My work has appeared in WIRED, Washington Post, IGN, GamesRadar, New York Magazine, Lifehacker, Input, EGM, Kotaku, Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, and many other places. Below, you will find a collection of various essays, reviews, interviews, and podcasts that I’ve been involved with around the web.
Follow me on Bluesky: @aidanmoher.com
Essays/Reviews/Interviews
2026
- In Clair Obscur’s wake, Dragon Quest 7 finally has its chance to shine (GamesRadar+—February, 2026)
2025
- Quartet Review (RPGSite—November, 2025)
- Shrine’s Legacy is a 16-bit throwback that adds co-op to the classic SNES RPG formula (Epic Games Store—October, 2025)
- Blame yourself or Kazutoyo Maehiro — Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (Astrolabe—September, 2025)
- Must-Have Commander Staples For Casual Players (MTGSalvation—September, 2025)
- Ultimate Guide: Final Fantasy VI (Retro Gamer UK #276)
- More Reunion Than Gathering: Final Fantasy And MTG’s Shared History (Rascal—August, 2025)
- Ultimate Guide: Suikoden (Retro Gamer UK #274)
- Final Fantasy x MTG Arena guide: the best standard Brawl decks from Universes Beyond (Epic Games Store—June, 2025)
- It’s been 32 years since The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening launched, but the Switch remake makes it feel like yesterday (GamesRadar+—May, 2025)
- So You Wanna Build A Mansion: Blue Prince (Astrolabe—April, 2025)
- Suikoden’s Back (Astrolabe—March, 2025)
- Bleed Purple: “Stream Big” by Nathan Grayson (Astrolabe—February, 2025)
2024
- How Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth represents the best of Final Fantasy’s past while charting a course for the future (GamesRadar—December, 2024)
- What makes a great console RPG story? (Astrolabe—December, 2024)
- Interview: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is officially coming to PC and the Epic Games Store (Epic Games Store—December, 2024)
- These creators want to change the way you think about remakes (Astrolabe—October, 2024)
- Final Fantasy XVI adds to the series’ long history on PC (Epic Games Store—September, 2024)
- Shadow of the Erdtree is great, except when it’s not (Astrolabe—August, 2024)
- Grief, trauma, and Rebirth (Astrolabe—May, 2024)
- How Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Unites Parents and Kids Across Generations (IGN—February, 2024)
2023
- The best video game history books that inspired Fight, Magic, Items (Astrolabe—October, 2023)
- You Can Play These Retro Games in Your Browser (Lifehacker—September, 2023)
- How Final Fantasy XVI Redefines the Series Again (And Don’t Call It a JRPG) (IGN—June, 2023)
- Final Fantasy XVI wants to be the “Game of Thrones” of video games, but is it too late? (Astrolabe—June, 2023)
- The Dead Cells Toxic Sewers Level Is Hard (But It Doesn’t, Er, Stink) (Vulture—May, 2023)
- Into the Breach’s Final Level Is Hard Without Breaking the Rules (Vulture—May, 2023)
- The Age of Nostalgia (Game Informer #354—March, 2023)
- 18 Must-Play Vintage Games on Nintendo Switch Online (Lifehacker—March, 2023)
- How the greatest Japanese RPGs of the ‘90s came to the West (Washington Post—January, 2023)
2022
- 13 Cozy Video Games to Hibernate With This Winter (Lifehacker—November, 2022)
- Lost in Translation (Unwinnable—November, 2022)
- A conversation with Aidan Moher, author of Fight, Magic, Items (Retro XP—November, 2022)
- Hitting the Books: How Pokemon took over the world (Engadget—November, 2022)
- The Big Idea: Aidan Moher (Whatever—October, 2022)
- Fight, Magic, Items is a chronicle of how Japanese roleplaying games levelled up through the decades (Capital Daily—October, 2022)
- How Final Fantasy VII Changed the Gaming Landscape Forever (Gizmodo—September, 2022)
