103 Reviews liked by aquelejoel
Veredito: Muito, mas MUITO bom mesmo, e ainda assim tem uns defeitos idiotas que pqp viu...
Lançado fora do Japão em 2010 pro DS, 999 foi um jogo extremamente peculiar pra época. Não só ele misturava visual novel e escapar-da-sala de um jeito genial e era uma das pouquíssimas visual novels onde as suas escolhas realmente ramificavam a trama, como também usava as duas telas do DS como ferramenta narrativa. E sua história era, de longe, seu ponto mais forte. Misturando de forma brilhante suspense policial e terror com ficção científica pesada, somados a uma trilha sonora ótima e visuais extremamente bem desenhados, o roteiro conseguia agradar um pedaço muito específico do meu cérebro que nenhum outro jogo nunca conseguiu.
Ao colocar no mesmo ambiente 9 personagens diversificados que eram capazes de discussões longas e elaboradas de teorias malucas sobre gelo que não derrete e sobre telepatia entre pessoas que vivem em lugares e momentos históricos diferentes, dentre outras maluquices (estou olhando para vocês, raízes digitais com base 9) e intercalar isso com sequestros, mortes, conspirações sobre o naufrágio do Titanic, cadáveres com o peito aberto por bombas e descrições muito detalhadas e gráficas sobre o terror que os 9 personagens vivenciam; o jogo era capaz de ter momentos intelectualmente engajantes e ao mesmo tempo uma diversão B de terror legal e tosco cheio de gore enquanto as pessoas só tentam sair vivas de um pesadelo. Acrescente a isso o suspense policial (Quem é o sequestrador? O que as 9 pessoas têm em comum?) e pimba.
Apesar de seus muitos e muitos problemas, eu nunca consegui deixar de admirar 999 pela mistureba doida que ele faz. Para todos os efeitos, não deveria ter dado tão certo assim. Tipo, que outros jogos usam o fato de o DS ter duas telas pra te causar um mindblow foda?
Pois bem: Virtue's Last Reward é a continuação expandida, melhorada, mais ambiciosa e mais bem sucedida do que 999 queria ser. Tudo que 999 tinha de bom, VLR tem de melhor.
Gore e terror psicológico nível B divertido? Oras, não apenas pessoas morrem neste jogo (como morriam no outro) mas elas morrem dos jeitos mais nojentos e variados que você puder imaginar. Envenenamento, esfaqueamento, sufocamento, injeções letais, pode escolher. E já aviso logo que nada disso é spoiler: VLR é onde você ESPERA encontrar esse tipo de coisa. Do mesmo jeito que espera mortes agonizantes quando vê um filme tipo, sei lá, Jogos Mortais ou um slasher qualquer. Ele não é para quem tem estômago fraco com esses conteúdos, assim como 999 não era. Então fica o aviso de gatilho, inclusive para suicídios MUITO sangrentos.
As partes de escapar-da-sala estão ainda mais diversificadas e interessantes do que no jogo anterior. Não só você tem a opção de mudar para um easy mode, como 99% dos puzzles são mais inteligentes ainda do que em 999. Infelizmente ainda tem aquele 1% que é pura forçação de barra. Por exemplo, tem um puzzle que é um tangram pra formar um paralelepípedo. Pois bem, eu formei um paralelepípedo com as peças numa ordem diferente da que o jogo queria, e ele não aceitou. Fiquei UM TEMPÃO tentando entender o que eu tinha feito errado até fuçar na internet e descobrir que... eu fiz tudo certo, mas não valeu. Porém como eu disse, os puzzles que apelam assim são exceção, e nesses casos eu recomendo um guia sem medo.
A história novamente é o ponto mais forte do jogo, e QUE HISTÓRIA. Nunca antes eu tive tantos mindblows seguidos um atrás do outro sem parar. O jogo não teve pena mesmo, meu cérebro explodiu tanto que chegou uma hora que nem o meme da Nazaré Tedesco calculando conseguia mais me representar direito. E todas as reviravoltas fazem sentido, nada parece forçado ou feito de qualquer jeito. Toda a ficção científica, todo o suspense criminal e todo o terror psicológico B se encaixam muito bem uns nos outros.
Meus parabéns pra quem plantou a maconha dos roteiristas, porque essa erva deve ter sido muito da boa. Nada como ficar pensando no Gato de Schrödinger e no Teste de Turing enquanto eu tento sobreviver a um maníaco disfarçado de coelho sádico.
A única contra-indicação é que ele é RECHEADO de spoilers do 999. Então só indico pra quem zerou e gostou do antecessor.
E como se não bastasse, as ramificações da história conforme as escolhas são muito, mas MUITO mais variadas do que no antecessor. Sério, são mais de 10 game over possíveis e mais de 10 finais "corretos" possíveis. Até tudo culminar no Final Verdadeiro Real Oficial.
Infelizmente, o roteiro tem... problemas. Uma das personagens mais sexualizadas do jogo é feita sob medida pra parecer uma criancinha boba-alegre, e o protagonista em momentos completamente aleatórios resolve virar um tarado pervertido só porque sim. Não apenas isso é feito de forma gratuita e que não acrescenta nada ao jogo (é só fã-service punheteiro pelo prazer de ter um fã-service punheteiro) como quebra totalmente a imersão. Seu protagonista (que narra o jogo em 1ª pessoa) está em um momento tentando sobreviver, raciocinando qual das 3 portas é a correta, como fazer pra sair desta sala e escapar deste pesadelo maldito, e aí COMPLETAMENTE DO NADA você está falando para uma mulher subir numa estante de livros pra poder olhar por debaixo do vestido dela, enquanto outra mulher que você acabou de assediar está dividindo o recinto com vocês.
E o pior é que existem momentos que uma sexualização de personagens adultos e capazes de consentir faria todo o sentido dentro da história do jogo, em que isso acrescentaria bastante na narrativa, considerando os conflitos que vão se formando. Mas não, temos que fazer de forma gratuita e intempestiva só porque sim.
E pra piorar, a versão de 3DS tem um bug que apaga seu save do nada. E que nunca foi consertado. Na moral, olha só a audácia desse corno!
Enfim, escrevi demais. VLR mais uma vez consegue agradar àquele pedaço super específico do meu cérebro, casando bem um texto intelectualmente engajante com mortes violentas a rodo. Se os defeitos dele não são o bastante pra te desencorajar (de novo, muda pro Easy ou cata um guia quando tiver necessidade, sem medo e sem vergonha nenhuma) e se você gostou de 999, eu não poderia recomendar mais.
