VOLUME 6, ISSUE 1 (JANUARY 2026)
The Wounds That Never Healed: Videoludic Trauma in Cry of Fear
by Samuel Poirier-Poulin
This article offers a conceptualization of trauma in horror video games, arguing that games can cut across the reality/fiction divide, deeply affect the emotional organization of the player, and leave them with wounds that take time to heal. More specifically, it develops the idea that Cry of Fear (Team Psykskallar, 2013) can induce a form of trauma in the player by putting them in horrifying and intense situations.
Character Affectivity in Newton and the Apple Tree
by Henri M. Nerg
This paper studies character affectivity and temporality in the Japanese visual novel Newton and the Apple Tree (Laplacian, 2017). The paper analyzes different affects and emotions that game characters evoke in players. Importantly, affect is understood here as a neuropsychological concept.
Black Sun in the Land of Shadow: DLCs and Textual Depletion in Shadow of the Erdtree (2024)
by Max Coombes
This article explores the relationship between downloadable content (DLC) and base games in producing ‘lack’ in the player and text, using Shadow of the Erdtree (2024) as its focus.
Investigating Development Crunch in Games and its Impact on Creative Expression
by Shaif Hemraj
This article explores the often negative and detrimental relationship between “crunch” and creative expression and synthesizes academic and industry conversations into a serious game prototype, Game Maker Mayhem
by Jéssica Iolanda Costa Bispo
Considering the historical reality of Victorian asylums, this article explores Alice: Madness Returns, as it encourages a critical look at these institutions through the lens of neo-Victorianism, demonstrating a potentiality for reinterpreting the Victorian historical narrative.
Goblins for Slaughter: The Perpetuation of Racism and Classism in Baldur’s Gate 3
by Benjamin J.M. Horn
This article explores how Baldur’s Gate 3 has perpetuated Victorian-era racism and classism. To demonstrate this, the article discusses current literature on racism and monstrosity, delves into the history of the goblin, and conducts a close reading of Baldur’s Gate 3’s first act.
Journal of Games Criticism 