- 19 of the Best JRPGs You Can Play on Modern Consoles (Lifehacker—September, 2022)
- Fight, Magic, Items Author Aidan Moher Discusses the JRPG’s Past, Present, and Future (Comicbook.com—September, 2022)
- 10 of the Hardest Video Games Ever (Lifehacker—July, 2022)
- The Best Ways to Play Vintage Games on Your Modern TV (Lifehacker—June, 2022)
- 9 Games You Can Beat in an Afternoon (and 3 You Can Tackle in a Weekend)(Lifehacker—May, 2022)
- Move Over, Oprah. Video Game Book Clubs Have Arrived (Wired—April, 2022)
- 11 Soothing Games That Will Restore Your Soul After ‘Elden Ring’ (Lifehacker—April, 2022)
- 15 Modern Pixel Art Games Everyone Must Play (Lifehacker—February, 2022)
- The Pixel Art Revolution Will Be Televised (Wired—January, 2022)
2021
- How Boss Fight Books Changed Video Game Literature for the Better (Fanbyte—September, 2021)
- Astrolabe 19: Why you need to pre-order this issue, FFVI for people with jobs, and Austin Channing Brown’s quest to prove she’s still here (Astrolabe—September, 2021)
- Astrolabe (18): Transmission Received with Amy Ratcliffe (Astrolabe—July, 2021)
- Astrolabe 18: Welcome to Fandom with Amy Ratcliffe, 1.22474487139 reasons to love NieR, and why you shouldn’t throw out your old TV (Astrolabe—July, 2021)
- Your Grandma’s Tube TV Is the Hottest Gaming Tech (Wired—May, 2021)
- Astrolabe (17): Transmission Received with Patrick Klepek (Astrolabe—May, 2021)
- Astrolabe 17: Growing up out loud with Patrick Klepek, Fabulous Nova Crystallis, and judging books by their covers (Astrolabe—May, 2021)
- Astrolabe 16: The heroes of today, a mystic quest, and Ellen Ullman’s life in code (Astrolabe—April, 2021)
- Astrolabe (15): Transmission Received with Ty Schalter (Astrolabe—April, 2021)
- Astrolabe 15: Sportsball with Ty Schalter, the $1,000 JRPG, and Kings of the Wyld (Astrolabe—April, 2021)
- Astrolabe (14): Transmission Received with Matt Wallace, author of Bump (Astrolabe—March, 2021)
- Astrolabe 14: Writing for Kids with Matt Wallace, Time’s Illusion, and Indians on Vacation (Astrolabe—March, 2021)
- Astrolabe (12): Transmission Received with Chris DeMakes (Astrolabe—March, 2021)
- Astrolabe 12: King of the downside with Less Than Jake’s Chris DeMakes, time travel travails, and the cure for white women (Astrolabe—March, 2021)
- Astrolabe 11: Chasing books, Near perfection, and roadkill witches (Astrolabe—February, 2021)
- 2020 Year In Review: The Silver Linings
- After 25 years, this cult SNES game finally gets a proper English translation (Input—January, 2021)
- Hayao Miyazaki’s Lost Magic of Parenthood (Uncanny Magazine—January, 2021)
- Astrolabe 10: Several sagas, Japan’s pop culture dominance, and the perils of going viral (Substack—January, 2021)
2020
- AI is about to transform the future (and past) of video games (Input—December, 2020)
- Astrolabe 9: The Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom, fan sequels, and dat streaming life (Substack—December, 2020)
- Astrolabe #8: Three books, a brave new world, and the trouble with New Game+ (Substack—December, 2020)
- The Fireside Incident (Substack—November, 2020)
- Astrolabe #7: The Fall of Shannara, Phantasy Star, And How Terry Brooks Changed My Life (Substack—October, 2020)
- The Rise and Fall of Shannara: The Last Druid by Terry Brooks (Tor.com—October, 2020)
- Astrolabe #6: Building a remixed world on the moon (Substack—October, 2020)
- Astrolabe Gaiden: How I write and revise non-fiction (Substack—September, 2020)
- Astrolabe #5: Fight, magic, items, Chrono Trigger, and another story (Substack—September, 2020)
- Timeless: A History of Chrono Trigger (Insert Cartridge—September, 2020)
- Astrolabe #4: Making money (or not) in SFF as a non-fic writer, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and new app for your Super Nintendo (Substack—September, 2020)
