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Reposted by Sam Howitt

Marc Normandin @marcnormandin.bsky.social · 6h

long appreciated that the initial point of Kirby was to be something more approachable in a genre that was, at the time, trying to kill you. This is that ethos at its simplest, but it still has its obvious charms decades later.

Kimimi🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️, but spooky 🦇 @kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com · 8h

Everyone can now read this fresh piece on Kirby's debut adventure!

"The hero of this game is an endearing-yet-useless sweetheart."

kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com/2025/10/15/k...

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 22h

In case you missed it, my latest blog post went up yesterday

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

NEW BLOG POST: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 borrows plenty of things from other games, but does so fully understanding why they work and what it can do with them to tell its own story.

pixpen.co.uk/2025/10/13/t...

Thief of Joy – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

This article contains spoilers for the entire game. To begin with I think it’s worth establishing some context around particular styles of role-playing games (RPGs). Normally there’s a distinction …

pixpen.co.uk

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 22h

In case you missed it, my latest blog post went up yesterday

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

NEW BLOG POST: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 borrows plenty of things from other games, but does so fully understanding why they work and what it can do with them to tell its own story.

pixpen.co.uk/2025/10/13/t...

Thief of Joy – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

This article contains spoilers for the entire game. To begin with I think it’s worth establishing some context around particular styles of role-playing games (RPGs). Normally there’s a distinction …

pixpen.co.uk

6 19

Reposted by Sam Howitt

Nate E-K @newertkrocker.bsky.social · 1d

I am once again thinking about Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis (2001)

Kenichi and Tima, whose face has been half stripped away to reveal her robotic form

Rock, firing a pistol with gritted teeth

Kenichi, Shunsaku, and the robot detective

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

NEW BLOG POST: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 borrows plenty of things from other games, but does so fully understanding why they work and what it can do with them to tell its own story.

pixpen.co.uk/2025/10/13/t...

Thief of Joy – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

This article contains spoilers for the entire game. To begin with I think it’s worth establishing some context around particular styles of role-playing games (RPGs). Normally there’s a distinction …

pixpen.co.uk

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

stain of memory @shirokumahi.me · 1d

this saturday we’re recording the next Abnormal Mapping on Onimusha Warlords! Send us emails about this or any other
games to [email protected]!

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

You've yet to get to some of the really ridiculous pictos to come, party building is so fun in this.

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 1d

NEW BLOG POST: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 borrows plenty of things from other games, but does so fully understanding why they work and what it can do with them to tell its own story.

pixpen.co.uk/2025/10/13/t...

Thief of Joy – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

This article contains spoilers for the entire game. To begin with I think it’s worth establishing some context around particular styles of role-playing games (RPGs). Normally there’s a distinction …

pixpen.co.uk

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 3d

Definitely games I've considered. I do think quite often about covering Legend of Dragoon or Xenogears. I did actually write about Parasite Eve a few years ago.

pixpen.co.uk/2020/12/22/c...

Christmas Evil – Parasite Eve

If you read about Squaresoft’s videogames from the 1990s, they are often framed as the trendsetters. Final Fantasy is still the lens many assess the entire Japanese role-playing game genre through,…

pixpen.co.uk

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 3d

I'm certain I'll find something myself but I do think I could make things a little more varied.

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 3d

Got an Expedition 33 post going up on Monday, working on something about Final Fantasy Tactics, will probably write something about the Dragon Quest 1+2 remake and am planning to do something with Chrono Cross.

Other than that I've not really got any concrete plans past that.

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 3d

I've already got a few plans in the works for future content for pixpen.co.uk but I'm interested if there's any sort of game you folks think I should make an effort to write about?

Pixpen

Trying to understand how games work

pixpen.co.uk

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 5d

Expedition 33 article all written! Publishing it on Monday!

Words: 4,722
Characters: 27,017
Characters excluding spaces: 22,333

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

Erin: Dead and Loving It 🖤💀🖤 @woodaba.bsky.social · 5d

a small piece about a medium bugbear about an increasingly big way people talk about art.

Call(Out) and Response

If you would like milder criticism, please ask for it. I used to be a big fan of British comedian Stewart Lee. I say I used to be: I am demonstrably still a fan of his older material, particularly 'If...

woodaba.tumblr.com

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

Jacob Geller @jacobgeller.com · 6d

Much like Kentucky Route Zero, your dialogue choices in Mario Galaxy 2 don't affect the path of the story but they change your understanding of the character

Dialogue choice in Mario Galaxy with two options: "that's right" and "yes"

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

josh (oldfriend99) @oldfriend99.bsky.social · 6d

The Butlerian Jihad must have sucked for guys who just bought a new computer

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 6d

So in the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster, they've got all the War of the Lions cutscenes dubbed over with the new cast, but weirdly they're only accessible from the part of the chronicle menu that recaps the plot. They never play during each relevant story sequence.

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

Roland Meyer @bildoperationen.bsky.social · 8d

So-called #genAI means the abolition of the future through the proliferation of endless streams of stochastically rendered generic pasts. Having turned large parts of the cultural archive into training data, it now traps us in a foreverized pastness, a 24/7 nostalgia for a past that never existed

QuoProQuid @quoproquid.bsky.social · 8d

have just come across a YouTube account that has been using Sora to upload reels of fake, AI-generated “90s sitcoms” every few hours

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

VGDensetsu @vgdensetsu.bsky.social · 8d

I wrote a long article about Rieko Kodama, her career at Sega, the evolution of her company, the games she worked on (including some canceled games and/or games for which she is not credited), the status of women and working conditions in the video game industry, etc.
vgdensetsu.net/riekokodama/

Illustration: a portrait of Rieko Kodama with some of the games she has worked on. The dominant colors are yellow, purple and red. Counterclockwise from top left: Rieko Kodama, Alis and Lutz from Phantasy Star, Sonic in a maze, Alex Kidd and his motorbike next to Flicky on a waterfront pier, Joe Musashi and his dog near the Statue of Liberty facing a skyline, the three playable characters from Golden Axe seen from behind on the edge of a cliff, and one of the flying ships from Skies of Arcadia.

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 8d

I now have a first draft written for an article about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Right now it's around 4,400 words or so. There's a lot in it that I'd really like to tidy up so I'll take some time to do the edit.

I'm hoping to have it out early next week!

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Reposted by Sam Howitt

Cosmic Horror Goblin @buliaros.bsky.social · 9d

NEW POST: There are many reasons why you should consider cancelling your Gamepass subscription, but perhaps the most important one is what it does to your understanding of the value of games:

You should probably cancel your Gamepass subscription

The 'Netflix of Games' is not all its cracked up to be

open.substack.com

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 10d

If you see this, QTP with your top 4 Final Fantasy games 🎮

Final Fantasy VIII

Rinoa and squall on an edge sitting at night time. Text box: Rinoa "Y'know, when you start thinking, you tend to frown like this."

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Serah Holding a bow with the string pulled back and an arrow ready.

Final Fantasy IV

Battle scene. Cecil, Rydia, Rosa and Edge fighting two black lizards and two anteater armadillo looking things.

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Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 10d

However, they made random encounters seemingly optional in the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster. You can just choose not to do them when they come up. If they go badly you can just return to the world map.

A few seemingly small changes that make this version of the game considerably friendlier.

Sam Howitt @samuelhowitt.bsky.social · 10d

I've fallen back to my old Final Fantasy Tactics grinding habit of deliberately walking characters into a level down trap so that random encounters don't scale too high, and I still gain job point growth.

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