by William Schwartz | Jul 11, 2026 | 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, Bookshelf, Console/Handheld, Gaming, Indie, Opinions, Reviews
With a release date of 2015, Life Is Strange is another one of those games that’s kind of pushing it in terms of the “retro” designation, although if you’ve ever seen the game in action, graphics aren’t the strong suit and Life Is...
by William Schwartz | Jun 21, 2026 | 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, Bookshelf, Console/Handheld, Gaming, Reviews
Earlier this year, Pen & Sword Books released The History of the Pokémon Games, which I reviewed here. At the same time, they released the much less obviously marketable The History of Silent Hill by Samantha Morris. Similar titles notwithstanding, these...
by William Schwartz | Jun 19, 2026 | 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, Bookshelf, Console/Handheld, Reviews
As far as “retro” games go, Red Dead Redemption is kind of pushing it. The 2010 open world game was already released well into the modern AAA game production environment. Matt Margini’s tome from Boss Fight Books implicitly acknowledges how...
by William Schwartz | Apr 29, 2026 | 1990s, 2000s, Bookshelf, Console/Handheld, Reviews
Every Boss Fight book tends to have a novel approach depending on the author, and Phillip J Reed is no different with his Resident Evil volume. In fact, his approach is distinctly unusual, with the praise for the originator of survival horror from 1996 veiled...
by William Schwartz | Apr 4, 2026 | 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, Bookshelf, Console/Handheld, Gaming, Reviews
It’s the thirty-year anniversary of the very first Pokémon games which were released back in 1996. Nintendo is pulling out all the stops reminding us. But unofficial historians are getting in on the act too, with The History of the Pokémon Games by James...
by William Schwartz | Mar 31, 2026 | 1990s, 2020s, Bookshelf
On March 31st, Boss Fight Books confirmed that it had acquired enough funds via its Kickstarter campaign to go forward with its latest project, a book about the 1997 strategy game Age of Empires, written by Richard Moss, an Australian gaming historian whose...