- You’re playing games like ‘Super Mario’ all wrong. This app can fix it. (Input—August, 2020)
- Astrolabe #3: Personal journeys, the story of a writer, oceans and seas of stars, and a bunch of SFF goodies (Substack—August, 2020)
- There Is No Universal Canon (Here’s The Thing—August, 2020)
- Astrolabe #2: DemonWars, a marching Black Queen, and the All Stars of geek newsletters (Substack—August, 2020)
- Exploring Suikoden’s heart and the excitement for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (Insert Cartridge—August, 2020)
- Astrolabe #1: SFF goodies, a thousand shattered gods, Beyond Oasis impressions, and some big personal news (Substack—August, 2020)
- Blazing High Seas Adventure: The Sin in the Steel by Ryan Van Loan (Tor.com—July, 2020)
- Beauty, Dragons, and Isometric Horror: Revisiting Breath of Fire IV (Nerds of a Feather—July, 2020)
- Magic: The Gathering’s digital history, from first build to end step (VentureBeat—June, 2020)
- Weaponized Nostalgia: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Insert Cartridge—June, 2020)
- Trials of Mana: The Insert Cartridge Review (Insert Cartridge—June, 2020)
- The 8 Craziest Japanese RPG Fan Theories (Insert Cartridge—May, 2020)
- “Life… Dreams… Hope… Where do they come from?” A Final Fantasy VI Retrospective (Insert Cartridge—May, 2020)
- The Modern Nostalgia of Dragon Quest XI: A Conversation (Nerds of a Feather—May, 2020)
- Where are all the idyllic Lord of the Rings games? (Insert Cartridge—May, 2020)
- Pick a Pile: SNES Vs. PlayStation JRPGs (Insert Cartridge—May, 2020)
- Explore The DemonWars Saga, One of the Most Underrated Fantasies Ever (The Portalist—April, 2020)
- A Viral Tweet Got People to Share Their Wildest Stories—Here Are 5 That Begged for Details (Man Repeller—January, 2020)
2019
- The 10 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2019 (The Portalist—December, 2020)
- Why Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete Remains One of the Best JRPGs Ever (EGM—December, 2019)
- 13 Books for Japanese RPG Fans (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—September, 2019)
- A New Age of Epic Fantasy Dawns in Joe Abercrombie’s A Little Hatred (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—September, 2019)
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January Is a Novel That Will Change the Way You Look at Stories (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—September, 2019)
- How Japanese RPGs Inspired A New Generation Of Fantasy Authors (Kotaku—July, 2019)
- Was Trials of Mana Worth Growing Up For? (Uncanny Magazine—July, 2019)
- This Is How You Lose the Time War Is a Time Travel Romance with Teeth (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—July, 2019)
- Shannara’s End Approaches in The Stiehl Assassin (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—May, 2019)
- A Brightness Long Ago Is a Fantasy Epic About the Shaping of History (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—May, 2019)
- Tad Williams’ Empire of Grass Is a Melancholy Fantasy Epic (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—May, 2019)
- War is Hell: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley (Tor.com—March, 2019)
- The Multiverse Is Rocked in Ravnica: War of the Spark, the First New Magic: The Gathering Novel in 5 Years (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—April, 2019)
- A Fantastic New Space Opera Saga Dawns in Elizabeth Bear’s Ancestral Night (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—March, 2019)
- 10 Books to Satisfy Fans of Netflix’s The Dragon Prince (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—February, 2019)
