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Stephen Gillespie

@stephenage.bsky.social
126 followers 102 following 614 posts

Film Podcaster, Critic and General Opinion Haver. Find me at The STACKS and on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things. Contributor to Step Printed. www.letterboxd.com/stephenage www.StepPrinted.com

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Reposted by Stephen Gillespie
murph0ween @murph04.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Daysgonedreamcast featuring @stephenage.bsky.social
open.spotify.com
Days Gone
Daydreamcast · Episode
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Every time I watch The Gruffalo’s Child with my son, I am struck by how similar it is to The Last of Us Part II. And how it does that in 25 minutes… just saying.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Taking Code out of the name of the Code: Veronica remake is going to make that puzzle at the end where you have to put in a code (and it’s Veronica) very hard.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Mixtape is a game that lacks specificity and fails to elevate its tropes through interactivity. Read all about it here…
open.substack.com
Mixtape: An Empty Compilation
Later on in Mixtape you head to a dinosaur amusement park.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
We are back!! And we are making enemies.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
I wrote about the enticing, inherent violence of Marathon (2026). Why the game makes you kill and why that’s so fun.
open.substack.com
I Am a Gun: Life as Gleefully Brutish and Short in Marathon (2026)
In Marathon (2026), you play as a gun.
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Reposted by Stephen Gillespie
Quick Save @quicksavepodcast.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
New Episode Claxon 🚨🚨🚨 Did Joe forget to post the episode from last week? No! Of course not! Unrelated, but tune in below to hear @joerichardswrites.bsky.social and @stephenage.bsky.social's shared thoughts on Metroid Prime:4 Beyond, and beyond. open.spotify.com/episode/7E9S...
open.spotify.com
Episode 12: Metroidvania-mania
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Reposted by Stephen Gillespie
Quick Save @quicksavepodcast.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
We really should have had an account set up sooner, but no time like the present, and at the start of the new year! Welcome to Quick Save, where @joerichardswrites.bsky.social and @stephenage.bsky.social talk games, sometimes. Every two weeks, or so, to be precise. Thank you for being here!
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Reposted by Stephen Gillespie
austin_walker @austinwalker.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
2. ian, you old dog, you old troll, you still got it.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Forget gaming’s Citizen Kane, with HORSES we finally have the medium’s Salo.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
The survival horror of Silent Hill: Homecoming is surviving the horrors of this busted PC port. It’s unstable, you have to guess what buttons to press (it gives a prompt for a button but doesn’t tell you which one) and the controller option in the game is entirely fictive.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Well, this Derry Girls spin off is certainly different.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Finally getting round to the Silent Hill games… these are GOOD.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
A delight to discuss Fuller with tremendous company!
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Silksong asks the question of ‘do you like down attacking onto small buds but you’ll also down attack at an angle?’ To which I answer, no, not really.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
When they do a definitive edition of The Old Country, they should just take out all the knife fights. This cutting content should be cut content.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
Early in The Old Country but really like the gunplay. You expect quick stop-and-pop cover shooting but guns take a moment to aim and steady. It’s more about lining up a shot in the right window to hit before your foe lines up theirs. Gives a really methodical pace to combat that fits cover shooting.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Having played through Mafia 1-3 this week, it’s such a fascinating series. The first is an of its time proof of concept, with good storytelling and fun set pieces — great atmosphere. The second elevates all of this. …
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Video game podcast time! The best takes on Death Stranding 2, Atomfall, THPS 3 + 4 and moooooore!! As always, with @joerichardswrites.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/5Lg6...
open.spotify.com
Episode 4: Stephen is a Sicko, Joe is Not
Quick Save · Episode
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
I’m behind on sharing stuff as I’ve been too busy. But.. here’s a video games podcast with Deltarune, Doom the Dark Ages and Mario Kart World… oh and to a T. The highlight though is a story of why I uninstalled Civilization 7. With @joerichardswrites.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/1p8S...
open.spotify.com
Episode 3: The One Where We Talk Deltarune (and Switch 2)
Quick Save · Episode
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
Finally getting round to Atomfall. Certainly the most Stephen game of the year. The hilarious amalgamation of British stereotypes that’s charmingly specific certainly appeals. However, this is S.T.A.L.K.E.R meets the open ended, emergent structure of Fallout 1 and 2. Precision tooled to my interests
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Thoughts on the, very sadly, deeply disappointing to a T stepprinted.com/to-a-t-serie...
stepprinted.com
to a T (Series X): An Admirable Failure from the Katamari Creator
Over the last couple of decades, game director Keita Takahashi has become one of the most interesting creatives in the medium. He's most famous for the superlative Katamari Damacy, though also cult de...
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
You can indeed do this.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
28 Years Later reminds us Garland is a better writer than he is a director… But still not a great writer.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Yes, you get some very raw and personal conversations inspired by The Rehearsal; yes, you get an in depth discussion of Wes Anderson’s distinct language of film… But we know you’re really here for the… CHICKEN JOCKEY. A Minecraft Movie, covered here. Next ep, Hurry Up Tomorrow. We treat you.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Well that’s all of Deltarune for now. The objective kindness vibe still slightly grates on me but it’s still a completely masterful game.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Playing through Deltarune. Those first two chapters are good to great but feel very much in line with what you expect. Finished chapter 3 yesterday and just adored it. Manically creative and full of swings; great blend of ideas and interactivity. So excited for what 4 brings.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Full thoughts on the — lightly underwhelming — new Doom game. stepprinted.com/doom-the-dar...
stepprinted.com
Doom: The Dark Ages (Series X): Rip-oste and Teareth
The two previous Doom games (Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal) from id Software are brilliant examples of cohesive design. The 2016 reboot took what was, at that point, an oversaturated and homogenised ge...
