Tag: listicles

Retro Horror Games on Sidequest

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

My annual roundup of free-to-play retro horror games on Itch.io is now on Sidequest. There’s a gritty mix of fresh blood and decayed favorites in this year’s creepypixel harvest, from the recent haunted forest simulator Bloodbark to the Tumblr-favorite Flesh, Blood, & Concrete to the first game created by Deltarune artist Temmie Chang, Escaped Chasm.

You can check out the post here:
https://sidequest.zone/2025/10/15/retro-horror-games-on-itchio/

And there’s also my lists from October 2024 and October 2023, which are somehow even more liminal and retro.

I’m overjoyed to have commissioned a banner illustration from the shining Teller-of-Tragedies, who shares gorgeous and immersive dreamcore pixel art on Tumblr (here) and on Instagram (here).

Video Game Sewers on Sidequest

~ Kathryn ~ Leave a comment

I love video game sewer levels! I understand that not many people share my fascination with creepy underground tunnels, so I wrote an article for Sidequest to share my appreciation of the hidden mysteries and strange beauty of video game sewers. Here’s an excerpt:

A common complaint regarding sewer levels holds that the uniformity of their twisting corridors acts as an excuse for developers to create a generic maze with a minimum of effort. If designed with creativity, however, slight variations in an otherwise uniform environment can have a heightened effect, especially if the design of the sewers subtly reflects the layout of the city above.

A perpetual rain falls on the ruined City of Tears in Hollow Knight, and this water flows into the Royal Waterways below. At the edges of the settlement, the sewer channels are falling apart and choked with debris. Directly under the city, however, the rainwater pools into gentle streams whose luminescence casts soft shadows of light onto the darkness of the tunnel walls.

You can read the full piece on Sidequest here:
https://sidequest.zone/2025/03/03/video-game-sewers/

Sidequest Article on Fantasy America

~ Kathryn ~ 3 Comments

I often write about Japanese culture in video games, so I thought it might be fun to explore how Japanese games represent American culture. I’m a fan of thematically curated lists, which can help draw parallels and comparisons that invite deeper investigation.

Here in February 2025, it’s a weird time in the United States. To say that we’re living through a crisis of national identity feels like an understatement. The piece I wrote for Sidequest isn’t political, but I still found it interesting and meaningful that Japanese fantasies of the United States are incredibly diverse. In fact, I might even say that “diversity” is a major aspect of the appeal of America as a video game setting.

You can check out the piece on Sidequest here:
🍔 https://sidequest.zone/2025/02/10/five-japanese-games-set-in-fantasy-america/