Jordan Cassidy
@thecrossoverappeal.bsky.social
On YouTube as The Crossover Appeal.
At thecrossoverappeal.com for pop culture recs.
Games writing, criticism. Formerly games studies.
Open for writing and editing opportunities.
Bylines: Exploits, Uppercut, Barely Textual, InMediaRes.
🏳️🌈🇲🇽
At thecrossoverappeal.com for pop culture recs.
Games writing, criticism. Formerly games studies.
Open for writing and editing opportunities.
Bylines: Exploits, Uppercut, Barely Textual, InMediaRes.
🏳️🌈🇲🇽
Pinned
Hey, I’m Jordan.
I’m a recovering academic (English, game studies, queer theory) who occasionally writes and makes videos about games, music, movies, and pop culture.
Stick around if you like takes on:
- indie games
- board games
- rpgs
- criticism
- new music
- org design
- writing
Welcome!
I’m a recovering academic (English, game studies, queer theory) who occasionally writes and makes videos about games, music, movies, and pop culture.
Stick around if you like takes on:
- indie games
- board games
- rpgs
- criticism
- new music
- org design
- writing
Welcome!
I think I've firmly landed on BALL x PIT being cool and fun but ultimately not worth sticking with. There's something very wrong with the momentum of that game for me - every time I leave a run and do the farm progression stuff it feels like the video game equivalent of a bone-shattering pothole.
November 20, 2025 at 3:25 AM
I think I've firmly landed on BALL x PIT being cool and fun but ultimately not worth sticking with. There's something very wrong with the momentum of that game for me - every time I leave a run and do the farm progression stuff it feels like the video game equivalent of a bone-shattering pothole.
I know i mostly talk about video games on here, but as we get toward the end of the year here, music takes up most of my headspace.
I’m starting to out together my top 20 records and I’m so excited to share.
I’m starting to out together my top 20 records and I’m so excited to share.
November 20, 2025 at 2:50 AM
I know i mostly talk about video games on here, but as we get toward the end of the year here, music takes up most of my headspace.
I’m starting to out together my top 20 records and I’m so excited to share.
I’m starting to out together my top 20 records and I’m so excited to share.
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
For anyone interested, the golden joystick awards are on tomorrow at 4pm GMT - will be streamed to Youtube ✨
November 19, 2025 at 8:28 PM
For anyone interested, the golden joystick awards are on tomorrow at 4pm GMT - will be streamed to Youtube ✨
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
Looking to speak with academics/experts specializing in video games studies specifically ideas around conquest, environmentalism, and land for a piece. Please repost this or give recs.
November 19, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Looking to speak with academics/experts specializing in video games studies specifically ideas around conquest, environmentalism, and land for a piece. Please repost this or give recs.
Should say that it’s Sciel in first, second, third and fourth, then everyone else after that.
November 20, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Should say that it’s Sciel in first, second, third and fourth, then everyone else after that.
Four fav characters from the year so far.
November 19, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Four fav characters from the year so far.
Calling metroidvanias “search action games” is like calling ribbed tank tops “wife pleasers.” We can all agree the old term sucks, but this is just not a good replacement.
November 19, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Calling metroidvanias “search action games” is like calling ribbed tank tops “wife pleasers.” We can all agree the old term sucks, but this is just not a good replacement.
bruh.
November 19, 2025 at 8:03 PM
bruh.
Man the Outer Worlds 2 quest about breaking the strike on Praetor is rough. It's what happens when player agency"= really just means player efficacy and when your politics are based on vintage South Park "equal-opportunity satire."
November 19, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Man the Outer Worlds 2 quest about breaking the strike on Praetor is rough. It's what happens when player agency"= really just means player efficacy and when your politics are based on vintage South Park "equal-opportunity satire."
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
Wrote some quick early reactions to the Game Awards nominations with some early predictions as well 👀
#gameawards #gamesky #substack
#gameawards #gamesky #substack
Reaction to Game Awards 2025 Nominees
Giving my impressions on the 2025 nominees
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Wrote some quick early reactions to the Game Awards nominations with some early predictions as well 👀
#gameawards #gamesky #substack
#gameawards #gamesky #substack
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
Morsels is possibly the weirdest (positive) game I have played all year. If you know me, that's high praise.
My review:
My review:
Morsels Review – A Scrumptious Meal - Pixelbytegaming
Did you ever identify yourself as a kid with Oscar The Grouch from Sesame Street? You know, that green monster that was fascinated with garbage and lived in a literal trash can? Perhaps this is an und...
pixelbytegaming.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Morsels is possibly the weirdest (positive) game I have played all year. If you know me, that's high praise.
My review:
My review:
Re-sharing this piece I wrote earlier in the year because I feel like it slaps, and if the Internet is going to be down, you might as well read something while you wait.
www.thecrossoverappeal.com/down-bad-for...
www.thecrossoverappeal.com/down-bad-for...
Down Bad for Speed Racer
Speed Racer follows this template - periods of intense, visceral action, all of it as bright as the sun and subtle as a gun, followed by slower narrative vignettes that serve only to affirm that Speed...
www.thecrossoverappeal.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Re-sharing this piece I wrote earlier in the year because I feel like it slaps, and if the Internet is going to be down, you might as well read something while you wait.
www.thecrossoverappeal.com/down-bad-for...
www.thecrossoverappeal.com/down-bad-for...
