November can be a pretty stressful month for many. End-of-semester exams loom on the horizon, holiday preparations begin in earnest, and the chilly winds of winter start sweeping through, sapping energy and darkening moods. Everyone should have something they can turn to for relaxation during this hectic time of year, and for me, few things…
As a kid growing up in the late ’90s and early 2000s, I had a real penchant for dolls and action figures. From the diminutive, intricately detailed Polly Pocket sets to the large, hilariously misproportioned Bratz, I played with every humanoid toy I could get my greedy little hands on. Though maybe “play” is a…
When it comes to preparing video games for sale outside of the country of origin, one might assume that the most cumbersome obstacle localization teams must overcome to ensure success on the international market is translating the in-game text to other languages. But while this is a vitally important task, it is only one piece…
Who among us hasn’t indulged in a good, cheesy soap opera at least once in our lifetimes? Sure, we may not religiously follow the daily hijinks of those who populate the universes of Days of Our Lives and General Hospital (and if you do, you have far more patience than I ever will), but I…
Don’t panic. Just avoid eye contact, and eventually they’ll get bored and walk away. … … Oh! Hello, traveler. Sorry for not acknowledging you sooner, I didn’t see you standing there until just now. No, really – it’s true. Anyway, I hope you’ll forgive me for remaining silent; I am currently engaged in quiet meditation,…
“Swamp. Mountain. Ocean. Canyon. Hurry…the four who are there…bring them here!” Tael’s cryptic message, once little more than an enigmatic riddle plaguing the minds of our puzzled heroes, now echoes with stark clarity as Link sends out the clarion call to the four regions of Termina. Magenta clouds swirl anxiously in the pale azure sky,…
“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare presented us with this philosophical quandary over 400 years ago in Romeo and Juliet, with the play’s tragic heroine asserting that names are just meaningless monikers that don’t reflect people’s truest selves, and only serve to construct artificial barriers between one another. But I think this is a bit of…
“It’s dangerous to go alone.” These were the famous words spoken in The Legend of Zelda as the Old Man handed our hero a sword to combat the monsters. But over time, they have come to represent a far deeper truth: No man, not even the wielder of the Triforce of Courage, is an island.…
Back in late October, just a week shy of Halloween, the West Coast of the United States was alerted to the presence of an ominous meteorological phenomenon gradually approaching from the north. The term “bomb cyclone” splashed all across the news as the swirling storm loomed large on the horizon, and to complicate matters further,…
At this point in time, I believe that most of us are quite familiar with the opening sequence of Breath of the Wild. When our mute hero drowsily emerges from the Shrine of Resurrection into the piercing light of day, clad in humble peasant garb with a memory bank robbed of all its most precious…
If someone were to ask me which decade has had the strongest influence on my taste in pop culture, I wouldn’t hesitate for a single moment before launching into an enthusiastic rhapsody about the 1980s. I find the otherworldly neon aesthetic incredibly appealing, I proudly wear a magnetic Communicator Badge on my shirt to show…
One of the multitudinous reasons I thoroughly adore the Zelda series is that, despite all the thematic threads that draw the stories together into one cohesive saga, each game possesses its own distinct personality that allows it to stand out from the others. A Link to the Past is a brutally harrowing trek through a…
There’s a lot to be said for the open-world exploration mechanic that we have come to associate with, and expect from, the Zelda series. Dropping into the middle of a vast, sprawling landscape teeming with beauty, danger, and hidden secrets is absolutely exhilarating, especially when you have no clear destination and must carve out a…
Five strikes of the sonorous clock tower bell thunder across the landscape, and a shroud of spine-chilling dread drapes itself across the reluctant shoulders of every person who has risen to greet this most sinister of days. All is enveloped in an impossibly thick fog of mystery, so swollen with eerie tension that one can…
One thing you should know about me is that no matter how much praise and enthusiasm I may heap upon a work of art, I will try to avoid labeling it as a “masterpiece” without good cause. To me, a true masterpiece is an incredibly rare treasure that defies artistic analysis, transcending our restrictive standards…
