By Ronald Gordon

Hello and welcome once again to the Roundup, where we gather up the stories of members and interns alike to give them a shoutout! This time around we’ve got news of the brilliance of Fortune’s Weave, getting drawn in by the art of a Catan-like, a work in progress card game with a dark aura, a 12-year Minecraft project, BioWare losing many of its employees, and so much more!

Before we begin, we are happy to announce that the 16th Annual New York Game Awards show is officially set for January 19th, 2027! The NYGA is always a fantastic time, and this year’s show is set to be amazing, especially with our two new hosts. Show up or tune in to catch the dazzling personalities of Lara Lunardi and Arda Ocal on stage at SVA Theatre! Tickets are on sale now, so be sure to secure your seat for this year’s show! Tickets for the After Party are going fast, too!

Khloe Wilkerson was left with deep questions after playing Beast of Reincarnation, a game about monsters from the same people who made Pokémon. Set in a world that’s been decimated by something called The Blight, Khloe’s only solace was the game’s loveable dog sidekick named Koo. She speaks on the importance of this companion as she writes, “I believe Koo is easily one of the game’s strongest elements because he is much more than a sidekick following Emma around. The two are connected both through the storyline and gameplay, and the game uses their relationship to slowly explore Emma’s understanding of connection and emotion. As Emma travels farther from the world she knows, Koo becomes someone she can depend on, and watching that relationship develop gives the story some of its emotional weight. Together, they hope to confront the Beast of Reincarnation, which is connected to the source of the Blight, while fighting huge creatures known as Nushi along the way. These creatures tower over Emma, with odd and almost unsettling designs that make every encounter feel much more intimidating.”

As a Fire Emblem veteran, Isaac Espinosa lost himself within the brilliant world of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. The newest installment into the Fire Emblem franchise not only boasts a brand new location and story for players to engage with, but also a cast of characters with their own personal scars to heal from. It’s in exploring these characters that Isaac finds a beautiful story, writing, “This is where the beauty of each of the four Flame Lords begins to shine. Aside from all having their own colorful personalities and traits that makes them fun to follow, they all hold a darkness within them that both figuratively and physically manifests in their stories. Leda, for instance, holds such an intense amount of depth to her seemingly basic profile. Her quest for vengeance puts her down a path that throughout every turn of her story, shows how unhealthy and corruptive it is to her well being. Leda’s constant thinking of her father’s killer, Bertrand, is continuously compared to something similar to love, in that she can never stop thinking about the day she cleaves her blade through him. It’s salient that so many people in her close circle, whether it be her loyal guard Buccar, or her childhood rival Olympia, are always trying to push Leda to choose a better path.”

Theresa Afful is easily sold by simple games with great art, and Feed the Scorchpot is exactly that. A game made by a husband and wife delivered a lot more than just a way to kill time for folks like Theresa, it brought a beautiful new world and a challenging threat. Theresa speaks on her gameplay as she writes, “Throughout the entirety of Feed The Scorchpot, I was challenged. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy these challenges. They allowed me to strategize and discover different methods to achieve my goals. This game has definitely made me interested in the Moravian Games devs and their art style. For those who enjoy games that have light storylines and mostly rely on tactics, give this game a chance. I can’t guarantee an easy gameplay. Hopefully, the wonderful hand-drawn art and upbeat music can take your mind off being consumed by the various, evil dragons.”

Linette Marte shows her hand in an early access card game called The Killing Stone. It’s not uncommon for the Devil to partake in a game of chance, and this time around the embodiment of evil has chosen a card game to be his forte. Linette gives readers a brief on the story of the Killing Stone as she notes, “In this work in progress, eeriness and danger keep you on your toes for whatever’s next. Within these strange confines, you play as a character named Maven. You are guided to a large, creepy house which was home to a lady named Mariken, who was your friend and mentor. Your role is to engage with Mariken’s family and learn about her death through them. As you speak with the members of the family, you’re required to host rituals for their very souls. Specifically, you are going against the devil himself and his desperate minions because Mariken has made some mistakes of her own in the past while doing business with the evil one. From this, her soul was signed over in blood. The devil has kept it, which seemingly affected the people in her family through a curse.”

