Adam Kranz
Bugsnax Review
Conceptually, Bugsnax is a game that in many ways feels made especially for me. For one thing, it’s a spiritual successor to Pokemon that...
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The Erlking in the Godswood
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Adam Kranz
Nov 27, 20205 min read
We are not the virus. We are gallformers.
Environmentalism is built on a paradox. Since Darwin, we’ve known that humans are a seamless extension of the evolutionary tree of life....
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Adam Kranz
Jul 15, 20206 min read
A Retrospective Re-review of William Catton's Overshoot
All of the major 20th century overpopulation writers—Paul Ehrlich, Garrett Hardin, and William Catton—leaned heavily on the appeal to...
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Adam Kranz
Jun 15, 201912 min read
Confronting bad historiography in my favorite environmental writers
One of my friends shared an article last week that gives me a good opportunity to talk about something I've been thinking about a lot...
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Adam Kranz
Mar 19, 20177 min read
Nioh Review
TL;DR: Nioh boasts the best Soulslike combat currently available, but uses it for a repetitive (if satisfying) loot grind. Its Japanese...
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Adam Kranz
Jan 13, 20173 min read
Betrayer Review
Since Jesse Bullington’s amazing medieval horror-fantasy novels, and particularly since The VVitch, I’ve been desperate for more colonial...
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Adam Kranz
Aug 26, 20164 min read
A Star Reckoner's Lot Review
I received an ARC of this book from the author, Darrell Drake. A Star Reckoner’s Lot is an ambitious work of historical fiction funded by...
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Adam Kranz
Aug 20, 20166 min read
Historical Systems in Games: Endless Legend Review
I’ve spent much of my idle time in the past few months thinking and reading about historicism in fantasy. Several articles and many more...
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Adam Kranz
Aug 9, 20167 min read
Whose History is Actually "Realistic?"
Early this year, I was seized by the compulsion to respond to a string of interview quotes given on a rather old controversy in the...
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Adam Kranz
Aug 8, 20164 min read
Miasmata Review
Miasmata opens by dropping you onto a forest island with nothing but a watch, a compass, a notebook, and the plague. Your goal is to...
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Adam Kranz
Jul 31, 20165 min read
Paul Kingsnorth and the Landscape POV Novel
Paul Kingsnorth is fascinating and consternating to me. He represents the closest British answer to Derrick Jensen, insofar as he’s an...
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Adam Kranz
Jul 22, 20168 min read
Nihilist Games: What's New About Grimdark?
Grimdark fantasy has always caught flak for its purported “nihilism” and shock-value violence. But fantasy fans slightly older than me...
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Adam Kranz
Jun 4, 20164 min read
Stop Saying "There were no dragons in medieval Europe"
There’s an argument about “gritty” fantasy you’ve probably heard before. Sometimes it’s about race and racism, sometimes about gender and...
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Adam Kranz
Feb 3, 201610 min read
Braid's Ecofeminist Princess
Braid was released in 2008 to critical acclaim, and it quickly attained a privileged place in the narrative of indie games. As such, it’s...
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Adam Kranz
Jan 16, 20165 min read
The Postmodern Epistemology of Dark Souls
This the second part of a series on the postmodern philosophical ideas in the Souls games, using Dark Souls as the chief example. The...
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Adam Kranz
Jan 16, 20168 min read
The Postmodern Moral Philosophy of Dark Souls
Warning: Dark Souls spoilers. Just go play it, what are you waiting for, ugh. N.B. I'll be talking about Dark Souls as a case study...
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Adam Kranz
Nov 29, 201513 min read
The Ruins of Fantasy
Ruins are iconic elements of the modern fantasy landscape, from long-abandoned fortresses of ancient civilizations to massive underground...
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Adam Kranz
Aug 29, 20159 min read
The Cosmic Horror of Medieval Medicine in Dark Souls 2
Medieval doctors had limited empirical knowledge and scant instruments, but they made up for their shortcomings with a brazen willingness...
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Adam Kranz
Jul 21, 20157 min read
Killing The Author in KOTOR 2
May The Plot Be With You In my post on morality in fantasy, I pointed to the Force as one of the best examples of a moral system built...
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Adam Kranz
Jul 4, 20155 min read
Postmodernism in Fantasy #2: Intro to Postmodernism
I gave a brief discussion of the concepts encompassed by postmodernism in the intro post of this series, but I thought it might be...
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