Recap / Noah Caldwell-Gervais

Video game analyses and retrospectives by genre

Role-Playing Game

• "A Thorough Look At Fallout". An all-in-one retrospective of the Fallout series, which superseded multiple older videos on the series.^note Most of the older videos are now unlisted, but for archival purposes, here are the links: "A Thorough Look At Fallout" (Noah's very first video game retrospective), "How Does Fallout 4 Compare to Previous Fallouts?", "What I Wish I Knew Before I Played Fallout 4", "What's Been Going On With Fallout 4's DLC?", and "How Does Fallout 76 Compare to Previous Fallouts?". Covers Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, the unreleased Fallout: Van Buren, Fallout 3^note (incl. "Operation Anchorage", "The Pitt", "Broken Steel", "Point Lookout", and "Mothership Zeta" DLC), Fallout: New Vegas^note (incl. "Dead Money", "Honest Hearts", "Old World Blues", and "Lonesome Road" DLC), Fallout Shelter, Fallout 4^note (incl. "Automatron", "Far Harbor", and "Nuka World" DLC), and Fallout 76.
• "Arcanum & Vampire: Bloodlines -- Lost Classics of Troika Games". A retrospective of two out of three finished projects by Troika Games: Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.
• "The Complete Skyrim vs. Dragon Age". A comparative analysis of the two dominant approaches to Western RPG design: by Bethesda Softworks, exemplified by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (including the Dawnguard and Dragonborn DLC expansions), and by BioWare, exemplified by the Dragon Age series, featuring Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, Dragon Age II, and a slew of DLC expansions.
  • "Dragon Age: Inquisition in Close Critique". A detailed analysis of Dragon Age: Inquisition (sans DLC), how it compares to the previous titles in the Dragon Age series, and how it has been influenced by (the success of) Skyrim.
  • "What's Been Going On With Dragon Age: Inquisition's DLC?". A survey of post-release DLC for Inquisition, featuring Jaws of Hakkon, The Descent, and Trespasser.
• "A Thorough Look at Mass Effect". A retrospective of the original Mass Effect trilogy, featuring the first Mass Effect (including the Bring Down the Sky DLC expansion), Mass Effect 2 (incl. Kasumi: Stolen Memory, Lair of the Shadow Broker, Overlord, and Arrival), and Mass Effect 3 (incl. From Ashes, Leviathan, Omega, and Citadel), with a bonus excursion into the popular Indoctrination Theory.
  • "How Does Mass Effect: Andromeda Compare to Previous Mass Effects?". An analysis of Mass Effect: Andromeda.
• "A Thorough Look at Baldur's Gate". A retrospective of the Baldur's Gate series, featuring Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Baldur's Gate II, and Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal.
• "Tyranny and the Language of Power". An analysis of themes and mechanics in Tyranny.
• "Scars & Stories". A retrospective of Planescape: Torment and a comparative analysis of its Spiritual Successor, Torment: Tides of Numenera.
• "A Thorough Look at Neverwinter Nights". A retrospective of the Neverwinter Nights series, featuring the original game, its many, many expansions (Shadows of Undrentide, Hordes of the Underdark, Witch's Wake, Shadowguard, Kingmaker, Pirates of the Sword Coast, Infinite Dungeons, Darkness Over Daggerford, and Wyvern Crown of Cormyr), as well as Neverwinter Nights 2 and its own expansions: Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir, and Mysteries of Westgate.
• "The Outer Worlds in Close Critique". An analysis of The Outer Worlds.
• "Judicial Opinions: What Makes Disco Elysium a Modern Classic?". An in-depth analysis of Disco Elysium.
• "What Kind Of Game Did Cyberpunk 2077 Turn Out To Be, Anyway?". An analysis of Cyberpunk 2077.
• "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 Vs. Joseph Campbell". A retrospective of Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, with a comparative analysis of their respective approaches to The Hero's Journey.
• "I Beat the Dark Souls Trilogy and All I Made Was This Lousy Video Essay". A retrospective of the Dark Souls series, featuring Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, Dark Souls III, and all of their DLC expansions.
  • "Souls Inheritors: Bloodborne vs. Sekiro vs. Elden Ring". A comparative analysis of Bloodborne (including The Old Hunters DLC), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring in relation to the Dark Souls series.
• "How Many Clicks Does It Take To Get to the Center of Diablo?". A retrospective of the Diablo series, featuring the original game (including the Hellfire expansion), Diablo II (incl. Lord of Destruction and the Resurrected remake), Diablo III (incl. Reaper of Souls and the Darkening of Tristram special event), Diablo Immortal, and Diablo IV.

