Niv M. Sultan
@nivmsultan.bsky.social
critic of videogames and other such things at Slant Magazine. he/him. nivmsultan.com
Pinned
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...
getting older has only increased my appreciation of the JRPG ethos of “older than 30? go ahead and hop into this coffin”
Ha! I'm older than Auron!
...ha... I'm older... than... Auron...
...ha... I'm older... than... Auron...
horrible fact: Auron is 35 in FFX
November 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
getting older has only increased my appreciation of the JRPG ethos of “older than 30? go ahead and hop into this coffin”
also extremely funny to reply to a dumb post about books from 1870-1930 with the Iliad
*maximum alpha at 1.25x speed* continuously lives on in my head, unfortunately.
November 11, 2025 at 1:48 PM
also extremely funny to reply to a dumb post about books from 1870-1930 with the Iliad
“albeit without evidence” is wild work
November 10, 2025 at 3:17 PM
“albeit without evidence” is wild work
HARMA - Official Demo Trailer
YouTube video by Simple Spec Games
youtu.be
November 9, 2025 at 1:00 AM
stumbled upon the Dragon's Dogma 2 dap
November 8, 2025 at 2:19 PM
stumbled upon the Dragon's Dogma 2 dap
if you tell me to play the prequel first, I’m done with you
November 6, 2025 at 4:48 PM
if you tell me to play the prequel first, I’m done with you
speaking of cool mustache guys, Cyan remains a top-five FF guy
I just think this ad is neat. The bird's eye shot is sick.
Also I aspire to be the cool mustache guy
This is all I want from FF
Also I aspire to be the cool mustache guy
This is all I want from FF
November 6, 2025 at 1:39 PM
speaking of cool mustache guys, Cyan remains a top-five FF guy
reading a printing of The Dispossessed that refers to an eight-year-old as an eighty-year-old. spent about 30 pages flipping back to it, thinking, “sci-fi!” all-timer confusing typo
November 3, 2025 at 2:47 PM
reading a printing of The Dispossessed that refers to an eight-year-old as an eighty-year-old. spent about 30 pages flipping back to it, thinking, “sci-fi!” all-timer confusing typo
was not aware that Control is a Soulslike (has you descend into a hole by dropping onto a series of ledges and beams)
October 31, 2025 at 11:14 AM
was not aware that Control is a Soulslike (has you descend into a hole by dropping onto a series of ledges and beams)
colons you can FEEL:
October 30, 2025 at 2:37 PM
colons you can FEEL:
have not yet watched the new season of The Witcher, but I maintain that they should have had Hemsworth grow a beard for it. a clear, self-aware acknowledgment that something is different and that that's okay. (maybe it's not okay -- haven't watched.) it doesn't hurt that he wears beards very nicely!
It is kind of funny, to me, how little the recasting matters. Hemsworth is a little too pretty and wry, but also the character is a blunt object. Subtlety helps but isn’t necessary
October 30, 2025 at 2:34 PM
have not yet watched the new season of The Witcher, but I maintain that they should have had Hemsworth grow a beard for it. a clear, self-aware acknowledgment that something is different and that that's okay. (maybe it's not okay -- haven't watched.) it doesn't hurt that he wears beards very nicely!
it's kind of amazing: with each post, they dig deeper the gulf between how cool they think they are and how embarrassing and pathetic they actually are. the goal is so clear and the failure even clearer
October 28, 2025 at 1:45 PM
it's kind of amazing: with each post, they dig deeper the gulf between how cool they think they are and how embarrassing and pathetic they actually are. the goal is so clear and the failure even clearer
I'm about 45 minutes into Control and it absolutely rips
October 27, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I'm about 45 minutes into Control and it absolutely rips
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
thegamingbrit's video on silent hill 2 remake got him a lot of shit but he was 100% right when he said that constantly remaking classic games by destroying them completely to make them "look modern" is the creative impulse that leads to replacing everything with ai slop. same thing different degrees
October 24, 2025 at 8:20 PM
thegamingbrit's video on silent hill 2 remake got him a lot of shit but he was 100% right when he said that constantly remaking classic games by destroying them completely to make them "look modern" is the creative impulse that leads to replacing everything with ai slop. same thing different degrees
a constant presence in my ever-shifting top three
Just finished it. What a film. No movie should be longer than 84 minutes. If your movie is 2.5 hours + and you're not Peter Jackson go back to the editing bay and try again
Watching the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the first time and it's giving me a newfound appreciation for Resident Evil 7
Hand mutilation and all
Hand mutilation and all
October 24, 2025 at 1:40 AM
a constant presence in my ever-shifting top three
BALL x PIT hasn't quite gotten its hooks into me, whereas Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch...the jank's got some juice
October 23, 2025 at 10:17 PM
BALL x PIT hasn't quite gotten its hooks into me, whereas Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch...the jank's got some juice
working on a theory that Yakuza is both the perfect precursor and the perfect chaser to any game. it is in conversation with everything. it both enriches and is enriched by everything
October 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
working on a theory that Yakuza is both the perfect precursor and the perfect chaser to any game. it is in conversation with everything. it both enriches and is enriched by everything
Reposted by Niv M. Sultan
Time to go to work in the shit factory!
October 22, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Time to go to work in the shit factory!
not the main point, but he always looks so cool
Legendary Final Fantasy Composer Nobuo Uematsu says he’s never used generative AI, and never will.
"I think it still feels more rewarding to go through the hardships of creating something myself."
automaton-media.com/en/news/fina...
"I think it still feels more rewarding to go through the hardships of creating something myself."
automaton-media.com/en/news/fina...
October 17, 2025 at 9:30 PM
not the main point, but he always looks so cool
at long last, rolled credits on Tactics Ogre: Reborn. after alternating periods of burning out on it and getting pulled back in, I was totally rapt for its last few hours. brilliant, firmamental stuff
October 17, 2025 at 2:44 PM
at long last, rolled credits on Tactics Ogre: Reborn. after alternating periods of burning out on it and getting pulled back in, I was totally rapt for its last few hours. brilliant, firmamental stuff
I maintain that one of the more important elements of FFT and games like it is the auto-generated names that characters get. immediate idiosyncrasy, personhood, and attachment
Final Fantasy Tactics is a very serious political drama about the long-term ramifications of economic and social inequality.
It’s also a game where two squids named Salami and FedEx Kinko’s kick your ass.
It’s also a game where two squids named Salami and FedEx Kinko’s kick your ass.
October 15, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I maintain that one of the more important elements of FFT and games like it is the auto-generated names that characters get. immediate idiosyncrasy, personhood, and attachment
people think that art is complicated, but it's not. just have Dotemu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games make a side-scrolling Yakuza spinoff
October 14, 2025 at 5:29 PM
people think that art is complicated, but it's not. just have Dotemu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games make a side-scrolling Yakuza spinoff
digging into this -- it's wonderful -- and got to this caption under a collage of Ico imagery. perfect!
October 14, 2025 at 3:43 PM
digging into this -- it's wonderful -- and got to this caption under a collage of Ico imagery. perfect!
seconding this, big time. it does so much so well, but is worth it for the music alone. Coker doesn’t miss
So many good games I need to be playing and yet they have all fallen by the wayside because ABSOLUM IS THE FUCKING COOLEST THING
The legions of the Crimson Order are on the move💥
Absolum is OUT NOW on PC, PlayStation 4|5, and Nintendo Switch!
Absolum is OUT NOW on PC, PlayStation 4|5, and Nintendo Switch!
October 11, 2025 at 9:26 PM
seconding this, big time. it does so much so well, but is worth it for the music alone. Coker doesn’t miss