I read a really good defence of it somewhere detailing how they somehow managed to string a plot through all the seemingly disparate elements and tied everything together deftly and neatly. Which is admittedly impressive, but absolutely not what I wanted from it. And I especially did not want to be repeatedly killed by off screen enemies I hadn’t even seen yet. So much bullshit in that game.
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Hotline Miami 2 was close to making some good points about violence, but didn’t quite get there. The levels where you play as the journalist were good - he only knocked people out, and if you picked up a gun, he automatically broke it so nobody could fire it. It’s like the game engine wants you to do one thing (shoot the baddies!) but your character won’t let you.
There was a good level where you get sent to jail, and a boss tries to kill you in the exercise yard - but then it becomes a massive sprawly shootout like the rest of it and loses the point somewhat
Ban request!
Jeez, stop being such a Crestfallen Saulden 
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I… have no idea what this means.
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For me nothing beats those eerie blank moments as you walk back through the level past all the carnage now devoid of its momentary thrill, or the pointedly mundane intermissions drawing unsettling parallels, but you’re right, the sequel did do some things well too, it just got lost for me amongst all the disappointing decisions they made.
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My ATD has a very bleak reading of Dark Souls/ Bloodborne games:
So here you are in this amazing ecosystem filled with these exotic and unique creatures, the bosses, and you systematically exterminate them. Unlike their minions, they don’t respawn when you touch a bonfire: they’re gone for good.
You are the monster.
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I played a lot of Pac-Man as a kid, and I have certainly never spent time in dark rooms gobbling pills and listening to electronic music
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The joke is repetetive music. Silly
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I’ve become weirdly addicted to Dungeon of the Endless. It works really with my tablet in pad mode.
Played it once and didn’t get it.
Looked interesting, though.
Yeah, really took some effort to get it to click. I watched a youtube video, then I got into it. great game for when you’re watching tele.
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Yup got it. It’s a pretty chill game, where the big hook is that you draw your own map on the touchscreen as you go. Seem to be on a map-making tip atm with this and Mini Metro (I do have a terrible sense of direction and maps do kind of amaze me tbf)
Gonna try and finish at least one Zelda game before I get into it though! Still in the Skull Woods in LttP…
Superb podcasting game. Really struggle trying to describe it to people, though. Tower defence rogue-like is about as close as I can get.
this is why Shadow of the Colossus is so deeply melancholic too.
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Me and some friends played this on co-op for a while but quit after we’d completed the easiest level. Kind of a shame but we really didn’t have the coordination to get much further. I should really give it a go solo sometime.
aside from any ‘moral’ issues, a lot of violent games are just… boring. there’s only so many times I can shoot the same demons over and over again in DOOM before I get sick of it. it just doesn’t sustain itself for 10+ hours or whatever - I’ve done it too many times before.
get some new gameplay ideas, maaaaan
Doom is the best stress ball ever created. It has a fluidity to it which is damn artistic IMHO.
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I want non-violent games to be a bit more imaginative with their gameplay. I think Gone Home (and a number of other “walking simulators”) were really good at making exploration and player interpretation a key part of the gameplay, but then I feel some other games coast a bit on the assumption that the narrative will be interesting enough.
Case in point: Oxenfree which was great, but wasted much of its interactive potential, imo. The conversation system was great, but the fact that you have to assemble your team of characters throughout that game could’ve been more interesting if, for example, they’d had specific things they could contribute to the action (like Maniac Mansion). In contrast, the most gamey bit of Oxenfree was that busywork where you’re dicking about tuning that radio.
The problem we have is gaming’s control scheme, especially for consoles, has evolved from the idea of x destroys y. PC Gaming has more variety thanks to the mouse and keyboard. There is only so much you can do with analog sticks and trigger buttons.