Photo of Simon Parkin
Simon Parkin

Photo of Simon Parkin

Simon Parkin

  • Simon Parkin
    Relooted turns the repatriation debate into play

    Nyamakop’s game sets cultural thieves on a mission to return treasures housed in the west

    Wed, 18 Feb 2026

  • Simon Parkin
    The man making books sexy again

    Flirty, fun, fashionable… book events are the place to be. Meet the 32-year-old academic driving a new wave of literary parties

    Thu, 12 Feb 2026

  • Simon Parkin
    TR-49 is a thrilling code-breaking game

    A wartime enigma machine forms the basis of Inkle’s elegant and intellectually exhilarating mystery

    Sun, 1 Feb 2026

  • Simon Parkin
    How Arc Raiders became a surprise hit

    This simple shooter proves there is still space for small, strange games

    Sun, 18 Jan 2026

  • Simon Parkin
    The best games of 2025

    Simon Parkin on the video games of the year, from a Japanese quest to a boarding school mystery

    Thu, 25 Dec 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    How we lost our taste for the vicious restaurant review

    Why publications such as Broadsheet are turning the tables on a culture of takedowns

    Sat, 13 Dec 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    My Child New Beginnings is a game about raising traumatised children

    The sequel to the Bafta-winning work about the Nazi Lebensborn programme folds child psychology into its design

    Sun, 23 Nov 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    Ball x Pit revives the oldest arcade instinct

    This moreish video game, built around a relentless ping pong-style volley, calls for just one more go

    Sun, 16 Nov 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    Final Fantasy Tactics is an ambitious, literary video game

    This chess-like wargame weaves story and strategy with irresistible poise

    Sun, 2 Nov 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    A female samurai game in the cross-hairs of the culture wars

    PlayStation’s winter blockbuster invites players on a journey of vengeance across 17th-century Hokkaido, while raising questions of cultural ownership

    Thu, 25 Sept 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    ‘Drama without humour is bad art’

    In Fulham, Brett Goldstein is renovating a house; in Hollywood, a career. For the standup who became a leading man, both are works in progress

    Sun, 14 Sept 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    Sword of the Sea offers a glimmer of hope to the world

    In a medium dominated by destruction or tussles for territory, it is striking to encounter an allegory for rejuvenation

    Wed, 3 Sept 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    The ghost in the publishing machine

    As a highly successful ghostwriter, Joshua Lisec is an invisible weaver of life stories, for clients whose names he can't reveal

    Sat, 23 Aug 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    Luto – the video game about grief

    This horror game doesn’t simply employ trauma as atmospheric texture, but engages with the mental architecture of suffering

    Sat, 2 Aug 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    Date Everything! The game that turns household items into objects of desire

    This quirky simulator is a sly satire of modern dating’s relentless abundance

    Sun, 6 Jul 2025

  • Simon Parkin
    Nintendo Switch 2 review: Spot the difference

    Nintendo’s eagerly awaited iteration of the world’s favourite game console offers plenty of subtle refinements. All it needs now is a new masterpiece to play on it

    Sat, 14 Jun 2025

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