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"It’s all familiar territory: unlikely companionship, the desire to make time stand still, romantic expressions of youthful rebellion. If this sounds like any middle-grade coming-of-age tragedy, there’s a reason for that. The Sailor’s Dream recalls all of those tropes with uncanny precision, and they feel all the more immediate and personal with the added ambience of rich, Morphean art and sound. Everything resembles reality, but it’s a selective, idealized reality—much the way both dreams and the young readers of middle-grade novels present their own worlds."

"There’s certainly nothing wrong with the Fruit Ninjas or Angry Birds of the world, but it’s 2014. Games have proven themselves capable of grappling with controversial, adult themes in interesting new ways. Sure, not every game that deals with serious issues works well, but they should at least have the opportunity to succeed or fail."

"The popularity of touchscreen devices like the iPad doesn’t mean we need to throw away classic game structures. Just because you don’t have buttons doesn’t mean you can’t still make Resident Evil—you just need to rethink how the player moves your heroes. On that level, a physical level, République is a great success. But this first chapter isn’t up to the standard of the smart literature about oppression that it regularly name-checks."

"It’s all part of creating and presenting a world in which the player coexists. Breaking down the walls between the storyteller and listener, if you will."