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Alan Wen

@damisanthrope.bsky.social
1.1K followers 237 following 2.4K posts

Still here in games print and online media Email: alan@alanwen.co.uk

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Reposted by Alan Wen
Jim Rossignol @rossignol.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This gets said constantly, but it worth reiterating: Games Workshop being bigger than fishing is important to shout about because you wouldn't know it from government talking points, which are rarely about anything creative or artistic. Growth won't involve fish or steel, it will involve goblins.
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George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Lots of people are comparing this to the LGBTQ+ censorship scandal from last summer and rightly asking whether there's a double standard at play. In the UK, I don't think there is. But I must dip into the most forbidden of video game policy lore – age ratings – to explain why 🧵
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
There should be a rule outlawing calling anything that happens in the first 10 minutes of a game a spoiler.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Love getting an embargo with content restrictions after the deadline you’ve had to submit the copy for
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Did the Great Scottish Run turn Glasgow into an open-air prison? Spending all morning in a car going down one diversion that only leads to another closed road we need to turn around on and I’m about to lose my fucking mind.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
👋
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Reposted by Alan Wen
James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If you read the presentation (gamebiz.jp/news/433531) this has very little to do with "AI" - it's stuff like if there are 100 widgets onscreen you can draw them all by stamping them out rather than having 100 full instances, which is an optimization technique that's like 40 years old.
gamebiz.jp
カプコンのゲーム開発を支える「RE ENGINE」はどう進化するのか…新プロジェクト「REX」が目指す未来 | gamebiz
カプコン<9697>は、本日10月2日、ゲーム開発技術に特化した自社テックカンファレンス「CAPCOM オープンカンファレンス RE:2026」を開催。本稿では、プログラマーとして活躍する石田智史氏が登壇した、「次世代に向けRE ENGINEをさらに進化させる『REX』プロジェクトの展望と未来」の内容を紹介する。石田智史氏【AD】エンタメ業界の転職支援サービス「エンターエンタ」カプコンの心臓部「…
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Finishing Onimsha: Way of the Sword really ought to be reserved for the big screen, but it felt no less than epic in my hands, thanks to the Switch 2 version being astoundingly good, but also having a really comfortable deck controller like the abxylute N6.
Shot from Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s ending displayed on Switch 2 in handheld mode, attached to abxylute N6 GameCube-coloured deck controller
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Dr Hannah M. Rowland @hannahmrowland.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hope your day was better than Darwin’s, on this day 165 years ago
I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody &everything.

