Tag: gaming

Gameful Experiences, Unarchived podcastLeave a comment

Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital): Unarchived, Season 4, Episode 2

Jason

with Jeremy Andriano (Host) and Jason Boyd Broadcast date: 12 December 2025 Writer: Jeremy Andriano Producer: Jeremy Andriano Outer Wilds by Mobius Digital is an exploration-based adventure game set in a cozy, at times confusing, and often dangerous solar system that the player soon discovers only has 22 minutes left to exist. However, the player is stuck in a time loop, which results in their restarting those same 22 minutes over and over again. Will that be enough time for the player to uncover the secrets of a lost civilization and perhaps save the solar system? In many ways, the … Continue reading Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital): Unarchived, Season 4, Episode 2

Unarchived podcastLeave a comment

Silent Hill f: Unarchived, Season 4, Episode 1

Jason

with Chelsea Russell (Host), Jeremy Andriano, and Alex Hurezeanu Broadcast date: 31 October 2025 Writer: Chelsea Russell Producer: Jeremy Andriano Silent Hill f, a psychologically dense entry in the Silent Hill series that relocates the franchise’s signature anxieties from late-20th-century New England to mid-20th-century Japan, exploring Showa-era expectations around purity, obedience, marriageability, and reputation though the life of its main character, High school student Shimizu Hinako. The game literalizes those pressures as floral, fibrous horror growing through a town and a teenage girl’s life, using social horror—bullying, communal shame, adult euphemisms—to make the supernatural feel like an extension of everyday … Continue reading Silent Hill f: Unarchived, Season 4, Episode 1

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Pools: Unarchived, Season 3, Episode 6

Jason

with Chelsea Russell (host), Andrew Bailey, Jason Boyd, Patrick R. Dolan Broadcast Date: 2 June 2025 Writer: Chelsea Russell (with Jason Boyd) Producer: Patrick R. Dolan Bonus Summer Episode! Inspired by liminal space aesthetics, Pools (2024) is a first-person exploration game set in a bewildering, seemingly endless complex of swimming pools. Pools is a minimalist game—there’s no heads-up display or status bar, no dialogue, no clear objectives, no monsters, no NPCs, no dialogue, no text, no soundtrack, no death, no puzzles, no resource gathering, no inventory, no tools, no quests. You can look around, walk (or run), crouch, swim, and … Continue reading Pools: Unarchived, Season 3, Episode 6

Gameful Experiences, Playable Stories ArchiveLeave a comment

The Stanley Parable and The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe

Jason

https://www.stanleyparable.com/ Entry by Jason Boyd A. BASIC INFORMATION Note: The Stanley Parable was originally released by Davey Wreden on July 31, 2011 as a free modification for Half-Life 2. This entry describes the 2013 ‘remake’ as well as The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe, which is not an extension or DLC of the ‘remake,’ but a remaking of the remake in Unity, with additional content.  Creator(s): Studio website: http://www.galactic-cafe.com (but redirects to URL above) Creation technology: Source (remake); Unity (Ultra Deluxe) Publisher: Galactic Cafe Date of original release: October 17, 2013 (remake); April 27, 2022 (Ultra Deluxe) Platform(s): Windows; Mac OS … Continue reading The Stanley Parable and The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe

Gameful Experiences, Higher Education & Scholarship, Playable Stories ArchiveLeave a comment

Unpacking

Jason

https://www.unpackinggame.com Entry by Kevin Ghouchandra A. BASIC INFORMATION Creator: Witch Beam (https://witchbeam.com.au/) Creation Technology: Unity, Wwise (in-game audio), Aseprite (pixel art) Publisher: Humble Bundle Date (of original release): 2 November 2021 (Windows, Switch, Xbox), 10 May 2022 (Play Station 4/5), 24 August 2023 (iOS, Android) ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) Platform(s): Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Play Station 4/5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One Peripherals required: Keyboard/mouse (PC); speakers/headphones Awards/Distinctions: Version used for entry: B. GAME INFORMATION Game/eLit Genre(s): visual novel; puzzle Time to complete: Main Story, 3.5 hours (From https://howlongtobeat.com/game/69666)  Replay required/useful?: No. A single attentive playthrough will reveal the full story. … Continue reading Unpacking

Gameful Experiences, Higher Education & Scholarship, Unarchived podcastLeave a comment

Unarchived (Season 3, Episode 1)

Jason

with Jason Boyd (Host), Patrick R. Dolan, and Tanya Pobuda (special surprise cameo by Elio the Cat) Broadcast date: September 23, 2024 Writer: Jason Boyd Producer: Jeremy Andriano Myst is a first-person, point-and-click graphic exploration/adventure game with mystery and puzzle-solving elements designed by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller. It was originally released for the Macintosh in 1993, and was distributed on CD-ROM. Myst was marketed with the tagline, “The surrealistic adventure that will become your world.” It created a sensation when it was released in 1993, and went on to become the best selling PC game until surpassed by The … Continue reading Unarchived (Season 3, Episode 1)

Gameful Experiences, Playable Stories ArchiveLeave a comment

Unarchived (Season 2, Episode 7)

Jason

with Jason Boyd (Host), Jeremy Andriano, Patrick R. Dolan, Kevin Ghouchandra, and Chelsea Russell Broadcast date: July 15, 2024 Writer: Jason Boyd Producer: Patrick R. Dolan Time Index Might and Delight’s Book of Travels (2021-) deliberately challenges the expectations that players bring to the CRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game). It does not have the obvious and well-signposted quests or achievements that most open exploration-style games are structured by, and the larger stories about the world of the game have to be painstakingly assembled piecemeal. Book of Travels also has a number of features that complicate it as an object of study … Continue reading Unarchived (Season 2, Episode 7)

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Unarchived (Season 2, Episode 5)

Jason

with Patrick R. Dolan (host), Kevin Ghouchandra, and Alexander Hurezeanu Broadcast Date: February 26, 2024 Writer: Patrick R. Dolan Producer: Jeremy Andriano “In this world, it’s kill or be killed.” So says the first character the player encounters in the Underground in the role-playing game, Undertale. But the player’s options turn out to be not so starkly simple. The Unarchived crew excavates thoughts and theories on narrative, compassion, genre, game mechanics, equity, and fandom that arise from exploring the depths of developer Toby Fox’s breakout title. All audio clips in the podcast quoted from Undertale. Sources and Resources: Continue reading Unarchived (Season 2, Episode 5)

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Unarchived (Season 2, Episode 4)

Jason

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games) with Jeremy Andriano (host), Jason Boyd, Kevin Ghouchandra, and Chelsea Russell Broadcast Date: January, 23, 2024 Writer: Jeremy Andriano Producer: Patrick R. Dolan Inscryption starts off as a rather creepy deck-building strategy game played in a log cabin, but becomes something much more strange and sinister as it progresses. Ultimately, the goal of playing Inscryption is to figure out what it truly is. Who is the player character? Who exactly is your opponent and why are some of your cards talking to you? Who made the game? What is the game’s real purpose? Sources and Resources: Continue reading Unarchived (Season 2, Episode 4)