TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 1,971
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
An ode to the wonky yet wonderful projects of yesteryear, and their modern successors.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
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Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
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Every Saturday
The Watchlist
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When is an insult not an insult? When it’s affectionate.
‘Friendslop’ might sound dismissive, but speaks of a pervasive cultural fondness for approachable, affordable co-op games that know how to stay out of the way of a meandering voice chat. ‘Walking simulator’ may have once been used as a cudgel to attack minimalist and meditative experiments in narrative, but has since become a helpful label for both the people who crave that experience and the developers making them. I can type ‘walking sim’ into my Gmail search bar and find multiple press releases hoping to sell me on short, story-led mysteries of one kind or another.
In the same way, ‘eurojank’ is an insult well-meant. On the face of it the term appears to condemn a whole continent's games as laughably buggy and low-budget. But speaking as a proud European, who has had the privilege to spend their working life flying to Frankfurt and Ghent and Uppsala to meet studios punching above their weight, I can tell you that eurojank—a term thrown around often in PC gaming circles in the early 2010s—is a byword for ambition.
It implies not just wide worlds and sprawling webs of complex systems, but a willingness on the part of the audience to accept the costs of that ambition in good humour. To overlook an unvarnished interface or broken questline in the interests of player freedom and the chance of being truly surprised.
I was lucky enough to come of age in the noughties, during what you might call eurojank’s first flirtation with the mainstream. It had recently become technically possible to produce 3D worlds that pulled down the walls and pushed beyond the horizon, exposing players to an undulating topography that suggested infinite possibility. Morrowind was the polished option, if you can believe it; real heads played Gothic.
The games industry was on the cusp of inventing the open world shooter, but still a few years away from Far Cry 2. The design language of a whole new genre was up for grabs. These birthing pains created a period of opportunity, in which a bold team of unknowns with a genius engine programmer cou...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Become a Member in Seconds
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You are now subscribed
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
When is an insult not an insult? When it’s affectionate.
‘Friendslop’ might sound dismissive, but speaks of a pervasive cultural fondness for approachable, affordable co-op games that know how to stay out of the way of a meandering voice chat. ‘Walking simulator’ may have once been used as a cudgel to attack minimalist and meditative experiments in narrative, but has since become a helpful label for both the people who crave that experience and the developers making them. I can type ‘walking sim’ into my Gmail search bar and find multiple press releases hoping to sell me on short, story-led mysteries of one kind or another.
In the same way, ‘eurojank’ is an insult well-meant. On the face of it the term appears to condemn a whole continent's games as laughably buggy and low-budget. But speaking as a proud European, who has had the privilege to spend their working life flying to Frankfurt and Ghent and Uppsala to meet studios punching above their weight, I can tell you that eurojank—a term thrown around often in PC gaming circles in the early 2010s—is a byword for ambition.
It implies not just wide worlds and sprawling webs of complex systems, but a willingness on the part of the audience to accept the costs of that ambition in good humour. To overlook an unvarnished interface or broken questline in the interests of player freedom and the chance of being truly surprised.
I was lucky enough to come of age in the noughties, during what you might call eurojank’s first flirtation with the mainstream. It had recently become technically possible to produce 3D worlds that pulled down the walls and pushed beyond the horizon, exposing players to an undulating topography that suggested infinite possibility. Morrowind was the polished option, if you can believe it; real heads played Gothic.
The games industry was on the cusp of inventing the open world shooter, but still a few years away from Far Cry 2. The design language of a whole new genre was up for grabs. These birthing pains created a period of opportunity, in which a bold team of unknowns with a genius engine programmer cou...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?