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goated game. soyjacked at the "line of flight" drop. you guys just don't fw adorno hard enough. crashed before i could see the end
seriously though, i do find myself kinda frustrated at concepts of post-irony/metamodernism/new sincerity or whatever. people are tired of "postmodernity" (something i have my own critiques of, even as i hate jameson for popularising the term but w/e) and feel we can simply move beyond, take a new step forwards, without really understanding what "postmodernism" tried to do; postmodernism is a mood, a vibe, an era, not anything actualised outside of a vague gesticulation. this game, however, is not a very good look at that. I just wish actually understanding foucault + derrida was required before you read fisher, because I think a look at the deployment of hyper-confessional and overwhelmingly sincere art of the 202X's would be interesting - something not really found here except as a handwave to thoughts and books picked up from crit theory 101.
seriously though, i do find myself kinda frustrated at concepts of post-irony/metamodernism/new sincerity or whatever. people are tired of "postmodernity" (something i have my own critiques of, even as i hate jameson for popularising the term but w/e) and feel we can simply move beyond, take a new step forwards, without really understanding what "postmodernism" tried to do; postmodernism is a mood, a vibe, an era, not anything actualised outside of a vague gesticulation. this game, however, is not a very good look at that. I just wish actually understanding foucault + derrida was required before you read fisher, because I think a look at the deployment of hyper-confessional and overwhelmingly sincere art of the 202X's would be interesting - something not really found here except as a handwave to thoughts and books picked up from crit theory 101.
I'm fine with abrasive games that challenge trends and the effects of capital on artistic expression, but then the writer started quoting every piece they read in their Philosophy 201 course while furiously masturbating and I lost all respect
also it reliably breaks when you reach the mines so I'm not even sure anyone can complete it
also it reliably breaks when you reach the mines so I'm not even sure anyone can complete it
is this supposed to be funny?? this is serious shit yer talkin abt and you are TERRIFIED of being straightforward abt it. incongruously gripey about "new sincerity"; there is j as much truth in it as there is in this game's clumsy rick and morty ass postmodernism which blatantly advances the aesthetics and presentation of its object of critique. like no matter how many times u wink yer still playing into it except now UR ALSO communicating in teh everpresent deeply commodified internet modality of crude irony WITH A HEALTHY AMT OF blockquotes that assert ive read so many way cool social critics like um mark fisher theodor adorno the list goes on. needless to say bro is deeply undialectical. helps that there is near-zero aesthetic sensitivity so it goes on like blah blah blah blah blah how ab u make something
like yeah stardew valley is reactionary as hell! is this new information?
like yeah stardew valley is reactionary as hell! is this new information?
a bit too "Twitter thread by a breadtuber you vaguely remember watching their 4 hour long video in 2019 about like... the muppets or sm" but idk i thought it was slightly funny and the points made about the like commodification of mental illness in indie art are kinda interesting.
I've marked this as complete but I genuinely don't know if it was, it just abruptly ended in the lift down to the mines and I don't know if that was intended or a bug... either way I was happy to be done with it. It's incredible how after 10 minutes of playing it, TFH was already overstaying it's welcome.
Tender Frog House insults my intelligence. It's framed as a conversation between developers about to release a 'cozy' game, and discusses the relationship between games as art and games as a product in the capitlist hellscape. And on paper I'm on board with this. The heavy philosophy and politics against the hyper-saccharine presentation, characters and music is quite disarming in a good way.
But the actual content that's delivered here... dear god. Tender Frog House has said everything it has to say within the first 2 minutes, and then just keeps on saying the same thing again and again in progressively flowery ways. It feels like artificial stream-of-consciousness writing penned by someone desperately trying to sound clever. It's bitter, it's cynical, it's patronising, contemptuous and scornful... ugh. I get it, TFH. Capitalism promotes unchallenging art and turns everything into products. There, I said what you said in 9 words; I didn't need any direct quotes from political philosophers that were so long they didn't fit on the screen.
Also the game is hideous. I get the impression that's intentional, but that shade of green burns my fucking retinas, and that music is acid to my soul. Some of the pixel graphics in the overworld look decent, but the lack of effort in the visuals anywhere else makes me assume these are just off-the-shelf stock assets.
So yeah, this is bad. I've spent longer reviewing it than I did playing it at this point and I'm not even mad about that fact because this game pissed me off. One star instead of 0.5 for the juxtaposition between presentation and content being an interesting way to frame something like this. But yeah, don't play this.
Tender Frog House insults my intelligence. It's framed as a conversation between developers about to release a 'cozy' game, and discusses the relationship between games as art and games as a product in the capitlist hellscape. And on paper I'm on board with this. The heavy philosophy and politics against the hyper-saccharine presentation, characters and music is quite disarming in a good way.
But the actual content that's delivered here... dear god. Tender Frog House has said everything it has to say within the first 2 minutes, and then just keeps on saying the same thing again and again in progressively flowery ways. It feels like artificial stream-of-consciousness writing penned by someone desperately trying to sound clever. It's bitter, it's cynical, it's patronising, contemptuous and scornful... ugh. I get it, TFH. Capitalism promotes unchallenging art and turns everything into products. There, I said what you said in 9 words; I didn't need any direct quotes from political philosophers that were so long they didn't fit on the screen.
Also the game is hideous. I get the impression that's intentional, but that shade of green burns my fucking retinas, and that music is acid to my soul. Some of the pixel graphics in the overworld look decent, but the lack of effort in the visuals anywhere else makes me assume these are just off-the-shelf stock assets.
So yeah, this is bad. I've spent longer reviewing it than I did playing it at this point and I'm not even mad about that fact because this game pissed me off. One star instead of 0.5 for the juxtaposition between presentation and content being an interesting way to frame something like this. But yeah, don't play this.
Short Version: If I ever have to read a visual novel with #00FF00 green as the sole background again, I'm going to strangle something.
Slightly Longer Version: On one hand, everything this game is saying is mostly true, if delivered in a dry manner. Capitalism is a hellscape and the commodification of any and every style or state of being is something to be cognizant of, even (if not especially) when it becomes frightfully untenable to separate capitalist meddling from "earnest expression" (whatever that supposedly means).
I don't think the way to deliver that message is through a stoic diatribe quoting verbose philosophers and using terminology that no-one will understand unless you have the specific knowledge of the author. For how much the text absolutely loves to relish in the (warranted) skepticism of 'new sincerity', it equally eschews any form of accessibility, almost as if to intentionally stifle and out-word any form of questioning that comes from it. I think that there is a good reason people dismiss this as a 'twitter thread visual novel', it presents the same austere and unrelenting tiredness as one to the uninitiated.
TL;DR: Sometimes, dumbing it down is a good thing,
Slightly Longer Version: On one hand, everything this game is saying is mostly true, if delivered in a dry manner. Capitalism is a hellscape and the commodification of any and every style or state of being is something to be cognizant of, even (if not especially) when it becomes frightfully untenable to separate capitalist meddling from "earnest expression" (whatever that supposedly means).
I don't think the way to deliver that message is through a stoic diatribe quoting verbose philosophers and using terminology that no-one will understand unless you have the specific knowledge of the author. For how much the text absolutely loves to relish in the (warranted) skepticism of 'new sincerity', it equally eschews any form of accessibility, almost as if to intentionally stifle and out-word any form of questioning that comes from it. I think that there is a good reason people dismiss this as a 'twitter thread visual novel', it presents the same austere and unrelenting tiredness as one to the uninitiated.
TL;DR: Sometimes, dumbing it down is a good thing,