Cheekface still holding strong for the funniest lyrics of the year.
"Now David was a murderer who had a problem with the tall.
And as somebody who's tall, you find the whole thing quite offensive."
"Now David was a murderer who had a problem with the tall.
And as somebody who's tall, you find the whole thing quite offensive."
November 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Cheekface still holding strong for the funniest lyrics of the year.
"Now David was a murderer who had a problem with the tall.
And as somebody who's tall, you find the whole thing quite offensive."
"Now David was a murderer who had a problem with the tall.
And as somebody who's tall, you find the whole thing quite offensive."
My wife and I started dating 18 years ago this week. I was 19 when I asked her out. We were college students and a friend from home had sent her a hand bound journal for her birthday which finally gave me the courage (panic) to shoot my shot.
November 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
My wife and I started dating 18 years ago this week. I was 19 when I asked her out. We were college students and a friend from home had sent her a hand bound journal for her birthday which finally gave me the courage (panic) to shoot my shot.
Just saw a Release the Epstein Files ad on Monday Night Football which feels absolutely bonkers.
November 18, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Just saw a Release the Epstein Files ad on Monday Night Football which feels absolutely bonkers.
Feel like coming up as a games critic / scholar in the 2010s you couldn't escape the "are games really art" conversation at all. And what's frustrating about it now, looking back, is how transparently that whole conversation was about wanting the cultural capital of art with none of its criticism.
November 18, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Feel like coming up as a games critic / scholar in the 2010s you couldn't escape the "are games really art" conversation at all. And what's frustrating about it now, looking back, is how transparently that whole conversation was about wanting the cultural capital of art with none of its criticism.
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
Don't get caught in the rain. This month's Exploits includes writing on a missing player two, The Casket Lottery, My Good Side, Misery, Andor and Somerville.
Buy: buff.ly/hH7iYQ7
Subscribe: buff.ly/ffBGA2W
Read @vandennis.bsky.social's essay on Andor: buff.ly/MBxx1Z8
Buy: buff.ly/hH7iYQ7
Subscribe: buff.ly/ffBGA2W
Read @vandennis.bsky.social's essay on Andor: buff.ly/MBxx1Z8
November 3, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Don't get caught in the rain. This month's Exploits includes writing on a missing player two, The Casket Lottery, My Good Side, Misery, Andor and Somerville.
Buy: buff.ly/hH7iYQ7
Subscribe: buff.ly/ffBGA2W
Read @vandennis.bsky.social's essay on Andor: buff.ly/MBxx1Z8
Buy: buff.ly/hH7iYQ7
Subscribe: buff.ly/ffBGA2W
Read @vandennis.bsky.social's essay on Andor: buff.ly/MBxx1Z8
Oh so the Raiders are like bad bad.
November 18, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Oh so the Raiders are like bad bad.
This whole thread is great, but this in particular jumps out, because while publishers do make these demands, it’s also the case that even making critically acclaimed, successful games regularly results in studio closures.
It’s essential that games crit gets out from under industry expectations.
It’s essential that games crit gets out from under industry expectations.
The problem is that publishers demand x or y metacritic score or the studio could close. Demanding an average review consensus is not a good thing for anyone. Developers should be able to make polarising stuff.
November 18, 2025 at 1:20 AM
This whole thread is great, but this in particular jumps out, because while publishers do make these demands, it’s also the case that even making critically acclaimed, successful games regularly results in studio closures.
It’s essential that games crit gets out from under industry expectations.
It’s essential that games crit gets out from under industry expectations.
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
This is so fucking cool. Long live GI.
Coming this December: Game Informer will be available in major retailers – including @barnesandnoble.com, GameStop, WH Smith, Books-A-Million and more – in the US and internationally. Learn more: gameinformer.com/letter-from-...
November 17, 2025 at 8:45 PM
This is so fucking cool. Long live GI.
Despite the way Outer Worlds 2 presents itself as an explicit political satire, thirty hours in it has almost nothing at all to say about anything.
Oddly, Avowed, Obsidian's big, conventional fantasy RPG earlier this year, has way more on its mind.
Oddly, Avowed, Obsidian's big, conventional fantasy RPG earlier this year, has way more on its mind.
November 17, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Despite the way Outer Worlds 2 presents itself as an explicit political satire, thirty hours in it has almost nothing at all to say about anything.
Oddly, Avowed, Obsidian's big, conventional fantasy RPG earlier this year, has way more on its mind.
Oddly, Avowed, Obsidian's big, conventional fantasy RPG earlier this year, has way more on its mind.
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
November 17, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I’ve seen almost nothing marvel has put out in the last five years. Figured I’d give some of what I missed a shot, starting with Black Widow, and wow that opening credits sequence with the Smells Like Teen Spirit cover is rough.
November 15, 2025 at 8:32 PM
I’ve seen almost nothing marvel has put out in the last five years. Figured I’d give some of what I missed a shot, starting with Black Widow, and wow that opening credits sequence with the Smells Like Teen Spirit cover is rough.
I’m seeing some “Uno good” discourse spin up and I’m not here to say “Uno bad” but I am here to say if there’s a deck of Dutch Blitz at the function, Uno is never coming out.
November 15, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I’m seeing some “Uno good” discourse spin up and I’m not here to say “Uno bad” but I am here to say if there’s a deck of Dutch Blitz at the function, Uno is never coming out.