Shooters

• "A Thorough Look at Half-Life". A retrospective of the Half-Life series, featuring the original Half-Life (including the Opposing Force and Blue Shift expansions), Half-Life 2, as well as Episodes 1 and 2, and even Portal. Also, some notable mods, such as Black Mesa.
  • "Custom Game: Revisiting the Single-Player Mods of Half-Life 1". A full-length survey of 17 mods for the original Half-Life.
  • "A Thorough Look At Half-Life (Revised/Expanded/HD)". A remake of the original retrospective, additionally featuring Portal 2 and Half-Life: Alyx.
• "From Shock to Awe". A retrospective of the Shock series, featuring System Shock, System Shock 2, BioShock, BioShock 2 (including Minerva's Den DLC), and BioShock Infinite.
  • "Examining the DLC of Bioshock Infinite". A comparison of the Burial at Sea and Clash in the Clouds expansions to the base game experience.
• "Aliens vs Predator vs Aliens vs Predator vs Aliens Colonial Marines". A retrospective of the Alien vs. Predator shooter series, featuring Rebellion's 2000 Aliens vs. Predator, Monolith's Aliens vs. Predator 2 (incl. the Primal Hunt expansion), Aliens vs. Predator (2010), and Aliens: Colonial Marines.
• "The Complete Call of Duty Single Player Campaign Critique". A retrospective of the Call of Duty series, featuring the original Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, the Modern Warfare trilogy, Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
  • "How's Call of Duty's Single-Player Been Lately?". An update on the newest entries in the series: Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and Call of Duty: WWII.
• "F.E.A.R.: Itself!". A retrospective of the First Encounter Assault Recon trilogy, as well as F.E.A.R. Online.
• "In Defense of Doom 3". A retrospective of Doom³ and its expansion packs.
  • "How Does The New DOOM Compare to Previous Dooms?". A critique of Doom (2016) and comparative analysis with previous installments in the series.
  • "How Does Doom: Eternal Compare to Previous Dooms? (Feat. Doom 64)". A critique of Doom Eternal and (the remastered) Doom 64.
• "A Thorough Look at Wolfenstein". A retrospective of the Wolfenstein series, featuring Castle Wolfenstein, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein 3-D, Spear of Destiny expansion, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein (2009), Wolfenstein: The New Order, and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood.
  • "Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus in Close Critique. An "unfinished" critique of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and its DLC, released anyway as part of the soft reboot of the channel in 2019.
  • "How Does Wolfenstein: Youngblood Compare to Previous Wolfensteins?". An analysis of Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
• "A Critique of Two Homefronts". A comparative analysis of Homefront and Homefront: The Revolution.
  • "What's Been Going On With Homefront: The Revolution's DLC?". A survey of the post-release DLC for Homefront: The Revolution.
• "CRYSIS Identity". A retrospective of the Crysis series, featuring the original Crysis, Crysis: Warhead, Crysis 2, and Crysis 3.
• "Answering the Call of Juarez". A retrospective of the Call of Juarez series, featuring the original Call of Juarez, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Call of Juarez: The Cartel, and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger and discussing common themes of The Western in light of Noah's own travels across Western US.
• "SAD MAX". A retrospective of the original Max Payne, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, and Max Payne 3, and how each game treats its title character as a person.
• "Elements of CONTROL". An analysis of Control.
• "Revisiting Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands". A deconstruction and a critique of Ghost Recon Wildlands, serving as a follow-up to Noah's 2017 review of the game.
• "A Thorough Look at Star Wars: Dark Forces / Jedi Knight". A retrospective of the Dark Forces Saga, featuring the original Dark Forces, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II and its Mysteries of the Sith expansion, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.
• "Gears Through the Years: A Gears of War Campaign Retrospective". A retrospective of the Gears of War series, including Gears Tactics.
• "Playing Quake for the Story". A retrospective of the Quake series, featuring the original Quake (and its two mission packs, Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity), Quake II (plus The Reckoning and Ground Zero), Quake III: Arena, Quake IV, and Quake Champions.

