Alan Wen

Alan Wen

Video games journalist

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

Tanuki Pon's Summer; a cartoon racoon rides a bike, letters fly from its post bag
How Tanuki: Pon's Summer infuses its art style with the aesthetic of rural Japanese festivals and anime

By Alan Wen Published

DenkiWorks' Liam Edwards explains why this is not just another 'Ghibli style' game.

Video Game Design
Promise Mascot Agency review; Japanese anime characters and mascots
Promise Mascot Agency review: Showa-era Japanese retro vibes, modern game design chores

By Alan Wen Published

What if one of Yakuza's wild mini-games broke free?

Gaming
Skin Deep; a retro indie game, three stylised cats are depicted in a simple, blocky graphic design
The decades-old Doom 3 engine proves perfectly suited to new indie game Skin Deep

By Alan Wen Published

Dev Brendon Chung explains why old "laser-focused" tech still matters.

Video Game Design
South of Midnight review; a Black woman looks over her shoulder, she's carrying a magical weaving staff
South of Midnight review: Southern Gothic blended with fantasy in a tightly woven action-adventure

By Alan Wen Published

Southern creature comforts.

Gaming
South of Midnight; a woman looks back over her shoulder, her face framed by a full moon
How the South of Midnight art team achieved its artisan animation style inspired by stop-motion

By Alan Wen Published

Art director Whitney Clayton and animation director Mike Jungbluth reveal how the Xbox game's eye-catching look is made.

Video Game Design
Fatal Fury City of the Wolves art; a mix of anime style characters on a red background
How Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves reimagines its anime pixel art fighters for a new era

By Alan Wen Published

SNK veterans Nobuyuki Kuroki and Yoichiro Soeda reveal what goes into updating a retro gaming icon for a new generation.

Video Game Design
Wax Heads; a digital illustration depicts a young woman holding a record, surrounded by a variety of displayed items in a store
How Wax Heads hand-drawn 'cosy-punk' aesthetic was made using Godot

By Alan Wen Published

Pattatie Games' Murray Somerwolff on recreating a music store narrative game with a brash post-punk comic book style.

Video Game Design
Assassins Creed Shadows review; a vibrant digital illustration portrays a dynamic confrontation between a samurai and a ninja, set against a dramatic red background
Assassin's Creed Shadows PS5 review: feudal Japan at its most beautiful

By Alan Wen Published

Great care is given to depicting this Japanese open world, though its dual gameplay is more conflicting.

Gaming
Promise Mascot Agency;
How Ikumi Nakamura's 'art bible' helped create Promise Mascot Agency's grotesque mascots, and why collaboration in indie game development is vital

By Alan Wen Published

Kaizen Game Works' developers discusses working with the former Tango Gameworks artist.

Video Game Design
Wanderstop review; a stylised digital illustration shows a whimsical landscape with a large, stout figure gazing at a quaint, fantastical structure beneath a decorative archway.
Wanderstop review: a surprisingly intricate, de-stressing tea-making indie game

By Alan Wen Published

Self-reflection over a cuppa.

Gaming
Among The Trolls by Avantgarden Games;
How Unreal Engine 5 is harnessed to blend photoreal environments with fantasy folklore in Among The Trolls

By Alan Wen Published

Game director Luca Simonotti reveals how UE5 enables a perfect mix of art and game design.

Video Game Design
Wheel Wold developer interview; a person rides a bike down a trial in a colourful breezy cartoon world
How Wheel World's massive rolling landscapes were made possible with Houdini

By Alan Wen Published

Small game dev teams can build large worlds without losing the human touch.

Video Game Design
Wanderstop indie game; A vibrant digital illustration portrays two characters seated on a park bench, along with other elements of a whimsical, animated setting.
"The environment is like a character in the game": how Wanderstop's world design blends Art Nouveau and Impressionism

By Alan Wen Published

The art inspiration behind the The Stanley Parable dev's new game.

Video Game Design
Wanderstop indie game; A close-up view of a vibrant red torii gate, a traditional Japanese gate, in a lush green forest setting.
How Unreal Engine and Epic's Megascan library made solo-developed Lushfoil Photography Sim possible

By Alan Wen Published

Dev Matt Newell shares how he turned his hobby into a zen photography game.

Video Game Design
Avowed review; a skeleton warrior with flora growing from it, holding a sword
Avowed review

By Alan Wen Published

A skeleton holding a sword, stood in smoke, flowers grow from its skull

Gaming
Monster Hunter Wilds creature art; large monsters attack a warrior in a desert, they have fur and scales
How Monster Hunter Wilds was made possible by Capcom's secretive RE Engine

By Alan Wen Published

Devs Yuya Tokuda and Ryozo Tsujimoto reveal how its new tech impacts world design.

Video Game Design
Afterlove EP; an anime and manga style indie game, characters play rock band instruments
Procreate and Unity combine to turn Afterlove EP into a moving manga-inspired indie game

By Alan Wen Published

Illustrator Soyatu, background artist Pinga and technical artist Maxi discuss their inspirations, techniques, and pay tribute to the game's late creator.

Video Game Design
Despelote indie game interview; sepia toned images of a South American city with 2D characters
This nostalgic indie game is a mash-up of comic art and photorealism - why it works

By Alan Wen Published

Despelote is a football game of two (artistic) halves.

Video Game Design
Citizen Sleeper 2 interview; a space person floats in a yellow room
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector review

By Alan Wen Published

Life is hard but hopeful in this star belt.

Gaming
Making Eternal Strands;
How Eternal Strands' complex chaos was made possible

By Alan Wen Published

Game director Frederic St. Laurent and CTO Louis Tremblay discuss using Unreal Engine 5's tools and artistic choices.

Video Game Design
Making indie game Mythmatch, a cartoon girl and greek mythical monster fight
Making indie game Mythmatch - finessing 2D animation to tell diverse stories

By Alan Wen Published

Creative director Moo Yu reveals this contemporary interpretation of Greek mythology isn't just cosy Hades.

Video Game Design
Asterism indie game
How hand-crafted indie game Asterism mixes digital art and papercrafts

By Alan Wen Published

Solo dev Claire Moorwood made her dream game using Unity.

Video Game Design
Best VR games I played in 2024; game screens from Quest 3 and PSVR 2 games
The best VR games I played in 2024, including Batman: Arkham Shadow, Vendetta Forever and a surprise PSVR 2 entry

By Alan Wen Published

From new releases to worthwhile updates, it's been a surprising year for VR.

Entertainment
Song In The Smoke: Rekindled review; a person draws a bow and arrow to shoot a creature
Song In The Smoke: Rekindled review: a physical and fun reworking of a VR classic

By Alan Wen Published

Can you survive in Song In The Smoke: Rekindled's PSVR 2 realistic wilderness?

Gaming
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