Charles Darwin
Letter to Charles Lyell
1st October 1861
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
As we’re now in spooky season, this week’s Creative Bloq indie spotlight is Inkblood, an occult detective game inspired by cult Czech cinema, with cutout animation and other tricks to make its weird 2D vision of early 20th century Central Europe feel alive www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-gam...
creativebloq.com
How a 2D indie game fakes a living world from a train carriage window
Inkblood's weird vision of early-20th-century Central Europe draws on cutout animation and cult Czech cinema.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
My luck of freelancing these past few years had been that whenever one door shut, another window would open, and I should be surprised I have lasted for as long as I have. But a building can have only so many windows left.
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Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Most riveting thing I've seen all week
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Meredith Gran @meredithgran.com · 25/09/2026
Perfect Tides: Station to Station has been nominated for a Golden Joystick award in the "Best Indie Game - Self Published" category! You can vote for it along with all the other categories here: www.gamesradar.com/goldenjoysti...
Perfect Tides: Station to Station logo with a Golden Joystick shortlisted award badge
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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The Guardian is doing some major hiring right now! If you have 2-3 years' experience in journalism, media and/or content creation, you can apply for the Digital Journalism Scheme - full time roles including 20% training time, £48k pa workwithus.theguardian.com/digital-jour...
workwithus.theguardian.com
Digital Journalist Scheme
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Chris Bratt @chrisbratt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In recent years, the media has quietly begun to change the way in which it writes about Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard. PMG investigates how Kotick used the threat of defamation to reshape his legacy in the games business, one article at a time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKwp...
youtube.com
Inside Bobby Kotick's Campaign Against the Press
YouTube video by People Make Games
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Finally an understanding that difficulty doesn’t mean spongey enemies - obvs a lesson you could’ve learned pre-release too…
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This week’s Creative Bloq indie spotlight is Aegis Force: The Scorian War, out now in early access, which is something of a spiritual successor to the Shining Force series but with a cool dynamic camera for presenting its sprites-based tactical combat www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-gam...
creativebloq.com
This tactical RPG channels a classic Sega series while putting its own spin on the retro-modern HD-2D aesthetic
How Aegis Force's dynamic camera tries to cater to two styles of tactical combat animations.
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Hit Points by Nathan Brown @hitpoints.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Ugh. newsletter.hitpoints.co/398-deckchai...
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Tamoor Hussain @tamoorh.com · 22/09/2026
Don’t call layoffs and closures stuff like “reset” or “refresh” or “rejuvenation” or “rejigger” or “reshuffle” unless you’re trying to get clapped.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A couple months ago I had an interview feature in ImagineFX with SFB Games’ Adam Vian about the studio’s 20+ year history from making loads of flash games to defining its style with the Detective Grimoire series, and you can now read that online www.creativebloq.com/entertainmen...
creativebloq.com
"Everyone has a hundred bad games in them, and we did them really quickly": Adam Vian on the creation and evolution of Detective Grimoire
The creative director of SFB Games tells us about developing the studio’s style from Adobe Flash games to The Mermaid Mask.
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Dan Whitehead @danwhitehead.net · 22/09/2026
Nothing will ever be enough for these people.
Microsoft gross profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2026 was $60.482B, a 15.36% increase year-over-year.
Microsoft gross profit for the twelve months ending June 30, 2026 was $225.465B, a 16.28% increase year-over-year.
Microsoft annual gross profit for 2026 was $225.465B, a 16.28% increase from 2025.
Microsoft annual gross profit for 2025 was $193.893B, a 13.38% increase from 2024.
Microsoft annual gross profit for 2024 was $171.008B, a 17.09% increase from 2023.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Thinking about those pennies I wasted on those vortex things
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I reviewed Control Resonant, which I hoped would be the game that tips me over from the person who admires but doesn’t love what Remedy does. Visually, it’s astounding, to play, well, let’s just say accessibility options are your friend www.creativebloq.com/entertainmen...
creativebloq.com
Control Resonant review: I've never seen Manhattan this strange in a game
Remedy's paranatural sequel is ambitious and visually unique, though it still shares its predecessor's problems in different ways.
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Reposted by Alan Wen
Thew @amazingthew.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
god i love videogames. have you heard about "places"? they are called locations
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This week’s Creative Bloq indie spotlight is Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy, the concluding part of a ‘neo-giallo’ horror trilogy whose developer is leaning into its Silician roots www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-gam...
creativebloq.com
How Remothered: Red Nun's Legacy puts this indie studio's Sicilian roots front and centre
The 'neo-giallo' survival horror's conclusion of its trilogy is powered by Unreal Engine 5.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
If there wasn’t already one massive JRPG out, today’s also the launch of Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter so I wrote about why it’s the kind of JRPG remake I want more of www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-gam...
creativebloq.com
How Trails in the Sky gets it right when it comes to remaking a classic JRPG
As the remake of the second chapter to the series' Liberl arc launches, here's why you should prioritise it over other JRPG remakes.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
No-lifer JRPGs aside, who’s planning on playing Akiba Lost today? youtu.be/W7qYUK9HEsk?...
youtu.be
AKIBA LOST ( アキバロスト ) スペシャルトレーラー / 長編実写群像劇サスペンスゲーム
YouTube video by IzanagiGames Channel イザナギゲームズ公式
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🫡
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Pet peeve of mine: characters who point out the flaws of the story or level design as if that gives it a pass. See also, after taking a long detour or combat section, when your protagonist quips, “Phew, I thought that’d never end.” It’s not cute.
Olympia from Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, whose dialogue reads, “I agree. There are so many strange new characters all of a sudden. The story has gotten quite confusing.”
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I reviewed Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave for GamesRadar+, a gargantuan epic full of enthralling battles as much as tedious busywork. Salute to any critics who actually committed to all 4 paths…
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Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 15/09/2026
lol Ed Sheeran's band quit
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Jeff Grubb @grubb.wtf · 15/09/2026
really, honestly not trying to list war, but we discussed this on the Bombcast right now, and it's shocking to see PS5's life put into an infographic youtube.com/@giantbomb/live
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Logan Plant @loganjplant.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
If you haven't seen the news from Brian himself:
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IGN Creators Guild @ignunion.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
We are tired of posting statements like these.
Today was an awful day at IGN. We were blindsided by the layoff of four union members and many more people across the organization who contributed years of their careers to making IGN an unparalleled voice in games and entertainment. 

