It is interesting to me that the idle game genre, one often associated predatory monetization and being the empty calories of gaming, started out as a parody of the monotony of grinding in RPGs and the monetization of MMORPGS (if you are going to charge by the month or year then why not pad out your game with grinding to milk as much time from a player). Clicker games get a bad rap- in some cases deservedly so, such as the utterly bland idle heroes- but when done well they can be quite good and illustrate perennial truths. The best clickers don't involve just clicking and idling but also feature a blossoming of mechanics. In games like Cookie Clicker the fun comes from seeing how you can use the games many different mechanics to increase your total clicker count, and in terns of mechanics cookie pales in comparison to a game like Kitten Game. Some clickers like Universal Paperclips cut back on total play time to instead illustrate a thought experiment.

Out of all the clickers one has always stood out to me, Anti-Idle. Its a parody of idle games which makes it super crack compared to normal idle game crack. Like the name suggests anti-idle-despite having some idle elements- instead is filled with endlessly things to do. You unlock tons of fleshed out games from a garden sim to an idle heroes rpg to a duck life type pet racer to an arcade game or a precision clicker. You are always getting achievements or managing stats or otherwise grinding at some game. In many ways its the ultimate flash game combining many major flash game types under one roof. if you even want to be fully immersed in a game then play anti-idle.

In terms of design Vampire Survivors feels like an evolution of idle games, ultimately walking around is more engaging then clicking. Vampire survivors starts out small with you stuck with a small weapon pool and being unable to make it past the 15 minute point, yet as it goes on you unlock so much more to consider like card synergies, evolutions, or stage specific items. There are even some fun, subversive story moments. Strategies which at one point seemed iron clad become challenged as more unlock, so you have to change up how you play even within the simple framework.

An interesting thing about Vampire Survivors is how much of a moral outrage [1] the game spawned, while lacking in the pay to win microtransactions of others in the genre, and having a cheap buy in time it has still sparked accusations of being little more then gambling or a drug. Similar to those who oppose all clicker games- even those which are entirely free- the logic is that even if the game doesn't waste your money it wastes your time which is money. This logic seems a bit flawed to me as frankly every game is a time waster. Any time spent playing a game could be put towards more productive activates and in terms of artistic merit films and literature give you more bang for you buck. Ultimately I think the most of the out rage comes from he fact that Vampire Survivors and their ilk act as a sort of refutation of gaming as a whole. As much as gamers like the brag about how games have grown up and now have mature stories and elevated gameplay, all it takes to make an effective game is lots of numbers and flashy effects. To some it is an existential threat but it doesn't have to be this way. Vampire survivors reminds me of he joy of discover and power creep in a game, through its simplicity it chases pure fun and seeing how much joy its brought people I think its commendable.

So yes as a game vampire survivors is a predatorily designed time sink, but aren't they all.

[1] One aspect of the outrage centers on the lead dev working on pachinko games before this which is used as further evidence of the game's evil nature "The treasure chests use a slot reel type graphic!". There is no gambling nor even simulated gambling so this complaint is a moot point and the treasure chests all drop from bosses which spawn at fixed locations or fixed times so they aren't even fully random. Countless games since the dawn of the arcades have used flashy visual feed back as a reward for good play and in those games you are literally betting a quarter per play. If the vampire survivors team was able to take skills learned in a more dubious context and use them in a way which is not predatory and helps make a better game then I say good for them.

We need more games to exist that are developers looking back at the work they've done up until now, their legacy, and the context they exist in within the video game industry. I don't think I've experienced a piece of media by a creator about how much they love the thing they do and the medium they create in but also how much they hate it at the same time due to things beyond their control and how it affects them emotionally. The toxic relationship of art and business. How something that brings you so much joy and inspiration can also hurt you so much.

The closest thing to this is a moment in the manga 'Goodnight Punpun' where the titular character Punpun is getting his manga pitch ripped apart by some idiot editor who completely missed the forest for the tree and is definitely based off some real jackass the author, Inio Asano, encountered when trying to get this manga made. Someone so stupid they couldn't see what Asano had there was one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written.

Probably my favorite part of this game is where it feels like Suda, through travis, is talking about his legacy and how he hates that he has become seemingly reduced to the "wacky Japanese game dev guy who makes the boner jokes and game has titties" in a lot of peoples eyes. Just as Travis hates how everyone looks up to him or sees him as this legendary assassin. Seeing what Travis is and does as something desirable and not completely soul crushing. This game is one of the few pieces of art I've seen (only the second game to really touch on stuff like this, the other being The Beginners Guide) that really goes into that un-personing that can happen to an artist when people interact with their creations and take away completely different message than what they intended.

The biggest "baggage" so to speak about this game beyond the gameplay which i find: incredibly boring most of the time and actively headache inducing the rest of the time. Is that you need to play and know a lot of things about suda's previous works to get the most out of its story. You practicely have to be a Suda51 lore master or know someone who is or consult videos that chronical his journey as a creator. I can't really imagine what someone's takeaway from this game is if they only played No More Heroes 1 and 2 before this and don't know shit about suda as a creator. This game must be utter nonsense to them.

It is very much a tall order to go "hey you want to play this game well besides the two games in the series that come before it: you also need to at least play 6 other games not even including the games that aren't translated in English that are all loosely or directly in a connected universe, read 2 manga (one which also exists as a fangame) and do extensive wiki diving about these games' development to get the most out of this meta self referential introspection about a Director and his studio.

Would have rather it been solely a visual novel or whatever the hell you want to call 13 Sentinal's Remembrance section is. Cannot recommend this game enough, GOATed

This is one of the greatest grifts in gaming history.

Pure cynicism, the sole purpose of this game was to scam kids in the 90s, and shill it's awful TMNT ripoff "Cheetah Men"

The only thing this game had to give games as an artform is a bunch of dudes on youtube that swore over footage of it's non-functioning games a'la AVGN.

Miserable and I cannot fathom parents in the 90s putting down 160+ dollars USD for this game thinking that their children will never need another game again.

The road to that child being forever disappointed and saddened at this game is paved with the intentions of their parents trying to get the best game possible for their child.

Let me be another internet dude swearing at this game and sum it all up: Action 52 is fucking miserable.

Look man there's a lot of issues with this game. Hardly any enemy variety, all the levels are basically generic city streets, and the difficulty is a bit absurd. But you gotta realize when I was five I got to be Venom.
I GOT TO BE VENOM
I
GOT
TO
BE
VENOM