That made him dangerous. In “NAME BRAND: Hit the Bullseye, Be Accused of Crimes, Rinse, Repeat,” an article of mine from September 2023, the reality–the pattern–was laid out: Boom.

There’s something about pixel art games that pull you in in a way that some of the fanciest looking games out there don’t. The simplicity forces a focus on gameplay that makes this style of game more ...