Lançado fora do Japão em 2010 pro DS, 999 foi um jogo extremamente peculiar pra época. Não só ele misturava visual novel e escapar-da-sala de um jeito genial e era uma das pouquíssimas visual novels onde as suas escolhas realmente ramificavam a trama, como também usava as duas telas do DS como ferramenta narrativa. E sua história era, de longe, seu ponto mais forte. Misturando de forma brilhante suspense policial e terror com ficção científica pesada, somados a uma trilha sonora ótima e visuais extremamente bem desenhados, o roteiro conseguia agradar um pedaço muito específico do meu cérebro que nenhum outro jogo nunca conseguiu.
Ao colocar no mesmo ambiente 9 personagens diversificados que eram capazes de discussões longas e elaboradas de teorias malucas sobre gelo que não derrete e sobre telepatia entre pessoas que vivem em lugares e momentos históricos diferentes, dentre outras maluquices (estou olhando para vocês, raízes digitais com base 9) e intercalar isso com sequestros, mortes, conspirações sobre o naufrágio do Titanic, cadáveres com o peito aberto por bombas e descrições muito detalhadas e gráficas sobre o terror que os 9 personagens vivenciam; o jogo era capaz de ter momentos intelectualmente engajantes e ao mesmo tempo uma diversão B de terror legal e tosco cheio de gore enquanto as pessoas só tentam sair vivas de um pesadelo. Acrescente a isso o suspense policial (Quem é o sequestrador? O que as 9 pessoas têm em comum?) e pimba.
Apesar de seus muitos e muitos problemas, eu nunca consegui deixar de admirar 999 pela mistureba doida que ele faz. Para todos os efeitos, não deveria ter dado tão certo assim. Tipo, que outros jogos usam o fato de o DS ter duas telas pra te causar um mindblow foda?
Pois bem: Virtue's Last Reward é a continuação expandida, melhorada, mais ambiciosa e mais bem sucedida do que 999 queria ser. Tudo que 999 tinha de bom, VLR tem de melhor.
Gore e terror psicológico nível B divertido? Oras, não apenas pessoas morrem neste jogo (como morriam no outro) mas elas morrem dos jeitos mais nojentos e variados que você puder imaginar. Envenenamento, esfaqueamento, sufocamento, injeções letais, pode escolher. E já aviso logo que nada disso é spoiler: VLR é onde você ESPERA encontrar esse tipo de coisa. Do mesmo jeito que espera mortes agonizantes quando vê um filme tipo, sei lá, Jogos Mortais ou um slasher qualquer. Ele não é para quem tem estômago fraco com esses conteúdos, assim como 999 não era. Então fica o aviso de gatilho, inclusive para suicídios MUITO sangrentos.
As partes de escapar-da-sala estão ainda mais diversificadas e interessantes do que no jogo anterior. Não só você tem a opção de mudar para um easy mode, como 99% dos puzzles são mais inteligentes ainda do que em 999. Infelizmente ainda tem aquele 1% que é pura forçação de barra. Por exemplo, tem um puzzle que é um tangram pra formar um paralelepípedo. Pois bem, eu formei um paralelepípedo com as peças numa ordem diferente da que o jogo queria, e ele não aceitou. Fiquei UM TEMPÃO tentando entender o que eu tinha feito errado até fuçar na internet e descobrir que... eu fiz tudo certo, mas não valeu. Porém como eu disse, os puzzles que apelam assim são exceção, e nesses casos eu recomendo um guia sem medo.
A história novamente é o ponto mais forte do jogo, e QUE HISTÓRIA. Nunca antes eu tive tantos mindblows seguidos um atrás do outro sem parar. O jogo não teve pena mesmo, meu cérebro explodiu tanto que chegou uma hora que nem o meme da Nazaré Tedesco calculando conseguia mais me representar direito. E todas as reviravoltas fazem sentido, nada parece forçado ou feito de qualquer jeito. Toda a ficção científica, todo o suspense criminal e todo o terror psicológico B se encaixam muito bem uns nos outros.
Meus parabéns pra quem plantou a maconha dos roteiristas, porque essa erva deve ter sido muito da boa. Nada como ficar pensando no Gato de Schrödinger e no Teste de Turing enquanto eu tento sobreviver a um maníaco disfarçado de coelho sádico.
A única contra-indicação é que ele é RECHEADO de spoilers do 999. Então só indico pra quem zerou e gostou do antecessor.
E como se não bastasse, as ramificações da história conforme as escolhas são muito, mas MUITO mais variadas do que no antecessor. Sério, são mais de 10 game over possíveis e mais de 10 finais "corretos" possíveis. Até tudo culminar no Final Verdadeiro Real Oficial.
Infelizmente, o roteiro tem... problemas. Uma das personagens mais sexualizadas do jogo é feita sob medida pra parecer uma criancinha boba-alegre, e o protagonista em momentos completamente aleatórios resolve virar um tarado pervertido só porque sim. Não apenas isso é feito de forma gratuita e que não acrescenta nada ao jogo (é só fã-service punheteiro pelo prazer de ter um fã-service punheteiro) como quebra totalmente a imersão. Seu protagonista (que narra o jogo em 1ª pessoa) está em um momento tentando sobreviver, raciocinando qual das 3 portas é a correta, como fazer pra sair desta sala e escapar deste pesadelo maldito, e aí COMPLETAMENTE DO NADA você está falando para uma mulher subir numa estante de livros pra poder olhar por debaixo do vestido dela, enquanto outra mulher que você acabou de assediar está dividindo o recinto com vocês.
E o pior é que existem momentos que uma sexualização de personagens adultos e capazes de consentir faria todo o sentido dentro da história do jogo, em que isso acrescentaria bastante na narrativa, considerando os conflitos que vão se formando. Mas não, temos que fazer de forma gratuita e intempestiva só porque sim.
E pra piorar, a versão de 3DS tem um bug que apaga seu save do nada. E que nunca foi consertado. Na moral, olha só a audácia desse corno!
Enfim, escrevi demais. VLR mais uma vez consegue agradar àquele pedaço super específico do meu cérebro, casando bem um texto intelectualmente engajante com mortes violentas a rodo. Se os defeitos dele não são o bastante pra te desencorajar (de novo, muda pro Easy ou cata um guia quando tiver necessidade, sem medo e sem vergonha nenhuma) e se você gostou de 999, eu não poderia recomendar mais.
