the opening montage of Up really destroyed a whole generation's concept of effective nonverbal storytelling by making them think a parade of prefab domestic clichés embellished with flavorless Milestone clipart set to overbearing music is in any way sophisticated or interesting huh

this girl is a tasteless unfuckable dweeb and i wish her all the worst. the way she's simultaneously a self-insert wish fulfillment character AND the most hapless and bland cozycore dork imaginable is really dark tbh. inexcusable taste in stuffed animals! stop decorating with your diploma already you absolute MONSTER!!! When a sappy celeste-adjacent chiptune ballad plays as it's revealed via context clues that she came into her own after a trip to Japan (and returned w/ a bevvy of basic tourist kiosk tchotchkes) and now feels confident enough to explore rockabilly-lite fashion...hell. It's all so flavorless and antiseptic--she is 30 where the hell is her hitachi wand and why CANT i stuff her horrid garb into the closet in the ideal organizational format--the pile? the subject here is so unpalatable that i honestly would have preferred they scrap the whole progressing narrative concept entirely (esp. when its used in such an unambitious way that communicates very little beyond trite sentimentality; life has its ups and downs, #gratitude, don't make time for haters who dull your shine, the more things change the more they stay the same, when god throws out a mug he buys you a wacom tablet) and instead present a medley of varying rooms/spaces occupying a plethora of subjects, aesthetics, and experiences, but also idt the same devs who chose this protag have anywhere near the worldliness or savvy to attempt something like that. impressive amount of unique isometric assets and cool implementation of foley though!

Reviewed on Nov 10, 2021


6 Comments


2 years ago

Begging indie devs to learn how to write

2 years ago

mad because you aren't cozypilled
also thats the first time ive seen someone spell out the word tchotchkes and i must say what the fuck

2 years ago

Definitely some truth in this criticism. Don't you think though that this is the sub-text the game is subtly promoting - when you're trying to fit your sandwich toaster into some kitchen shelving unit, surely the game is encouraging you to think 'fuck all this ephemeral shit'? The idea that life is not predicated on how you fold t-shirts in a wardrobe is ever-present.
The game definitely does explore ephemera/clutter not necessarily being a net good to some extent, yeah. my problem is less that it doesnt effectively communicate its (rather unambitious and basic, imo) themes and ideas, its moreso that the subject herself is just rly unpalatable and uncompelling to explore. its her soul that needs the surgery, basically
thank you for calling out the first fifteen minutes of Up for what it is.

1 month ago

Up is much better than this tho

also fucking funny again that the negative review is the most liked one