- You Don’t Need to Understand Magic: The Gathering to Fully Enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s Children of the Nameless (Tor.com—January, 2019)
- Fantasy’s Finest: An Appreciation of Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price Quartet (Barnes & Nobles Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—January, 2019)
2018
- Art of SFF: Charles Vess on Working with Ursula Le Guin on The Books of Earthsea (Tor.com—November, 2018)
- Spellbound: The Familiar Faces Creating the Story for Magic: The Gathering (Tor.com—September, 2018)
- One Giant Leap: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor.com—July, 2018)
- Political Upheaval in Shannara: The Skaar Invasion by Terry Brooks (Tor.com—June, 2018)
- Art of SFF: Escapism and Adventure with Jenn Ravenna (Tor.com—May, 2018)
- Art of SFF: A Portrait of Djamila Knopf (Tor.com—March, 2018)
2017
- A Newbie’s Guide to Brandon Sanderson, the Cosmere, and the Stormlight Archive (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—November, 2017)
- Brandon Sanderson Discusses the Past and Future of the Stormlight Archive (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—November, 2017)
- Art of SFF: Galen Dara (Tor.com—June, 2017)
- The Witchwood Crown Is a Triumphant Return to a Beloved Fantasy World (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—June, 2017)
- The Lasting Legacy of Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—June, 2017)
- War Never Ends: Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com—June, 2017)
- Vintage Shannara: The Black Elfstone by Terry Brooks (Tor.com—June, 2017)
- The Black Elfstone is the Beginning of the End for Terry Brooks’ Shannara (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—June, 2017)
- Pearly White: River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey (Tor.com—May, 2017)
- Art of SFF: Richard Anderson (Tor.com—April, 2017)
- Aboriginal Sci-Fi: Take Us To Your Chief by Drew Hayden Taylor (Tor.com—April, 2017)
2016
- 10 Great Science Fiction & Fantasy Authors from the Pacific Northwest (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—November, 2016)
- The Filaments of Fiction: Aidan Moher on The Sword of Shannara (Unbound Worlds—October, 2016)
- Blood Matters: Growing Up in an SF/F House (Uncanny Magazine—September, 2016)
- Stealing the future: Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com—June, 2016)
- The Collective: Books We Did Not Finish (The Semiotic Standard—June, 2016)
- Leading the Charge: Kameron Hurley’s Geek Feminist Revolution (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—May, 2016)
2015
- Please, Judge This Book by Its Cover (Uncanny Magazine Issue #7—November, 2015)
- Brandon Sanderson is the Hardest-Working Man in Fantasy (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—September, 2015)
- Welcome to Golarion—Enter the World of the Pathfinder Tales (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—August, 2015)
- Rereading Shannara: The Elfstones of Shannara (Tor.com—August, 2015)
- An SF/F Book for Every Gamer (Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog—July, 2015)
- Book Bites (Fran Wilde—May, 2015)
- Five Books about Kickass Moms (Tor.com—May, 2015)
- Riding the Wave: Exploring the origins of the “Tide of Shadows” (Beauty in Ruins—May, 2015)
- Why I’m Self-publishing My Book (Medium—April, 2015)
- How Terry Brooks Saved Epic Fantasy (Medium—March, 2015)
- Thinking Out Loud About Grimdark (Medium—February, 2015)
Twitter Threads
- SRAM, CR2032s, and SNESes, Oh My! (January, 2020)
- On the Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the perils of trying to recapture nostalgia (November, 2019)
- How women defined the sound of a video game era (August, 2019)
- My Top 10 JRPGs (August, 2019)
