Polygon: All Posts by Katherine Crosshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/42931/favicon.ico2019-05-13T09:37:01-04:00https://www.polygon.com/authors/katherine-cross/rss2019-05-13T09:37:01-04:002019-05-13T09:37:01-04:00Heaven’s Vault rewards replays by forcing you to live the theory you’re investigating
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<img alt="Aliya inspect hieroglyphs in Heaven’s Vault" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Dux0Peff1IJ695Xcz21MoS1cDrg=/1531x0:4000x1389/640x360/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63822914/keyart_nologo.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Inkle</figcaption>
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<p>This has all happened before</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/13/18535610/heavens-vault-loop-second-playthrough-replayability">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/13/18535610/heavens-vault-loop-second-playthrough-replayabilityKatherine Cross2019-01-01T12:00:08-05:002019-01-01T12:00:08-05:00Doctor Who has given us a Doctor without inner conflict
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<img alt="Jodie Whittaker as the female doctor in Doctor Who season 11" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/P0mbcX9ZVuw5m-CRlHaO04vLRYU=/0x0:1885x1060/640x360/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62739346/Doctor_Who_S11_Costume_Reveal.0.jpg" />
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<p>When doing good isn’t challenged by the real world</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2019/1/1/18152028/doctor-who-whitaker-season-review">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2019/1/1/18152028/doctor-who-whitaker-season-reviewKatherine Cross2018-12-28T11:30:04-05:002018-12-28T11:30:04-05:00How Fallout lost its soul
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<img alt="Fallout 76 - profile of power armor helmet with autumn trees in the background" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YKczmhWoYq3dkEJGQCYD53HYfoU=/228x0:1906x944/640x360/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62747454/Fallout76_E3_T51b_1528639326.0.png" />
<figcaption>Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks</figcaption>
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<p>The game series took an existential threat and made it meaningless</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/28/18157793/fallout-76-nukes-bethesda">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/28/18157793/fallout-76-nukes-bethesdaKatherine Cross2018-10-17T09:16:21-04:002018-10-17T09:16:21-04:00What will be left of the people who make our games?
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<figcaption>Illustration by James Bareham/Polygon</figcaption>
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<p>Our games are getting bigger, but the cost is way too high</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2018/10/17/17986562/game-development-crunch-red-dead-redemption-2-rockstar">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2018/10/17/17986562/game-development-crunch-red-dead-redemption-2-rockstarKatherine Cross2018-01-05T10:00:02-05:002018-01-05T10:00:02-05:00Black Mirror’s ‘USS Callister’ filters toxic fandom through Star Trek
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_7I4QM4WYw2y1qJbFsrnmXmY7jc=/0x350:6720x4130/640x360/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58216791/BlackMirror_S4_Callister_00658_V1_1.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jonathan Prime/Netflix</figcaption>
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<p>Everyone suffers when people learn the wrong lessons from pop culture</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/5/16850656/black-mirror-season-4-uss-callister-star-trek">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/5/16850656/black-mirror-season-4-uss-callister-star-trekKatherine Cross2018-01-03T09:15:02-05:002018-01-03T09:15:02-05:00Knights of the Old Republic 2 beat The Last Jedi to its best lesson
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<figcaption>Obsidian Entertainment/Lucasarts</figcaption>
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<p>A classic game told a story that was years ahead of its time</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/3/16841630/star-wars-last-jedi-spoilers-kotor-2-obsidian">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/3/16841630/star-wars-last-jedi-spoilers-kotor-2-obsidianKatherine Cross2014-11-26T16:20:52-05:002014-11-26T16:20:52-05:00Why Beyond Earth can't top Alpha Centauri
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<p>One of the most common criticisms levelled at Firaxis’ <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/23/6880933/civilization-beyond-earth-review-pc"><i>Civilization: Beyond Earth</i> </a> is that it fails to live up to the narrative grandeur of its spiritual-predecessor, <i>Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri</i>; but why? Simple nostalgia?</p>
<p>Certainly the grass is greener in the 1990s for many gamers, but I would argue there’s more to this discontent, something which goes to the heart of good game design.</p>
<p>Narrative feels even more pretextual for your average 4X strategy title than it does for most games, where it’s a threadbare excuse upon which to hang the actual gameplay. But the best strategy games go farther, using what critic Rowan Kaiser calls "<a target="_blank" href="http://www.bitcreature.com/criticism/strategy-games-for-change/">transparent mechanics</a>" — mechanics that work to express a game’s core ideas, imbuing gameplay with...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/11/26/7294543/beyond-earth-alpha-centauri">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/11/26/7294543/beyond-earth-alpha-centauriKatherine Cross2014-09-24T14:15:36-04:002014-09-24T14:15:36-04:00Violence is how we get ahead
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<p>"You must have noticed," Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell told my Exile in <i>Knights of the Old Republic 2</i>, "as you fought across all these planets, killing hundreds, only to become more and more powerful. Why do you think that was?"</p>
<p>This moment in the game was meant to be part of a climactic revelation about my character’s relationship to the Force, but my friends and I could never resist the temptation to jokingly yell ,"Because this is an RPG!" at the screen in reply.</p>
<p>We were in on the joke, after all. You kill hundreds to become more powerful because that’s what it means to game. The path to power exists on the bodies of nameless and often faceless enemies.</p>
<h3>We game therefore we kill</h3>
<p>"Violence" and "video games" are like an inseparable pair...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/24/6833845/violence-is-how-we-get-ahead">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/24/6833845/violence-is-how-we-get-aheadKatherine Cross2014-07-29T10:45:49-04:002014-07-29T10:45:49-04:00The nightmare is over: They're not coming for your games
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<p>Recently Gamespot Editor Carolyn Petit, speaking with me on a panel at the GaymerX2 convention in San Francisco, recounted a private message she received in response to a review of <i><a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/1/15/5311568/game-of-the-year-2013-gone-home">Gone Home</a></i>.</p>
<p>"I got this message from a reader and it was pretty well-worded, and well thought-out … but what he was saying is, essentially, ‘well, Carolyn, you shouldn’t have given <i><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="/game/gone-home/11272">Gone Home</a></i> such a high score because if game designers see games like <i>Gone Home</i> getting so much acclaim then we’re not going to have traditional games anymore!’"</p>
<p>Time and again, this leitmotif of gamer-speak arises: the idea that someone, somewhere is going to take your games away. A "terror dream" that sees us reliving the paternalist past and lashing out at all criticism in hopes...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/7/29/5947661/the-nightmare-is-over-theyre-not-coming-for-your-games">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2014/7/29/5947661/the-nightmare-is-over-theyre-not-coming-for-your-gamesKatherine Cross