Sundays often reward the curious with hidden discoveries, whether a forgotten church tucked behind a familiar landmark or a piece of writing that reframes how you think about a game you haven’t yet touched. This week’s edition of the Sunday Papers digs into Titanium Court’s peculiar humour, the political entanglements of cryptocurrency and Nigel Farage, and a handful of other pieces that, taken together, offer a striking portrait of where games criticism and political journalism currently meet. The common thread across several of this week’s selections is an uneasy relationship with sincerity, and a suspicion that humour, irony, and detachment are sometimes deployed as shields against something more uncomfortable.
Titanium Court and the Weaponisation of Humour
Dr Emily Price recently published a spoiler-heavy investigation into Titanium Court, a game that has generated considerable discussion for the way it oscillates between levity and genuine emotional weight. Price argues that the game’s humour is not merely a stylistic choice but a mechanism for controlling the player’s experience. The comedic distance, she suggests, often reads as defensive, as though the game is afraid to linger on its own vulnerabilities. This is a provocative reading because it reframes what many might dismiss as quirky tone as something closer to a psychological tic: the game cracks a joke precisely when it risks becoming too real. Price notes that sincerity does surface in Titanium Court, but only in brief flashes before the humour rushes back in to restore a safer, less exposed register. The implication is that the game is aware of its own evasions, even if it cannot fully overcome them.
Why Does Titanium Court Avoid Its Own Sincerity?
The game’s reluctance to commit fully to sincerity appears intentional, but that intention does not necessarily make it satisfying. Price’s analysis suggests that Titanium Court uses humour as a form of emotional gatekeeping, controlling the pace and depth of the player’s engagement. When sincerity does break through, it is given only a moment before a joke undercuts it. This pattern raises a difficult question for any work that straddles the line between comedy and earnestness: if you are afraid of being vulnerable, why be vulnerable at all? The answer may be that Titanium Court wants to have it both ways, to gesture toward depth without fully inhabiting it. Whether that constitutes a flaw or a deliberate commentary on the limits of game-based storytelling remains an open question.
Consciousness, Compromise, and the Machinery of Inheritance
Stephen Gillmurphy’s latest “mere gripes” resonate with Price’s concerns in unexpected ways. Gillmurphy reflects on the impossibility of making peace with a compromised world, noting that consciousness is not reformist and cannot be satisfied with half-measures. He observes that people convince themselves they can live within a small patch of carved-out autonomy, only to find themselves still banging their elbows against the walls of a system they thought they had accepted. The piece is particularly sharp on the tendency to look at previous generations and ask only for what they had: the steady job, home ownership, the modest life. But, as Gillmurphy points out, those generations also constructed elaborate systems of punishment and delusion to justify the trade-offs they made against the possibility of something better. The result is that younger generations inherit not a functioning world but the old machinery, still hammering away, stripped of whatever it was originally built to protect. The question he leaves hanging is a devastating one: is all we ask for permission to inherit the machine?
Angelique Special 2 and the Hardcore Feminine
Kerry Brunskill takes readers inside Angelique Special 2, a game she describes as “the prettiest nightmare I’ve ever had” and perhaps the ultimate girl game. What makes Brunskill’s piece so effective is her insistence that the game’s soft, conversational presentation is not a concession to casual players but a different kind of rigor. The manual, presented as “Queen Candidate Guidelines,” opens with gorgeous full-colour spreads explaining the setting in the voice of the cast themselves. Information is delivered through interviews and casual advice rather than instructional bullet points. Brunskill argues that this approach actually makes the game more hardcore, because it assumes the player is curious, thorough, and willing to extract the information they need without having it parcelled into explicit if-this-do-that chunks. It is a refreshing inversion of the usual hierarchy that equates difficulty with mechanical opacity. Angelique Special 2 suggests that a game can be demanding in its expectations of player attentiveness without ever raising its voice.
What Makes Angelique Special 2 a “Hardcore” Game Despite Its Soft Presentation?
