Salon

Analyzing How Traditional Roles Reinforce or Subvert Real-World Norms At first glance, Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) are fantastical escapes—worlds of magic swords, floating islands, and heroic destinies. But beneath the spell effects and turn-based battles, JRPGs often serve as mirrors to real-world social structures. Through character classes, gendered archetypes, and narrative roles, these games engage…

In games packed with spells, stats, skill trees, and sweeping cinematic arcs, it’s easy to overlook the humble inventory screen. But behind those grids and item lists lies a system as psychologically potent as any boss fight or branching dialogue tree. Inventory management—particularly when space is limited—does more than challenge a player’s organizational skills. It…

In most games, we accept a quiet contract: mechanics are abstract, and characters are oblivious to them. A turn-based system doesn’t exist for the hero—it exists for us. Cooldowns, stat screens, and hit points are tools for the player, not truths of the world. But some games challenge that norm. They make the mechanics diegetic—a…

In the grand tapestry of role-playing games, players are often drawn to the spectacle: dramatic plot twists, epic boss battles, or world-altering decisions. But beneath the main story lies another narrative current—quieter, slower, often entirely optional. It lives in conversations between allies, bonds between comrades, and those tucked-away moments where no one’s saving the world—they’re…

In the sprawling worlds of modern role-playing games (RPGs), combat isn’t the only battleground. Behind every sword swing and spell cast, many players are silently strategizing another outcome: Who can I romance? How do I unlock their story? Will they love me back? Romance systems—mechanics that allow players to form romantic or emotional relationships with…

What Turn-Based Systems Reveal About Player Cognition and Control In a gaming landscape dominated by real-time action and split-second reflexes, turn-based combat stands apart—not as a relic of the past, but as a deliberate design philosophy rooted in thoughtfulness, control, and intentionality. While some players deride turn-based games as slow or outdated, others find in…

Exploring Memorization as a Form of Player Progression The “Soulslike” genre is notorious. Not simply for its difficulty, but for the way that difficulty is framed, delivered, and most crucially—learned. In games inspired by Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, progression rarely comes from character level alone. It’s not just your stats that increase—it’s your memory….

Analyzing How Level Layout Functions as Narrative Delivery In isometric strategy games—where the camera looks down on meticulously arranged tiles and units like a god with a clipboard—storytelling is typically associated with dialogue trees, world lore, or faction politics. But beneath the surface text lies something more elemental, more embedded: the space itself. Level layout…

What ‘Player Choice’ Actually Offers in Complex Narrative Games Video games are often lauded for granting players what other narrative forms cannot: agency. Unlike books or films, games allow us to shape the story—or so we’re told. We can choose to spare or slay, to romance or reject, to obey or rebel. In the lexicon…