Jillian Werner

Jillian will play any game with cute characters or an isometric perspective, but her favorites are Fallout 3, Secret of Mana, and Harvest Moon. Her PC suffers from permanent cat-on-keyboard syndrome, which she blames for most deaths in Don’t Starve. She occasionally stops gaming long enough to eat waffles and rewatch Battlestar Galactica.

News
July 26, 2013
Kickstarter Picks: Dungeonmans, Laika Believes, and more!
By Jillian Werner
After last week's double Sierra happy hour, I think we need a break on adventure games. Luckily, there are a lot of underrepresented genres to swoon over this week, including roguelike, stealth action, and the can't-go-wrong-with Metroidvania. Also, I lied: there is an adventure game.
Upcoming
July 26, 2013
Game of Watchcraft: Spawn of Squishy Preview
By Jillian Werner
The term "demake" may not officially be a part of video game canon—yet—but it's certainly growing in popularity and application. The demake of Plants vs. Zombies for the Sega Genesis that surfaced at PAX Australia was the most recent and bizarre entry in the pseudo-genre, but Game of Watchcraft: Spawn of Squishy officially has it beat.
Reviews
July 25, 2013
Ittle Dew Review
By Jillian Werner
Ittle Dew makes no secret of its gaming inspiration. The colorful action-adventure puzzler parodies and pays homage to The Legend of Zelda in gameplay, visual style, and playful jabs throughout its tightly-packed journey. Yet Ittle Dew is far from a Zelda clone; a streamlined focus on puzzle-solving within a bizarre new world creates an experience all its own. That experience should appeal to both fans and non-fans of the classic series, as well as anyone with an affinity for deviously challenging puzzles wrapped in self-referential humor.
Reviews
July 24, 2013
X-Rainbow Review
By Jillian Werner
X-Rainbow is a Breakout game at its core: colorful rows of blocks dominate the screen, susceptible only to a ball shot by the player's touch. With a few ideas borrowed from Peggle and a handful of unique puzzle mechanics added in, this newcomer should have proven a great addition to the brick-breaking family. Unfortunately, good genes don't guarantee success, and X-Rainbow falls far short of its potential.
Reviews
July 22, 2013
Fizzy Factory Review
By Jillian Werner
There's no shortage of Arukone-inspired puzzles on the App Store: Flow Free is the most well-known, but games like Wire Storm, Number Link, and Lost Cubes all require players to connect two like ends via a single, unbroken line. Fizzy Factory follows in the colorful footsteps of these puzzle predecessors, but introduces a bevy of original ideas that makes its experience new, challenging, and refreshingly fun.
News
July 22, 2013
Gameglobe Diary #2: The Trouble with Trees
By Jillian Werner
Gameglobe is a game creation engine and community developed by Square Enix and Bigpoint. The browser-based builder launched in closed beta in summer of 2012 and is now available for open play by anyone with an internet connection. This series will explore the features, benefits, and challenges of Gameglobe through the process of building a game from scratch. In this week's entry, we dive into tunnel building, figure out the benefits of tweaking, and plant an entire forest one tree at a time.
News
July 19, 2013
Hands-on with Worms Clan Wars
By Jillian Werner
A bit of inner turmoil always accompanies the purchase of the newest Worms game. Do I really need this? I just bought one last year. Ten seconds later: Okay, fine, I'll get it. Despite the general sameness of each title with minute changes to keep things fresh, Team17 consistently makes just enough of those changes to warrant the yearly refresh. Worms Clan Wars follows in this mold, making lots of little updates, plus one big one.
News
July 19, 2013
Kickstarter Picks: Precinct, Codename Cygnus, and more!
By Jillian Werner
Only three weeks into our new penta-pick format for Kickstarter, and I already can't remember how we ever got by with only one. There are simply too many amazing projects worth sharing, and sometimes doubling up just makes sense. Case in point: Sierra receives two shout-outs this week, making this your one-stop destination for adventure game nostalgia, among other great projects.