- A harrowing trip through a ’90s gaming magazine (July, 2019)
- Review of CRUSADER OF CENTY, a SEGA Genesis Zelda clone (July, 2019)
- How Magic: The Gathering got me into SFF (July, 2019)
- My adventures in retro gaming (May, 2019)
- On the slow transition of the SFF publishing market (April, 2019)
- On making tough decisions as a writer (March, 2019)
- On creative perseverance, confidence, and late ’90s backpack hip hop (February, 2019)
- How to make a great author website (September, 2018)
- How 16-bit JRPGs influenced my writing (August, 2018)
- Why I decided to self-publish (August, 2018)
- The enduring art of the Lord of the Rings (January, 2017)
Appearances
- 2025 Rocket & Raygun Awards (Electric Playground—February, 2026)
- Magic: The Gathering’s future looks like Fortnite, and fans are split (The Verge—November, 2025)
- CSE 87 Fall 2025 Lecture 5: The Late 1990s / Early 2000s: Console Gaming (UCSD—November, 2025)
- 2025’s Highest-Rated Metacritic Game Is Also A Game Pass And PS Plus Release This Month (Kotaku—April, 2025)
- The Suikoden Series Is As Relevant As Ever (Aftermath—March, 2025)
- CSI Skill Tree: Chrono Trigger with Aidan Moher and Troy L. Wiggins (Center for Science and the Imagination—February, 2025)
- Retro XP: Part One / Part Two
- Cutscene University
- Press Start for the FIGHT, MAGIC, ITEMS Book Cover Reveal (Nerdist—April, 2022)
- Cora Buhlert: Fanzine Spotlight: Astrolabe (March, 2021)
- Harry Connoly (May, 2015)
- Nerds of a Feather (May, 2015)
- r/Fantasy Writer of the Day (May, 2015)
- SF Signal (May, 2015)
- Scy-Fy (May, 2015)
- Scy-Fy (February, 2015)
- Gabriola Sounder (September, 2014)
- Jo Fletcher Books (December, 2012)
Podcast Appearances
- He Played Dark Souls One for the First Time!? Lets chat with Aidan Moher (The Hunters Cafe—July, 2025)
- Episode 7 – Aidan Moher joins to discuss Switch 2 pricing, Tariff Mayhem and More! (GG, Everybody!—April, 2025)
- Vagrant Story: Square’s Most Divisive RPG? (Tales from the Backlog—April, 2025)
- Still Loading #351: Wolfenstein 3D w/ Ashton Ruby and Aidan Moher (Still Loading—April, 2025)
- 108 out of 10 (Aftermath Hours—March, 2025)
- Pokemon Presents and the History of Suikoden with Aidan Moher (Pary Chat: A JRPG Podcast—March, 2025)
- Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Review, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and More w/ Aidan Moher (Axe of the Blood God—March, 2025)
- Suikoden I & II HD Remaster w/ Aidan Moher, Return to Donkey Kong Country in Universal Studios Japan (Tokyo Game Life—March, 2025)
- GG, Everybody! (February, 2025)
- Flashback 64 (February, 2025)
- Pixels and Polygons (January, 2025)
- The Kaiju Lounge (January, 2025)
- GG, Everybody! (January, 2025)
- Axe of the Blood God (December, 2024)
- Still Loading (November, 2024)
- Pixels and Polygons (October, 2024)
- Pixels and Polygons (October, 2024)
- Still Loading (June, 2024)
- “Da” Podcast (April, 2024)
- RPGaymer (July, 2023)
- The Thirsty Mage (June, 2023)
- Super Gamer Podcast (March, 2023)
- Every F’n FF (March, 2023)
- Still Loading (February, 2023)
- Forbidden Planet TV (February, 2023)
- Writer’s Block (January, 2023)
- Hardcore Gaming 101 (November, 2022)
- Memory Card (November, 2022)
- Axe of the Blood God (November, 2022)
- Retrograde Amnesia / YouTube (October, 2022)
- RPGFan: Random Encounter (October, 2022)
- Everybody’s Talking At Once (October, 2022)
- Tales from the Trunk / YouTube (October, 2022)
- The Thirsty Mage (October, 2022)
- Tech News Weekly Ep. 186 (TWiT—June, 2021)
- The Daily Dive (iHeartRadio—June, 2021)
- Rocket Talk Ep. 55 (Tor.com—May, 2015)
- Cabbages & Kings Ep. 6 (June, 2015)
- Rocket Talk Ep. 24 (Tor.com—Aug, 2014)
- Sword & Laser #187 “How to Win a Hugo” (Aug, 2014)
