Into The Spine

Original illustration by Samantha Greer Recommended read: It Eats Planets From the author: None of us are free until all of us are free. Free Palestine Absolum is a game about resistance, just as much as it’s a game all about beating the hell out of monsters and bandits through many side-scrolling stages.

Uncertainty looms over the Dreamer’s final days before the Ceremony in Many Nights a Whisper. 10 years of your life dedicated to landing a shot to light the Chalice, an action that could potentially fulfill the wishes of a whole town. What keeps you awake at night is not the day itself, but what will come next. On the eve of the Ceremony, your mom, whom you’ve not seen in a decade, lets you take her wish as your own.

Ihave always held a passing interest in cosplay. When I was a child, I went to Percy Jackson fan meetings, confused yet supportive parents in tow, wearing outfits inspired by tertiary cast members just because they looked easy to do. As an adult, I hang out at nerdy cons open to the public and still point and call out when I see someone dressed as a character I know. In 2024, after graduating from college, I became an unpaid game journalist.

Serenity Hart kneels in Old Gridania, just near the Greatloam Growery, where the flowers bloom in clusters of white, red, and gold. He wears his Aerith tribute proudly: a red blouse with a cropped jacket, a pink shin-length skirt, brown boots, and a matching ribbon tucked into a braided ponytail. He prays among the petals, unbothered by the monsters that roam too far to reach him. Twelve years of trial and error brought him here.

For my 25th birthday, I dressed up as my Sims character. My body was covered in red body paint, and I wore a greenish-blue wig. My best friend drew colorful tattoos on my skin with face paint, replicating the quirky designs I used to give my Sims. It was the best birthday party I’ve ever had. Surrounded by friends and family, I felt the kind of joy that used to feel unattainable — a stark contrast to where I had been just a few years prior. At 21, my life spiraled out of control.

In Papers, Please, a guard named Sergiu Volda falls in love with a woman from Kolechia, Elisa Katsenja. The couple seeks to reunite in Arstotzka, but she lacks the required documents. Sergiu asks me, an officer working at the border, if I can let her pass the checkpoint, and I accept his request simply because I don’t want to add more frustration to this already gloomy world.

Editor’s note: Spoilers for Paranormasight’s opening hours to follow. Several days after my birthday in early 2023, a review code found its way into my inbox. It was for Square Enix’s new mystery-adventure Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. Considering this happened amidst a busy work period as press, I didn’t expect to be able to afford too much time on it. A fourth-wall break moment early on, however, quickly changed my mind.

I was already hooked on the story from the previous chapter, excitedly clicking on the next one to see the end of that story before moving onto the next book. And there it was; that one dialogue that made me turn off the auto-playing feature in Reverse: 1999. “Don’t forget me… Don’t forget my heartbeat on the right,” she said. While I may not be an avid gamer, I like watching walkthroughs on YouTube.

In 2002, a ballistic Hail Mary port from Sega lands Sonic Adventure 2 in the hands of kids whose parents asked the Circuit City guy which console has the least violent games. In 2002, I’m the sort of girl who’s too old to wipe her nose on her sleeves but does it anyway. There’s a vast and murky expanse of river between 11 and 12 and I’m still stood on the bank catching frogs. There’s a sister, younger but somehow not, and a baby we didn’t ask for.

The thing that excites me most about art is specificity. Small truths which can only come from lived experience. Sorry We’re Closed was a dangerously potent dose of specificity. Set amidst the impoverished (though naturally stylish) queer scene of London, where angelic and demonic forces clash, and being single means being trapped in a survival horror game. For anyone dating in 2024, romance and horror are hardly surprising bedfellows.