What was initially a fascinating rabbit hole of interpreting a fictional game developer's oeuvre by examining key symbols & psyche, eventually turned into woefully brushing over decades of inner workings of artists turned into art & how a viewer can digest it. The game's message isn't inherently wrong for it is ultimately a work of how one can connect to art, but I cannot find myself to agree with what is suggested throughout.

Keep in mind, one does not necessarily have to unravel hidden meanings & deeper symbolic gestures in every piece they come across. Sometimes, it's even better to simply feel the emotive gall of a piece of art. Furthermore, the game indirectly suggests that a form of projection is taking place when overanalyzing art at times. To that, I have to say: correct. But this is what art is all about. Art, whatever your interpretation of it may be, is almost always a discussion between the artist & the viewer. It is a two-sided (sometimes more) dialogue that pricks at thee heart & mind in such a way that is ultimately life affirming.

Dave means well with this game. After all, it's one in which you could ultimately interpret, perhaps against his own wishes, that he himself is attempting to purge this state of thinking while experiencing art itself. But the "games" in this suggests that there is something going on underneath the surface of the creator in the metafiction here (aside of course, from literal symbolism that Dave is projecting into Coda's own games). By simply creating something, one is shedding skin for the audience to witness. One central message that Dave conveys is that an artist does not owe their audience anything, & to assume what the artist is experiencing when creating something without having a single idea what that might be can be dangerous. A cyclone of sorts forms, one that can potentially create a parasocial relationship with an artist that may be more dangerous than helpful.

Suffice it to say, a fair amount of points that Dave suggests in this game are not necessarily damaging to art or how we experience it (I generally disagree with them, but at times they hold some weight), but it all quickly becomes relatively disingenuous by the mere act of Dave purposefully going out of their way to create fictional games that seemingly have no meaning whatsoever. By the end, the mere existence of this game contradicts the point its trying to make, to some extent.

But maybe I'm only proving Dave's point. So be it.

Dream Diary Entry #1
I dreamt that I was on a train. Feeling the rickety rhythms beneath me, wooden clacking & all, I had noticed the figure in the adjacent seat was a mirrored image of me. A perfect replica of myself save for a noticeable clubbed foot. Other passengers walked by, blocking the sight of this doppelganger with their stoic faces but perpetually twisting bodies; shifting between worlds. My doppelganger managed to pass a book through the river of bodies to my hand, & I swiftly opened it to read of gender divides, identity crises, sensation in music, discriminations against the "other", a crumbling society living amongst rotted wood left to perish, & an illustration of a lone fisherman. Running my forefinger across the page resulted in a static shock throughout my body along with the train coming to an abrupt stop.

Dream Diary Entry #2
I had that dream again.

Fixed camera angles, at their best, serve as a way for the developer to highlight specific objects & challenges in a view which allows the player to comfortably navigate while remaining tense & mysterious. Perhaps that isn't something that everyone can agree upon, but in the case of this game, I think fixed angles, or any other camera for that matter than the one given to us, particularly in close combat areas, would have been better. What the game lacks in controls, camera, direction, objectives (glorified errand runner), & combat, it makes up for in some genuinely fun environments/setting, & some clever variety that no matter how frustrating the game can be at times, still has an air of charm to it. It's not completely unbearable, but it certainly isn't fun nor interesting.

Something we can all agree on, however, is that Blue Stinger is a christmas movie.

Current personal best, 406.897

Masterclass in design. A general & vague term wholly applicable in every aspect from thee leaderboard crawl, heat-sensing enemy proximity radar, blitzed out uptick scoring system; superbly playful despite a rather oppressing & suffocating field. Thee offense to Devil Daggers defense.

Look no further than thee lobby if you want to bear witness to thee harmonious elegance present. A player finds themselves surrounded by birds fluttering about, surrounding your respectively-ranked dagger which, upon touching, commences thee onslaught. Hours of mastering & learning new tricks until you face thee boss, hours more to learn how to defeat an angel, & said angel will explode into a frenzy of docile birds, allowing your dagger to appear once again. Without breaking sequence, simply touch it to begin again.

My two main gripes with this game are minor, in a way. First of which is being at thee mercy of RNG. At times, snakes will spawn underneath spiders, scuttlers will spawn within snakes. Higher level playing depends on a quality route & when that becomes muddled at a dice roll, it can feel as though some runs are simply wasting your time. Secondly, there are a couple little inconsistencies in some mechanics. Scuttlers seem to have priority during a rail ricochet despite your target being dead center on a spawner, etc. Stomping feels like a crapshoot, particularly with snake heads. Seemingly damning strikes, but ultimately these do not ever really become a problem until you're fighting for milliseconds. Thankfully, some of these faults can be easily worked around with some smart improvisation, which this game allows for a plethora of.

A vicious Sisyphean cycle.

When the B side of This Heat's sophomore record, "Deceit", begins, the first track starts the exact same as when the A side plays. The listener may, for a brief moment, think that they may have a faulty vinyl & are lulled into believing that the opening song may be repeating itself. That is, until, an entirely new, manic, anxiety inducing song commences to completely tear the rug out from underneath you. During some vignettes of 2:22 AM, a similar instance occurs when suddenly, a stroll around a desolate city that you thought you knew erupts into a nightmare when the buildings begin to ascend to the heavens, shattering whatever dreamy scenario you thought to be experiencing.

Played at 4 AM. I'll see you in my anxiety dreams.

Fails to excel at anything in particular nowadays (especially the parodical ethos of the foundation); would have likely been incredible had each element been sewn into the disconnected fabrics. Frankenstein's monster had its limbs strewn about in various points of the room instead of being put together. As it stands, however, each element/mechanic makes for an aloof treat. A fun-house mirror that warps your silhouette (permanently). Illbleed reinforces & confirms that variety is, indeed, the spice of life.

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Equal parts creative & by the books. A wholly unique take on the dried-well heist concept executed with the utmost charm brought about by clever little gadgets & a wholesome bonding of the most likeable trio without ever saying a word. If there were, say, a small handful of missions equally creative as the finale in which every bit of your arsenal is utilized, the package here would rev engines in dozens of developers to come. For now, however, I am using my binoculars to peer into my heart enveloped by the cold wires of a full motherboard. My circuits blown.

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Seems to revel in its deliberate obtuse direction; unapologetically convoluted sense of progression & borderline non-sequitur story related events. Gone is the bottle-film pathos of the original full of mystery, familial twists, & shocking reveals. I admire the idea of swapping between "characters", but when the player needs to manually trigger it via a 2-step process only to find themselves in areas otherwise locked out for no reason & shitty combat scenarios, I have to wonder if the developers shoes were also tied together because of how hard the concept fell flat on its face.