features: The big ones
The bread and butter
Now Playing: Reviews from the back alley
games we love, games we hate, everything in-between
Don the habit, solve a murder
Do you want to be a goth, murder-solving nun? Of course you do.
Wait, who is Pac-Man married to?
Pac-Man lore is shockingly complex, especially when you’re concerned about Ms. Pac-Man.
Editorials: Columns and critiques
From our intrepid editors and erstwhile friends
CIGS Lights Up, Crashes Servers
If there was one takeaway from CIGS this year, it was that there is a growing appetite for independent video games in the Midwest. Like a katamari rolling through the cosmos, CIGS continues to get bigger as it rolls along.
Get in the robot, Reader
Recently in my internet travels, an angry forum user labeled me braindead because I like Gundam and giant robots, which irked me. Not because someone was mean to me online, that shit happens all the time. No, I was irked because Gundam doesn’t deserve to be called braindead.
Free RPG Day: The Steam Next Fest of Tabletop RPGs
On a blisteringly hot Saturday in June, I had the opportunity to run a game of Dungeon Crawl Classics for a group of four strangers. This was not the start of a monthslong campaign, just an enjoyable evening of adventure made possible by Free RPG Day.
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Homo War
The Fire Emblem series is partially responsible for my pansexuality. There’s no shortage of queer coded characters, especially in the most recent entry, and there’s quite a history to it. Sometimes the series really drops the ball, but I think that there’s a fair amount of positive and important representation in the series.
SICK Showcase Revives Forgotten Konsole
On a cool spring evening in April surrounded by the sound of laughter and shouted conversation, Sly McMahon Jr, his face wet with tears, watches a mechanical rat shoot a slime with a heavy rifle before rocketing across a bottomless chasm.
Dev Logs: Interviews and Developer notes
From developers of in-progress or completed indie projects
Wordlock
In programmer Nick Kalita’s world, Mavis Beacon teaches magic.
Wordlock, Kalita’s top-down, illustrated dungeon crawler, merges the word-based combat of Typing of the Dead with the frantic pace of Enter the Gungeon.
Avitium
Loyalty is a difficult thing. Some have it for themselves, others for a leader, and others still for a place. Avitium, Studio MiK’s 2025 card battler, asks its audience to stand behind their ideals or die trying.
Dock King
Cozy life simulation games have gained massive popularity since the early 2000s, with series like Animal Crossing and titles like Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe, 2016) taking over the gaming world. In a post-lockdown world, escapism is popular. Go figure.
However, the appeal of kind neighbors and mist-cloaked forests is lost entirely on Keith Thomas, developer of Dock…
Cold Calling
Ah, the switchboard. One of history’s most important and unsung political tools.
If legend is to be believed, total nuclear annihilation was narrowly avoided by a single telephone operator routing international calls.
CARNiVORY
Kill, loot, boss, repeat, return.
This is the gameplay loop of CARNiVORY, an upcoming roguelite shooter from Chicago-based studio Chowdahound.
Archive: Icg Zine (2024)
Writing and event coverage from the ICG Zine
Take that mainstage! Interview
In this interview with Mark and Cassandra, the creators of the upcoming game Take That Mainstage!, we explore the game’s history, the creators’ journey, and their inspirations.
Detect-Dev Interview
Detect-Dev bills itself as an alternative to the usual sleuthing fare in games, shifting its focus from hardboiled detectives to a near-future version of Chicago (“New-Chi”), featuring psychic powers, advanced AI sidekicks, set within a narrative game that seeks to provide a new lens on…
Terror at 240p: Haunted ps1’s low-Rez horror
The Haunted PS1 is a group of independent video game developers who specialize in “low-rez horror.” These games draw inspiration from the late 90s, harnessing nostalgia to conjure uncanny, low-resolution horror experiences.
Tall Trails Interview
Developer Brady Soglin (Overfull Games) took some time to talk about his current project, Tall Trails.