A wide-ranging anthology of essays exploring one of the most vital art forms on the planet today. From the earliest computers to the smartphones in our pockets, video games have been on our screens and part of our lives for over fifty years. Critical Hits celebrates this sophisticated medium and considers its lasting impact on our culture and ourselves. This collection of stylish, passionate, and searching essays opens with an introduction by Carmen Maria Machado, who edited the anthology alongside J. Robert Lennon. In these pages, writer-gamers find solace from illness and grief, test ideas about language, bodies, power, race, and technology, and see their experiences and identities reflected in--or complicated by--the interactive virtual worlds they inhabit. Elissa Washuta immerses herself in The Last of Us during the first summer of the pandemic. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah describes his last goodbye to his father with the help of Disco Elysium. Jamil Jan Kochai remembers being an Afghan American teenager killing Afghan insurgents in Call of Duty. Also included are a comic by MariNaomi about her time as a video game producer; a deep dive into "portal fantasy" movies about video games by Charlie Jane Anders; and new work by Alexander Chee, Hanif Abdurraqib, Larissa Pham, and many more

Introduction / Carmen Maria Machado -- I struggled a long time with surviving / Elissa Washuta -- This kind of animal / Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah -- Thinking like the knight / Max Delsohn -- Mule milk / Keith S. Wilson -- Staying with the trouble / Octavia Bright -- Narnia made of pixels / Charlie Jane Anders -- Cathartic warfare / Jamil Jan Kochai -- Cocoon / Ander Monson -- Video game boss / MariNaomi -- In the shadow of the wolf / Vanessa Villarreal -- Clash rules everything around me / Tony Talithimutte -- Great indoorsman / Eleanor Henderson -- I was a teenage transgender supersoldier / nat steele -- Ninjas and foxes / Alexander Chee -- No traces / Stephen Sexton -- Status effect / Larissa Phan -- Ruined ground / J. Robert Lennon -- We're more ghosts than people / Hanif Abdurraqib