nex3
BACKER
silly and cute, but god this sort of mechanic always feels like a slog to me
2018
I honestly expected more (although in fairness I felt the same way about the Undertale demo)
2018
I'm home sick and I played this all day, but I don't think I'll play it tomorrow. It is the oatmeal of video games. As oatmeals go it's tasty enough, but it's never going to be anything more than bland and homogeneous. Also this particular oatmeal adores cops and the surveillance state to an absurd degree.
That metaphor got away from me.
That metaphor got away from me.
This is my favorite game of all time as well as arguably one of my favorite novels. It's devastatingly beautiful and vitally necessary. The strong influences of the magical realist, southern Gothic, and postmodern literary traditions make it more of a participant in the broader culture than almost any other video game, but at the same time the way it builds up its world and story collaboratively with the player would only be possible in an interactive medium.
Beyond any of its impressive formal qualities, though, the most important thing about KR0 is the way it talks about the real world and the American South in particular. At the same time compassionate and mournful, full of rage and despair and just a few glimmers of hope, it's one of the most honest and vibrant depictions I've seen across any art form of the way America eats itself alive, and the myriad ways people struggle or give in as they're digested.
When I wept at the end of Act V, I wept for the broken dreams of everyone who has been destroyed by America.
Beyond any of its impressive formal qualities, though, the most important thing about KR0 is the way it talks about the real world and the American South in particular. At the same time compassionate and mournful, full of rage and despair and just a few glimmers of hope, it's one of the most honest and vibrant depictions I've seen across any art form of the way America eats itself alive, and the myriad ways people struggle or give in as they're digested.
When I wept at the end of Act V, I wept for the broken dreams of everyone who has been destroyed by America.
2013
Probably the most structurally fascinating part of KR0 (at least through Act IV). Makes me want to go out and do experimental game/theater all over the place
2019
This is such a great example of a game that's totally confident in its own strengths and doesn't seek to compensate for them with any unnecessary "gameyness". At the same time, the way it uses exploration of the island to interleave lots of different stories and engage the player at their own pace is something that wouldn't be possible in any other medium.