Wide-Open Sandbox

• "A Thorough Look at Red Faction". A retrospective of the Red Faction series.
• "Mad Max in Close Critique". An analysis of Mad Max (2015) and how it relates to the film series.
• "A Thorough Look at Mafia". A retrospective of the Mafia series, featuring Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, Mafia II, and Mafia III.
  • "What's Been Going On With Mafia 3's DLC?". A survey of post-release DLC for Mafia III.
• "Revisiting Dying Light". An in-depth look at Gameplay and Story Integration in Dying Light.
• "A Thorough Look at Far Cry". A retrospective of the Far Cry series, featuring Far Cry, Far Cry 2, Far Cry 3, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Far Cry 4 (and the Valley of Yetis DLC), Far Cry Primal, and Far Cry 5.
  • "What's Been Going On With Far Cry 5's DLC?". An "unfinished" survey of pre-New Dawn DLC for Far Cry 5, released as part of the 2019 soft channel reboot.
• "Monster Mash -- Horizon: Zero Dawn vs. Days Gone". A comparative analysis of Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone, notable for being the first console games Noah has tackled for his channel (both are PlayStation 4 exclusives).
• "Home, Home on the Console: From Red Dead Revolver to Red Dead Redemption 2". A retrospective of four major Wild West-themed console games: Red Dead Revolver, Neversoft's GUN, Red Dead Redemption, and Red Dead Redemption II; and a comparison of their different takes on the genre. The video title is a reference to a famous American folk song.
• "A Thorough Look At Watch Dogs". A retrospective of Watch_Dogs, its Bad Blood DLC, Watch_Dogs 2, and Watch Dogs: Legion.

Horror Video Games

• "Alien: Isolation in Close Review". Noah's first video dedicated to one particular game, Alien: Isolation, as well as its launch-day DLC (Crew Expendable and Lone Survivor).
  • "What's Been Going On With Alien: Isolation's DLC?". A survey of post-release DLC for Alien: Isolation.
• "Clive Barker Games: Jericho vs. Undying". A comparative analysis of the two major games from Clive Barker, Clive Barker's Jericho and Clive Barker's Undying.
• "Outlast 1 & 2: Gamifying Found Footage Horror". A retrospective of the Outlast series, featuring the original Outlast, the Whistleblower expansion, and Outlast II.
• "Imaginary Monsters: Alan Wake vs. The Evil Within". A comparison of Alan Wake and The Evil Within's takes on Survival Horror set in nightmarish Dream Lands.
• "Thorough Look at Dead Space". An "unfinished" retrospective of the Dead Space series, released as part of the 2019 soft channel reboot, featuring the original Dead Space, Dead Space 2, Dead Space 3, and the Awakened DLC for the latter.
• "Manic Pixie Dream Worlds: A Critique of American McGee's Alice Games". A critique of Amercan McGee's adaptations of Alice in Wonderland: American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns.
• "How Does the Blair Witch Game Compare to the Movies?" A critique of Blair Witch, which also touches on The Blair Witch Project and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 movies.
• "How Does The Last of Us Part 2 Compare to the Last of Us Remastered?" A critique of The Last of Us, including the Left Behind DLC, and The Last of Us Part II.
• "A Thorough Look At Resident Evil". A retrospective of the entire Resident Evil game series, featuring: Resident Evil (and the 2002 remake), Resident Evil 2 (and the 2019 remake), Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (and the 2020 remake), Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, Resident Evil: Gun Survivor, Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil: Outbreak (and File #2), Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5 (with a nod to the Resident Evil Film Series), Resident Evil: Revelations, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and Resident Evil Village.

Real-Time Strategy

• "Revisiting the Warcraft Strategy Trilogy". A retrospective of the classic Warcraft RTS games and its expansions, before the rise of World of Warcraft.
• "A Thorough Look at Homeworld". A retrospective of the Homeworld series, featuring the original Homeworld, Homeworld: Cataclysm, and Homeworld 2, as well as the remasters.
  • "How Does Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Compare to Previous Homeworlds?". An analysis of Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.
• "The Starcraft Retrospective For People Who Are Bad At Starcraft". A retrospective of the StarCraft series, featuring StarCraft, Brood War, and StarCraft II (Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void).

