A review by poisonenvy
Press Start to Play by John Joseph Adams, Catherynne M. Valente, Chris Kluwe, T.C. Boyle, Cory Doctorow, Hugh Howey, Robin Wasserman, Holly Black, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Ernest Cline, Daniel H. Wilson, Django Wexler, Austin Grossman, Seanan McGuire, Yoon Ha Lee, David Barr Kirtley, Charlie Jane Anders, Jessica Barber, Marc Laidlaw, Ken Liu, Marguerite K. Bennett, S.R. Mastrantone, Chris Avellone, Rhianna Pratchett, Charles Yu, Micky Neilson, Andy Weir, Nicole Feldringer
4.0
Average rating: 3.7* I will say that the same theme gets rehashed in a lot of stories in this anthology, and while I tried not to rate later stories unfairly on "Oh god, this theme again," there's no guarantee that I succeeded.
God Mode The repetition here is fairly effective at instilling a sense of apprehension. The story feeds us just enough information to guess at what happened, but not enough to know for sure, and the stuff I can't make sense of is frustrating to me. (3.5*)
NPC The writing style in this one is very simplistic in a way that works for the character and the story that's being told, evolving a little as the character does but never too much, just like the character. An interesting theme about how if all you're doing is work to maintain your status, instead of having people you care about, there is no point. (3.5*)
Repawn This, for the most part, was fairly interesting. The narrators ennui throughout was palpable, and I didn't love the ending. (3.5*)
Desert Walk This was a nice little take on people's sometimes excessive gaming habits, and it's complete with a spooky twist at the end. (3.5*)
Rat Catcher's Yellows This was a heartbreaking story about losing a loved one to dementia, The very, very end of the story was heart-wrenching and beautiful. (4.5*)
1UP This was really sweet and the kind of story I would have loved as a teenager when most of my friends were usernames on a screen. I still love it. It's a great story. (4.5*)
Survival Horror We finally meet Artie in the flesh!I giggled at how easy it wound up being to finally exit the game in the end, though I am a little disappointed that in the end, this thread will probably be dropped. Maybe it won't be! Lots more InCryptid short stories to go! (4*)
Real 90% of this story is just two dudes sitting in a booth over a couple of beers, and yet somehow it still manages to be gripping and intriguing - not an easy task. The ending was very well done. (4.5*)
Outliers honestly, a lot of this went over my head. It's not that it was bad, it was just that I don't think I "get it." (2.5*)
<endgame> I feel like I missed something. I understood the format, but that didn't make it any less annoying to read. The whole story seemed kind of pointless and nonsensical. (2*)
Save Me Plz I really enjoyed the world-buildingin teh first half of this story, when the world was still halfway. But man, does my heart ever ache for Meg, the girl who was slowly chipped away into nothing until she was exactly how her boyfriend wanted her to be. This was a great analogy for emotional manipulation. (4*)
The Relive Box This seemed very Black Mirror-eske. Heartbreaking and frustrating to read, with a super depressing ending and no real resolution. (4.5*)
Roguelike This was short and sweet, simply written but surprisingly funny. (4*)
All the People In Your Party Have Died Overall, I really liked this. The romance was sweet Lizzie's obsession with the game was believable, and the nods to the AIDS crisis was depressing and heartbreaking. (4.5*)
Recoil It had Die Hard vibes, which I loved. Overall, great story. (4*)
Anda's Game I found, at first, the writing style to be grating and I nearly considered skipping this story, but I'm glad I didn't. It's not fantasy or sci-fi, but rather the story of a growing girl who learns more about herself and the world she lives in through gaming, going through personal issues at the same time that she learns that the stakes she's playing for are higher than she anticipated. I don't know how much of what happened int he story is true to life, but it deals with real world issues in a compelling way. (4*)
Coma Kings That was unexpectedly depressing, and I came close to crying at the end. Losing someone to a game is a popular motif, but this one was very well done. (4*)
Stats Honestly, something about this story just didn't click at all, and I doubt it would have even if (3*)
Please Continue As far as creative non-fiction goes, this isn't bad, but (3.5*)
Creation Screen This story seemed weirdly preachy, especially toward the end. (2.5*)
The Fresh Prince of Gamma World Why was this in a video game anthology? Ah well. It was pretty good, and a prime example of short stories not needing to explain everything a full-length novel would. I'm sure I missed something with the bracketed letters. (3.5*)
Gamer's EndFor much of this story, I was sure that everything was a simulation, even after he apparently exited it. There was plenty of foreshadowing at the beginning of the story that somehow the head dude managed to make his tests instill the feeling of actual pending death, so I was sure that somehow it was just more realistic simulations. So, I wasn't surprise that the whole thing really was a test all along, but I was surprised that the test was "real," so to speak, in that it was done by actors instead of by simulations. I'm not entirely sure why it was in second person perspective, but I really can't imagine it being written any other way and it might have actually been a worse story had it been written in first person. (3.5*)
The Clockwork Soldier Oh wow, what an ending. It was unexpected and poignant. The actual story of Alex and Ryder and the game Ryder wrote about Alex and the Clockwork Soldier are interwoven seamlessly, and it makes for a fantastic story. (4.5*)
Killswitch An urban myth created by Valente (I was compelled to google it har har). it's creative for sure, and has obviously been entered into the annals of video game lore, but I did not love the style of writing, and after all the narrative fiction that I read before that, it was a bit of a disappointment. I respect it more knowing that she created it all herself, but I still didn't dig it. (2.5*)
Twarrior CW: A homophobic slur is used repeatedly in this story, but not really in a... malicious way? I guess? There was something weirdly charming about Twarrior and its netspeak. This story was short and sweet, but I didn't love it. The writing style - short, simple stories throughout the entire story with very little variation in sentence structure or length - did this story no favours. (3*)
Select Character This story was surprisingly sweet. A husband who is just stoked that his wife is showing interest in his hobby, a wife who just wants to play a (violent) video game in her own special way. It's just charming and very, very sweet. (4.5*)
God Mode The repetition here is fairly effective at instilling a sense of apprehension. The story feeds us just enough information to guess at what happened, but not enough to know for sure, and the stuff I can't make sense of is frustrating to me. (3.5*)
NPC The writing style in this one is very simplistic in a way that works for the character and the story that's being told, evolving a little as the character does but never too much, just like the character. An interesting theme about how if all you're doing is work to maintain your status, instead of having people you care about, there is no point. (3.5*)
Repawn This, for the most part, was fairly interesting. The narrators ennui throughout was palpable,
Spoiler
right up until he took out the yakuza. But I felt disappointed by the dropped thread of Lon,Desert Walk This was a nice little take on people's sometimes excessive gaming habits, and it's complete with a spooky twist at the end.
