A review by innae
Press Start to Play by John Joseph Adams, Daniel H. Wilson

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I have read many anthologies, but rarely do I find one where the majority of the stories are winners…I liked so many of these stories and excepting the one I skipped, even the “bad” ones were pretty good. 

Forward by Ernest Cline
Introduction by John Joseph Adams
The forward and the intro have made my husband want to read this book when I’m done
God Mode by Daniel H. Wilson
this story was very trippy
NPC by Charles Yu
this is not one of my favs
Respawn by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
I liked this one…feels like someone might have adapted the story into a Twilight Zone episode…or could
Desert Walk by S.R. Mastrantone
I really enjoyed this one.  A take on how mindless the games can be..but this one may be more…
Rat Catcher's Yellows by Charlie Jane Anders
the scariest thing about dementia in all it’s firm I’d being stuck in your own head…can games change that??
1Up by Holly Black
this o e was really good.   How much do you trust those online friends??
Survival Horror by Seanan McGuire
an enjoyable story, but I wanted it to be more…
Real by Django Wexler
a bit Interview with the Vampire…an interesting story
Outliers by Nicole Feldringer
a story about crowd sourcing gone wrong..I quite enjoyed it
<end game> by Chris Avellone
a different take on the text based game
Save Me Plz by David Barr Kirtley
manipulating your world to become the game to become the world…trippy
The Relive Box by T. C. Boyle
a little creepy…we can all get obsessed with the past
Rouguelike by Marc Laidlaw
kind of humorous..and repetitive- like so many of the games out there
All of the People in Your Party Have Died by Robin Wasserman
I never played Oregon Trail,  but this version doesn’t seem to be the old familiar
Recoil! by Micky Neilson
games can be too real
Anda's Game by Cory Doctorow
a what would happen if we all played the game fairly story
Coma Kings by Jessica Barber
this one is really sad…obsession with a game can lead to terrible things
Stats by Marguerite K. Bennett
one of my favorite in the book…do you take the red pill or blue pill?
Please Continue by Chris Kluwe
this story is true…
Creation Screen by Rhianna Pratchett
really creepy, had some of the same premise as Free Guy.
The Fresh Prince of Gamma World by Austin Grossman
an interesting story
Gamer's End by Yoon Ha Lee
can’t get into this one, so I am skipping it
The Clockwork Soldier by Ken Liu
this one makes me sad.   A lot like The Steadfast Tin Soldier…
Killswitch by Catherynne M. Valente
this one feels as if it could be the start of a horror story.  Really intriguing
Twarrior by Andy Weir
short but cute.  Kind of everyone dream to have a genie
Select Character by Hugh Howey
this is a lovely story about a first person shooter..only she’s not