Sidequest

11/07/2025

Welcome back to Postgame, Sidequest’s monthly-ish podcast where the editors lay down hot takes on cold games. This month, Maddi and Melissa, the two least qualified people for this topic, discuss escapism in games. What is it? Can we do it successfully? What is a Nut Sort-like?

Listen to the full episode at https://sidequest.zone/2025/07/08/postgame-30-orbs-that-make-you-evil/

09/07/2025

"Droege notes that today’s youth are 'a generation of people who don’t even understand the word ‘gamer,’ because it’s so out of the ordinary to find someone who doesn’t fit in that box. The greatest poets of that generation, whenever they arise, will have some stories to tell about pixels and survival modes, and they won’t even separate them from all the poems about love and family and beauty and pain, because they never weren’t swimming in the world of games.'" — Katherine Quevedo

Read more in Level Up Your Poetry, Part 7: An Editor’s Point of View: https://sidequest.zone/2025/04/28/level-up-your-poetry-part-7-an-editors-point-of-view/

09/07/2025

In this month's cosy gaming news: upcoming magical cosy games announcements, plus Paralives gets an early access release date....

In this month's cosy gaming news: upcoming magical cosy games announcements, plus Paralives gets an early access release date.

08/07/2025

Maddi and Melissa, the two people least likely to use games for escapism, sit down to discuss escapism in games....

Maddi and Melissa, the two people least likely to use games for escapism, sit down to discuss escapism in games.

07/07/2025

"Could we have made a different decision if we knew how quickly and severely we’d be affected? Even if we knew, would we have done anything differently? The answers fall within the realm of speculation, but Crow Country steps up to the challenge by offering a viscerally concrete scenario to explore these questions." — Kathryn Hemmann

Read more in Crow Country Is a Game About Climate Change: https://sidequest.zone/2025/04/22/crow-country-climate-change/

05/07/2025

"Whereas in other routes, Seven was the silly, ridiculous, crossdressing, probably q***r weirdo who hacked things and hid his serious side, his route shows him to have much more depth than that. Fully learning Seven’s backstory—hinted at in other routes—puts his story in a tragic but also hopeful light, also enriching the larger world in Mystic Messenger." — Naseem Jamnia

Read more in Mystic Messenger Trash: Storytelling Choices in Seven’s Route: https://sidequest.zone/2019/03/25/mystic-messenger-trash-storytelling-choices-in-sevens-route/

03/07/2025

"Though cussing and homophobic slurs are, unfortunately, part and parcel of the online gaming space (which is not to say they should be, only that they are), hearing a dead actor’s voice speak them without his express consent is… ghoulish? Gross? Disgusting?" — Melissa Brinks

Read more in GYGO Mobile Games: A Fortnight’s Worth of Fortnite News: https://sidequest.zone/2025/06/11/gygo-mobile-games-a-fortnights-worth-of-fortnite-news/

30/06/2025

This month in mobile games news: a Fortnite/Apple roller-coaster, that may—MAY—bring the conflict to an end. Plus, Roblox is still weird....

This month in mobile games news: a Fortnite/Apple roller-coaster, that may—MAY—bring the conflict to an end. Plus, Roblox is still weird.

27/06/2025

“As is true with anything, write towards the feeling—the feeling you have (or had) while playing the game, the heartbeats of the characters, the air and light of the world, the strange hinges of the narrative structure, the joy and frustration and nostalgia and curiosity: all of it. Games speak to us, to our experiences as human beings, just as much as any art form—so give yourself permission to write about them that way, with total sincerity, with total respect, and with total enthusiasm. There are people out there who want to feel that with you!”

—Gwendolyn Maia Hicks

Read more from Katherine Quevedo's interviews with video game poets: https://sidequest.zone/2025/04/14/level-up-your-poetry-part-6-advice-from-other-poets/

21/06/2025

"Even as scientists and citizen groups work to curtail climate change, its effects are inevitable. Shifts in weather patterns, migrating population centers, and environment-related health issues have become unavoidable. This situation necessitates a reconsideration of the effects of environmental change on the human body. How do we make our peace with 'monsters' in a way that doesn’t involve violently disposing of outliers?" — Kathryn Hemmann

Read more in The Optimistic Fungal Horror of Ender Lilies at https://sidequest.zone/2024/09/05/ender-lilies-fungal-horror

19/06/2025

Let Cress tell you of the joys of brewing beer in Ale Abbey, a simulation game in early access now!

https://sidequest.zone/2025/04/21/from-hops-to-high-heaven-a-review-of-ale-abbey/

16/06/2025

We want you! Sidequest is always looking for new contributors for a variety of games-related writing: news, criticism, interviews, opinion, reviews, you name it. We're also looking for somebody to help us manage our social media—could it be you? Reach out to our email at [email protected] to chat!