Ryse: Son of Rome
2013
This is more of a tech demo than a fully feature complete game, and for its time Crytek was lowkey cooking. The story is pretty generic as it covers the most common tropes already covered in most roman army stories, but the presentation is gorgeous, especially when played at 4K, where the attention to detail really pops out, whether it be textures, environments, effects, or the facial animations, it's impressive. Other than that, it's the the type of game you play to experience once and never touch it again
BioShock Infinite
2013
what if… racism was bad? but what if… hating racism too much… was also bad? wish roger ebert was here to see this… he’d understand just how Important this game is
…I guess, on that point, it’s always interesting to me what games get put on a pedestal — what, according to Gamers, ‘proves’ that games can be art. Every few years it always seems like something comes out that’s immediately lauded for pushing the medium forward, for being more than just something where you press the buttons to run and jump, for really showing just what gaming can be… and they’re usually all triple-A western franchise titles, exorbitantly priced, and being touted as such by more mainstream publications — the ones that don’t generally cover games that don’t have a marketing budget or pre-existing hype behind them. No judgment towards any of those games, of course, I’ve yet to play any of them, but it seems as if the argument is more as to whether mainstream games can be art — whether or not we can make Roger Ebert a Gamer. There’s so many cool games out there that, to some extent have already proved what this medium is capable of, but to some extent, it's always been a measure of self-validation more than it’s ever been a desire to broaden one’s horizons. It’s kind of like those weird Gaylor Swift conspiracy theorists: why listen to an actual LGBT artist when I can instead pretend my favourite white woman actually stands for something? Why leave my comfort zone when I already have the validation I want?
What personally bugs me is that a lot of what gets pushed forward as 'prestige,' I feel, doesn’t truly take advantage of what the medium truly offers, or, as is often the case, are actively scared of letting you actually play the game. There are so many cool things you can do, so many ways you could use game mechanics or ludonarrative to illustrate or underline a thematic point, but so many of these Elevated games instead feel like they’re going for things that movies can already do, and I feel like that’s leaning in the wrong direction as to what can, honestly, feel profound. Just as an off-the-cuff example, the final choice of Ace Attorney: Justice For All asks whether you, as the defense, plead your client as guilty or innocent. Do you believe in protecting your client, or protecting the innocent? Do you exact (relative) mercy on somebody who’s wronged you? Or do you subject them to the monkey’s paw-esque fate they've more than had coming? Which of those is truly just? It’s not a choice that matters — the scene plays out the same regardless of what you pick — but in this sense the option you choose exposes something of you, the player: what you value, and what you, personally, have taken out of everything that’s just happened. You have to choose — the scene doesn’t move forward until you do — and in that sense, it's something that could only be done within an interactive medium: you are directly made to engage with the text, you are directly made to provide your own interpretation of its thematic content. BioShock Infinite does something similar within its first hour, and the question asked is just as profound: are you racist? Or are you not racist?
…I don’t think it’s really going to be possible to talk about BioShock Infinite without talking about… all that, huh?
sigh
I have to begin this with a disclaimer, I guess: I’m white, I don’t think I’m entirely equipped to be talking about this, but the guy who wrote this is also white so maybe, actually, I’m just as qualified to at least try. This game thinks it's making this grand, profound statement about how racism is bad — and how the ‘good old days’ of the U.S, as is the visual aesthetic of Columbia, was built on the abuse and discrimination of the non-whites and immigrants — yet fails to back that up at every turn. For as loudly as it says it, it doesn’t feel like it has much to actually say, with most of its observations feeling so so, surface level. What does the game define ‘racism’ as, anyway? Is it the mere act of an individual discriminating against another on the basis of their race, or is it the systemic act of providing opportunities and benefits to one group over others? Is this society meant to be based off of the pre-emancipation era of the United States, the ‘separate but equal’ segregation that preceded the civil rights movement, or one of the periods in-between? Is there anything that can be said about how white supremacy movements are still prevalent today? Is there anything worth mentioning in how almost all the enemies during the first half of the game are cops? I wouldn’t know: the game doesn’t seem particularly interested in actually going in-depth on the topic, feeling like it’s merely taking a brave stance of ‘racism was bad’ and expecting that to be enough.
And it’s frustrating because it often feels like the game is on the cusp of saying something actually potent… right before it veers away without fully committing to it. You start the game in a church, it becomes clear that Columbia is very much a fundamentalist state. You could maybe lean into how most fundamentalists will misquote or selectively take from the Bible to justify their bigotry, or maybe even go into how the church was often used to subjugate and control colonized peoples… or you could simply treat this the same way the racism is treated in general: very surface level, religious fundamentalism is bad because religious fundamentalism is bad and because using religious words like 'our prophet' and 'messiah' to surround your bad guy is subversive and creepy. Early on, after rescuing Elizabeth, you’re sent to a beach area, you get to mingle, and you learn that the segregation discriminates against the Irish, as well. You could use this to maybe go into the historical mistreatment of Ireland, maybe show how these fascist systems will keep moving the goalposts until those at the very top of their hierarchy remain… or you could just, like, never really bring it up again. That works too. Later on, you go into a museum, you find out that the justification for this discrimination is that the founder/prophet of Columbia lost his wife because the labor underclass rose up and killed her and this could be so fascinating and a window of the paradox in how fascist systems treat women: both as one of the defacto ‘inferiors’ to be subjugated… yet at the same time the madonna figure, whose innocence must be protected, and who through this comes the justification to commit atrocities against the other inferiors. The game is on the cusp of realizing this with Elizabeth — being locked up in a gilded cage, being forbidden from interacting with the outside world, yet also being a literal symbol, both the justification and continuation of this totalitarian system — and then this is all just thrown to the wayside because the story wants her to be Cute and Quirky. Every time this story stumbles on something it could actually say it decides it doesn’t feel like doing so. It wants credit for taking the stance it does but never actually wants to get its feet in the muck. And here I thought art was meant to alienate. Silly me.
(also… I feel like if you’re at least trying to condemn racism I don’t think it’s a great idea to have the only defined asian characters be speaking in broken English? again, white guy over here, I don’t want to make assumptions on things I don’t know well about, but, like, maybe not the time and place?)
I mean, I guess it’s trying to be anti-racist. I think that’s what it’s trying to be. I mean I’m not as confident as I was initially because holy shit does the game fucking swerve on its message right at the halfway point. See, by opposing the forces of Columbia, you eventually come into contact with a cabal of rebels seeking to overthrow this fascist system. You help them out (but… only because you’re forced to, Booker is rather ‘yeah whatever’ about basically everything other than Elizabeth), and by changing the timeline to give them GUNS you give them the means to meaningfully act out and rise up against their oppressors… to which the game immediately goes “oh no… this protest… is too violent… are these people really all that different from the slave owners?” And then suddenly the rebel leader goes “oh, by the way, something something you’re not the real you, you must die,” the game decides to show she’s actually The Bad Guy by having her try and murder a child, Elizabeth is made to kill her, and Booker’s response, verbatim, is “the only difference between [a racist, totalitarian system] and [trying to overthrow said racist, totalitarian system] is how you spell the name.” Maybe the Vox Populi should’ve just protested peacefully, ala MLK and Ghandi. Maybe we should’ve just voted out Hitler. And- and honestly what’s most wild for me is that this is how the game just fucking forgets that it’s about fascism and racism right after this. You watch Elizabeth shootthe only named black character in the game the rebel leader and the fallout of the scene is pressing F to reassure her that everything’s okay. The rest of the plot that follows is almost exclusively about time travel and alternate dimensions as opposed to anything regarding the rather delicate subject matter the game was attempting to handle earlier. The slavery of this one white woman is more important than the slavery of Columbia’s entire underclass. You shoot down rebel soldiers almost exclusively past this point and neither you nor the narrative bats an eye.
