Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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This video takes a look at Descenders—a curious little title that I tried out on Game Pass on a whim. I'm so glad I did, because Descenders is quickly becoming a new favourite of mine that I'd highly recommend you try out if you have access to Microsoft's subscription platform. A delightfully pure mechanical core allowing for a procedural-but-structured experience that allows you to take things on your own terms; simultaneously deeply relaxing and utterly terrifying in its sheer speed.
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Text intro animation by Isaac Holland - twitter.com/drazgames
The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: https://skl.sh/writingongames07211
Support the show on Patreon - patreon.com/writingongames
Podcast - http://anchor.fm/writingongamescast
Second Channel - youtube.com/channel/UC1xxfS_HILi09yaELQdmV1A
---
This video takes a look at Descenders—a curious little title that I tried out on Game Pass on a whim. I'm so glad I did, because Descenders is quickly becoming a new favourite of mine that I'd highly recommend you try out if you have access to Microsoft's subscription platform. A delightfully pure mechanical core allowing for a procedural-but-structured experience that allows you to take things on your own terms; simultaneously deeply relaxing and utterly terrifying in its sheer speed.
---
Text intro animation by Isaac Holland - twitter.com/drazgames



![How the Meaning of Vanquish (and Spec Ops: The Line) Changed
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Vanquish was recently re-released on PC to the delight of the cult following it has developed since 2010. Whilst the experience has remained largely unchanged, however, as a whole it meant something very different to me now than it did back then; all because of the new context under which I was playing it.
This also got me thinking about games whose themes rely on context to convey meaning. Spec Ops: The Line turns five in June, and yet the industry it was furiously reacting against has changed dramatically since then. In this episode of Writing on Games then, I want to explore just how much a shift in context can have on the meaning of a game, and what this means for the future of our medium.
Nier Automata & How We Define Meaning in Video Games (SPOILERS) - [game array] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNjJ8skeG1g
Why Sledgehammers founders wanted to take Call of Duty back to World War 2 (VentureBeat) - https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/26/why-sledgehammers-founders-wanted-to-take-call-of-duty-back-to-world-war-ii/
EA turns horrors of WWI into tone-deaf Battlefield 1 memes, quickly deletes them (Polygon) - https://www.polygon.com/2016/10/31/13478344/battlefield-1-ea-deleted-tweets-marketing
Call of Duty WW2/Infinite Warfare footage from Activision
Battlefield One/Army of Two footage from EA
Far Cry 5/Rainbow Six Siege footage from Ubisoft
Gears of War footage from Microsoft
Bayonetta footage from Sega
Devil May Cry 4 footage from Thunder Kat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CcQEW8bjlk
50 Cent Blood on the Sand footage from gamesoverdose - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qADNFcVQ4c
Thank you all SO much for your continued support. Whether you support the Patreon, subscribed or just watch the video, I just want to say thank you—people like you are changing my life for the better every day. How the Meaning of Vanquish (and Spec Ops: The Line) Changed](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BvTGmRedBqQ/mqdefault.jpg)