With each successive layoff, core parts of IGN’s operation continue to be stripped away. Today, IGN has decided to do away with many of our talented producers, editors, hosts, and other crucial roles, both within and out of the union. How many layoffs will occur before we no longer recognize the company we work for and the content that we make? 


While we recognize the challenges the media industry is facing as a whole, it is difficult to understand how laying off valuable employees better positions us to meet those challenges. In turn, remaining employees bear additional workloads worsened by anxiety over the ever-looming threat of another layoff.

We are devastated, angry, and heartbroken for our colleagues.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Happy 10th anniversary to Persona 5, which raised the bar for all modern JRPGs. Back then I bought the JP version on PSN and beat it despite the language barrier then gushed 2000+ words about it (pre-freelance so ngl I cringe at some of these paras) damisanthrope.wordpress.com/2016/10/08/p...
damisanthrope.wordpress.com
Persona 5: Import Review
Style needs no translation
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Andi Hamilton @andihamilton.com · 15/09/2026
some mad lad has ported PSO to a web browser and now I will never get anything done again psoreborn.com
psoreborn.com
Phantasy Star Online
Play PSO Reborn, a browser recreation of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Obligatory quick play of Monkey Target to commemorate the GameCube’s 25th anniversary
Purple GameCubeMonkey Target from Super Monkey Ball from a CRT display
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Tried a bit of the Crazy Taxi World Tour beta… 😬
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Sort of fascinating interpretation from people who wouldn’t have been born when 9/11 happened
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Stars + Broken Social Scene + Metric = a damn good night spent with Toronto’s finest
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This week’s Creative Bloq indie spotlight actually has me circling back to a game I got to play at BitSummit a few months ago called Nightmare Operator, which is like a PS1-style mix of Resi 4, Shin Megami Tensei, and Street Fighter(?!) www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-gam...
creativebloq.com
This PS1-style horror game mixes Resident Evil with Street Fighter
Nolan Joseph explains how DDDistortion uses modern tools to recreate a readable retro aesthetic.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Gamescom demos usually try and distill the game’s essence into the limited time you have, but frankly, 45 minutes wasn’t close to enough to try and take in Final Fantasy VII Revelation’s planet-sized scope. But for GameSpot, I tried anyway www.gamespot.com/articles/ff7...
gamespot.com
FF7 Revelation Is Doubling-Down On Rebirth's Maximalism With Its "Planetary Scale" Open World
45 minutes hands-on barely scratches the surface of this jam-packed finale.
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Austin Kelmore @austinkelmore.com · 10/09/2026
Closing out the rally, @nershly.bsky.social beautifully speaks about her experience being fired by Rockstar and how they try to use fear.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Microsoft cancelled Scalebound. Never forget.
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Shutting down Japan Studio 5 years ago really was the beginning of the end, huh.
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Alex Elizabeth Byrne McMillan @undeniablyalex.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Nintendo Direct Guy’s two voices
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Why do companies keep thinking we’ve all been making more money?
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
All but Four Swords Adventures, forever the white whale…
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Probably can’t see from the mug’s reflection that I’m wearing a Legend of Zelda top I bought from the Nintendo Store in Japan a few years back
Shot of my hand holding a Nintendo Switch 2 mug of green matcha tea in front of a laptop waiting for the Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct
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Alan Wen @damisanthrope.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Cannot believe there’s a Virtual Boy ad that references what happened to the E.T. video game.
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