(addendum here: a friend pointed me towards BioShock Infinite’s Wikipedia page and I really just have to share this paragraph here because, like, what the fuck do you mean “the good and bad sides of racism”? what the fuck do you mean you weren’t trying to make a point and were merely trying to be 'accurate for the time'? I’m going to selectively apply death of the author here so that I don’t have to edit everything I just said because, like, jesus dude, I don't think a game has ever made me lose respect for its writer like this)
One last thing before I move on past the story: I’m notttttttt an Elizabeth fan, sorry. She never quite felt real or consistent as a character; more like a manic pixie dream girl, malleable to be whatever is required to facilitate the plot. The moment you meet her is the moment you free her from the gilded cage she’s been trapped in her whole life, and it was the same moment my suspension of belief broke. It feels like Elizabeth has barely any reaction to any of this, no horror at realizing just how large the world around her actually is, no transitional period to actually being outside for the first time in her life, she’s just immediately exuberant, so wide-eyed at everything, unable to stop herself from dancingwith racists as soon as she hears fiddle music. And it comes off like like it’s trying to make her so Cute and Quirky and Lovable and to me it never really worked. Especially when the game pulls absolutely all the narrative beats you’d expect it to. The Liar Revealed bit leading into the Second Act Breakup — where once you get back together and she still doesn’t trust you the game can’t even fucking commit and have her not help you as much during combat because then maybe that’d at least be a fun way this attempt at art could actually remember what medium it’s in. You’ll have an argument that’ll open a (metaphorical) rift between the two of you and then you’ll point at a locked door and she’ll be like “I’ll get that open for you Mr. Booker : ) “ So much of her dialogue — especially once the game decides it wants to be about alternate dimensions and time travel — is so flowery and… honestly, I’d say a bit pretentious in execution, feeling like it’s actively trying to position itself (and a lot of the plot elements here) as complex and smart, thinking that by making it just barely intelligible whoever’s playing it will be like “wow… this is so complicated… and beyond me… this game is so intelligent…” By the way I just love how the game says, verbatim, “[y]ou don’t need to protect Elizabeth in combat[,] she can take care of herself” like it’s some girl power, progressive thing… then all she actually does in combat is throw you items, open doors you can't, let you tear rifts in time to give you things that’ll help you, teleport right near you when you’re not looking like that one Sherlock Holmes game. She’s basically all the things an escort NPC does except I guess making you actually have to escort her would be a point of division among the Gamers. And it very much falls into that trope where a female character primarily exists to bolster their male counterpart, except here they try and dress it up as if it's subversive and feminist. Between that and some of the quips, you could’ve made me think Joss Whedon wrote this.
So, uh, yeah. I’m not particularly into what this game has going narrative-wise. It wants to act as if it’s tackling these huge themes, it thinks it’s profound by doing so, yet at every turn it feels so unwilling to divide, or challenge, or properly stand for something that it veers away from anything interesting it could actually say — let alone how little it does anything with the medium it’s actually in. And- and Jesus I’m still so thrown by how it can’t commit to even going just ‘racism’ is bad, it has to both sides it, it has to please everybody, it’s so scared of alienating that it alienates itself. If this is art, then maybe that speaks to having to go back to art class.
...At least the gameplay’s loosely fun?
Which reveals my position in the debate, I guess. For all I’ve talked about what makes art — and why I feel like sometimes what gets touted as prestige doesn’t quite meet the metric — I don’t really have much of a horse in this race. I’ll be happy to do my best to discuss themes, and I’ll always look at these things as more than just product, but as a writer, as someone who looks at things from that lens, I’ve always personally been more interested in looking at things from a technical lens: the craft, how it’s refined, what works, what could use improvement. And from that lens, BioShock Infinite is… cromulent. I like shooting things. I like the way the game only giving you two guns basically encourages you to vary with what you carry with you — building an impromptu armory from whatever you can scrounge up around you. I’m fond of the ‘vigors’/phasmids/magic spells you can use, how they all help out in different ways. I especially like how this combines with the gear system in a way that lets the player create legit builds: on my end, I eventually ended up with this playstyle where I’d use a vigor to fling myself directly towards an enemy, whereupon I’d create a giant AOE explosion and wipe out whatever cluster of enemies surrounds my target. I also like the way the game… both hews close and veers away from BioShock the series. It has all the hallmarks, all the defining characteristics that made the series what it was, yet it alters or recontextualizes them in a way that makes them feel fresh. Chief among these is the setting — which, while visually rather breathtaking on its own, really works as a companion piece to Rapture, a city in the sky rather than a city in the sea — but there are other things too: the anachronistic covers of 60s-80s songs mirror BioShock 1/2‘s usage of period-accurate music while also working to set up the timey-wimey aspects of the plot. The combat feels exactly like the previous two games, yet the use of more open areas, in addition to mechanics like the skywires and the rifts make it feel much more fluid, much more arcadey than the claustrophobic meat grinder of Rapture. I’m not entirely sure whether it’s a step forward or a step back, necessarily, but it’s certainly an iteration: things have been looked at, tweaked to become brand new… while not losing the same feel they used to have. It’s neat to see in action.
But man, while I’m not somebody who usually likes judging a work for being an adaptation, a sequel, whatever, it is just… rather tragic that a lot of the wrong lessons seem to have been learned from it. The original BioShock, to me, is genuinely so cool in showing just what videogames: silly moral choice system aside, there’s so much going on with ludonarrative, and diegesis, and it feels like every little videogame-logic thing has something going on behind it in a way that contributes to the overall picture. To go from that, to something that has virtually nothing going on mechanically is such a disappointment. And, in turn, when what’s there instead is something that feels like it’s convinced itself of its ascension, that takes real-world sensitive subject matter for the sake of set design and abandons it once it's no longer needed, that mistakes being complicated for being smart, man am I not impressed. It’s funny, honestly, how this loosely ushered the whole era we’re in of prestige, ‘artsy’ games that at the same time seem so afraid of being video games, because it’s BioShock Infinite’s gameplay that makes me hesitate to call it outright bad. It thinks it’s some profound work, some real watershed moment, something that’s really pushing the medium of gaming forward. In reality, it feels much more like Oscar bait. 4/10.
