By Ronald Gordon Recently, the Critics Circle had the chance to run our nonprofit Playing with Purpose course over at M.S. 131 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In the computer lab of the school, we gathered two groups of students and taught them how to create a game narrative. This Playing with Purpose workshop was…
By Khloe Wilkerson Most people imagine the future of AI as either a technological utopia or a dystopian nightmare. Developed by Marumittu Games, D-Topia is a single-player puzzle adventure game set in an Al-managed society where every system is designed for human happiness, comfort, and ease. While everything appears perfect on the surface, the game…
By Khloe Wilkerson There’s a moment early in People of Note where the screen fades into a fully choreographed musical performance, lights explode across the stage, and it clicks: this isn’t a game that simply uses music as background noise. Developed by Iridium Studios, People of Note is built around the idea that music can…
By Aeth Finch Some games are serious, like story games that deeply try to connect to the viewer and usually look realistic. For me, Red Dead Redemption 2 comes to mind. Others are more on the silly side, like co-op experiences with more cartoony graphics like the Mario Party series. Some games have both a…
By Ronald Gordon A road trip can lead to a lot of things: closer connections, greater memories, or long meaningful conversations. Though there’s a lot more that can incite a road trip than the search for good vibes, sometimes a road trip can happen from the desire to find something, either within yourself or outside.…
By Jade Entien Some people seem to have the dating thing down to a T, finding their forever partner through school, work, friends, or perhaps the iconic romance trope of “meeting cute” on the street. Or maybe they’re only in it for the saucy hookups – who knows? But some people aren’t ready to commit…
By Ronald Gordon Hello and Welcome back to the Roundup! It’s the Critics Circle’s way of looking back on the news that’s been happening within the Gaming Community in these past weeks. This time around we’ve got news revolving around a live Pokemon Tournament that happened, a dangerous exploit showing itself in Roblox, the New…
By Ronald Gordon Hello once again and Welcome Back to the Roundup! It’s the Critics Circle’s chance to gather up seme selected stories from our various members and give them each a shoutout for their hard work. This week we’ve got articles that the Circle Members have published on their respective sites, as well as…
By Jacob Robbins Like it or not, we’re living in the era of the bombastic blockbuster AAA game. Mainstream games today pride themselves on overstimulation and are often chocked full of gore and guns. At after playing 30 hours, there’s a palpable sense of exhaustion, a desire to be done. But then the cycle runs…
By Ronald Gordon Sometimes life can seem like an endless journey, a long road that we continue to travel in order to find something, anything that proves the journey was worth it, like Deadpool assembling a team of friends to cherish in David Leitch’s Deadpool 2. So far, no other game I’ve encountered has captured…