The game rejects traditional game-y language in favour of a diegetic, conversational style that requires the player to read carefully and think contextually. The manual, instead of listing commands and systems, presents interviews with the cast and narrative explanations of the setting. This approach presumes that the player is alert and intellectually engaged, capable of synthesising information rather than simply following instructions. In that sense, Angelique Special 2 is more demanding than many games that advertise themselves as hardcore. It asks for a different kind of literacy, one that values curiosity and patience over reflex and rote learning.
Trans Segregation Becomes Law: A Call to Outlive the Hatred
Juliet Jacques writes about the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s new code of practice on single-sex spaces, which she describes as trans segregation becoming law in the UK. Her response to younger trans readers is notable for its refusal to counsel despair or performative outrage. Instead, she urges them not to devote every waking hour to combatting the legislation. The most effective response, she argues, is to outlive the people motivated by hatred, not just in the literal sense of surviving beyond them but in the more meaningful sense of living more vibrant, creative, and exciting lives. She quotes Toni Morrison’s observation that racism wastes your time and warns that the new code is designed to drain energy into opposing it. While acknowledging that people must fight the legislation and get their hands dirty in mainstream media spaces, Jacques emphasises that making art, writing, performing, and simply existing with joy may ultimately win more hearts and minds than getting bogged down in arguments with bad-faith actors. It is a bracing piece of counsel from someone who has spent years in the trenches of this particular fight.
The Crypto Billionaire Behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK
Tom Burgis published an investigation in late April that connects Nigel Farage to Christopher Harborne, a crypto billionaire who has funnelled millions into Farage’s Reform UK party. The piece, which appeared before the UK’s local elections, also draws links to the Trump family’s embrace of cryptocurrency. Harborne, who does not give interviews, responded through lawyers at the reputation-management firm Schillings, refusing to “reward” Burgis for his prior coverage. The lawyers claimed Harborne has not sought to influence any politician on cryptocurrencies or other business interests, though they also offered a line from Upton Sinclair as Harborne’s sole on-record response: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” The implication, directed at Burgis himself, is that his coverage is compromised by his employer’s interests. Subsequent reporting by Carole Cadwalladr has added further details about Harborne’s activities. The investigation raises uncomfortable questions about the intersection of cryptocurrency wealth, populist politics, and the opaque channels through which money flows into supposedly grassroots movements.
How Did a Crypto Billionaire Become a Major Funder of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK?
Christopher Harborne, a billionaire with significant cryptocurrency holdings, has provided millions of pounds to Reform UK, the party led by Nigel Farage. Reporting by Tom Burgis revealed the financial connections, which were published prior to the UK’s local elections where Reform made notable gains. Harborne’s lawyers deny that he has sought to influence any politician on cryptocurrency matters, but the scale of the funding and the timing of the donations have drawn scrutiny. Follow-up reporting has continued to probe the relationship between Harborne, Farage, and the broader ecosystem of crypto-adjacent political money.
Jank.cool and the Eternal Dog Versus Cat Debate
As May’s unseasonal heat gives way to drizzle, the mind turns with a certain weary fondness to Jank.cool, the site founded by former Rock Paper Shotgun writers now reduced to fomenting controversies about whether cats are better than dogs. This week, Brendy has published a Versus format article pitting Dog from Half-Life 2 against the Cat from Stray. The framing is characteristically absurd: a conflict that has raged since the first gristly bit of mammoth salami, now settled in the arena of videogame cameos. Brendy writes that in another world, at another time, Dog and Cat would have been inseparable pals, but not here and not now. It is a knowing, self-deprecating piece that understands the silliness of its premise while committing fully to the bit. That, in a way, is the Jank.cool ethos: earnest commitment to ridiculousness, with a wink that never quite becomes a nudge.
This week’s music selections offer two sharply different moods. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Run Through the Jungle” thrashes through the speakers with that swampy, paranoid energy that feels increasingly appropriate for the times. On the other end of the spectrum, Judy and Mary’s 90s pop number “Sobakasu,” familiar to anyone who remembers Rurouni Kenshin, provides a burst of bright, nostalgic energy. Both are worth your time, though perhaps not in the same playlist.
If this weekend finds you wandering through a churchyard or stumbling upon something unexpected in a familiar place, please do share. The best discoveries, after all, are the ones you were not looking for.
