incredible narrative on games as art, difficulty, the digital medium of language and creation, authorship, and finding comfort in trash and frustration.

the anti-Celeste: a game about climbing a mountain with no way to adjust the difficulty, no special abilities, no one around to help you, stripped down to only the game, your hand, and your will.

i understand if the gameplay is not for you, but it's also an incredible speedgame, look it up.

Kojima's most cynical and scathing criticism of video game fans. The stealth 'playground' is a detention center modeled on Guantanamo Bay/Abu Ghraib, the collectable items are recordings of the horrific rape and torture of two teenagers, and you're on a rescue mission to save said teenagers because they might just spill the beans on this whole extra-governmental, Geneva Convention breaking private military enterprise you're running in the middle of the ocean.

This critique was expanded and formalised in a more sophisticated way in The Phantom Pain, but damn, do I appreciate the sheer vitriol of this game, Kojima held back NONE of his contempt for the average Metal Gear fan in this one.