…I guess, on that point, it’s always interesting to me what games get put on a pedestal — what, according to Gamers, ‘proves’ that games can be art. Every few years it always seems like something comes out that’s immediately lauded for pushing the medium forward, for being more than just something where you press the buttons to run and jump, for really showing just what gaming can be… and they’re usually all triple-A western franchise titles, exorbitantly priced, and being touted as such by more mainstream publications — the ones that don’t generally cover games that don’t have a marketing budget or pre-existing hype behind them. No judgment towards any of those games, of course, I’ve yet to play any of them, but it seems as if the argument is more as to whether mainstream games can be art — whether or not we can make Roger Ebert a Gamer. There’s so many cool games out there that, to some extent have already proved what this medium is capable of, but to some extent, it's always been a measure of self-validation more than it’s ever been a desire to broaden one’s horizons. It’s kind of like those weird Gaylor Swift conspiracy theorists: why listen to an actual LGBT artist when I can instead pretend my favourite white woman actually stands for something? Why leave my comfort zone when I already have the validation I want?
What personally bugs me is that a lot of what gets pushed forward as 'prestige,' I feel, doesn’t truly take advantage of what the medium truly offers, or, as is often the case, are actively scared of letting you actually play the game. There are so many cool things you can do, so many ways you could use game mechanics or ludonarrative to illustrate or underline a thematic point, but so many of these Elevated games instead feel like they’re going for things that movies can already do, and I feel like that’s leaning in the wrong direction as to what can, honestly, feel profound. Just as an off-the-cuff example, the final choice of Ace Attorney: Justice For All asks whether you, as the defense, plead your client as guilty or innocent. Do you believe in protecting your client, or protecting the innocent? Do you exact (relative) mercy on somebody who’s wronged you? Or do you subject them to the monkey’s paw-esque fate they've more than had coming? Which of those is truly just? It’s not a choice that matters — the scene plays out the same regardless of what you pick — but in this sense the option you choose exposes something of you, the player: what you value, and what you, personally, have taken out of everything that’s just happened. You have to choose — the scene doesn’t move forward until you do — and in that sense, it's something that could only be done within an interactive medium: you are directly made to engage with the text, you are directly made to provide your own interpretation of its thematic content. BioShock Infinite does something similar within its first hour, and the question asked is just as profound: are you racist? Or are you not racist?
…I don’t think it’s really going to be possible to talk about BioShock Infinite without talking about… all that, huh?
sigh
I have to begin this with a disclaimer, I guess: I’m white, I don’t think I’m entirely equipped to be talking about this, but the guy who wrote this is also white so maybe, actually, I’m just as qualified to at least try. This game thinks it's making this grand, profound statement about how racism is bad — and how the ‘good old days’ of the U.S, as is the visual aesthetic of Columbia, was built on the abuse and discrimination of the non-whites and immigrants — yet fails to back that up at every turn. For as loudly as it says it, it doesn’t feel like it has much to actually say, with most of its observations feeling so so, surface level. What does the game define ‘racism’ as, anyway? Is it the mere act of an individual discriminating against another on the basis of their race, or is it the systemic act of providing opportunities and benefits to one group over others? Is this society meant to be based off of the pre-emancipation era of the United States, the ‘separate but equal’ segregation that preceded the civil rights movement, or one of the periods in-between? Is there anything that can be said about how white supremacy movements are still prevalent today? Is there anything worth mentioning in how almost all the enemies during the first half of the game are cops? I wouldn’t know: the game doesn’t seem particularly interested in actually going in-depth on the topic, feeling like it’s merely taking a brave stance of ‘racism was bad’ and expecting that to be enough.
And it’s frustrating because it often feels like the game is on the cusp of saying something actually potent… right before it veers away without fully committing to it. You start the game in a church, it becomes clear that Columbia is very much a fundamentalist state. You could maybe lean into how most fundamentalists will misquote or selectively take from the Bible to justify their bigotry, or maybe even go into how the church was often used to subjugate and control colonized peoples… or you could simply treat this the same way the racism is treated in general: very surface level, religious fundamentalism is bad because religious fundamentalism is bad and because using religious words like 'our prophet' and 'messiah' to surround your bad guy is subversive and creepy. Early on, after rescuing Elizabeth, you’re sent to a beach area, you get to mingle, and you learn that the segregation discriminates against the Irish, as well. You could use this to maybe go into the historical mistreatment of Ireland, maybe show how these fascist systems will keep moving the goalposts until those at the very top of their hierarchy remain… or you could just, like, never really bring it up again. That works too. Later on, you go into a museum, you find out that the justification for this discrimination is that the founder/prophet of Columbia lost his wife because the labor underclass rose up and killed her and this could be so fascinating and a window of the paradox in how fascist systems treat women: both as one of the defacto ‘inferiors’ to be subjugated… yet at the same time the madonna figure, whose innocence must be protected, and who through this comes the justification to commit atrocities against the other inferiors. The game is on the cusp of realizing this with Elizabeth — being locked up in a gilded cage, being forbidden from interacting with the outside world, yet also being a literal symbol, both the justification and continuation of this totalitarian system — and then this is all just thrown to the wayside because the story wants her to be Cute and Quirky. Every time this story stumbles on something it could actually say it decides it doesn’t feel like doing so. It wants credit for taking the stance it does but never actually wants to get its feet in the muck. And here I thought art was meant to alienate. Silly me.
(also… I feel like if you’re at least trying to condemn racism I don’t think it’s a great idea to have the only defined asian characters be speaking in broken English? again, white guy over here, I don’t want to make assumptions on things I don’t know well about, but, like, maybe not the time and place?)
