Episode list

In 2005 Capcom released one of the most important games in the history of gaming. Resident Evil 4 ended up not only being an incredible commercial and critical success but single-handedly revolutionized a whole genre. The third-person shooter. But even more impressively - the original Resident Evil 4 still plays great today - almost two decades after its original release. But even more impressively - the original Resident Evil 4 still plays great today - almost two decades after its original release. So when Capcom set out to remake Resident Evil 4, they set out to recreate one of the most influential video games ever made, they set out to remake a game that most "best video games of all times" lists feature prominently. How do you top something like this? And... at least to my own surprise, they did the original game more than justice. The remake is an incredible game. Capcom not only made one of the best video games of all time. They actually made it twice. In this video we are going to take a thorough look at this new version of Resident Evil 4. We are going to move along the game's story, while taking a look at different aspects of the Resident Evil 4 Remake along the way. We're going to discuss the level design, the story, the design of all enemies and bosses, and the economic situation of Capcom. We are going to speak about Resident Evil's replayability, about the game's amazing pacing and controversies around it's release.

The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom is an incredible game that annoyed me to no end. At certain times playing Tears of the Kingdom gave me a feeling of childlike wonder and amazement like I've never felt before. And ten minutes later the game had me almost throw my controller at a wall. At least in my opinion this The Legend of Zelda game deserves every ten out of ten it got and Tears of the Kingdom deserves all the game of the year awards it is inevitably going to win - but I also think I've never played a game with a worse control scheme. The game features incredible moments that are crafted with so much love and care, yet it also features some of the most baffling design decisions I've ever seen. To put it mildly, Tears of the kingdom is a game whose heights are incredibly high, but, at least in my humble opinion, it is also a game whose lows are really low. But weirdest of all - a lot of those problems would have been easily avoidable. So I believe there is a story hidden in the depths of Tears of the Kingdom. A story about Nintendo's priorities when it comes to game design. In this critique of Tears of the Kingdom we are hopefully going to dig up this story piece by piece. We are going to discuss the entire game chronologically, while discussing certain aspects of the design of Tears of the Kingdom along the way.

Hollow Knight is an incredibly competent game on pretty much all fronts. In my opinion, Hollow Knight is a masterpiece and we will discuss all the things that make it so great in detail in this Hollow Knight retrospective. However - the one thing that I find most fascinating about Hollow Knight is an aspect of the game that is seldom discussed. The most fascinating aspect of Hollow Knight is that it exists in the first place - because to put it mildly - Hollow Knight's existence should not be possible. Hollow Knight was developed by only three people, in roughly three years. Three people managed to produce a game that looks this beautiful, features a combat system with a skill ceiling this high, crafted a beautiful world this big, wrote lore that deep, and crafted gameplay this fluid. Three people did a job that puts most teams of 60 people that work for half a decade on a game to shame. How did three pull this off? In this Hollow Knight retrospective, we are going to investigate this question. We are going to find out how it is possible that Hollow Knight even exists.

Majora's Mask has been out for over two decades, yet there are still debates about the most basic things regarding Majora's Mask. Up to the point that people are still discussing what the game is even thematically about? Is Link dead during the game? Is the game about healing? About friendship? About grief? Is Majora's Mask about Link dealing with his lost childhood or about him coping with his own death. Is the game about changing identities or about Buddhist themes? Is Majora's Mask a dream or is it literally about Link searching for Navi. What is Majora's Mask's story even about? In this video we are going to take a deep dive into all those questions. We will explain Majora's Mask's story. The meaning of the stone tower, the questions of the moon children, the words the happy mask salesman says at the end, whether Link is dead, if the five stages of grief are represented in the game, the symbolic meaning of the sidequests, what the four main areas represent, the subtext - everything. It's my attempt to shed some light into Majora's Mask's darkness.

Outer Wilds ending is a bit weird. The ending of Outer Wilds is a long sequence of surprising and on the surface random events strung together. There is obviously a lot going on during Outer Wilds ending, but it is difficult to put the finger onto the subtext. So when I sat down and started to write this Outer Wilds retrospective I set myself a simple goal. I wanted to figure out an interpretation of the ending of Outer Wilds that I myself found logical and fitting. And this formidable honest goal - sent me down a pretty deep rabbit hole. It took me weeks of research to come up with an interpretation of Outer Wilds ending that I found satisfying. An interpretation of the ending that carries a surprisingly beautiful and philosophical message about freedom and about choice. In this video, we are going to dig up this message piece by piece. We will discuss the premise of Outer Wilds, recap its story and main mysteries, talk about the actual science that inspired the games mechanics, have a chat about core ideas of existentialist philosophy and in the end, we will hopefully combine all the different pieces into a cohesive whole - that allows us to understand the message that is hidden within the subtext of Outer Wild's ending.

Super Mario Wonder launched in a really interesting context. On the one hand 2D Super Mario has gotten stale. Yet while 2D Mario has fallen from grace over the past couple of years, the Super Mario franchise itself certainly has not. On the contrary. The Mario franchise is currently as popular as it arguably hasn't been in three decades. Thanks to the huge success of the Super Mario Movie and the homerun that the Switch ended up being, Mario is currently living through a massive popularity surge. So at the height of Mario's popularity, Nintendo released a game in the 2D Super Mario platformer genre - a genre that has lost popularity in the past decade. Super Mario Wonder. And Super Mario Wonder is pretty good. In this video, we are going to take a look at why I believe this. We are going to have a chat about the level design of Super Mario Wonder and how Nintendo evolved the 2D Mario formula, we will discuss the Mario movie and why I ultimately am not too happy about it, even though I thought it was fun, we will discuss what the opera Carmen has to do with all of this and in the end you will hopefully understand, why I think that Super Mario Wonder is an excellent game that left me disappointed.