iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

my review of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, whose art and action really worked for me, and which proves yet again that the composer ASADI doesn't miss www.slantmagazine.com/games/castle...

Text: "Belmont’s Curse is of a piece with developer Evil Empire’s previous title, The Rogue Prince of Persia. The French studio has once again reimagined a largely dormant series with striking visual panache, kinetic side-scrolling action, and a wondrous, genre-twisting score by composer Danny Asadi, better known as ASADI. Where his work on The Rogue Prince of Persia laid Middle Eastern instrumentation over trap beats, the soundtrack here evokes a nightclub in the Transylvania of myth, with organs and choirs riding on pulsing waves of electronica. The result is beguiling enough to make you risk a bite to the neck."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

when you see the you-of-another-tab in the shared doc

Link fighting Dark Link in Ocarina of Time (elf-like person with a sword and shield swings a sword at their dark mirror image atop a pool of shallow water)

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

my review of Control Resonant, which remarkably maps Dylan's inner life onto an open world, reckons with COVID, and all but bursts with spectacle and emotive heft www.slantmagazine.com/games/contro...

Text: Traversal is far more compelling, as Control Resonant remarkably maps Dylan’s inner life onto his movement through the open world. Though Dylan’s capacity to levitate carries a sense of liberation—from the inconveniences of urban planning, from the F.B.C.’s unshakable grip on him—so, too, does it communicate his ostracization. Rather than walking among the F.B.C., whose agents hush their conversations or berate Dylan when he approaches, he soars above them, a pariah tolerated solely as a weapon. All the while, he floats across chasms with the same relaxed, Peter Pan-esque bearing as Jesse, underscoring her absence and his loneliness.

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

anybody else getting Liv Tyler's Arwen from Shizuka (vibe/facial expressions/etc.)

Liv Tyler as Arwen (woman with a grey hood up)

Shizuka from Onimusha (red-haired woman with a pensive expression)

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Eternal Anima looks very intriguing btw

Screenshot from Eternal Anima: turn-based battle with enemies on left and allies on right. Character UI at bottom of screen

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I continue to be surprised by how much I enjoy illustrations of game characters playing on a Switch

Anthropomorphic cats from Monster Hunter happily playing on Nintendo Switches

G'raha Tiah from FFXIV (red-haired cat guy) playing a Nintendo Switch with a moogle (cute white-furred creature with a pom pom on its head) on his shoulder

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

new Onimusha is a Sekiro-like (beard daddy)

Takamura from Onimusha (large, older man with long hair and a dark beard, golden vest, golden gauntlet, hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip, jolly smile)

Owl from Sekiro (large, older man, long hair and a white beard, feathered cape, sword in hand)

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

makes me think of this, which I've thought about regularly since reading it: www.patreon.com/merrittk/pos...

Text: "Video game developers once spoke of being inspired by childhood experiences exploring caves or growing gardens. Today, they talk about being inspired by their childhood video games."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

some are born to discourse, some achieve discourse, and some have discourse thrust upon them

Joshua Rivera's post ("so do gamers just not know about toshiro mifune. is that why he hasn't come up much.") with 11 comments and 32 likes

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

accidentally wandered into GTA gas discourse

Text: "All the game’s roads lead to combat, where the removal of stamina limitations proves exhilarating. Building on Dark Souls’s foundation of evasive rolls, light and heavy attacks, and refillable health potions, Mortal Shell II summons a feverish lack of restraint that would feel at home in the modern Doom titles. The absence of a gas tank leaves the Harbinger free to floor it, to banish the thought of conserving energy for a meek dodge, to trust their smooth parry and the fierce ripostes it enables, to stop overthinking and to let instinct kick in."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

my review of Mortal Shell II, which injects Elden Ring with some Doom and Sekiro and provides immense space for expression. (I do not have Soulslike fatigue, and I might never; I love parrying, and I might always; this was very much my shit) www.slantmagazine.com/games/mortal...

Text: "A rich tension simmers throughout Cold Symmetry’s Mortal Shell II. The sequel to 2020’s Mortal Shell owes a clear debt to Miyazaki Hidetaka’s work: This is a white-knuckle romp through a desolate land dotted with ruins and teeming with gnarly monsters. But the game verges on iconoclastic in how it hacks away at the calcified Soulslike formula. You can all but hear the developers wondering: What if we didn’t subject the player to an infuriating Blighttown knockoff? What if we ditched the stamina meter and let them sprint and slash and bash with abandon? What if we gave them a shotgun?"

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

catching up on FFXIV, I would do anything for him

Gurfurlur from FFXIV: a giant with light brown skin, a long, tied beard, a gold helmet, chest tattoos, wearing only something around his waist. arms held up in a wrestling/Hoarah Loux pose

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

have not watched the video, I do not play Path of Exile, but this is an amazing thumbnail for a video about a bug fix

A person pours themself a glass of champagne while smiling. Text overlaid: "IT'S FINALLY FIXED!"

