ISSN 2572-5572 UNWINNABLE MONTHLY Volume 7, Issue 6 - June 2020 DataErase U N W I N N A B L E Monthly 128 Editor in Chief | Stu Horvath Managing Editor | Amanda Hudgins Design | Stu Horvath Social Editor | Melissa King Copyright © 2020 by Unwinnable LLC Unwinnable All rights reserved. This book or any por- 820 Chestnut Street tion thereof may not be reproduced or Kearny, NJ 07032 used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the www.unwinnable.com publisher except for the use of brief quo- tations in a book review. For more information, email: [email protected] Unwinnable LLC does not claim copyright of the screenshots and promotional imag- Subscribe | Store | Submissions ery herein. Copyright of all screenshots within this publication are owned by their respective companies This machine kills fascists. Shortform a brief introduction to the issue Letter from the editor | Stu horvath selections of noteworthy hip hop the Beat Box | noah Springer your next favorite comic try reading... | harry rabinowitz looking at the world and finding it confusing mUSINGS | bLaKe heSter examining trends in fanfiction SeLf inSert | amanda hudginS a videogames deep soak the faiL CyCLe | decLan taggart fictional companions and goth concerns thiS mortaL CoyLe | deirdre coyLe where videogames meet real life CoLLiSion deteCtion | ben SaiLer ridiculing and revering everything rookie of the year | matt marrone finding deeper meaning another Look | yuSSef coLe dissecting the world the BUrnt offering | Stu horvath three fingers of analysis when two will do the heavy PoUr | Sara cLemenS architecture and games formS in Light | JuStin reeve a monthly soapbox here’S the thing | rob rich bucking the consensus no AccoUnting for taSte | adam boffa art, and words about making it artiSt SPotLight | miKe penneKamp Longform a sthe glitch art of DataErase digitaL PhantaSmagoria | phantom a developer Q&A, sponsored revving the engine: REVOIDER | contributorS D From the Desk of the Editor in Chief | Stu Horvath ool thing: on June 3, Unwinnable turned ten years old. That’s pretty neat C(also disorienting, baffling and difficult to comprehend). I’ll spare you a link to the first post. I’ll just say that we’ve come a long way since 2010. I am un- believably proud of all the writers – past and present (and future, since I know some of the column changes coming in the next few months) – who have con- tributed over the years. I’m also eternally grateful to every reader, subscriber and otherwise, who has given us a look. All this is for you. This month, we’re packed to the gills, despite having just one feature for you. That would be Phantom’s deep dive into the art (and context) of glitch art- ist DataErase (AKA Maddison Morgenstern). It’s a thoroughly engrossing read, stuffed with Maddison’s amazing glitch witchery (and we got her on the cover, which has been a goal since she was the subject of an Artist Spotlight last year). Printmaker Mike Pennekamp is in the Artist’s Spotlight this month, deliver- ing one of the longest and most thoughtful interviews we’ve had to date. Our sponsored story this month was a bit of a surprise. We went in looking for Mini Goliath’s Dropship and discovered their larger game project Revoider and their novel approach to indie development. In the columns, Noah Springer has some hip hop fueled by the current movement for racial justice. Harry Rabinowitz checks out the parkour-themed graphic novel The Nameless City. Blake Hester says goodbye to his friends in Persona 5 Royal. Amanda Hudgins fills us in on “no beta we die like men.” De- clan Taggart determines we owe Vikings nothing. Deirdre Coyle plays some truly heinous Beauty and the Beast themed games. Ben Sailer fires up Demo- cratic Socialism Simulator. Pause for a deep breath. Matt Marrone finds some similarities between our current historical mo- ment and Stephen King’s Under the Dome. Yussef Cole picks at trying to under- stand the reason he’s a sucker for Souls games. Sara Clemens muses on dogs and death. Justin Reeve goes deep into the pyramids of Egypt (as portrayed in Assassin’s Creed: Origins). Rob Rich offers up a potpourri of short essays on Final Fantasy VII Remake and Animal Crossing. Finally, Adam Boffa examines Final Fantasy XII’s unique approach to narrative. Like I said: packed. * * * We’ll celebrate Unwinnable’s first decade at some point. For now, though, help sustain the the movement for racial justice, practice socially distancing, wear your masks and stay safe. Stu Horvath Kearny, New Jersy June 15, 2020 The Beat Box | Noah Springer t’s a strange time to write this column like normal this month. As the Ipandemic and protests rage, giving traditional recommendations just