22 indie games to look forward to in 2022
Polygon · 7 minThe exciting, innovative world of indie games.
Gaming
Curated by our editorsStories to fuel your mind
The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US
WIRED · 20 minAfter falling in love with an obscure anime rhythm game, I became obsessed with obtaining a machine of my own—or finding the people who could.
These are the video game studios leading the charge for a four-day workweek
The Verge · 10 minSome game companies are spearheading the idea that employees should work less rather than more.
Black Hair in Video Games Is Terrible. These 3D Artists Are Changing That.
VICE · 7 minThe Open Source Afro Hair Library, slated to launch on Juneteenth 2023, will be the gaming world’s first free database of 3D-modeled Black hairstyles.
What to Read About Wordle—While Everybody’s Still Talking About It
PocketThe backstory behind the massively popular online word game, plus tips, tricks, and appreciations for the puzzler that won the internet this month.
Popular with Pocket readersStories from across the web
The 15 best video games of 2021
The Guardian · 6 min15 WildermythA genuinely inventive tactical role-playing adventure that uses procedural generation to allow for player-created stories, all taking place in a fantasy world constructed from luscious papercraft set-pieces – like a digital board game.
These Are the 10 Best Video Games We Played in 2021
Bloomberg · 5 minIt’s time to talk about the top games of 2021, but first... It’s a miracle when any video game is finished. But during the age of Covid? Every developer who successfully shipped a game this year deserves at least a couple of statues. Especially when they turned out to be great.
Polygon’s 50 most anticipated games of 2022
Polygon · 20 minIf you’re reading this, congratulations: You made it to 2022. It certainly wasn’t easy, but some of 2021’s best games helped us get through another 365 days of ups and downs. While 2021 was another rough year for just about everything and everyone, many of us found refuge in games.
The 9 Games We Loved in 2021
WIRED · 9 minit has been, once again, a year. Set aside the pandemic and you still had the chip shortage, console resellers, and the seemingly never-ending saga of Activision Blizzard.
The 10 best video games coming in 2022
The Guardian · 3 min(Xbox One/Series S/Series X, PlayStation 4/5, PC) The long-awaited fantasy epic from Dark Souls’ creators FromSoftware, with narrative input from George RR Martin.
Analogue Pocket review: Game Boy games have never looked so good
The Verge · 7 minFor the last week or so, I’ve been buried in cartridges from my youth. I’ve spent hours slicing through cute blue slimes in Dragon Warrior III and reacquainting myself with a decades-old team of monsters in Pokémon Yellow.
What the Activision Blizzard deal means for game devs and platforms
Polygon · 7 minSo, what does Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard really mean for regular game developers — and game platforms? Well, firstly — it’s fractally complex. No one deal like this is transformative, and no one deal can significantly hasten the path to “the future.”
The Fall and Rise of Real-Time Strategy Games
WIRED · 8 minThere was a time, not long ago, when real-time strategy (RTS) games ruled the world. StarCraft emerged out of the '90s as the world's most prestigious esport. The game's first sequel, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, sold over 3 million copies in its first month on the market.
Would you play a video game for 500 hours?
The Guardian · 4 minIn the winter of 1996, I almost lost my job because of the acclaimed management sim Civilization II. I was supposed to be reviewing it for the video game magazine Edge, where I was a fledgling staff writer. But I got so hooked, playing it was all I did for three weeks.
Watch the world's greatest spreadsheet sorcerers throw down in the World Cup of Microsoft Excel
PC Gamer · 2 minMove over, nerds: The geeks have arrived. This weekend is the esports tournament you didn't know about, but are going to love: The Financial Modeling World Cup. In the contest, competitors from around the world solve real-life financial case studies by building models in Microsoft Excel.
Wildermyth is the video game miracle of 2021
Polygon · 4 minA year after video game director Ken Levine launched BioShock Infinite, his studio, Irrational Games, effectively closed. The video game industry tends to be a disaster like that. Big successes, bigger collapses, razor-thin windows for financial survival.
8 great games for your new 2021 Xbox
The Verge · 6 minIf you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
Nostalgic gaming: how playing the video games of your youth reconnects you to yourself
The Guardian · 7 minNick Bowman gestures to the old-fashioned gaming consoles littering his desk. Bowman, an associate professor of journalism and creative media industries at Texas Tech University, has a vast collection of consoles and hundreds of cartridges and discs.
The Best Indie Games You May Have Missed in 2021
WIRED · 7 minSometimes it’s all about the journey. Over the past decade, indie developers introduced us to the voices (and hamsters) living inside their heads. In 2021, they demonstrated how complete bodies of work can hit new highs in innovation when everything clicks.
This 8-bit processor built in Minecraft can run its own games
PCWorld · 2 minComputer chips have become so tiny and complex that it’s sometimes hard to remember that there are real physical principles behind them. They aren’t just a bunch of ever-increasing numbers.
These Four Video Games Are Fun for the Whole Family
The New York Times · 7 minFacing time indoors again for the winter, and with the possibility of more time together with loved ones this year, our team was thinking about what we’d recommend for people looking for video games to enjoy with their kids, cousins, nieces, nephews, and grandkids of all ages.
The Matrix Resurrections has an incredibly smart take on showing video games in movies
The Verge · 4 minMovies and TV have a notoriously tough time depicting video games. They tend toward presenting games as either generic arcade titles or as impossibly full-featured virtual realities, neither of which captures the typical experience of playing one.