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

on to Ys: The Oath in Felghana, which has started off no less relevant

Screenshot from Ys: The Oath in Felghana. Dark-haired woman speaks to a red-haired young man. Dialogue text: "I'm sorry we can't meet you with bigger smiles. Not only was the harvest awful this year, but our taxes are up again."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

this, but videogames, will kill the industry

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

rolled credits on Trails in the Sky FC, which turned out to be a fitting text for this moment of imperial decline

Screenshot from Trails in the Sky FC Remake: A blonde fancy man, a brunette girl, a dark-haired boy, and a tall brunette guy standing alongside each other. Dialogue text: "Hmm... That's a pretty arbitrary decision for a country that claims to have the rule of law."

Screenshot from Trails in the Sky FC Remake: A brunette girl, a dark-haired boy, and a brunette woman stand next to each other. Dialogue text: "It makes sense. Uniforms are perfect for concealing individuality."

Screenshot from Trails in the Sky FC Remake: A dark-haired, bespectacled man smiles. Dialogue text: "After all, they say it's a curse to live in interesting times."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

the canonical Trails stance on drag

A little videogame kid with a newsie cap saying, "D-Darn it... They're cooler than us guys..."

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

reviewed The Adventures of Elliot, or: We Have Zelda at Home, or: a game so hell-bent on avoiding friction that it all but precludes the joys of overcoming it www.slantmagazine.com/games/the-ad...

Text: Toward the middle of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, swashbuckling explorer Elliot prepares to brave the frozen caverns north of a quiet village. Before hitting the road, he can choose to speak to a nondescript local, who warns him of a ferocious monster in the area and advises him to strike it in the eye. The tip sparks the thrill of stumbling upon secret knowledge. With his bow at the ready, Elliot descends into the depths of the caves, where he finds the creature, which turns out to be a giant eyeball. Who would have thought to aim at the peeper? The townsperson’s galvanizing but ultimately needless counsel, like much of the game, merely gestures at a feeling of fortuitous discovery.

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I bounced off Dungeon Encounters recently, but this just convinced me to give it another go. manifesto accomplished!

Bulleted list:
- Make a game where players can go into debt.
- Make a game with absolutely annoying status effects
- Let Players be the architects of their own downfall
- Let Players go through long, arduous challenges and give them nothing in return
- Make a gigantic empty space and let the player wallow in their confusion
- Take things away from them, or give them too much
- Let them break things and break them in return
- Put something in your games that is just for you, and only you to understand

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

my wife, catching a glimpse of the Onimusha demo: "do other games look like Onimusha, because it's old, or does Onimusha look like other games?" me:

Illustration of a snake eating its own tail, forming a circle

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

this text is the inciting incident of a horror movie

Text message saying “They’re saying Claire was there.” In a weird creepy font

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

folks, if you like the cube, what you're actually hungry for is Dota

Wisp from Dota 2: glowing, floating cube with hearts on each face

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

(he posts while repping the bokoblins)

Bearded dude, All Blacks hat, orange shirt with a bokoblin on it

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

realized that Die in the Dungeon 1.0 came out this month. roguelikers, check it out -- just look at this guy

A screenshot of the frog from Die in the Dungeon. Little pixelated guy holding a big sword

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

man’s not beating the Dickson allegations

Monster Hunter World character: older white guy with a white mustache and a red headband

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

might fuck around and get into Monster Hunter (realizing I just made Revolver Ocelot)

Monster Hunter World character creation. Older-looking guy with long grey hair and a grey mustache

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

hate to spoil a kicker less than I love to celebrate a great kicker www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/ze...

Text: For all the love and care it has poured into its world, and despite mechanical flashes of genius, it can't escape the fact that it's using the tools for a different job. Without context, it might just appear sloppy, like the rules of the game Hershel was playing hadn't quite been defined when she set out on her journey. Take a step back, though, and look at the whole picture, and it becomes clear that Hershel Wilk is casting Harry du Bois' shadow on the wall.

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

amazing to watch you find your answer and act accordingly in real time

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

uh I think this screenshot just sold me

Screenshot from Zero Parades. Something clad in a knight's armor kneels over a cityscape. Text box on the right side of the screen has dialogue

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I have said it before and will say it again: few people do it like Nic

text: Disco had a novel's worth of text, Zero Parades has nearly as much, but feels more like a beautiful aphorism. Witty and tight, slicker and plottier. Everything you liked about Disco's writing is here, aside from the sense that someone needed it to exist in the world with their entire body. It is often hilarious, full of fascinating and poignant worldbuilding and tragic circumstance, but it has little of Disco's messy, easy strangeness or meandering melancholia. It is sleeker, sexier, more self-consciously dangerous. It is outsider art made from the foyer, safe from the rain.

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Niv M. Sultan @nivmsultan.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

maybe I'm being dense, but I don't think this is referring to the controversy surrounding Disco. it's just saying that "self-professed leftists" go crazy for Disco — which, think what you want, is not intrinsically commenting on all that? www.eurogamer.net/zero-parades...

Text: Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is the second game from a new incarnation of the ZA/UM creative team after the extremely normal and uncontroversial Disco Elysium, a name that turns many self-professed leftists into rabid, single-celled chihuahuas.

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