Heavy Rain: Revisited

September 18, 2021By Marcel KeurentjesBlog Posts, Games We Dig

Marcel recently revisited a game he had played seven years ago: Heavy Rain. Back then, it’s ability to have players choose how the story would unfold was very new and revolutionary. Skip to seven years later, and there have been more and more narrative driven games where the player gets to influence the narrative. How does Heavy Rain hold up to modern standards? Before you read: Heavy spoiler alert. We’ve tried to hide the biggest plot-twists, but we cannot hide them all. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Videogames and Global Power Inequalities

May 23, 2021By Marcel KeurentjesBlog Posts, In Depth

Video games are a global phenomenon. As discussed on this website before, many Western made video games propagate certain tropes and prejudices about non-Western cultures and histories. Even though there is a large world of non-Western developers, they seem unable to challenge the Western-dominated field. Marcel Keurentjes analysed this inequality of power in video game development in his Master Thesis at Leiden University. This piece is a summarized version of his work.