Critical Hits

Reviews / Votes

These fun, funny, occasionally cutting but often affirming essays celebrate the surprising potency of video games and virtual experiences. With any luck, this book will find a place of honour on every literary gamer's bookshelf -- Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter A loot drop of brilliance, and a hugely satisfying and entirely convincing literary salvo on the artistic worth of games in our lives -- Naomi Alderman, author of The Power In this variety pack of exciting essays, writers make an electric case for the essentiality of video games, both as storytelling aids and as ways of understanding the world ... Critical Hits marks the welcome ascendance of an emerging body of gamer literature -- Adrienne Westenfeld * Esquire, "Best Books of Fall 2023" * Insightful ... The diverse entries highlight the ways in which the far out plots of video games can change how players understand themselves and the world around them. Gamers with a literary bent should take a look * Publishers Weekly * Alexander Chee, Charlie Jane Anders, Hanif Abdurraqib, and other writers who love gaming wax poetic about the lasting emotional impact that comes with playing some of the most popular video games on the market: The Last of Us, Call of Duty, and Disco Elysium * Time Magazine, "Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2023" * A veritable arcade of essays on the cultural vitality of video games -- Michelle Hart * Electric Literature, "Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books for Fall 2023" * Those who've never thought about video games in a critical, introspective light before may never play them the same way again after reading Critical Hits. For those who have, this is the book you've been waiting for * Buzz Magazine *