The Streets of Midgar
It is 2 AM, and I am in a dark bedroom, in a home that is not mine. The walls are unfamiliar, as is the PlayStation controller in my hand. And for the first time in my life, I am experiencing a videogame.
Author Archives: Taylor Hidalgo
The Unkillable Beast that Lurks Among Us
The crew meets in the cafeteria, tense stares across a large table, one space in the circle conspicuously open.
Shutter Stroll, Time, and Quarantine
There’s just an ongoing soft breeze, gentle drizzle, and a moment of quiet. Then, you may leave, either to another island, or back to the passage of time.
Taking My Feelings for a Ride
The glow on my arm, a gentle green, shows that despite my pax’s erratic movement in the back, I am calm here in the front. Though these feelings may not last the ride.
Art Tickles – Seeking Comfort from the Apocalypse
Written for Haywire Magazine. Weather in The Zone of Exclusion doesn’t behave the same way it does everywhere else. Sometimes a furious energy storm sweeps through the sky, shaking the […]
Art Tickles – Sharing Perspective
Games are a great many things, and for both mundane and complex reasons, they are difficult to write about.
Art Tickles – Untaught Languages
There is a gulf between understanding what a videogame is meant to evoke in its players, and intuiting what a player experience is like. The former is something that can be read in nearly any Wikipedia article; the latter is difficult to experience without having first-hand play time and knowledge in games.
Citadel: Forged with Fire Review – Not All Who Explore
Written for MMOGames, recreated in part, with permission. The forest is quiet. Somewhere on the far side of a small grove a trees, a boar is grunting to itself as […]
Astellia Review – A Familiar Experience, Plus Astels
Written for MMOGames.com, recreated in part, with permission. Little slices of sunlight dance along the grass. The hints of light pierce through the canopy above, painting abstract patterns as the […]
Art Tickles – Starting Line Cinematics
An empty, vacant soundscape resolves to the sound of rushing air. The camera starts on a tight angle along the side of an old military plane. It follows the line of an airplane’s body, as though flying in its slipstream. As the camera draws back, the view quickly dips down through the empty space where the tail of the plane would be. We discover that the old shell of this military bomber is sunken into the dirt. Unpaved road slides into view, which the camera follows until a bright red sports car rips across the frame.