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!
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.
Sharing this excellent reporting from a local news source about some ICE bullshit that happened just a couple blocks from where I live.
centralcurrent.org/who-knows-wh...
centralcurrent.org/who-knows-wh...
Who knows when ICE comes to town?
When a group of men were taken from a Syracuse city street, it took nearly two weeks to know who’d grabbed them.
centralcurrent.org
November 15, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Sharing this excellent reporting from a local news source about some ICE bullshit that happened just a couple blocks from where I live.
centralcurrent.org/who-knows-wh...
centralcurrent.org/who-knows-wh...
Still think about Clair Obscur all the time. Think it's been since Transistor that a game has stuck with me like this.
November 15, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Still think about Clair Obscur all the time. Think it's been since Transistor that a game has stuck with me like this.
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and Warriors: Abyss have made 2025 the year of the Musou game. Here's @marcnormandin.bsky.social on the pleasures of hacking through too many dudes. www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...
2025 Is the Year of the Musou Game
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and Warriors: Abyss have made 2025 the year of the Musou game.
www.endlessmode.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and Warriors: Abyss have made 2025 the year of the Musou game. Here's @marcnormandin.bsky.social on the pleasures of hacking through too many dudes. www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...
Love these categories and so many of the nominees.
Seeing a lot of games I need to catch up with too.
Seeing a lot of games I need to catch up with too.
Introducing the nominees for The Indie Game Awards 2025, airing on December 18th at 3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET on @ign.com, @gamespot.com, and @sixoneindie.com's YouTube and Twitch channels.
Visit indiegameawards.gg for the full list of nominees, presenters, and judges.
Visit indiegameawards.gg for the full list of nominees, presenters, and judges.
November 14, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Love these categories and so many of the nominees.
Seeing a lot of games I need to catch up with too.
Seeing a lot of games I need to catch up with too.
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
steam machine de la abuela
November 12, 2025 at 10:40 PM
steam machine de la abuela
Thinking about Victor Garber and all the weird things he turns up in.
November 12, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Thinking about Victor Garber and all the weird things he turns up in.
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
More Future Class stuff!! I edited a segment from my Twitch stream covering my story and adding even more context (I even watch one of the first Future Class Game Awards clips, and *hoo boy*). That's on my YouTube!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIt9...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIt9...
Geoff Keighley's Future Class Failure and Performative Allyship
YouTube video by Alyssa Merc
www.youtube.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:02 PM
More Future Class stuff!! I edited a segment from my Twitch stream covering my story and adding even more context (I even watch one of the first Future Class Game Awards clips, and *hoo boy*). That's on my YouTube!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIt9...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIt9...
If this is <$600 it’s an instabuy for me. The Steam Deck is my favorite bit of hardware since the OG Switch, and from a product design perspective, I love the look of this thing. Sign me tf up.
Valve is making a console. The Steam Machine, a sleek box with the guts of a mid-range PC that runs SteamOS, will arrive in early 2026. Prices TBD, but unlike the failed Steam Machine initiative from a decade ago, this is Valve's own device. Big news www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Valve Announces Steam Machine, a New Video-Game Console
The US gaming company behind the popular, handheld Steam Deck is making a living-room device for PC games
www.bloomberg.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:55 PM
If this is <$600 it’s an instabuy for me. The Steam Deck is my favorite bit of hardware since the OG Switch, and from a product design perspective, I love the look of this thing. Sign me tf up.
Steam Machines were the way all along.
November 12, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Steam Machines were the way all along.
Reposted by Jordan Cassidy
The funniest thing about all of Valves hardware announcements today is that many of them are them going "you know what, fuck it, we were right the first time" and they were, in fact, right.
November 12, 2025 at 7:45 PM
The funniest thing about all of Valves hardware announcements today is that many of them are them going "you know what, fuck it, we were right the first time" and they were, in fact, right.