The first time most people ever saw QWOP was around December 2010, when a YouTuber named Critical declared it “The Most Difficult Game Ever Created.” In the video, which has been viewed almost 9 million times, the monotoned YouTuber grapples with a simple game in which a runner constructed in blocky, primary colors,…

Is Spelunky perfect? This is the question running through much pro-Spelunky literature. Certainly something so idiosyncratic, so random couldn’t be “perfect.” And yet the game delivers on a core promise so far-reaching in its implication as to tease perfection. That is, to be a perpetual adventure machine. An…

If you haven’t played Braid before, here’s what happens when you turn it on: It looks like Mario, but something is wrong. You’re a red-headed guy wearing a suit, for one, and the music is not the old Mario song; it is, in fact, quite sad. You run to the right, just like Mario would, hopping on enemies and over…