Author: Nic Reuben

Imagine this hypothetical scenario; In a parallel universe, I am not merely an imposter with a penchant for thesauruses who once played Bubsy 3D for twenty minutes and feels that grants me the inalienable right to pontificate endlessly about games on the internet, but an actual game designer with, you know, talent and vision and…

The new trailer for The Last of Us part II left me with a lot to think about, but I was absolutely captivated with the announcement for PixelOpus‘s Concrete Genie. If The Last of Us is the sort of game you play for some hard questions about human nature, Concrete Genie looks like the perfect…

‘Although we’re ok, telling each other about our gaming experiences, we’re not really comfortable talking about ourselves, things we think will make us seem different’ That’s how journalist Susan Ardent introduces the idea behind Take This, a non profit started by herself and fellow writer Russ Pitts. Founded in 2013, the charity seeks to inform…

I’ve never really clicked with dating sims like Boyfriend Dungeon before. Not because I’m an emotionless husk with no ability to forge meaningful relationships. I mean, yes, but that’s not why. It might be because I’m too susceptible to this sort of thing, and once I digitize my love life along with everything else, there’s…

‘There is only one side’ claims the video Bethesda posted last week to promote the Nazi stomping Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. And really, who could argue with that? Dating back to their 1981 incarnation in Muse Software’s Castle Wolfenstein, and elevated to mythical status through a young ID Software’s 1992 genre-definer Wolfenstein 3D, the Nazis…

Here at New Normative, we’re all about games branching out to niche topics, and there’s nothing stranger than the thought of intelligent coders devoting their time to games featuring the Mango Mussolini himself, Donald Trump. Still, all art has something valuable to say about the human condition, even if it’s just a warning that something,…

I knew I’d found something special in Cd Projekt Red’s The Witcher 2 when I saw this achievement: Friend To Trolls – Spare all Trolls in the Game – 15  G. I’d just started gaming again after a two year hiatus. I was rusty, and The Witcher 2 can be tough. I was reacting, not exploring;…

“Use neuro-resonant frequencies to influence consumer behaviour” I can’t tell you exactly how long I’d been clicking away at Frank Lantz’s browser-based stationery synthesis simulator Universal Paperclips when this box popped up. What had begun as a fairly benign experience suddenly went all Skynet, offering a hint of something infinity+1 more sinister than the minimalist monochrome…

Fallout 5 rumours have been few and far between this year, but that hasn’t stopped me from shuddering with Super Mutant rage every time I remember what Bethesda did to the once inimitable post- apocalyptic RPG series with Fallout 4. While most of us remember the expansive, non linear quest lines, the agonising moral choices,…

There’s a heavy, acrid quality to the air in Karnaca tonight. I can’t feel it, of course; there’s a controller, a screen and a universe of suspended disbelief between us, but I can feel it. The fading sunset wavers on the edge of the horizon, leaking out crimsons and ochre and silvers along the surface…

Earlier this week, developer Ninja Theory released this heartfelt trailer for the PS4 and PC action adventure game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. I could attempt to sum it up for you, but I’d be doing it a disservice, so it’s best you just watch it. It’s cool, I’ll go get a coffee or something. Yeah. Me…

Clearly not satisfied with the dank cave dwellings and raw fish for dinner that comes with being a corporate board member of a huge entertainment conglomerate, WB Games have decided to ask players exactly what else they’ve got in their pocketses, going full Gollum with lootboxes in Monolith Productions’ Middle Earth: Shadow of War. Prices for the…