Various Games Featured Games We Played in 2022 🎮 Danielle, Sam, and Red Angel discuss the games they played in 2022. This was broadcast live on Twitch. To watch live, you can follow Level Story by visiting https://twitch.tv/levelstory. Find Sam YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/gamesasliterature Twitter: https://twitter.com/gamesaslit Twitch: https://www.twitch.
State of Level Story Featured The State of Level Story, 2022 2022 was another slow year for Level Story. Since the start of 2021, I've struggled a lot with burnout and general creativity. It was because of this that Level Story was put on an indefinite hold. Taking a break was the best thing I could have done. After months away,
The Last of Us Part I Featured The Last of Us Pt.1 Discussion David and Danielle have spent a huge amount of time with The Last of Us Part 1 (2022) and dig into the new ideas it sparked, why it exists at all, and dig around at the themes of the original that are crystalized in the remake.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses Featured How I Fell in Love with Fire Emblem: Three Houses I fell in love with Fire Emblem: Three Houses last year, and I want to talk about my journey from being the person with zero interest to the person who would give up my life for my war children.
Various Games Games We Played in 2021 It is generally agreed upon by Danielle, Sam, and Red Angel that 2021 was a less than stellar year. But gaming was great. Final Fantasy took up a good chunk of our time, with Red finally completing her first with FFX and Sam getting sucked into FFXIV. Although Danielle did
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Featured Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the second installment in the Uncharted series and was released in 2009 to commercial and critical success, considered the magnum opus of the trilogy before the fourth entry. My feelings on the first Uncharted are mixed. The underwhelming story and repetitive shooting galleries pull me
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is an action adventure platformer with heavy third-person shooter elements. The game originally released in 2007 for the Playstation 3, and was later remastered for the Playstation 4 in The Nathan Drake Collection. The game is standard fodder for its era: the player platforms to a
Eyewear Cleaner 2077 Featured Queer & Rebellious: An Interview with Naomi “Bez” Norbez Naomi “Bez” Norbez wants to challenge people’s ideologies with his new game. Naomi “Bez” Norbez writes stories that aim to educate people. He has been making interactive fiction games for six years and has over 30 games under his belt, most of which tackle abuse or depression and how
Various Games Games We Played in 2020 Red Angel joins Danielle and Sam again as they discuss the games they played in 2020. Conversation points include: SkateBIRD will always be game of the year every year, all conversations somehow lead back to Jurassic World, and Danielle’s childhood dentist had an N64 in their waiting room. All
The Last of Us: Left Behind Ellie Coming of Age When it comes to the character of Ellie, Left Behind offers a unique perspective on the coming of age narrative. It is a core theme of the game and offers a lens for the player to better understand Ellie’s character. Left Behind is a small game that packs a
The Last of Us Breaking Down the Ending of The Last of Us According to a Metacritic poll released at the beginning of 2020, The Last of Us was voted to be the game of the decade.2 Although this vote does not speak for the games industry or gamers as a whole, it was still considered to be a very significant achievement
The Last of Us Making Familiar Tropes New Big triple-A games look the same, let’s be honest. When I’m watching previews it often feels like one game being duplicated over and over and over again. They feature a hero, often male, dressed in some sort of military garb, drab environments, and dull colors to reflect the
The Last of Us Joel’s Broken Watch “Here. You kept complaining about your broken watch, so I figured, you know. Do you like it?” This line of dialogue is among the first moments of The Last of Us. Sarah, Joel’s daughter, buys him a watch after his broke some time ago and he hadn’t yet
The Last of Us Who is the Real Enemy? The Last of Us does not have a clear villain. In video games, villains translate to being the final boss who functions as a means for the player to witness the game’s climax and test their skills with the game. The lack of a final boss in The Last
Celeste When a Game Isn’t Fun Last year, I replayed the game Life is Strange in order to reacquaint myself with the story to write about it for Level Story Magazine. I was not too excited going into the game, having disliked much of it on my first play-through. But playing it a second time was
Celeste Harmony Between Story and Gameplay LUDONARRATIVE DISSONANCE Ludonarrative dissonance is a lens through which to talk about video games that is thrown around a lot these days in the general discourse surrounding the medium. Since Level Story is a magazine all about story in video games, the subject was bound to be brought up at
Celeste Madeline Vs. Herself Most conflict in stories can be broken down into a character versus blank scenario. There is character versus nature (Into the Wild), character versus character (Les Misérables), and character versus society (First Reformed, Catcher in the Rye, the Hunger Games). Celeste is an example of the character versus self conflict.
Celeste Music in Celeste The music in Celeste is very good…but you probably didn’t need me to tell you that. Anyone who has played the game can attest to this statement. Composed by Lena Raine, the score beautifully supports the narrative and tells a story within the music. The game has a
Not a Game Frozen 2 Initial Review A sequel to Frozen has always seemed inevitable. When it was announced, I will admit to not being very excited. Sure I like Frozen well enough but in terms of it being any good or not usually places me on the middle of the seesaw. But after seeing the second
Life is Strange Needs More Gay: Life is Strange’s Troubling Relationship with Queer Representation There are two things that were readily apparent, based on internet conversation, about Life is Strange when it was being released: It was a gay romance and it had time travel. The premise is appealing, particularly since queer representation in video games isn’t all that prevalent. Certainly queer people
Life is Strange Subverting the Coming of Age Narrative The coming of age narrative is very popular among audiences, and for good reason. Most, if not all, people will experience the transition from childhood to adulthood and the loss of innocence that comes with that. Often times the coming of age story is intertwined with the schoolboy narrative, where
Life is Strange Re-Framing Heroism: Make Chloe a Hero Too Life is Strange struggles with telling a solid, cohesive narrative. Though there are several elements that work well and are executed nicely, the story fails to come together in the end and apply the themes it has presented in a satisfying way. One of the core themes of the game
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Another Side, Another Story The art of adaptation is a task more accurately equated with walking a tightrope than riding a bike. Translating ideas from one medium to another is never easy, though in many cases this process becomes a comedy of errors with corporate meddling and lazy decision making in order to make
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Once Upon a Time After the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, the internet was inundated with fans and newcomers streaming and experiencing the game. One such streamer was a newcomer to the series, aided with the help of revolving commentators who had prior experience with the games. The conversation eventually came to an interesting
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Simple & Clean The Kingdom Hearts series is notorious for being labeled convoluted when it comes to its narrative. The label is both fair and unfair and is something to be explored once the magazine approaches later games. But what stands out about Kingdom Hearts 1 is that despite the poor exposition and
