Simon Parkin
The Guardian
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Simon:
Starfield review – an exquisite, electric, faintly rickety universe of possibilities
Bethesda’s long-awaited space epic is a vast interstellar canvas full of glorious sights to see and intriguing threads to pull – if you can keep patience with its fussy systems → Read More
How Monopoly Became America’s Cruellest Board Game
In “Ruthless: The Secret History of Monopoly,” we learn how a game meant to critique capitalism came to embody it. → Read More
From the archive: Snow machines and fleece blankets: inside the ski industry’s battle with climate change – podcast
This week, from 2019: Hundreds of ski resorts now stand abandoned across the Alps. But some scientists believe they have found a way to keep snow on the ground – and that it could help vulnerable communities all over the world → Read More
Hi-Fi Rush review – a brawler set to the beat of a drum
This music-centred adventure pits a teenage boy against robotic assassins in a colourful title for gamers of all talents → Read More
How “Battle Royale” Took Over Video Games
With a simple, ingenious formula, a Japanese novel has inspired some of the most successful games in history. → Read More
Strange Horticulture review – the enjoyably shady business of botanicals
Plants can cure or kill in this atmospheric puzzle game → Read More
The Best Video Games of 2022
Simon Parkin writes about his favorite video games of 2022, a list of games for Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox, and other gaming systems, which includes Elden Ring, Wordle, Cyberpunk 2077, and many more. → Read More
The Case of the Golden Idol review – delicious Sherlockian murder mystery
A treasure inspires murder, and your job as detective is to piece together the crime in this addictive 18th-century whodunnit → Read More
README.txt by Chelsea Manning review – secrets and spies
The WikiLeaks whistleblower on her upbringing, her time in the US army and the extraordinary events that led to her conviction → Read More
‘I want to keep being the first’: Hideo Kojima on seven years as an independent game developer
In his 36-year career, Kojima has become one of the world’s best-known game directors – and he has never been keener to welcome fans into his world → Read More
Norco review – dour, compelling Louisiana adventure
This award-winning single-person adventure, set in a run-down refinery town, is full of compelling mysteries → Read More
The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher review – how social media rewired our world
A stark warning about the extent to which Facebook et al distort our perception of reality → Read More
On TikTok, an Album Containing Old Wartime Photos Causes Havoc
Simon Parkin writes about a TikTok post from an antique dealer in Minnesota who believed that he had found rare photographic evidence documenting the Nanjing Massacre, the 1937 attack in which Japanese invaders murdered and raped Chinese citizens. → Read More
Immortality review – an irresistible plunge into a Hollywood mystery
Her Story creator Sam Barlow surpasses himself with this stunning interactive movie thriller in which you play detective, film editor and eavesdropper → Read More
The game’s Bond: the making of Nintendo classic GoldenEye 007
The beloved shooter proved movie tie-ins didn’t have to be mediocre. Twenty-five years on from its release, its creators tell how they put Pierce Brosnan into 8 million bedrooms → Read More
Darwin’s Lost Treasure, Found
Simon Parkin writes about the mysterious disappearance and reappearance of two notebooks that belonged to Charles Darwin at the Cambridge University Library. → Read More
Influence Empire by Lulu Chen review – the story of China’s Tencent
A fascinating study of the tech giant and its symbiotic relationship with the Chinese government → Read More
Neon White review – an exhilarating speedrun through a celestial dreamscape
Timing is all as you wake from the dead and race towards a heavenly finish line, slaying demons en route, in this chaotic yet ingenious anime-inspired game → Read More
Influence, Inc review – a mesmerising dive into the world of public manipulation
Your job is to manage a digital influencing agency with commercial and political clients – and ethical challenges → Read More
Who owns Einstein? The battle for the world’s most famous face
The long read: Thanks to a savvy California lawyer, Albert Einstein has earned far more posthumously than he ever did in his lifetime. But is that what the great scientist would have wanted? → Read More