Alan Wen is a freelance journalist writing about video games in the form of features, interview, previews, reviews and op-eds. Work has appeared in print including Edge, Official Playstation Magazine, GamesMaster, Games TM, Wireframe, Stuff, and online including Kotaku UK, TechRadar, FANDOM, Rock Paper Shotgun, Digital Spy, The Guardian, and The Telegraph.
Latest articles by Alan Wen

How Origame Digital built a “souped-up PS2” Lovecraftian horror game about penguins
By Alan Wen Published
Origame Digital's Tali Faulkner reveals how penguins, Nazis and Lovecraft collide in this brilliantly weird Antarctic horror game.

Guns of Eschaton turns Viktor Antonov's final game into a nightmare Western shooter
By Alan Wen Published
The late art director's final game takes you to the end of the world in 19th-century America.

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition review: FromSoftware's open world masterpiece is still full of grace on Switch 2
By Alan Wen Published
Return to The Lands Between and the Realm of Shadow, on the go.

How Screenbound's impossible '5D' platformer concept became a real game
By Alan Wen Published
Radical Forge technical artist Lyra Owen shares insights on turning Screenbound's 'mockups' into a playable game that makes sense between 2D and 3D worlds.

The Duskbloods is FromSoftware at its weirdest – 5 things I learned from playing the Switch 2 exclusive
By Alan Wen Published
It looks like Bloodborne, plays like a battle royale, and is much weirder than I expected.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer's podracing meets Burnout had me on the edge of my seat
By Alan Wen Published
Hands-on with the roguelite-based arcade racer that feels like racing in a Galaxy far, far away.

This dark Slavic fairy-tale game is like Devil May Cry with ballet combat
By Alan Wen Published
Tsareva: Age of Tales' combat is actually based on mo-cap from a real prima ballerina.

This indie game is turning dressmaking into the ultimate creative fantasy
By Alan Wen Published
How a dream of becoming a costume designer became Dressmaker, a cosy crafting game.

How Kingdom Hearts, Spanish culture and Unreal Engine 5 shaped Duskfade's stunning art
By Alan Wen Published
This indie game is bringing back everything I loved about PS2 platformers.

Splatoon Raiders review: a clever spin-off that turns familiar parts into something fresh
By Alan Wen Published
This novel Switch 2 experiment works better than it should.

This anime-themed game is like Katamari Damacy, Crazy Taxi and Tony Hawk rolled into one, with a mix of 2D anime, pixel art and Dreamcast-era 3D visuals – it shouldn’t work but does
By Alan Wen Published
Truck-Kun: Supporting Me from Another World is a lot.

I learned 5 fundamental truths of game art direction, which aren't always about art
By Alan Wen Published
What does a first-principles approach to game art direction look like?

A GTA 6 concept artist says you’re probably using too many tools – why the 80:20 rule is all you need
By Alan Wen Published
Senior concept artist Gargi Roy explains how to optimise concept art at Develop: Brighton.

The Unreal Engine 5 secrets that made the highest-rated Lego game of all time possible
By Alan Wen Published
Revealed at Develop Brighton, how TT Games made Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

Modern games have a readability problem – Saros shows how to fix it
By Alan Wen Published
Housemarque's art director explains why beautiful visuals should never get in the way of great gameplay.

How a comic artist spent eight years turning his own characters into a beautiful point-and-click adventure game
By Alan Wen Published
Jordi & Oslo: The Lost Tail is a labour of love from Guillem Ruiz.

Kidbash: Super Legend is built in Blender but rendered like a classic SNES game
By Alan Wen Published
This indie game is reviving Donkey Kong Country's famous graphics trick.

Finding Polka is like a cosy interactive Where's Wally completely hand-drawn with ballpoint pen
By Alan Wen Published
Solo indie dev Shinnosuke Kumazawa on making a game as a tribute to his dog that his kids can play.

Star Fox review: modern cinematic visuals, but still retro to its bone
By Alan Wen Published
Velan Studios shoots for the stars when it comes to graphically updating this N64 classic.

This Japanese graphic adventure is like playing a 90s anime on the cusp of the end of the world
By Alan Wen Published
Rain98 director Shoon T on recreating 1998 in a perpetually raining Tokyo.

Star Fox's forgotten history: how Nintendo's most remade series changed gaming forever
By Alan Wen Published
Everyone jokes about Star Fox's remakes, but they're missing the real story.

This Rez artist is making a Japanese mythology game that breaks every visual stereotype
By Alan Wen Published
Noboru Hotta says there's no place for realism in his game, Twin Soul.

The Adventures of Elliot - The Millennium Tales review: a Zelda-inspired RPG that finally pushes HD-2D forward
By Alan Wen Published
Square Enix's retro pixel tech gets a makeover for its new action-oriented adventure.
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