In our latest essay, @mackerelphones.bsky.social writes on Anthology of the Killer, articulating a history made of and by violence.

kritiqal.com/articles/utopia-of-murder

For this month's Kritiqal Care I spoke to tabletop designer @raffitheowl.bsky.social about balancing narrative drama with player safety, providing structure to micro-RPGs, and why card-based systems might be better than dice?

kritiqal.com/articles/kri...

A short and sweet episode of Kritiqal Care this month featuring tiny game developer @quewon.bsky.social. We discuss haunted subways, the beautiful limitations of small game engines, and viewing the game creation process like writing a song.

kritiqal.com/articles/kri...

For this month's Kritiqal Care, I had a great chat with @pzlr.org about puzzle design, his new game RADDLE, how to write a good clue, and an elaborate birthday hunt gone terribly wrong.

kritiqal.com/articles/kri...

It took just over a year but we finally have a new article on the site (and another on the way). Fendy Tulodo writes about Ragnarok Online Indonesia's lingering cultural presence, a game that ostensibly died years ago but refuses to fully fade away.

kritiqal.com/articles/ech...

Happening tomorrow on the KRITIQAL Discord. Full lineup now available: yafflefest.neocities.org/2025/

Fuck it. It’s nowhere near a Polygon paycheck but if you have a Polygon feature that just got shitcanned I will pull $100 out of somewhere for you. Kaile at noescapevg dot com.

And hey if you want to support indie games crit uhhh this is a wonderful time to do it

patreon.com/noescapevg

It’s not much, but in light of Polygon getting shuddered a reminder that KRITIQAL is still accepting pitches. $150/1-2k words. Full details in the link, feel free to DM with questions.

kritiqal.com/pitches

I'm so excited to be hosting the 3rd annual Yaffle Fest, a digital short film festival curated site unseen by @yafffle.bsky.social. Join us in exploring 10 new short films from the comfort of your home. Lineup will be announced closer to the date.

kritiqal.com/discord

For this month's Kritiqal Care I had a nice discussion with @shimmerglitch.bsky.social about her recent interactive concept album Asterism. We discuss writing music for play, how making the game from physical objects impacted its design, and the value of a good dev log.

kritiqal.com/articles/kri...

KRITIQAL is currently accepting pitches for April and June. $150 for 1-2k words.

Current topics of particular interest include:
- niche MMO/online social spaces
- local game events
- experimental games
- lesser known DS and PSP games

Full pitch guide here: kritiqal.com/pitches

Had a wonderful chat with @terrycavanaghgames.com for this month's episode of Kritiqal Care. We discuss game jams, being drawn to new tools and platforms, and revisiting old projects for his new collection, Terry's Other Games.

kritiqal.com/articles/kri...

Sonic Saturdays continue with yet more Sonic Battle. Come check out Amy's episode with me.

twitch.tv/kritiqaltv

To kick off Kritiqal Care's 6th season, I had a fun chat with @autumnotopia.bsky.social and @zaozoruzhna.bsky.social of Mortally Moonstruck Games about their mushroom girl simulator, Mushroom Musume. We talk game jams, tabletop principles, and foraging.

kritiqal.com/articles/kri...

It's Sonic Saturday and I'm still working through Sonic Battle. Come hunt for Emeryl with me and Knuckles as we try to avoid 83091357 guard robos.

twitch.tv/kritiqaltv