This ended up being so much fun. I don’t have much faith in the devs now that we’re returning to Space China again, but nothing stopping us from looking back at the potential miracle that was Penacony. Glorified bullet points ahead:

Light Steals
How the puny fall. After a bombastic, traditional standoff in the last patch, we return to the scene of the crime to witness a crushed Sunday, a man with all pretensions of glory and providence stripped from him, more akin to a Nayib Bukele than a Takuto Maruki, held captive to the CIA, his land’s wealth stripped bare by shareholders, and awaiting instructions on which group of do-gooders he will infiltrate next. No real difference separates him from all the brainless aspirants seeking Jade’s pawnshop; He has lost everything he ever wanted, but has seemingly guaranteed Robin’s safety, at least in the short term.

Darkness Devours
In the most blatant contrast ever, we then shift to prolonged scenes in the planet’s poorest quarters. The game puts it bluntly: Penacony’s nights are long, and there are many who are still far from a good night’s sleep. But despite it all, they are still managing to prosper even without the “sweet dream over there”. The Nameless can felicitate themselves all they want, but they still made a deal with the devil, and there’s no guarantee they’ll be around much longer to keep the darkness in check. Jade, meanwhile, sees the theft as nothing more than another Tuesday at work, looking annoyed as she recites the ideals that she once believed in so dryly it doesn’t feel like she’s even trying to convince herself of their value anymore.

Shadow is ever Besieged
She is clearly much more interested in, well, exactly what you’d expect from a snake-tamer holding an apple in their character art. Getting a bit bored from fooling around with random Joe Blows, Satan takes an interest in the curious bonds formed inside the Stellaron Hunters, broken beings with hearts of gold, once again being forced to retreat to hidden places, only returning when the stakes are the highest. Amongst them, Firefly is the star here, the writers doing their best to rectify her shafted character in 2.2. But the beautiful scenes of her here don’t quite hit their intended highs as there is no real core to her journey in Penacony. It feels like an epilogue to a dream we never got, which is something this patch could never have overcome. I guess it is only fitting that the Hunters are the ones getting the short end of the stick. Acheron’s scenes are the ones that provide the backbone to Firefly, giving her and what she represents a second leg to stand on. After the indecipherable HI3 references in the past installments, having the ending of this journey of hers be one that stands on its own despite obviously alluding to her previous selves is incredibly unexpected but so so welcomed.

Now please buff Joaquin I swear to god you goddamn Acheron cocksuckers