Connect with us

News

‘The Grandfather’ Seeks Solace in Sorrow

Published

on

What do you get when two outside-the-box creative types come together to make an experimental game about sadness, isolation, and the impact a decidedly one-sided relationship can have on the mind of the abused? You get The Grandfather, an atmospheric point-and-click horror puzzler inspired, in part, by the personal life of one of its creators, Michael Patrick Rogers.

Rogers doesn’t make what one might refer to as “traditional” video games. I got to know him through The Lady, a similarly original game about a sickly woman with no arms who, if I’m remembering correctly, gets lost in a nightmarish world of psychedelic head monsters and raining glass. It plays like a dream, in that you won’t be able to make heads or tails of it, but you know you don’t want it to end because that’d mean it’s time to return to real life.

That’s but one-half of this strange and delicious Oreo. The other half belongs to Grandfather co-creator David Szymanski, the mind behind the quietly unnerving indie game Fingerbones.

Huge shout-out to the enormously talented comic book artist Stanislav Yakima, whose hand drawn art goes a long way in elevating this quirky tale of interpersonal devastation so it can be pleasing to the eyes while it methodically tears us apart from within.

I’ll share my impressions of The Grandfather as soon as I’m finished with it. But really, this is a game made by two inventive storytellers who build worlds and populate them with odd personalities that will either speak to you, or they won’t. Rogers and Szymanski are storytellers, and they’re doing some ridiculously cool — and so, so strange — things with this medium.

The Grandfather is more of this, though playing it can feel like you’re peering into the life of someone who has made art out of emotional trauma. There’s a message here that’s worth seeking out, because if you do, I think you’ll find value in what it has to say.

BD2016_YTBD2016_ST

Gamer, writer, terrible dancer, longtime toast enthusiast. Legend has it Adam was born with a controller in one hand and the Kraken's left eye in the other. Legends are often wrong.

News

One of Clive Barker’s Final Convention Appearances Will Be at New Jersey’s Monster Mania in August

Published

on

Clive Barker

We told you earlier this month that horror legend Clive Barker is leaving the convention scene behind to focus entirely on his writing, with various upcoming projects in the works.

A series of final appearances from Barker will begin at Days of the Dead Chicago this month, and we’ve learned Barker will also be coming to Monster Mania in New Jersey.

Clive Barker will be signing at Monster Mania 59 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which runs from August 2 – August 4, 2024. Stay tuned for more info from the convention.

Barker’s official statement earlier this month explained, “… it’s time to focus entirely on writing. I’m not stopping public events because I’ve lost delight in meeting you all over the years. I’m as passionate as ever about sharing my imagination with readers and moviegoers around the world. In the very room where I’m writing these words, I have the manuscripts for a very large number of projects (Thirty-one of them), some very close to completion, others still telling themselves. There are some wild projects in this collection of works, whether close to finished or done. There are also stories that you all knew I would be finishing.”

“Abarat IV and V are amongst the books at my feet,” he continued. “So is the Third and final book of The Art and the sequel to The Thief of Always. There are also return visits to characters and mythologies you may have thought I would never return to.

“I hope I am still able to surprise you in the decades ahead.”

Continue Reading