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
My thoughts on the truly excellent The Phoenician Scheme stepprinted.com/the-phoenici...
stepprinted.com
The Phoenician Scheme: Immaculate Chaos
Every line would be the funniest thing you’ve ever heard if not for every other line.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Here, I deconstruct the often brilliant, and often maddening, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. A game that persistently gets in its own way. stepprinted.com/clair-obscur...
stepprinted.com
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Series X): Always Parrying its Own Potential
The highs are high but the lows are low. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is persistent mix of satisfaction and disappointment, of potential and eventual failure. A great premise is thrown to the wayside, ...
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
I really hated the film Warfare. And here is why.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
Seeing as Lars Ulrich is one of the drummers on the Sinners score, can somebody re-edit the movie and add the St Anger snare, please? I will pay anything.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
The thing is, with tariffs the way they are, you gotta get a US pope if you want to be able to import Catholicism into the country.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Video game podcast!! A remaster, perhaps a remake, perhaps a reboot. Thoughts on Switch 2 announcement, Monster Hunter Wilds, Avowed, A Game About Digging a Hole, new Katamari, Like a Dragon… AND MORE.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Rumour has it that the Oblivion Remaster will only release when grey smoke comes out of the Vatican chimney.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
I have now hit credits on Blue Prince. Which led to the reveal I could have actually hit credits on the game a good 15 hours earlier but was just ignoring a room because I presumed there was more to it. In this time, I discovered so much more and the game blew my mind several times. A masterpiece.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
A review of the excellent Avowed from @obsidianent.bsky.social. Read it on Step Printed (and sign up to the newsletter to get this and more to your inbox).
stepprinted.com
Avowed (Series X): RPG Comfort Food with Flashes of Genius
This latest RPG from Obsidian feels very familiar. In reductive terms, it's an amalgamation of a lot of popular, modern Western RPGS. The first person perspective, with a focus on combat and explorati...
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Just solved a Blue Prince puzzle that reveals the rumoured Oblivion Remaster. Translate the 3rd letter of every 5th chess piece seen into Esperanto on the 7th of a month with 30 days, Patrick Stewart appears and says he knows you from his dreams. Anyway, the Dark Brotherhood quest is still great.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
I wrote a piece on Tetsuo the Iron Man for @stepprinted.com. You should read it. Yes. You. stepprinted.com/the-anarchic...
stepprinted.com
The Anarchic Realisation of Self in Tetsuo: The Iron Man
The mechanisation of work is presented as an extreme metaphor of the mechanisation of self, lost in a seductive moray of the industrial. Each machine is taken into the self, every new implement morphi...
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Another video game review for Step Printed! This time: A Game About Digging a Hole. Read how it does what it says on the tin and in doing so lightly critiques the medium as a way of actually spotlighting why games work. A dialectic on the ontology of games? Check. Digging a big ass hole? Check.
stepprinted.com
A Game About Digging a Hole (PC): A Review About a Video Game
You can just dig. Forget the sandbox, this is a mudbox: a limited environment but one that offers impressive freedom in specific restraints. It is an exercise in pure game mechanics where you have one...
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
I joined one of my favourite podcasters, @rafstitt.bsky.social, to talk about Brazil (a wonderful film)… and the whole… Terry Gilliam thing…
open.spotify.com
The Canon: An Essential Movies Watchlist
Podcast · ScreenAge Wasteland · Back in 2019, Screenage Wasteland launched 'The Canon' - a selection of over 200 films from the dawn of cinema to the present day - all of which we at the Wasteland con...
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Reposted by Stephen Gillespie
the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? just like me, they long to be fed & praised
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Any list with The Exigency on it is a good list. Read about @stepprinted.com’s best recent discoveries and revisits. stepprinted.com/february-202...
stepprinted.com
February 2025 Roundup
I should have finished this sooner. Let's not talk about it. Will my March article come out in a reasonable time? Stay tuned to find out. Though it would have been nice and neat to start a monthly ro...
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
I’m taking up the video games beat over at Step Printed. Read my review of Monster Hunter Wilds now! stepprinted.com/monster-hunt...
stepprinted.com
Monster Hunter Wilds (Series X): Refining the Kill at the Expense of the Hunt
2018's Monster Hunter: World felt like a realisation moment for the franchise. Though it streamlined certain elements, and while I'd personally still take the Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate over it, the e...
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Reposted by Stephen Gillespie
Bryan Loomis @bryanwhatapic.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
That's a wrap on the Sight and Sound 2022 Greatest Films of AlI Time Critics' Poll, and Season 1 of What a Picture! This week, we and friends are going through some favorites and superlatives, and announcing our Season 2 plans! Check it out
whatapicturepod.com
What a Picture Podcast
What a Picture is a movie podcast that goes through the Sight and Sound 100 Greatest Films of All Time Critics' Poll week by week and discusses what makes a great film great.
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Say hello to my Monster Hunter Wilds character, Lydia Tár
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
There’s a new Kitano film and you may not even know it. Check out @stepprinted.com’s review and sign up to the mailing list to keep the good words coming. stepprinted.com/broken-rage-...
stepprinted.com
Broken Rage: Monsieur Hulot's Hitman
Takeshi Kitano's films work so well not just because he's so good at balancing levity with sincerity, but because the way he balances them is so wonderfully subversive, always managing to find new way...
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Stephen Gillespie @stephenage.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Check out a review of a great film on a great website. Exciting times.
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Reposted by Stephen Gillespie
Tucker Hazell @tuckerhazell.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
@vicious696.bsky.social @godfree.bsky.social shooting my shot to help bring some visual energy to Gamertag Radio! I loved your interview with Phil today, and I'd love to use my graphic design skills to help you all with some thumbnail design for the show! Here's a quick mockup I made for GTR.
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