You don’t have to build everything from scratch but instead learn how to craft an environment by repairing a demolished town. New mechanics also get introduced in this way like the electricity in the second town. This is perfect for someone like me who gets lost when playing Minecraft or the like, because I get overwhelmed by all the possibilities.