Spoiler
I wonder what would have happened had the kid come through.Rat Catcher's Yellows This was a heartbreaking story about losing a loved one to dementia,
Spoiler
thought The Divine Right of Cats seems to have almost a nefarious feel to it that I would be very interested in reading more about.1UP This was really sweet and the kind of story I would have loved as a teenager when most of my friends were usernames on a screen. I still love it. It's a great story. (4.5*)
Survival Horror We finally meet Artie in the flesh!
Real 90% of this story is just two dudes sitting in a booth over a couple of beers, and yet somehow it still manages to be gripping and intriguing - not an easy task. The ending was very well done. (4.5*)
Outliers honestly, a lot of this went over my head. It's not that it was bad, it was just that I don't think I "get it." (2.5*)
<endgame> I feel like I missed something. I understood the format, but that didn't make it any less annoying to read. The whole story seemed kind of pointless and nonsensical. (2*)
Save Me Plz I really enjoyed the world-building
The Relive Box This seemed very Black Mirror-eske. Heartbreaking and frustrating to read, with a super depressing ending and no real resolution. (4.5*)
Roguelike This was short and sweet, simply written but surprisingly funny. (4*)
All the People In Your Party Have Died
Spoiler
Wow, fuck Lizzie.Spoiler
until it wasn't.Recoil
Spoiler
I realized this was a simulation pretty early on, but it was still fun to read about the not-so-badass would-be action movie star.Anda's Game I found, at first, the writing style to be grating and I nearly considered skipping this story, but I'm glad I didn't. It's not fantasy or sci-fi, but rather the story of a growing girl who learns more about herself and the world she lives in through gaming, going through personal issues at the same time that she learns that the stakes she's playing for are higher than she anticipated. I don't know how much of what happened int he story is true to life, but it deals with real world issues in a compelling way. (4*)
Coma Kings That was unexpectedly depressing, and I came close to crying at the end. Losing someone to a game is a popular motif, but this one was very well done. (4*)
Stats
Spoiler
Rich white dude is forced to live a few minutes of his life in the bodies of those he's marginalized and learns absolutely nothing at all.Spoiler
Joey had learned his lesson.Please Continue As far as creative non-fiction goes, this isn't bad, but
Spoiler
the author eludes to the thing he did as if he's going to state what it actually was, and then never actually does, which is frustrating, and the end is more of a plea than a story.Creation Screen This story seemed weirdly preachy, especially toward the end. (2.5*)
The Fresh Prince of Gamma World Why was this in a video game anthology? Ah well. It was pretty good, and a prime example of short stories not needing to explain everything a full-length novel would. I'm sure I missed something with the bracketed letters. (3.5*)
Gamer's End
The Clockwork Soldier Oh wow, what an ending. It was unexpected and poignant. The actual story of Alex and Ryder and the game Ryder wrote about Alex and the Clockwork Soldier are interwoven seamlessly, and it makes for a fantastic story. (4.5*)
Killswitch An urban myth created by Valente (I was compelled to google it har har). it's creative for sure, and has obviously been entered into the annals of video game lore, but I did not love the style of writing, and after all the narrative fiction that I read before that, it was a bit of a disappointment. I respect it more knowing that she created it all herself, but I still didn't dig it. (2.5*)
Twarrior CW: A homophobic slur is used repeatedly in this story, but not really in a... malicious way? I guess? There was something weirdly charming about Twarrior and its netspeak. This story was short and sweet, but I didn't love it. The writing style - short, simple stories throughout the entire story with very little variation in sentence structure or length - did this story no favours. (3*)
Select Character This story was surprisingly sweet. A husband who is just stoked that his wife is showing interest in his hobby, a wife who just wants to play a (violent) video game in her own special way. It's just charming and very, very sweet. (4.5*)