Between the dates of April 28 and May 2, 2025, the gaming industry saw massive layoffs on all sides. From developers at Respawn to journalists at Polygon, hundreds of people have once again lost their jobs, had projects cancelled, and now must enter the increasingly crowded, increasingly scam-ridden world of looking for new work. It sucks, but instead of spending an entire column telling you why it sucks (which many people have done already) I thought we could explore our feelings in a slightly different way.
That’s why I’ve made VILWEB, a short narrative free game about online games journalism. My lawyers would like for me to make it clear that this is strictly satire and I am not attempting to depict any one person, company, sue-happy media conglomerate, or anything else in the real world. This is purely a work of fiction and any references, names, or similarities to real world entities are entirely coincidental and unintended. This is just a fun, silly little narrative free game made in Ink, a scripting system that’s incredibly easy to use and worth checking out if you’re into that sort of thing. They are not affiliated with this, I just like it.
Please enjoy.
THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDED MEDIA:
- One last thing: Support independent journalism. Whether it’s here or somewhere else, give your clicks and your money to the people who do this because they love it and they want to share their knowledge and skills with others. A great list of independent journalism can be found through Six One Indie, and there are many, many starter packs on Bluesky which contain talented critics and journalists.
- Taskmaster: Series 19 is here! If you haven’t watched last week’s episode yet, you are missing out on one of the funniest (and most fun) show on television. Consider also reading this interview, Jason Mantzoukas Wants a ‘Full American Invasion’ of ‘Taskmaster’ (Exclusive), from Parade Magazine.
- Speaking of independent/self-owned media, Nebula has just been fantastic lately. Just recently discovered Abolish Everything and it’s excellent, great mix of the stand-up and panel show formats. Please do give it a look, they’re doing good work.
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