Niv M. Sultan
@nivmsultan.bsky.social
writer. videogame critic at Slant Magazine. he/him. nivmsultan.com
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Niv M. Sultan
@nivmsultan.bsky.social
· Sep 13
reviewed Silksong, whose friction is fundamental to its humanism. (may we, twisted by this historical moment into alienated vermin, be like the bugs)
www.slantmagazine.com/games/hollow...
www.slantmagazine.com/games/hollow...
very fun list; the backlog ever grows
The startmenu Awards return for another year with the debut of the first site-wide vote for startmenu’s Game of the Year! But before that, we’ve got a selection of critics’ choice awards highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly of 2025.
The startmenu Awards 2025 | Winter Spectacular 2025 — startmenu
The startmenu Awards return for another year with the debut of the first site-wide vote for startmenu’s Game of the Year! But before that, we’ve got a selection of critics’ choice awards highlighting ...
www.startmenu.co.uk
December 31, 2025 at 6:01 PM
very fun list; the backlog ever grows
Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars erasure
Wild to think about how the best Star Wars ever made came out this year, isn't it
December 26, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars erasure
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
only sufjan understands that I want sacred harp *and* joy division *and* medieval pipe songs *and* iron and wine
December 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
only sufjan understands that I want sacred harp *and* joy division *and* medieval pipe songs *and* iron and wine
the only thing these people are capable of is channeling their inadequacy, their utter ineptitude and emptiness, into the oppression and malignment of scapegoats. absent the boogeyman, only the hollow, useless self is left
bari really has no idea what to do without an authority figure to accuse of being woke
NEW: Bari Weiss addresses her decision to hold last night's CECOT story on the CBS News morning editorial call: "Our viewers come first, not a listing schedule or anything else..."
December 22, 2025 at 4:06 PM
the only thing these people are capable of is channeling their inadequacy, their utter ineptitude and emptiness, into the oppression and malignment of scapegoats. absent the boogeyman, only the hollow, useless self is left
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
i think that if you are a member of the games media disgusted by this (and you should be) you have to really, genuinely ask yourself what the difference is between this and saying "Microsoft is on the BDS list but [game] is good in XYZ ways"
December 19, 2025 at 6:32 PM
i think that if you are a member of the games media disgusted by this (and you should be) you have to really, genuinely ask yourself what the difference is between this and saying "Microsoft is on the BDS list but [game] is good in XYZ ways"
might mess around and get back into FFXIV (I miss my character???)
December 21, 2025 at 9:54 PM
might mess around and get back into FFXIV (I miss my character???)
when you're getting the good shit from Kristen Stewart
December 19, 2025 at 4:13 PM
when you're getting the good shit from Kristen Stewart
super cool way of thinking about composition
December 19, 2025 at 3:27 PM
super cool way of thinking about composition
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
This is why you never give an inch to the bigots. All those centrists dems (Newsom, Mayo Pete) claiming there are concerns around trans kids, you're complicit in this.
This doesn't get rid of trans people, it just makes them suffer unbearably. Get your head straight: trans rights are human rights.
This doesn't get rid of trans people, it just makes them suffer unbearably. Get your head straight: trans rights are human rights.
RFK Jr announces moves to cut off gender-affirming care for children – US politics live
Donald Trump’s health secretary announces rules designed to effectively ban gender-affirming care for minors
www.theguardian.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:15 PM
This is why you never give an inch to the bigots. All those centrists dems (Newsom, Mayo Pete) claiming there are concerns around trans kids, you're complicit in this.
This doesn't get rid of trans people, it just makes them suffer unbearably. Get your head straight: trans rights are human rights.
This doesn't get rid of trans people, it just makes them suffer unbearably. Get your head straight: trans rights are human rights.
fantastic piece -- understatedly fiery, taut, each word an arrow
December 18, 2025 at 4:14 PM
fantastic piece -- understatedly fiery, taut, each word an arrow
Gaston movie misunderstands the real villain of Beauty and the Beast (Xaldin, the Whirlwind Lancer, Nobody of Dilan)
December 17, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Gaston movie misunderstands the real villain of Beauty and the Beast (Xaldin, the Whirlwind Lancer, Nobody of Dilan)
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
Always fascinated by these studios trying the “we’re just using it as an internal tool, don’t worry” as if the problem with AI is visible usage and not a holistic ethical, moral, literal rot that makes anything you do moving forward impossible to trust.
NEW: I spoke to Larian boss Swen Vincke about their ambitions for their new RPG Divinity, cutting down development time, pressures from Baldur's Gate 3, why BG3 wouldn't have happened without Tencent, how Larian uses generative AI, and much more www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’
‘I think this one is going to be way better’ than ‘Baldur’s Gate 3,’ Larian CEO Vincke says
www.bloomberg.com
December 16, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Always fascinated by these studios trying the “we’re just using it as an internal tool, don’t worry” as if the problem with AI is visible usage and not a holistic ethical, moral, literal rot that makes anything you do moving forward impossible to trust.
