Antal Bokor

I’m no pinball wizard, but I’ve always been fascinated by pinball machines. There’s something incredibly satisfying about all of the electro-mechanical sounds along with the tactile feeling of hitting a rolling metal ball with mechanical flippers. Unfortunately, that’s not something virtual pinball can reproduce, but Pinball FX comes the closest to any other pinball video game I’ve played. Pinball FX is a game that allows you to play many different pinball tables. It’s technically free to play, but if you want to play more than the starter table, you’ll have to pay. Pinball FX isn’t a substitute for the real…

There’s a burgeoning market for games that fall outside of the traditional genres, like the emergence of the so-called “cozy game” obsession during COVID. Now, Tchia doesn’t exactly fit the term cozy game, but it reaches cozy game status enough times to be considered one. But Tchia’s beautiful scenery hides a pretty compelling, and sometimes dark, adventure. Tchia is a third person open world adventure game. In it, you play as the eponymous Tchia as she attempts to free her father from the baby-eating evil half-worm half-human antagonist Meavora. And no, I didn’t throw “baby eating” in there as an exaggeration,…

I’m still old enough that I remember when full motion video (or FMV) was a novel addition to games. FMV mostly gave way to the use of computer generated cutscenes, despite the early promise (and ubiquitousness) of live action cutscenes. There has been a bit of a resurgence of FMV with studios like Wales Interactive earnestly releasing content featuring live actors. But while Wales Interactive does make “traditional” video games, there is still a huge gap between what can be considered by most as a “traditional” game and one that is really just a choose-your-own-adventure style game. Mia and…

GLaDOS is perhaps the most famous rogue AI in video games, but long before I played Portal I was facing off against an antagonist an AI that absolutely terrifies me in a way that GLaDOS doesn’t: Shodan. While there is some humor in GLaDOS’s horror, Shodan is a terrifying megalomaniaca AIl that revels in genetic experiments and creating cyborg monstrosities while demanding her subjects worship her as a god. System Shock is a first person adventure game that has been painstakingly recreated by brilliant retro resurrectors Night Dive Studios. In it, you play as a who is hacker forced to…

I’ve been playing a lot of retro games lately and there’s something especially haunted about old PlayStation games that high definition graphics can’t recreate. That’s why I’m always thrilled to see horror games in PS1 style, and The Tartarus Key does an incredible job of recreating the visual aesthetics from the fifth console generation–but it’s not a very scary game. The Tartarus Key is a first person puzzle game. While it pays heavy homage to Resident Evil visually and with some elements of the setting, it’s not a survival horror game at all. There are no enemies to fight in…

Mild spoilers followI’m a sucker for a sci-fi game, especially if it’s horror adjacent. Throw in a futuristic abandoned facility to explore, and you cou

As someone who is mildly afraid of heights, I wouldn’t necessarily describe climbing as a meditative experience. However, developer Don’t Nod has set out to

Screenshot: GunbrellaI don’t think an umbrella-turned-firearm would be my first choice to avenge a dead wife, but it’s a perfectly viable choice in

After playing El Paso, Nowhere I was pretty excited to see where El Paso, Elsewhere would take the story and gameplay. It’s a cool idea, and an awesome visual style […]

I have thirty minutes to write this before my deadline, but that’s okay: I have speed on my side. That’s what it feels like after playing Ghostrunner II, the follow-up […]