on one hand, there's a corporate scrubbing here that is of a very particular kind: gameplay has been smoothed over to appeal to a core group of competitive players. ultimately, this is fine, if a little odd and occasionally awkward. the roughness of mk's combat, in how it still benefited best from getting together with your buddies and a pack of beers on the weekends to marvel at how goofy it was, served as one of the biggest appeals of mortal kombat to me.

i worried that a plotline seemingly plucked from marvel's the avengers might bog down the game as a whole. while it definitely feels like it's meant to have a wider appeal (understandable; this is a reboot, in execution), the characters retain a lot of the appeal they've always had. some of these reworkings are pulled off so well-- johnny cage comes to mind immediately, but so does reptile. baraka's rework is inspired, and sindel is a treat to witness after two decades of the same thing. because of this, the marvel movie style plotline clicks into place: no doubt this is thanks t the charismatic performances put forth by the cast. the core four this go-around (johnny, kenshi, kung lao, raiden) just work together well. it's fun when it needs to be.

in comparison to previous entries in the franchise, there's a lack of Kontent in this entry. it's fluffed out by dlc, but this package is definitely a little slimmer than it usually is. while some of it has gotten better, other aspects still need work, and probably won't see it until MK2.

but honestly? i can't complain too much about the over polished gameplay. after all, you put it down like new york city, i never sleep, wild like los angeles, my fantasy, hotter than miami, i feel the heat, oh oh oh oh, it's international love

i feel like some of this content should have been in the 2.0 update to the base game as opposed to dlc only. the furniture store, for example, feels kind of egregious since people have been asking about a nook's cranny update or gracie's return since launch.

it's fun. a little over-priced, and slightly too long, but the charm is all there and i had a big, goofy smile on my face when i saw what they did for the credits. designing facilities in particular was very, very fun. i wish we could do that on our main island, but i get the limitations with that.

the aesthetic island tours would be lit beyond belief tho

like, i've dumped over 150 hours into this. but also, i don't know why i did that. the interplay of mechanics is nauseatingly both underwhelming and overwhelming, like a candy bar gone rotten the day before you unwrapped it. each character is alienating merely on the thinnest part of the surface, just enough to all generically imply depth. every day in the mines is just another pointless moment enrobed in feigned principle, all while the idea of simply standing next to your crops until they grow in taunts you from afar.

haley best girl anyway

chilla's art's winter streambait offering this year centers around an unnamed employee of a film company. it's unclear what kind of film company this is beyond the higher up wanting him to get some "interesting footage" at an abandoned home. the set up seems to exist primarily only to explain the use of a camera and vhs tapes through out the game; on steam, the game is described as a "found footage mockumentary."

what follows is a trip through a house littered with blood, feathers, and strange tapes documenting a young boy's stay with his grandparents in the home. much of the game reminds me of nana825763's "my house walk-through", other parts harken my mind back to "ring-u". there's a particular segment where, while wandering down a hall, you're forced to consider just how alone in this abandoned house you are-- a brief scare that reminded me of, surprisingly, the conjuring. the overall presentation, though, largely feels unique to jisatsu, a title built from the characters meaning "self" as in "self"ie and "suicide."

some of this game feels like the scariest chilla's art has gotten to date: jumpscares that actually feel earned, the intriguing use of a censor bar, the classic claustrophobic thriller minute. the tense anxiety that's built up through the game pays off, though it never really gets to the heights you really want it to.

it's hard to describe what it is that bogs this one down: is it too long? too short? too ambiguous? does it lean into it's inspirations too much? it is a sudden and awkward bumble at times, but it never loses it's tense atmosphere. it's good, just not as good as some of chilla's catalogue. it's fair; i'd recommend it if you have around two hours to kill, and miss j-horror from a decade ago.