Genre Orphans

• "Genre Orphans: L.A. Noire". Genre Orphans was a short-lived sub-series intended to shine a spotlight on Genre-Busting games that never really took off, the first of which was L.A. Noire.
• "Genre Orphans: Alpha Protocol". To date the last Genre Orphans installment, focusing on Alpha Protocol.

Other genres and commentary

• "Depression Quest and the Rhetoric of Gamer Identity". Noah's first major commentary piece, which used Depression Quest to discuss his own battle with depression and his take on the then-topical Gamergate controversy.
• "Postal, Hatred, and Weighing the Worth of Asshole Simulators". A retrospective of the Postal series and its Spiritual Adaptation, Hatred.
• "Curse of the Ghostbusters Sequel". A critical examination of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Ghostbusters (2016) movie reboot, and why the Ghostbusters franchise seemingly cannot produce a worthy sequel.
• "Jalopy! And The Other Side of the "Maturity in Games" Conversation". An essay on how the indie car mechanic game Jalopy serves as a sign of the video game medium growing up.
• "No Man's Sky In Close Critique". An analysis of No Man's Sky.
  • "Deeper Horizons". An in-depth reevaluation of No Man's Sky that followed its NEXT update.
• "Dissecting Dishonored". A retrospective of the Immersive Sim series Dishonored, featuring the original Dishonored (including The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches DLC) and Dishonored 2.
• "Creative Accounting: The Sub-Subgenre of Survival Strategy". A survey of an obscure genre, spanning from Sierra's Outpost and Outpost 2 to Haemimont Games' Surviving Mars and 11-Bit Studios' Frostpunk.
• "A Thorough Look At God of War". A retrospective of the God of War series and its escalation-slash-evolution, featuring the original God of War, God of War II, Chains of Olympus, God of War III, Ghost of Sparta, Ascension, and the 2018 soft reboot.
• "Trying to Untangle Death Stranding". An in-depth analysis of Death Stranding.
• "Notes From Along Kentucky Route Zero". An in-depth analysis of Kentucky Route Zero.
• "Automotive Fantasyland: What Makes Forza Horizon 5 So Compelling?". A rumination on how Forza Horizon 5 embodies the dream of car ownership. Also notable for being the first video that Noah had produced in collaboration with his newly-hired professional editor, Nate Greene.

Cross-genre comparative analysis

• "Comparing Modernizations" compares Duke Nukem Forever and Deus Ex: Human Revolution to their respective predecessors, Duke Nukem 3D and the original Deus Ex, and examines the differences between their respective approaches to reintroducing an old formula to new players.
• "Survey of Modern Comedy Games". An overview of how comedy is used in contemporary video games, featuring South Park: The Stick of Truth, Brütal Legend, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Portal 2, and Goat Simulator.
• "Approaches to Apocalypse". A comparative analysis of different takes on the Zombie Apocalypse genre in Left 4 Dead 2, Dying Light, and The Walking Dead.
• "Game Natures". A comparison of the depiction of nature in Firewatch and The Long Dark.
• "Prey vs. Prey". A comparison of Human Head's First-Person Shooter Prey (2006) and Arkane Studios' Immersive Sim Prey (2017).
• "SOMA vs. Tacoma". A juxtaposition of how SOMA and Tacoma use gameplay and narrative techniques to discuss the essence of humanity and its relationship with its sentient creations.

Travelogues

• "Old School Road Trip: 4,167 Miles in a 1973 Mercury Marquis" (took place in August 2009, video uploaded in August 2013)
• The Triptych (2017 trip):
  • "Playtesting Adventure" (February 2017)
  • "The Desert Bus (A Southwestern Ramble)" (June 2017)
  • "The Other Half of the West (A Travelogue)" (November 2017)
• The Fallout Locations Trip (March-April 2019):
  • "The Real Life Landscapes of Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout: New Vegas"
  • "Atomic Pilgrimage: Ghost Towns, Nuclear Relics, and Lost Civilizations on the Road to Trinity Site"
• The Ford Thunderbird trip (October-November 2022)
  • "The Lincoln Highway: Across America on the First Transcontinental Motor Route"
  • "The Real Life Landscapes of Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76"

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