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
Again I say: how fucking interesting that remote work technology is bad and not worth adopting despite all research pointing to productivity gains, but genAI which offers NOTHING is so important to adopt and force on people who have no use for it despite all the horrible things genAI does
December 16, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Again I say: how fucking interesting that remote work technology is bad and not worth adopting despite all research pointing to productivity gains, but genAI which offers NOTHING is so important to adopt and force on people who have no use for it despite all the horrible things genAI does
"my game is unburdened by politics" ("politics," noun: when abject creeps feel commensurate shame for their grossness)
f u c k i n g y i k e s .
That CEOs feel comfortable making statements like this is such an indictment of our industry.
(the headline is the least of it)
insider-gaming.com/lords-of-the...
That CEOs feel comfortable making statements like this is such an indictment of our industry.
(the headline is the least of it)
insider-gaming.com/lords-of-the...
Lords of the Fallen 2 Will Have 'Attractive Female Characters' in 'Revealing Outfits', CEO Says
In a recent post on social media, the CEO at CI Games confirmed that Lords of the Fallen 2 will have 'attractive female characters'
insider-gaming.com
December 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
"my game is unburdened by politics" ("politics," noun: when abject creeps feel commensurate shame for their grossness)
The Last Guardian (2016, dir. Fumito Ueda)
December 13, 2025 at 6:33 PM
The Last Guardian (2016, dir. Fumito Ueda)
sometimes you read something that gives a name, a solid shape, to it all
(from Le Guin’s The Dispossessed)
(from Le Guin’s The Dispossessed)
December 12, 2025 at 1:04 AM
sometimes you read something that gives a name, a solid shape, to it all
(from Le Guin’s The Dispossessed)
(from Le Guin’s The Dispossessed)
particularly special because Nishiki is, like, one of the greatest living composers
i wish more games launched alongside cool making-of featurettes like this, especially ones that put a face to the music youtu.be/WKKVrNR0EXE?...
The Sound of OCTOPATH TRAVELER 0
YouTube video by Square Enix
youtu.be
December 11, 2025 at 7:42 PM
particularly special because Nishiki is, like, one of the greatest living composers
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
J.R.R. Tolkien, literal Butlerian Jihadist
![from a letter by JRR Tolkien to his son Michael:
[here is] the tragedy and despair of all machinery laid bare. Unlike art which is content to create a new secondary world in the mind, it attempts to actualize desire, and so to create power in this World; and that cannot really be done with any real satisfaction. Labour-saving machinery only creates endless and worse labour. And in addition to this fundamental disability of a creature, is added the Fall, which makes our devices not only fail of their desire but turn to new and horrible evil. So we come inevitably from Daedalus and Icarus to the Giant Bomber. It is not an advance in wisdom! This terrible truth, glimpsed long ago by Sam Butler, sticks out so plainly and is so horrifyingly exhibited in our time, with its even worse menace for the future, that it seems almost a world wide mental disease that only a tiny minority perceive it. Even if people have ever heard the legends (which is getting rarer) they have no inkling of their portent. How could a maker of motorbikes name his product Ixion cycles! Ixion, who was bound for ever in hell on a perpetually revolving wheel! Well, I have got over 2 thousand words onto this little flimsy airletter; and I will forgive the Mordor-gadgets some of their sins, if they will bring it quickly to you](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:eawrzkefxggvqbrmagkhsmcc/bafkreiehclqi7gi5ioox33zjtsvsk3aid326opn3ix6a2cadj3morubefq@jpeg)
December 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
J.R.R. Tolkien, literal Butlerian Jihadist
which one do I play next? thinking Fates, maybe?
fully Fire Emblem pilled btw, would do anything for Dedue
finally playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and it's very funny. two companions will have a conversation that goes, "you lapdog, you cur, you rabid beast," and the game goes, "these two guys love each other more now"
December 10, 2025 at 8:08 PM
which one do I play next? thinking Fates, maybe?
this 2016 games post making the rounds might be what gets me to finally play The Last Guardian
December 10, 2025 at 3:07 PM
this 2016 games post making the rounds might be what gets me to finally play The Last Guardian
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
Might be my favorite interview of the year, just for quotes like this
December 9, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Might be my favorite interview of the year, just for quotes like this
if we must have masculinity, we must do it right
December 9, 2025 at 6:48 PM
if we must have masculinity, we must do it right
bring back Simon Parkin's New Yorker best games lists
December 9, 2025 at 5:04 PM
bring back Simon Parkin's New Yorker best games lists
lovely work by Joshua. this sentiment, framed this way, feels urgent — clawing back, carving out, room for imagination in a world hostile to it
December 8, 2025 at 6:46 PM
lovely work by Joshua. this sentiment, framed this way, feels urgent — clawing back, carving out, room for imagination in a world hostile to it