An Evening at the Inn - Issue #3

Welcome back to the inn, travelers. We've got an exciting issue this time, but it's also a tad bittersweet.

Unfortunately, I found out last week that my position at Inverse, and the site's entire gaming section, was being eliminated. After four years of the best work I've ever done in my life, I can't deny that it hit me pretty hard. I'm still getting my bearings from the sudden change, and dipping a toe back into the rough waters of freelancing.

I do have a few final pieces and interviews that were planned at Inverse that have, luckily, mostly been picked up by other outlets. And I've already found some steady freelance work to at least keep the lights on, for now.

Of course, you might be wondering what happens to An Evening at the Inn because of this? For the time being, nothing. This will still be a bi-weekly newsletter, and it's always going to be free.

However, I'm looking into supplementing the base newsletter with some kind of subscription - very low cost, but a way to invest in more complex content from me.

But as you can imagine, things are fluid, and we'll have to see what the future holds.

Please consider supporting An Evening at the Inn and my work as a freelance journalist via Ko-Fi. Comments, feedback, tips? Reach out to madsenhayes@gmail.com

One thing I've endlessly been fascinated with, for my entire life, is the idea of using video games in an educational capacity. Age of Empires is the reason I was almost a history major, after all.

I think there's real potential in introducing video game curriculum in academia, and that's something we're exploring in this issue. I'm introducing the first episode of Armchair Chats - an interview podcast series for An Evening at the Inn. Here I'll talk to the people who make, play, and use RPGs in a variety of capacities.

I talk to Dr. T. Wade Langer, Jr., an educator and researcher at The University of Alabama. Langer uses games, specifically RPGs and Final Fantasy, in his curriculum for religious studies and philosophy. But since that started, he's also found success as a content creator, under the handle ProfNoctis.

Wade and I talk about how his journey started, how he accidentally became a content creator, and how games can enrich academia. *As a note, there will be a YouTube version of this soon, if you'd rather listen that way.

ArmchairChatProfNoctEp1

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ProfNoctis

ProfNoctis

Lucas White on Digimon Story Time Stranger, and finding comfort in a game's sudden and stark success

Lucas White Believes Digimon: Time Stranger’s Instant Success Was A Bright Spot in Dark Times | Winter Spectacular 2025 — startmenu

The Winter Spectacular isn’t over just yet. 2025 was a rotten year, but nestled among the misery Digimon Story: Time Stranger stands out like a hopeful light for Lucas White.

startmenuGuest Writer

Ozzie Meija on Life is Strange's reluctance to let Max and Chloe go

It’s way past time for Life is Strange to let Max & Chloe go

The next Life is Strange game is bringing Max and Chloe back together, but the series should have moved on from them long ago.

ShacknewsOzzie Mejia

William Hughes looks at what made Fallout: New Vegas such a pivotal game

The Fallout games are at their smartest when nothing’s blowing up

Fallout is at its best when it focuses less on destruction and more on what comes after—and it’s never done that better than in New Vegas.

AV ClubWilliam Hughes

More technical than anything, but Richard Leadbetter from Digital Foundry breaks down the absolutely bizarre reason for Monster Hunter Wilds' PC performance woes

The Latest Monster Hunter Wilds PC Perf Drama Explained

Thousands upon thousands of DLC checks hammer the CPU.

Digital FoundryRichard Leadbetter

Grace Benfell explores the fascinating way Pathologic 3 inexplicably weaves together narrative and gameplay

Pathologic 3 weaves gameplay and narrative as tightly as blood and bone

In its wedding of mechanical complexity and narrative justification, Pathologic 3 undoes oft-touted binaries of story and play.

AV ClubGrace Benfell

I've got perhaps the best recommendation of all time this week, a game that will quite literally change your life. Lies of P is currently on sale on Steam for a whopping 50 percent off, no less.

When I went back to Lies of P last year, not only did it become my favorite Soulslike, even beating out anything FromSoftware has made – it's quite literally in my top 10 games of all time. A gorgeous gothic Pinochio fever dream that will make you cry, just play it and thank me later.

If you need more convincing, I wrote about just that, as it happens. Just ignore the title that I had no input on deciding - at least I'm free of that.

Save 50% on Lies of P on Steam

Lies of P is a thrilling soulslike that takes the story of Pinocchio, turns it on its head, and sets it against the darkly elegant backdrop of the Belle Epoque era.

STEAM

The Most Revolutionary Action Game of the Year Isn’t the One You’re Expecting

With the addition of the Overture DLC, Lies of P has become one of the most revolutionary games the Soulslike genre has seen do date.

Inverse

As a reminder, here are the major RPG releases of January. I'm quite interested in Code Vein 2, with how much the landscape of Soulslikes has changed from the first.

• Jan 15 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon - PS4, PS5, Switch 1 & 2, PC)
• Jan 15 - Cassette Boy (PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Series, Switch, PC)
• Jan 20 - Blightstone (PC Early Access)
• Jan 22 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade (Xbox, Switch 2)
• Jan 22 - Arknights: Endfield (PS5, PC, mobile)
• Jan 22 - Hermit and Pig (PC)
• Jan 29 - Card-en-Ciel (PC)
• Jan 29 - Code Vein 2 (PS5, Xbox Series, PC)

For those of you hopelessly invested in the animal drama, Garrus has taken to making Oreo's crate, where she eats her food every night, his personal abode. This has led to some unfortunate situations where the 16-year-old blind Chihuahua stumbles drunkenly into her cage only to run into a cat, and then they both freeze and have no idea what to do.

I unfortunately don't have pictures of that moment, but instead enjoy a very grumpy Garrus who refused to move out of my office chair.