Vampyr
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Blood fetishists rejoice: the Vampyr E3 trailer understands you

The vast majority of videogames harbor a raging, barely concealable boner for violence. But it takes a special kind of violent videogame to step over that fine line into the realm of fetish porn: where violence is used for neither shock nor gore nor anything remotely resembling reality. Rather, the videogame snuff film aims to entice that primal, buried part of your sexuality that lusts after something without knowing whether you want to consume it, have sex with it, kill it, or some combination of all three. That’s the Vampyr E3 trailer in a nut shell: the loving caress of a CGI-ed blood stream splattering across your face with the warm tenderness of a paramour. While certainly not the most expected followup from…

Feature

The triumph of despair in Life Is Strange

This article contains spoilers for Life Is Strange. There are several moments in Life Is Strange (2015) which, even now, weeks after finishing it, come into my head on a daily basis. First is the closing sequence of Episode One. As Syd Matters’ “Obstacles” kicks in, we drift away from Max and Chloe by the lighthouse and across the town of Arcadia Bay. We see vignettes of the game’s entire cast—Warren, Victoria, Joyce, Kate, Jefferson, Wells, Nathan. Some of them are working, some are plotting, some are crying. David Madsen, Chloe’s bossy and suspicious step-father, is working on his house.…

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The Chaos Theory of adolescence

Sign up to receive each week’s Playlist e-mail here! Also check out our full, interactive Playlist section. LIFE IS STRANGE (PC, PlayStation, Xbox)  BY DONTNOD Entertainment Life is Strange has wavered throughout its past three episodes, the boldness of its rewind mechanic not always enough to outweigh the cringe-worthiness of its dialogue. Until now, this episodic narrative game seemed only to shine in spite of itself—though when it did, it was like a beam of light showing a new path for choice-based gaming. With the third episode, “Chaos Theory,” Life is Strange secures its place as an important (if imperfect) entry into the conversation between…

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Will the upcoming Life is Strange be the coming-of-age story millennials deserve?

Teen girls continue to rule gaming like never before, the latest entry coming in the form of the soon-to-be-released episodic adventure called Life is Strange. Created by Dontnod, the same team behind the promising yet ultimately conflicted Remember Me, this new game tackles coming-of-age in the millennial era. High school senior Max struggles to cope with all your usual teen girl problems: best friends who change, falling asleep in photography class, learning how to harness your time travel powers. Well, okay, some elements of Max’s coming-of-age tale may lean toward the atypical. But her power to rewind time, unlike so many other…