Pointless Opinions

Featured Review

Neon White


A Plague Tale: Innocence

Beneath some awkwardness and moments of frustration is an old-school adventure that brilliantly captures the intoxicating magic of those classic dark fantasy novels from your childhood.

Creaks

Creaks is the perfect late-night adventure, bursting at the seams with atmosphere and intelligence. It hits that sweet spot of great puzzle design; challenging yet fair, and immensely satisfying. 

Sifu – My First Impressions

Sifu is so frequently so much fun, and if you accept the game for the arcade-style, tough-as-nails challenge it is, you’ll have a great time. I can’t lie, though. I do wonder what a more straightforward, less difficult version of this game might be.

Sport, Violence, and Judo: Taimazova vs Arai

I thought Judo was an elegant sport, all technique and finesse. A defensive martial art, about using an opponent’s momentum against them. I’m sure, in a broader sense, this is true. But in Chizuru Arai’s hands, Judo is a violent and dangerous weapon.

The Borrowed

Both a thrilling tour through several decades of policing in Hong Kong, and a bouquet of varied crime subgenres plotted to perfection, The Borrowed is the perfect read for any armchair detective.

Twelve Minutes

Fascinating, frustrating, and a little bit like purgatory, Twelve Minutes is an authentic time-loop experience, with all the repetitiveness that entails. A disappointing mystery and painfully incremental progress somewhat dampened my experience, but Twelve Minutes is nevertheless a brilliant experiment in game design, and something you should check out if you’re at all intrigued by…

The White Lotus

This is a characterful show, and the entertainment comes from watching these bold, bizarre people self-destruct, taking down innocent bystanders with them. It’s truly hilarious, at times, and honestly quite sad at others. Is it good? I think so. It sure is fascinating.

The Count Lucanor

The Count Lucanor gives you a fascinating gothic castle to explore, absolutely stuffed with puzzles, secrets, and mysteries. Yet it’s the disturbing and inexplicable characters that bring those castle chambers alive, imbuing the narrative with a deep sense of lore and uncomfortable morality.

Evil Dead (2013)

By the end of Evil Dead’s ninety-minute runtime, these formulaic elements come together to remind you why stories like this became classics in the first place. This is perhaps the best example of a brilliant thing, and if you’ve got the stomach for it, I could hardly think of a better movie for Halloween.

Superhost (2021)

Even though you’ll likely spot the twists and turns coming, Superhost remains a brilliantly vivacious ride, invigorated by the energy of its four cast members. Gracie Gillam in particular runs wild as the titular Superhost Rebecca, presenting a funny, freaky, and fresh take on the psycho-killer. Seek this one out if you’ve got a penchant…

Battle Royale (2000)

Long before Fortnight gave kids an island upon which to do battle in pop-culture fancy dress, there was Kinji Fukasaku’s violent, bloody horror film Battle Royale. You’ll find no Arianna Grande avatars here, though. Instead, you’ll be dragged kicking and screaming through ninety minutes of teenage melodrama, youthful anger, and buckets of blood.