Tina Lam tackles Thomas Brush’s new horror game, Twisted Tower. From the mind that made Neversong (a surreal game I personally enjoyed), comes a tale as old as time: horrific shenanigans happening within a gross and gritty theme park. Despite being unsettled by clowns, Tina was able to play through Twisted Tower thanks to its alluring design. In her mind, the enemies were too goofy to be scary, opining, “I didn’t really expect this much humor from a horror game, but it was much appreciated, especially for someone like me who gets creeped out pretty easily. The humorous aspects of the game never really felt forced, and instead, made me want to pause and go back and be like, ‘Wait, what just happened?’ Yes, that was my reaction when I found a secret area and heard a Huggee Bear fart. And once I got past the clowns and mascot creatures, the enemies started to feel more goofy than scary to me. Don’t get me wrong, I was definitely creeped out at first, especially when I got stuck in a scene and kept getting killed by this Huggee Bear and its telephone monster friends, but after that? These guys were a piece of cake to face.”

“So many games, so little time. With each slew of new games it becomes increasingly easier to miss a release.” Luis Aguasvivas doesn’t want anyone to miss out on the wonderful chaos within Escape the Baby Alarm, “Imagine if you have a child and were trying to keep up with the rat race of new releases — fool’s folly. One upcoming game that I think folks should pay attention to is Julie Normann Bjørnskov’s Escape The Baby Alarm.” In an interview with developer Julie Normann Bjørnskov, Luis uncovers the true motive behind the psychedelic trip that players go through in Baby Alarm, and how exactly Bjørnskov came to the idea of such a puzzler. When asked about her influences when it came to the game’s art style, Bjørnskov said, “When I was on maternity leave the first time, I suddenly had a lot of time alone with a baby, which also gave me a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do with my career. One thing I had really wanted for a long time was to find my own personal style. I wanted to figure out: What do I look like when I draw completely freely? So I decided to give myself completely free rein and just illustrate exactly the way I wanted to. This turned into a series of posters about parenthood, and suddenly my style felt very clear. Now I almost feel like I can only draw like this, haha!”

Brady Langmann covers the extraordinary story of a former NFL coach’s Minecraft world, and the true meaning behind it. Mike Tomlin, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been building a creative Minecraft world for over a decade, only recently debuting it to the world through a video thanks to nudges from fans and even his own son. As a Pittsburgh native, Brady speaks about the city’s familiarity as he writes, “Over the course of the video, which Tomlin says is the first of several, he reveals himself as a sort of architecture nerd, obsessed with ‘lighting-conscious’ design, aquariums, and Jack and Jill bedroom concepts. Hilariously, Tomlin City actually looks like a much better Pittsburgh, with (and this is something the city desperately needs) quality housing in the downtown area. Can someone from the Burgh’s urban planning division give this man a call?”

Beyond the Circle

BioWare, the developers behind the Mass Effect & Dragon Age games, recently lost 400 of its employees – and is now being closed. This is sad news for everyone in the games world. Retired game designer Warren Spector, behind Deus Ex and some TTRPG projects like Paranoia, GURPS, and D&D’s Spelljammer, aired his grievances about the news in a LinkedIn post. He tries his best to taper his language as he writes, “Actually, maybe all of the people who participated — the folks in suits (real or virtual) should lose their damn jobs. I ask them to ponder this: What do you contribute to gaming? What price do you pay for failure? I’d love to see THEM on the unemployment line instead of the people who do real work. Why is it always the do-ers and makers who pay the price? Someone explain that to me!”

Ronald Gordon is a New York Videogame Critics Circle Member and Mentor. He was the first of our writers – or any intern anywhere – to complete an internship at Rockstar Games.

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