I mean, I guess it’s trying to be anti-racist. I think that’s what it’s trying to be. I mean I’m not as confident as I was initially because holy shit does the game fucking swerve on its message right at the halfway point. See, by opposing the forces of Columbia, you eventually come into contact with a cabal of rebels seeking to overthrow this fascist system. You help them out (but… only because you’re forced to, Booker is rather ‘yeah whatever’ about basically everything other than Elizabeth), and by changing the timeline to give them GUNS you give them the means to meaningfully act out and rise up against their oppressors… to which the game immediately goes “oh no… this protest… is too violent… are these people really all that different from the slave owners?” And then suddenly the rebel leader goes “oh, by the way, something something you’re not the real you, you must die,” the game decides to show she’s actually The Bad Guy by having her try and murder a child, Elizabeth is made to kill her, and Booker’s response, verbatim, is “the only difference between [a racist, totalitarian system] and [trying to overthrow said racist, totalitarian system] is how you spell the name.” Maybe the Vox Populi should’ve just protested peacefully, ala MLK and Ghandi. Maybe we should’ve just voted out Hitler. And- and honestly what’s most wild for me is that this is how the game just fucking forgets that it’s about fascism and racism right after this. You watch Elizabeth shoot
(addendum here: a friend pointed me towards BioShock Infinite’s Wikipedia page and I really just have to share this paragraph here because, like, what the fuck do you mean “the good and bad sides of racism”? what the fuck do you mean you weren’t trying to make a point and were merely trying to be 'accurate for the time'? I’m going to selectively apply death of the author here so that I don’t have to edit everything I just said because, like, jesus dude, I don't think a game has ever made me lose respect for its writer like this)
One last thing before I move on past the story: I’m notttttttt an Elizabeth fan, sorry. She never quite felt real or consistent as a character; more like a manic pixie dream girl, malleable to be whatever is required to facilitate the plot. The moment you meet her is the moment you free her from the gilded cage she’s been trapped in her whole life, and it was the same moment my suspension of belief broke. It feels like Elizabeth has barely any reaction to any of this, no horror at realizing just how large the world around her actually is, no transitional period to actually being outside for the first time in her life, she’s just immediately exuberant, so wide-eyed at everything, unable to stop herself from dancing
So, uh, yeah. I’m not particularly into what this game has going narrative-wise. It wants to act as if it’s tackling these huge themes, it thinks it’s profound by doing so, yet at every turn it feels so unwilling to divide, or challenge, or properly stand for something that it veers away from anything interesting it could actually say — let alone how little it does anything with the medium it’s actually in. And- and Jesus I’m still so thrown by how it can’t commit to even going just ‘racism’ is bad, it has to both sides it, it has to please everybody, it’s so scared of alienating that it alienates itself. If this is art, then maybe that speaks to having to go back to art class.
...At least the gameplay’s loosely fun?
Which reveals my position in the debate, I guess. For all I’ve talked about what makes art — and why I feel like sometimes what gets touted as prestige doesn’t quite meet the metric — I don’t really have much of a horse in this race. I’ll be happy to do my best to discuss themes, and I’ll always look at these things as more than just product, but as a writer, as someone who looks at things from that lens, I’ve always personally been more interested in looking at things from a technical lens: the craft, how it’s refined, what works, what could use improvement. And from that lens, BioShock Infinite is… cromulent. I like shooting things. I like the way the game only giving you two guns basically encourages you to vary with what you carry with you — building an impromptu armory from whatever you can scrounge up around you. I’m fond of the ‘vigors’/phasmids/magic spells you can use, how they all help out in different ways. I especially like how this combines with the gear system in a way that lets the player create legit builds: on my end, I eventually ended up with this playstyle where I’d use a vigor to fling myself directly towards an enemy, whereupon I’d create a giant AOE explosion and wipe out whatever cluster of enemies surrounds my target. I also like the way the game… both hews close and veers away from BioShock the series. It has all the hallmarks, all the defining characteristics that made the series what it was, yet it alters or recontextualizes them in a way that makes them feel fresh. Chief among these is the setting — which, while visually rather breathtaking on its own, really works as a companion piece to Rapture, a city in the sky rather than a city in the sea — but there are other things too: the anachronistic covers of 60s-80s songs mirror BioShock 1/2‘s usage of period-accurate music while also working to set up the timey-wimey aspects of the plot. The combat feels exactly like the previous two games, yet the use of more open areas, in addition to mechanics like the skywires and the rifts make it feel much more fluid, much more arcadey than the claustrophobic meat grinder of Rapture. I’m not entirely sure whether it’s a step forward or a step back, necessarily, but it’s certainly an iteration: things have been looked at, tweaked to become brand new… while not losing the same feel they used to have. It’s neat to see in action.
But man, while I’m not somebody who usually likes judging a work for being an adaptation, a sequel, whatever, it is just… rather tragic that a lot of the wrong lessons seem to have been learned from it. The original BioShock, to me, is genuinely so cool in showing just what videogames: silly moral choice system aside, there’s so much going on with ludonarrative, and diegesis, and it feels like every little videogame-logic thing has something going on behind it in a way that contributes to the overall picture. To go from that, to something that has virtually nothing going on mechanically is such a disappointment. And, in turn, when what’s there instead is something that feels like it’s convinced itself of its ascension, that takes real-world sensitive subject matter for the sake of set design and abandons it once it's no longer needed, that mistakes being complicated for being smart, man am I not impressed. It’s funny, honestly, how this loosely ushered the whole era we’re in of prestige, ‘artsy’ games that at the same time seem so afraid of being video games, because it’s BioShock Infinite’s gameplay that makes me hesitate to call it outright bad. It thinks it’s some profound work, some real watershed moment, something that’s really pushing the medium of gaming forward. In reality, it feels much more like Oscar bait. 4/10.
Dead by Daylight
2016
How many pages have I written…
This was so fun. A collection of what-if scenarios that furthers the point of how Remedy is the only studios capable of delivering experiences like this
This game left me completely astonished. Blew me away. It feels like it could have been scripted by H.P. Lovecraft, an absolutely fantastic storytelling experience. It's so refreshing and innovative, offering the PERFECT experience of a detective game. Every aspect of the game design has been meticulously crafted down to the last detail; it's simply amazing. Two nominations at the Game of the Year awards were not enough; it deserved more recognition.
A fun set of missions that don't overstay its welcome, and shakes up the gameplay a bit to make it more engaging that what it already is. I also needed an excuse to revisit Watch Dogs 2 for a few hours
It was fine, but pretty short, and it reminded me why Infinite's story is a mess. I was just about to start episode 2 but general consensus is to beat the first two games which is what I need to do anyways
Tails' Skypatrol
1995
Veredito: É bem bacaninha e fora da curva, eu inclusive jogaria feliz uma continuação.
Quando pesquisei Tails' Skypatrol, logo de cara achei que seria um jogo de navinha. Tipo, olha essa capa. Procura qualquer foto do jogo. Joga no Youtube. O que me levaria a crer que ele não seja um jogo de navinha?
Bom, ele é um jogo de plataforma. Um autorrunner, aliás. Cada fase é uma pista de obstáculos: você precisa chegar vivo no final passando por todas as armadilhas e inimigos pelo caminho, usando suas habilidades de movimento pra isso. Ou seja... um jogo de plataforma. Com a diferença que você está sempre voando.
