Shannon Liao
@shannonliao.bsky.social
Inverse dot com gaming editor. bylines at New York Times, Vulture, IGN, Esquire, Scientific American and more. ex-WaPo and CNN
shannonliao.substack.com for bespoke games journalism delivered to your inbox
shannonliao.substack.com for bespoke games journalism delivered to your inbox
Reposted by Shannon Liao
I have a love/hate relationship with the term "friendslop," which both reflects the delightful unseriousness of the experience while also underselling it. Some of the games are janky (intentionally?), but most are crafted with care and polish. It takes a lot of work to appear carefree!
November 24, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I have a love/hate relationship with the term "friendslop," which both reflects the delightful unseriousness of the experience while also underselling it. Some of the games are janky (intentionally?), but most are crafted with care and polish. It takes a lot of work to appear carefree!
in case you missed it, I was really happy to commission @dreamcastaway.bsky.social on this extensive weekend essay on friendslop and why we're living in it now (and loving it) www.inverse.com/gaming/frien...
Friendslop Is The Biggest Gaming Trend in 2025 — And It’s Just Getting Started
2025 is the year gaming embraced friendslop. From new games like R.E.P.O and Peak to the friendslop-ification of Fortnite & GTA, it's just getting started.
www.inverse.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
in case you missed it, I was really happy to commission @dreamcastaway.bsky.social on this extensive weekend essay on friendslop and why we're living in it now (and loving it) www.inverse.com/gaming/frien...
absurd thought exercise: what if games had a label for how long it would take to play, but like a hello fresh recipe, they’re only estimating the shortest possible time frame and most skilled user.
so it’d be like:
hollow knight silksong, don’t worry this only takes 59 minutes
elden ring, eh 4 min
so it’d be like:
hollow knight silksong, don’t worry this only takes 59 minutes
elden ring, eh 4 min
November 17, 2025 at 10:36 PM
absurd thought exercise: what if games had a label for how long it would take to play, but like a hello fresh recipe, they’re only estimating the shortest possible time frame and most skilled user.
so it’d be like:
hollow knight silksong, don’t worry this only takes 59 minutes
elden ring, eh 4 min
so it’d be like:
hollow knight silksong, don’t worry this only takes 59 minutes
elden ring, eh 4 min
fun life hack I’ve discovered: drinking decaf coffee late at night for fun
November 17, 2025 at 3:24 AM
fun life hack I’ve discovered: drinking decaf coffee late at night for fun
two things that are kinda sad or infuriating:
1) if something is cool, you usually hear someone say they saw it on TikTok. can’t we just have nice things without this qualifier?
2) if something looks too glossy and fake, we now often suspect it was AI-generated. this is just getting exhausting
1) if something is cool, you usually hear someone say they saw it on TikTok. can’t we just have nice things without this qualifier?
2) if something looks too glossy and fake, we now often suspect it was AI-generated. this is just getting exhausting
November 15, 2025 at 4:25 PM
two things that are kinda sad or infuriating:
1) if something is cool, you usually hear someone say they saw it on TikTok. can’t we just have nice things without this qualifier?
2) if something looks too glossy and fake, we now often suspect it was AI-generated. this is just getting exhausting
1) if something is cool, you usually hear someone say they saw it on TikTok. can’t we just have nice things without this qualifier?
2) if something looks too glossy and fake, we now often suspect it was AI-generated. this is just getting exhausting
I’m finally playing league of legends ranked again and I gotta say, maybe this is the season I leave behind duo bot to go mid. queuing up with randoms who aren’t willing to support me can only get me so far
November 14, 2025 at 7:03 PM
I’m finally playing league of legends ranked again and I gotta say, maybe this is the season I leave behind duo bot to go mid. queuing up with randoms who aren’t willing to support me can only get me so far
Reposted by Shannon Liao
Here’s my massive interview with Dispatch’s writer Pierre Shorrete - touching on superhero fatigue, the nature of choice in narrative games, how it started as live action, how it became a “far greater” succes than expected, and what’s next www.inverse.com/gaming/dispa...
November 13, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Here’s my massive interview with Dispatch’s writer Pierre Shorrete - touching on superhero fatigue, the nature of choice in narrative games, how it started as live action, how it became a “far greater” succes than expected, and what’s next www.inverse.com/gaming/dispa...
rip the penny! it was already being rejected by so many store owners when I tried to include it in a payment, that it became slightly embarrassing to even bring it up
November 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM
rip the penny! it was already being rejected by so many store owners when I tried to include it in a payment, that it became slightly embarrassing to even bring it up
great get from @solfleet.bsky.social today about former Telltale devs' game Dispatch, how it previously contained sex scenes, which got deleted in production but may one day see the light of day again. still, they say, Dispatch "is not a gooner game." www.inverse.com/gaming/dispa...
The Best Superhero Game's Deleted Sex Scenes Could Still Be Released One Day, Writer Tells Us
In an exclusive interview, Dispatch's writer has been surprised by the ravenous support of the game's romances, and details how the team had to cut content.
www.inverse.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:40 PM
great get from @solfleet.bsky.social today about former Telltale devs' game Dispatch, how it previously contained sex scenes, which got deleted in production but may one day see the light of day again. still, they say, Dispatch "is not a gooner game." www.inverse.com/gaming/dispa...
Reposted by Shannon Liao
Full Dispatch interview will be up tomorrow. But here's a bit I pulled out of my chat with writer and AdHoc co-founder Pierre Shorette - where we talk about the "ravenous" response to the game's romances, and yes, that includes some planned sex scenes that were cut. www.inverse.com/gaming/dispa...
