Samuel Horti

I'm a freelance journalist who mainly writes about video games, but I also write about tech and real estate/housing. Click 'about me' below to find out more. 

Scroll down for article examples organised by type (a few highlights, then features, then reviews, then others). You can email me at sphorti@gmail.com 

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More feature examples

After 15 years, Max Payne 2's ridiculous physics still make it a must-play | PC Gamer

It took me a solid hour to remember why I loved Max Payne 2 when I booted it up the other week in honour of its 15th birthday...

More review examples

The Occupation review | PC Gamer

The Occupation, a game about investigative journalism, feels like a rough first draft of something spectacular...

Science and tech writing

TechRadar •

How sharks and camels could be the keys to curing brain diseases | TechRadar

“I bleed the sharks every month or two,” aren’t the words you expect to hear from an assistant professor at Maryland University. But that’s exactly what Dr Helen Dooley does in her work as an immunologist, visiting the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore to collect samples for her research. She, and other academics around the world, believe that proteins harvested from shark blood could be the key to diagnosing and treating diseases that are hard to target with existin
TechRadar •

Google is building a smart city in Toronto – here’s what you need to know | TechRadar

We know Google can build phones, tablets, laptops, thermostats, watches, smart glasses (sort of) and driverless cars, but can they build a city? Over the next few years, we’ll find out: Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, was last year selected by Toronto officials to create an 83-acre smart neighborhood just east of downtown. The project, which will begin with a $50m (about £38m pounds or AU$70m) pilot scheme later this year, aims to transform a traditionally indus
GamesRadar+ •

Why the Netflix version of Puss In Boots could be the future of TV. Fur real. | GamesRadar+

I’ve just watched my first ever episode of Puss in Boots. Not because I’ve been drawn in by those big shiny eyes while browsing my Netflix home page, but because it’s the series that the streaming service has used to trial its first interactive TV show. You can choose between two paths at various points in the story, sending the plot this way or that, towards two distinct endings.
T3 •

The best desks 2017 for home or office | T3

If you’re after a desk, it’s hard to know where to start. There’s thousands online, from standing desks and monster work stations to dinky things that you can just about squeeze a monitor onto. We’ve filtered through the noise to bring you the best of the best, no matter what your requirement. Right now the House by John Lewis Airframe Desk is the best desk you can buy in our opinion. It’s the right size for most people, it looks stylish, and it’s dead easy to put together. Having a glass top m
TechRadar •

20 gadgets for the ultimate connected home | TechRadar

The dream of having the ultimate connected home can sometimes turn into a nightmare. A complicated set-up process, iffy apps and a disconnected infrastructure can mean you spending hours just trying to get a light switch connected to your router. As with many tech advancements, the true innovations are often 'one-offs' that can also work as part of a wider setup, and we've selected 10 of the best such devices. These gadgets are powerful, yet generally easy to use and easy to connect to your ph

Additional writing examples

Glixel (Rolling Stone) •

War Games Become Vital History Lesson as Greatest Generation Dies Out | Glixel (Rolling Stone)

Charles Scot-Brown, 94, is watching Call of Duty: WWII’s soldiers storm Omaha Beach. “It’s basically authentic,” he says. “Whoever designed that knew something about what they were doing.” And he’d know: at just 20 years old, he left his native Canada to take charge of a platoon of soldiers in... Website no longer around (content moved over to Variety), so the link is a pdf of the text with images.
PC Gamer •

Crossing Souls review | PC Gamer

Crossing Souls is a nostalgic buffet of '80s and '90s favourites. Its story harks back to Stand By Me and The Goonies, its mechanics are borrowed from Streets of Rage and Battletoads, and it's packed with references to Star Wars and Back to the Future. While some of its references are overplayed ("I'm sick of running after everyone. What do you think this is, a role-playing game?"), they're generally harmless, and most times you'll at least crack a knowing smile. As a tribute act, it works.
VG247 •

Rainbow Six Siege's new Villa map is Ubisoft's map design at its best | VG247

It is my first match back after a two-month break from Rainbow Six Siege, and I am running around its newest map, Villa, in a daze. Every corridor looks the same, I have no idea how to get to the objective rooms, and I keep getting killed by enemies sitting in unseen corners. In other words, it feels exactly the way a Rainbow Six Siege map should feel when you jump in for the first time. Villa took a full nine months to put together, with the layout envisaged by one designer. The extra attentio
Gamasutra •

Devs reflect on the impact and legacy of Burnout Paradise | Gamasutra

“Nobody was interested” in Burnout Paradise prior to its release, series co-creator Alex Ward tells Gamasutra. “I remember taking it to E3, and pretty much nobody came to see it. The folks running EA [the game’s publisher] were thinking: ‘get that game done and then make another one’. We were just happy to survive it, really.” The team at Criterion Games did a lot better than survive – they created one of the most-loved driving games of all time. Fans’ passion for the open-world racer remains
Kotaku UK •

Frostpunk is the Harshest City Builder You'll Ever Play | Kotaku UK

One of your citizens is refusing to part ways with his frostbitten left leg. If your medics leave him alone then gangrene will kill him within days, adding another body to the growing pile dumped in a snowdrift on the edge of town. If you forcibly restrain him and amputate you’ll save his life, but he won’t be able to work, making him a burden on your already-strained resources. So: what do you do? These are the kinds of bleak choices you can expect in Frostpunk, a city builder about surviving
PCGamesN •

Happy 18th birthday Deus Ex - let's get drunk together | PCGamesN

Deus Ex turns 18 this month - which means, in the UK, the game can legally get drunk. So let’s all have a beer or two. Or, if you’re protagonist Adam Jensen, have three, and wash them down with a few glasses of wine and a litre of whiskey. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - the third game in the series -  is littered with alcohol, which I didn’t realise until I started searching it out: there are cans stuffed in office drawers and bottles spread liberally across table tops, as if the developers were pl
Rock, Paper, Shotgun •

Wot I Think – Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The voices won’t stop. They’re whispering in my ear, gnawing at my skull from all angles. “Turn back”, one says. “They’re watching you”. “She falls for their tricks every time,” says another, cackling while Senua screams. More than once during Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice [official site] I had to fight the urge to rip the headphones from my ears. As a portrayal of how harrowing it is to live with psychosis it undoubtedly succeeds, and it uses Senua’s illness as a route into an excellent eight-ho
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