E pra ser sincero, ele é bem bom. É curto, rápido, direto. São 4 fases só, cada uma leva poucos minutos. E o mais estranho para um jogo de 1995: ele é difícil pra cacete sem NUNCA apelar para mortes baratas. Não tem level design bosta, inimigos apelões, nada. Quando você perde, a culpa é 100% única e exclusivamente sua. O visual é bonito, os controles são redondinhos, as músicas são boas, e os chefes são interessantes.
O que mais eu poderia pedir de um spinoff no Game Gear para um personagem secundário da franquia?
Quando pesquisei Tails' Skypatrol, logo de cara achei que seria um jogo de navinha. Tipo, olha essa capa. Procura qualquer foto do jogo. Joga no Youtube. O que me levaria a crer que ele não seja um jogo de navinha?
Bom, ele é um jogo de plataforma. Um autorrunner, aliás. Cada fase é uma pista de obstáculos: você precisa chegar vivo no final passando por todas as armadilhas e inimigos pelo caminho, usando suas habilidades de movimento pra isso. Ou seja... um jogo de plataforma. Com a diferença que você está sempre voando.
E pra ser sincero, ele é bem bom. É curto, rápido, direto. São 4 fases só, cada uma leva poucos minutos. E o mais estranho para um jogo de 1995: ele é difícil pra cacete sem NUNCA apelar para mortes baratas. Não tem level design bosta, inimigos apelões, nada. Quando você perde, a culpa é 100% única e exclusivamente sua. O visual é bonito, os controles são redondinhos, as músicas são boas, e os chefes são interessantes.
O que mais eu poderia pedir de um spinoff no Game Gear para um personagem secundário da franquia?
Castlevania ReVamped
2024
Meu amigo havia me enviado um vídeo sobre este jogo e eu não levei muito a sério de primeira porque achei que seria mais um fan game aleatório de Castlevania, mas quando vi com mais carinho percebi que se tratava de uma reimaginação do Castlevania 1 se fosse introduzido as mecânicas de metroidvania nele. Cara, que joguinho legal...
Não preciso ir muito longe para dizer que este jogo é 100% baseado no gráfico do NES e alguns inimigos foram chupinhados de outros jogos da mesma franquia, como por exemplo: Cthulhu deu as caras aqui como um boss, porém manteram o sprite dele do SotN. Não posso me aprofundar muito porque não lembro de ter visto ele em Rondo of Blood, mas são gráficos ótimos e nada ficou esquisito aqui.
Assim como todo a questão do som leva consigo a mesma descrição anterior. Tudo, exatamente tudo soa 8-bits e não há sequer um som esquisito ali no meio deste jogo.
Eu meio que quebrei o jogo utilizando algumas cartas especificas já que há um esquema de cartas onde você pode escolher três delas comprando com um NPC e fazer seu meta. O meu meta deixou o jogo MUITO FÁCIL: peguei o sub-weapon que dá +1 de HP, usei a carta que duplica ela, outra carta que faz você utiliza menos coração e uma carta familiar, enquanto usava apenas o chicote de fogo. Fim... finalizei o jogo sem choro.
É sempre bem vindo conhecer coisa nova quando se trata de metroidvania e sempre fico muito contete em saber que as pessoas ainda gostam deste gênero super saturado, mas por sorte do destino algumas pessoas estão fazendo coisas boas como este fan game e outros estão implementandos mecânicas boas como 9 Years of Shadow. Me diverti bastante, tanto que não parei de jogar até finalizar.
Olha só, talvez eu seja infeliz em dizer isso, mas como sou uma pessoa que joga muito pouco fan game vou dizer ao meu ver: é um ótimo jogo que foi feito de fã para fã e não chega nem perto de ser um grandiosidade quanto AM2R. Não sei se existe fases do Vampire Killer do MSX por aqui ou se tem assets do Castlevania Chronicles, mas é um ótimo jogo.
Não preciso ir muito longe para dizer que este jogo é 100% baseado no gráfico do NES e alguns inimigos foram chupinhados de outros jogos da mesma franquia, como por exemplo: Cthulhu deu as caras aqui como um boss, porém manteram o sprite dele do SotN. Não posso me aprofundar muito porque não lembro de ter visto ele em Rondo of Blood, mas são gráficos ótimos e nada ficou esquisito aqui.
Assim como todo a questão do som leva consigo a mesma descrição anterior. Tudo, exatamente tudo soa 8-bits e não há sequer um som esquisito ali no meio deste jogo.
Eu meio que quebrei o jogo utilizando algumas cartas especificas já que há um esquema de cartas onde você pode escolher três delas comprando com um NPC e fazer seu meta. O meu meta deixou o jogo MUITO FÁCIL: peguei o sub-weapon que dá +1 de HP, usei a carta que duplica ela, outra carta que faz você utiliza menos coração e uma carta familiar, enquanto usava apenas o chicote de fogo. Fim... finalizei o jogo sem choro.
É sempre bem vindo conhecer coisa nova quando se trata de metroidvania e sempre fico muito contete em saber que as pessoas ainda gostam deste gênero super saturado, mas por sorte do destino algumas pessoas estão fazendo coisas boas como este fan game e outros estão implementandos mecânicas boas como 9 Years of Shadow. Me diverti bastante, tanto que não parei de jogar até finalizar.
Olha só, talvez eu seja infeliz em dizer isso, mas como sou uma pessoa que joga muito pouco fan game vou dizer ao meu ver: é um ótimo jogo que foi feito de fã para fã e não chega nem perto de ser um grandiosidade quanto AM2R. Não sei se existe fases do Vampire Killer do MSX por aqui ou se tem assets do Castlevania Chronicles, mas é um ótimo jogo.
Producer (2021)
2022
Creative humans with their funky ass ideas are so cool man
Haha funny ass game, quase como se tivesse muito pra falar sobre consumo de mídia, arte moldada por fãs e obsessão por conteúdo...........................
Homefront
2011
Speculative fiction, especially politics in this era of games is so funny, cuz you either get compelling thrillers, fan fiction or straight up racism.
Take a guess what this one about lol
Take a guess what this one about lol
Dead Space 2
2011
Se há uma coisa nesta minha vida de que eu tenho certeza é que Xbox 360 ou Playstation 3 para mim é o início de uma nova missão da qual nunca fui capaz de pisar e mesmo que você me diga "cara, você zerou Super Mario Odyssey é relativamente novo para você", sim... você tem razão, porém eu não consigo lidar com jogos de tema mais adulto se você me entende e qualquer coisa como Dead Space já é MUITO NOVO para mim mesmo sendo "velho".