November 12, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Full Dispatch interview will be up tomorrow. But here's a bit I pulled out of my chat with writer and AdHoc co-founder Pierre Shorette - where we talk about the "ravenous" response to the game's romances, and yes, that includes some planned sex scenes that were cut. www.inverse.com/gaming/dispa...
friendly reminder I’ll be attending the Game Awards in Los Angeles this year for Inverse! we are already planning out our extensive social video presence there :) and newsletters of course! get in touch: [email protected]
November 5, 2025 at 10:33 PM
friendly reminder I’ll be attending the Game Awards in Los Angeles this year for Inverse! we are already planning out our extensive social video presence there :) and newsletters of course! get in touch: [email protected]
trying to watch the blue jays and dodgers game on live stream and it’s all just guys playing MLB The Show, seriously?? 😭😭😂
November 2, 2025 at 3:45 AM
trying to watch the blue jays and dodgers game on live stream and it’s all just guys playing MLB The Show, seriously?? 😭😭😂
stayed in tonight but have a Halloween K-pop demon hunters TikTok from me
November 1, 2025 at 3:12 AM
stayed in tonight but have a Halloween K-pop demon hunters TikTok from me
hi all, the awaited day has come: I'm looking for freelance writers to pitch Inverse Gaming for end-of-year coverage! namely, I'm looking for someone to contribute our best of RPGs this year list ($350), and pitch us on some year-end lookback essays ($500+). please pitch me: [email protected]
October 29, 2025 at 8:31 PM
hi all, the awaited day has come: I'm looking for freelance writers to pitch Inverse Gaming for end-of-year coverage! namely, I'm looking for someone to contribute our best of RPGs this year list ($350), and pitch us on some year-end lookback essays ($500+). please pitch me: [email protected]
belatedly caught up on the NaNoWriMo (November's National Novel Writing Month) saga. tl;dr: the organization behind came out in support of AI and caught tons of flak. it then shut down. now a few replacement events have sprouted up. RIP nanowrimo, you were once really fun
October 29, 2025 at 5:09 PM
belatedly caught up on the NaNoWriMo (November's National Novel Writing Month) saga. tl;dr: the organization behind came out in support of AI and caught tons of flak. it then shut down. now a few replacement events have sprouted up. RIP nanowrimo, you were once really fun
Reposted by Shannon Liao
I'm glad they're still trying this stuff! Jackbox has made a couple of previous attempts at social deduction over the years, and they've been kind of hit or miss.
October 24, 2025 at 7:38 PM
I'm glad they're still trying this stuff! Jackbox has made a couple of previous attempts at social deduction over the years, and they've been kind of hit or miss.
i just played some Among Us with friends. but we were dogs, not astronauts. and the setting was film noir, not outer space. it was actually jackbox party pack 11, i'm not even joking. woof dunnit, as they say www.inverse.com/gaming/jackb...
The Next Jackbox Party Pack Has A True ‘Among Us’ Rival
One of the mini-games in the new Jackbox Party Pack 11 is an immediate stand-out — and a real Among Us competitor.
www.inverse.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:56 PM
i just played some Among Us with friends. but we were dogs, not astronauts. and the setting was film noir, not outer space. it was actually jackbox party pack 11, i'm not even joking. woof dunnit, as they say www.inverse.com/gaming/jackb...
Reposted by Shannon Liao
I just choose duckduckgo as the search engine since it allows you to disable AI overview and filter out images (for the most part)
October 21, 2025 at 8:38 PM
I just choose duckduckgo as the search engine since it allows you to disable AI overview and filter out images (for the most part)
i'm so late to this but today I learned you can just type "-AI" minus AI on each google search to hide the AI overview. incredible
October 21, 2025 at 8:09 PM
i'm so late to this but today I learned you can just type "-AI" minus AI on each google search to hide the AI overview. incredible
I stayed home instead of going to twitchcon this year, but based on my previous years' experiences, I can say that internal security within the building always looked a bit lax 😬
October 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I stayed home instead of going to twitchcon this year, but based on my previous years' experiences, I can say that internal security within the building always looked a bit lax 😬
just came across Anthropic’s Claude merch and… I’ve never seen a dumber pun 🙈
October 17, 2025 at 5:54 PM
just came across Anthropic’s Claude merch and… I’ve never seen a dumber pun 🙈
mortifying that the Nintendo alarmo has two processes you need to clear to make sure the alarm is set, so that’s something you always have to keep in mind, especially the day after the weekend
October 13, 2025 at 3:46 PM
mortifying that the Nintendo alarmo has two processes you need to clear to make sure the alarm is set, so that’s something you always have to keep in mind, especially the day after the weekend
best way to spend a Sunday night: super smash figuring out how to beat out the npcs
October 13, 2025 at 1:04 AM
best way to spend a Sunday night: super smash figuring out how to beat out the npcs
started watching veep on hbo max tonight for the first time and it’s so interesting to see how the show has aged since 2012, and how much it ends up predicting
October 12, 2025 at 3:44 AM
started watching veep on hbo max tonight for the first time and it’s so interesting to see how the show has aged since 2012, and how much it ends up predicting
got this ad today in the App Store, not sure why hello kitty is on the ground?
October 8, 2025 at 2:14 PM
got this ad today in the App Store, not sure why hello kitty is on the ground?