Gamers Book Club // 02
Book recommendations for developers and gamers 📚
Welcome to Gamers Book Club, where I share a book recommendation each month as a substack note. Every few months, I collect those suggestions into a single post like this one, so you can check all in one go.
This round features titles from May to August 2025. These books explore different angles on games, design, and the industry as a whole. I hope they bring you insights, inspiration, or maybe even a creative push. Shall we start?
Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games
Edited by J. Robert Lennon and Carmen Maria Machado
A deeply personal anthology that explores games as both cultural artifacts and emotional anchors. In it, celebrated authors reflect on how games have shaped their identities, relationships, creativity, and sense of self.
Some essays focus on specific titles like The Last of Us, Disco Elysium, Halo, and Call of Duty. Others explore broader themes such as language, gender identity, race, and memory. The tone shifts from vulnerable to nostalgic, cerebral, and political.
Every piece shares a desire to understand what it means to live, feel, and grow up alongside games not just as entertainment, but as immersive spaces we carry with us.
The writing throughout is so damn good, and as a nice surprise, Clash of Clans (aka the game I work on) makes an appearance in one of the essays.
Control Freak
by Cliff Bleszinski
A memoir from one of the most iconic and polarizing voices in modern game history. Cliff Bleszinski takes us on a journey from playing obsessively as a kid to shaping genre-defining titles like Unreal and Gears of War.
The book is full of behind-the-scenes stories fans will love, but what really stood out was how openly he shares his personal side. From childhood traumas and moments of loss, to hard earned lessons in life and leadership, he doesn’t hold back.
Some chapters are tough, but they are handled with honesty and care. The writing is smooth, entertaining, and full of personality. I tore through it in record time. It made me want to jump back into Gears to chainsaw some Locust… but also made me wanna call my dad just to say I miss him.
Control Freak is honest, funny, and unexpectedly moving. A reminder that games are art, and the people behind them are just as complex as the worlds they create.
Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation
by Steve Swink
A must-read for anyone trying to wrap their head around this tricky, often hard-to-define concept.
Swink describes game feel as the tactile, visceral sensation players experience when interacting with a game. He breaks it down into three core pillars: real-time control, simulated space, and polish. Together, they form a clear framework for analyzing game feel more deliberately.
It’s not the most fluid read out there. The early chapters lean heavily on theory, and some parts are dense. But once he starts exploring familiar games, the book really picks up. The insights are sharp, and the core message is incredibly useful.
Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo
by Reggie Fils-Aimé
Part memoir and part leadership guide, it follows Reggie’s path from his early life to becoming president of Nintendo of America and one of the most recognizable figures in gaming.
What I like most is how the book blends personal stories with industry turning points. Reggie reflects on lessons from earlier professional experiences and his bold actions at Nintendo, framing the pillars of his leadership style along the way. It is insightful, entertaining, and full of practical examples of how challenging norms can lead to meaningful change.
There are takeaways about empathy, resilience, and risk-taking, but it’s also just fun to revisit Nintendo’s biggest moments through the eyes of someone who helped shape them. For me, it reinforced that leadership practices are not only for managers but also for anyone who wants to excel as an individual contributor.
As a bonus, it pairs perfectly with Ask Iwata, another favorite from these posts.
Wanna Learn More?
New Gamers Book Club picks drop at the end of each month over on my Substack Notes, or you can just wait for the next roundup post like this one.
Got a recommendation for me? Share it in the comments! ✨📘✨
I requested Game Feel to be ordered to my city library. It looks like something out of my world of understanding, but I want to read it, and hope it benefits others. Great post for the gamers book club!