On Video Games
James MargarisVideo game analysis and criticism from a game developer
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Infrequently |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 27 | Founded | 5 years ago | Last Issue | 3 months ago |
| Active | |||||
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jmargaris.substack.comLatest Issues
On The Value of Fresh Eyes
I recently played the invite-only demo1 for upcoming game Poly Fighter and had some thoughts - 28 pages of thoughts.
I’m not going to discuss the writeup itself in depth — you can read it if you’re so inclined. But I’ll touch on my mindset...
Monster Hunter Wilds was a Huge Miss and Other 2025 Thoughts
Welcome to a set of selected topics themed around 2025. All worth discussing, but not worth spamming inboxes with seven different posts. Those topics are:
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Monster Hunter Wilds is My Most Disappointing Game of the Year
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The Video Ga...
On the Strengths and (Many) Weaknesses of "Fulfilling the Player Fantasy"
I like to push back.
I believe it serves a valuable function against omnipresent and overrated concepts, and also it’s just my nature. As such I planned on writing a pointed takedown of “fulfilling the player fantasy” as a game design con...
2XKO's Control Scheme is Not It
Writing about games I haven’t played, that are unreleased, and that I’m negative on is admittedly a bit unfair.
But I often cover control issues. I’ve touched on controls in fighting games a few times, including in Quarter Circle Forward:...
What I Learned From Expedition 33
In my last post I talked industry takeaways from Expedition 33, with a focus on business and production issues.
In that post I wrote:
Video game business advice is typically paired with “of course you have to make a great game”, but wit...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
I've worked as a game developer as both an indie developer and major-publisher employee for 15+ years
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