seems kind of pointless. But then Twitter reminded me that “a well placed riot bard can buff the entire crowd,” so now I want to buff all the people on the streets. Plus, there’s some impressive, aggressive music released over the last month or so, that feels almost too relevant for the current moment. With that in mind, this month I’m sending out some music for the revolution. Blast these beats while you’re clowning on the police! Beyond these awesome new releases, I also made a Spotify playlist of some other tracks that’ll keep their heads ringin’. #BLM – #ACAB – #FTP Freddie Gibbs X Alchemist – Alfredo One of the unique features of gangsta rap is the genre’s ability to combine hyperviolent lyrics about street life with real, clear political critique. Freddie Gibbs, while not always the most conscious rapper, clearly feels the current mood on Alfredo and brings his gangsta style to the moment, with lyrics like “the revolution is the genocide, my execution might be televised.” Gibbs has one of the smoothest flows in history and Alchemist’s beats give him a spacious canvas to paint his lyrics about 1990s NBA stars, cocaine slang and the police state. Together, Al and Fredo blend the street and the political, dropping an album that feels well placed in a world where the thug life is the moral life. Go buy an Alfredo t-shirt, and the proceeds will go to the families of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Drakeo the Ruler – Thank You For Using GTL A month after he released his first mixtape in January 2017, Drakeo the Ruler was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm and spent the majority of the next year in jail. Less than a year after his release, he was charged with murder and arrested again, only to be acquitted in 2019. Now, Drakeo is back in prison on charges of criminal conspiracy, which has already resulted in two hung juries. Given this history, it’s probably no surprise that Thank You For Using GTL was recorded behind bars (Global Tel Link is a billion-dollar monopoly that controls telecommunications for many American prisons). Nevertheless, Drakeo’s phone-distorted, playful flow is on point, buoyed by the west-coast Mustard influenced production by JOOGSZN. While the lyrical content of this album moves more in the party/ gangsta zone of hip hop than in the political activism realm, the production of this album is political in itself. This is the work of a black man who has been held behind bars without conviction for the better part of three years. Drakeo’s experience speaks to the specific problems that people are protesting in the street, and every time the production reminds us “thank you for using GTL” or “this call is being recorded,” you can’t help but think about the abuses of the American police state. Pink Siifu – NEGRO Do you ever wonder how you could mix industrial noise, punk and jazz together, with a hip hop twist? Well wonder no longer because Pink Siifu is here to show you the way on his new album, NEGRO. Across this intentionally aggressive album, Siifu reflects on the black experience in America by sonically assaulting his audience and verbally lashing out at the police. His rage is palpable, grounded in his own identity and experience under the brutal thumb of the American dream. Unlike that gangsta charm of Gibbs and Drakeo that let the audience coast on easy flow and rhymes, Siifu wrecks your eardrums and rarely lets you relax. He puts the black experience with the police state and systemic racism in the US directly in your face without any filter. As he told Bandcamp, “this [album] is for black people, but I know white people are going to fuck with it. I’m mad cool with that. I just want everyone to know, before they come through the door, that this is a black house and you have to respect my people.” NEGRO sounds like the soundtrack to the uprising, and I hope that I can help and be respectful at the same time. Armand Hammer – Shrines Elucid and billy woods return just in time to spin eclectic beats and surreal rhymes for the movement. Their sense of bleakness certainly feels real on Shrines (especially in some of the production), but Elucid and woods bring a slightly brighter and sunnier disposition than some of their previous work, building in some laughs alongside the tragedy. With the help of some underground friends (including Pink Siifu, Quelle Chris and R.A.P. Ferreira, among others), the pair flit nimbly back and forth, rapping to and around each other with cryptic phrases and eccentric poetry. While their last album (2018’s Parrafin) was more explicitly aggressive, Shrines expounds on the same themes, but also lets a little fantasy into the struggle for liberation.