A maneira que este jogo te apresenta o gore é muito fora do comum. O jeito que cada necromorfo foi criado mesmo que seja de uma maneira meio bizarra já desmonstra como os desenvolvedores queriam que você experimentasse o sofrimento que cada um teve que passar para criar cada modelo 3D daqueles bichos repugnantes e que te deixam com ódio. Muita coisa ali me deixou irritado, mas nada supera há um necromorfo que só aparece em partes que você abre umas portas com Power Node.
Assim como a parte gráfica deste jogo, a parte sonora mesmo que te deixe confuso em alguns momentos te ajudam demais se você estiver com um headset porque tudo que acontece, explode ou faz barulho sendo de trás de ti ou de fronte e você estará preparado para a ação. Não precisa ter um super surround 7.1 para jogar isto. Fizeram um ótimo trabalho aqui.
A dificuldade entre o 1 e 2 é um pouco questionável ao meu ver, pois enquanto o foco do 1 era manter o jogador com o cu na mão e tenso por dar um próximo passo, o 2 só te joga no meio de um hospício e diz "corre Isaac, corre" achando que você é o Forest Gump por algum motivo. O único motivo por você corre tanto: AÇÃO! Este jogo é ação atrás de ação e porra, no início dei uma chorada, mas depois o jogo só foi!
Diferente do primeiro jogo, você não fica tão tenso quanto lá e está preparado para qualquer horda de necromorfo que irá aparece do nada, pois tudo acontece de maneira tão natural que você apenas pensa assim "vamos lá, pode vir que o pai ta armado!" e tu vai apanhar bastante se jogar tão mal quanto eu, mas o que importa é que eu me diverti bastante e passei raiva em alguns momentos... minha mira é péssima!
Eu comprei um PS3 apenas para este jogo, mas no fim acabei jogando no 360 porque quero jogar God of War nele logo, logo e não me arrependi nenhum pouco de ter escolhido esta versão já que queria realmente jogar o Dead Space 2 um após ter finalizado o 1. Que jogão!!! Super recomendo!!!
A maneira que este jogo te apresenta o gore é muito fora do comum. O jeito que cada necromorfo foi criado mesmo que seja de uma maneira meio bizarra já desmonstra como os desenvolvedores queriam que você experimentasse o sofrimento que cada um teve que passar para criar cada modelo 3D daqueles bichos repugnantes e que te deixam com ódio. Muita coisa ali me deixou irritado, mas nada supera há um necromorfo que só aparece em partes que você abre umas portas com Power Node.
Assim como a parte gráfica deste jogo, a parte sonora mesmo que te deixe confuso em alguns momentos te ajudam demais se você estiver com um headset porque tudo que acontece, explode ou faz barulho sendo de trás de ti ou de fronte e você estará preparado para a ação. Não precisa ter um super surround 7.1 para jogar isto. Fizeram um ótimo trabalho aqui.
A dificuldade entre o 1 e 2 é um pouco questionável ao meu ver, pois enquanto o foco do 1 era manter o jogador com o cu na mão e tenso por dar um próximo passo, o 2 só te joga no meio de um hospício e diz "corre Isaac, corre" achando que você é o Forest Gump por algum motivo. O único motivo por você corre tanto: AÇÃO! Este jogo é ação atrás de ação e porra, no início dei uma chorada, mas depois o jogo só foi!
Diferente do primeiro jogo, você não fica tão tenso quanto lá e está preparado para qualquer horda de necromorfo que irá aparece do nada, pois tudo acontece de maneira tão natural que você apenas pensa assim "vamos lá, pode vir que o pai ta armado!" e tu vai apanhar bastante se jogar tão mal quanto eu, mas o que importa é que eu me diverti bastante e passei raiva em alguns momentos... minha mira é péssima!
Eu comprei um PS3 apenas para este jogo, mas no fim acabei jogando no 360 porque quero jogar God of War nele logo, logo e não me arrependi nenhum pouco de ter escolhido esta versão já que queria realmente jogar o Dead Space 2 um após ter finalizado o 1. Que jogão!!! Super recomendo!!!
Hellblade: Senua Sacrifice and Senua's Saga: Hellblade II when compared together, feel like a give-or-take duology that beautifully bounces off each other in a symphony.
The first game has the better story, thanks to its singular focus on Senua and her psychosis, while the second game comes just close to overtaking Sacrifice as it takes Senua singularity, and gives her a purpose larger than life, an almost shamanistic task of taking down the giants and lead a group of people, which inadvertently takes away the story's focus on psychosis as that plot thread was already resolved in the first game
Gameplay wise, I knew what to expect and got what I was l looking for, a story led interactive adventure game, but as a sequel, 2 makes some sacrifices that are both necessary, but some confusing to distinguish itself from the previous games. The puzzles, for example, are few, longer and simplistic to the point some didn't need to be here, like that hour-long hidden folk trials, and combat, which I admire how raw, visceral and violent it is, feels a bit sloppy when trying to time attacks, read enemy movements and the lack of charge stabs and kicks makes it the more confusing why the simplification when it would've actively contributed to the presentation
Speaking of presentation, this game is nuts. I would confidently call this a digestible spiritual successor to Kane & Lynch 2 Dog Days, as the game employs a ton of post-processing to make it as filmic as possible, like an anamorphic lens, black bars, chromatic aberration, distortion, film grain, it's immense the number of techniques employed for this as well as the character's fidelity, which is industry leading.
Had they not simplified some crucial combat mechanics from 1 and expanded on the puzzles, I feel it could've surpassed the first game
The first game has the better story, thanks to its singular focus on Senua and her psychosis, while the second game comes just close to overtaking Sacrifice as it takes Senua singularity, and gives her a purpose larger than life, an almost shamanistic task of taking down the giants and lead a group of people, which inadvertently takes away the story's focus on psychosis as that plot thread was already resolved in the first game
Gameplay wise, I knew what to expect and got what I was l looking for, a story led interactive adventure game, but as a sequel, 2 makes some sacrifices that are both necessary, but some confusing to distinguish itself from the previous games. The puzzles, for example, are few, longer and simplistic to the point some didn't need to be here, like that hour-long hidden folk trials, and combat, which I admire how raw, visceral and violent it is, feels a bit sloppy when trying to time attacks, read enemy movements and the lack of charge stabs and kicks makes it the more confusing why the simplification when it would've actively contributed to the presentation
Speaking of presentation, this game is nuts. I would confidently call this a digestible spiritual successor to Kane & Lynch 2 Dog Days, as the game employs a ton of post-processing to make it as filmic as possible, like an anamorphic lens, black bars, chromatic aberration, distortion, film grain, it's immense the number of techniques employed for this as well as the character's fidelity, which is industry leading.
Had they not simplified some crucial combat mechanics from 1 and expanded on the puzzles, I feel it could've surpassed the first game