outputdevice
2021
my mum occasionally messages me on facebook now, so that's cool
2022
I've rolled credits, but I'm far from done with this yet. Aside from the baffling level of detail, and its execution - which to me is the firmest evidence yet that we could indeed be living inside of a simulation - for me, the thing I'll remember of GT7 is how it felt to experience it.
The closest analogue I can think of is something like the experience of sitting at a bus stop, waiting for a bus, when the person next to you starts talking about something you know next to nothing about. Great, you think, all I wanted was to get on the bus, and here I am now, trapped in a wonky plastic wind shelter, only a third of my arse is supported by the tiny metal rail that's ostensibly installed as a bench, and I have to endure whatever this conversation is going to be.
Hours and buses go by, and there you still are, enraptured, deeply uncomfortable and worried for the future state of your arse, and suddenly an expert in manufacturing innovations. Did you know rally can trace its roots to medieval times? No, me neither. What a weird, wild ride it is.
The closest analogue I can think of is something like the experience of sitting at a bus stop, waiting for a bus, when the person next to you starts talking about something you know next to nothing about. Great, you think, all I wanted was to get on the bus, and here I am now, trapped in a wonky plastic wind shelter, only a third of my arse is supported by the tiny metal rail that's ostensibly installed as a bench, and I have to endure whatever this conversation is going to be.
Hours and buses go by, and there you still are, enraptured, deeply uncomfortable and worried for the future state of your arse, and suddenly an expert in manufacturing innovations. Did you know rally can trace its roots to medieval times? No, me neither. What a weird, wild ride it is.
2013
To echo the disclaimer in my review of Even the Ocean, I'd already decided I like Analgesic's games before I played them, and now I've actually played two, my confirmation bias is getting, erm... more confirmed?
Anyway. If you don't already know, Anodyne is a dreamy, vague tale set inside a copy of Link's Awakening. You play as Young, who is sent out on a quest to rescue Briar from the Darkness. And that's about as specific as it gets, for the most part.
How this plays out is a mechanically familiar affair, exploring from one tile to the next, chatting to NPCs, collecting bits, battering enemies with your broom. Where this shines though is in the v i b e s it creates through the twisted and diverse world that Young inhabits, and the uncanny way the game unfolds.
Oh, and the soundtrack absolutely slaps. Big Radiohead feels in the hotel level.
I'll leave you with a quote from one of the NPCs, looking out over a cityscape at night:
"Behind every light is a person with hopes and fears and secrets... Looking out is both terrifyingly lonely and fiercely personal.
"I think I love every person behind every window.
"I love you, people, for being my stars.
"I love you no matter how fucked up your life is or how far you think you've fallen. You are lovely for tonight..."
Anyway. If you don't already know, Anodyne is a dreamy, vague tale set inside a copy of Link's Awakening. You play as Young, who is sent out on a quest to rescue Briar from the Darkness. And that's about as specific as it gets, for the most part.
How this plays out is a mechanically familiar affair, exploring from one tile to the next, chatting to NPCs, collecting bits, battering enemies with your broom. Where this shines though is in the v i b e s it creates through the twisted and diverse world that Young inhabits, and the uncanny way the game unfolds.
Oh, and the soundtrack absolutely slaps. Big Radiohead feels in the hotel level.
I'll leave you with a quote from one of the NPCs, looking out over a cityscape at night:
"Behind every light is a person with hopes and fears and secrets... Looking out is both terrifyingly lonely and fiercely personal.
"I think I love every person behind every window.
"I love you, people, for being my stars.
"I love you no matter how fucked up your life is or how far you think you've fallen. You are lovely for tonight..."
2022
This review contains spoilers
I've been trying to write this review for about two weeks now, and to try and find an angle between "it's the best thing since sliced Zelda" and "aS a SoUlS vEt, I'm dIsApPoInTeD" as most of the tepid hot takes around this baffling, horrendous, incredible game seem to be. But I do feel both, and can't help but think that this specific conflict is built into the experience From have delivered this time around.
For context, I've proselytised about this series endlessly since Dark Souls 1. I didn't have a PS3, but I had a few friends who did, and had Demon's Souls, and their own ravings sent me out on launch day when DS released on the Xbox 360. I fell in love with and utterly fucking hated that game for around a year, as I'd routinely start new characters only to hit a wall against something like Quelaag, until over the course of one long weekend an aforementioned friend sat and coached me through the entire game. And now it's one of my all-time favourites. I can't help but feel if anyone asks me in 2023 I'll probably say the same about Elden Ring, but I don't feel that way just yet.
This time around, much like with all the games preceding it post-DS1, I dived in and stumbled through to the end, battered and exhausted. The formal coaching days may be behind me, but there's still a core of my friends who'll jump in to co-op through a bit one of us is struggling with. And despite what the cvlt say, jolly co-operation is a cornerstone to enjoying these games in my opinion.
I've now done everything the game deems worthy of an achievement save for two other endings, which I'm closing in on slowly between playing other games. But I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface after some 130ish hours. I'm consistently finding new areas, encounters, NPCs, items. The baffling thing is though, to me at least, that as the initial sense of sheer scale falls away and you realise that the Lands Between are nowhere near as big as they first seem, you start to see quite how densely packed it all is.
There's an entire essay to be written on the gripes I have, like just the sheer bullshit in a lot of the game's boss encounters, the way they dialled up the obtuseness to 11 for practically all of the NPC questlines with (at least, before the recent patch) no way of keeping track of where people end up unless you happen upon them on your travels and mark the map yourself. How people say INT is broken too, but us mages only have two cool end game spells whereas faith builds get dragon heads, eyeball lasers, homing lightning... but again, what is it to experience a From game without staring into the abyss of all the things that boils your piss as the hours roll by, your friends and family ignored, house getting dustier, meals skipped, until you emerge two weeks later into the spring sunlight actually somewhat tarnished and dead behind the eyes, shrugging and saying "yeah it's alright, but I'd have done X, Y, and Z differently." If it was just alright, why was I so compelled to inhabit that world at the expense of my actual life, and why am I going to cut this off midsentence to play some more when I should be working or
For context, I've proselytised about this series endlessly since Dark Souls 1. I didn't have a PS3, but I had a few friends who did, and had Demon's Souls, and their own ravings sent me out on launch day when DS released on the Xbox 360. I fell in love with and utterly fucking hated that game for around a year, as I'd routinely start new characters only to hit a wall against something like Quelaag, until over the course of one long weekend an aforementioned friend sat and coached me through the entire game. And now it's one of my all-time favourites. I can't help but feel if anyone asks me in 2023 I'll probably say the same about Elden Ring, but I don't feel that way just yet.
This time around, much like with all the games preceding it post-DS1, I dived in and stumbled through to the end, battered and exhausted. The formal coaching days may be behind me, but there's still a core of my friends who'll jump in to co-op through a bit one of us is struggling with. And despite what the cvlt say, jolly co-operation is a cornerstone to enjoying these games in my opinion.
I've now done everything the game deems worthy of an achievement save for two other endings, which I'm closing in on slowly between playing other games. But I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface after some 130ish hours. I'm consistently finding new areas, encounters, NPCs, items. The baffling thing is though, to me at least, that as the initial sense of sheer scale falls away and you realise that the Lands Between are nowhere near as big as they first seem, you start to see quite how densely packed it all is.
There's an entire essay to be written on the gripes I have, like just the sheer bullshit in a lot of the game's boss encounters, the way they dialled up the obtuseness to 11 for practically all of the NPC questlines with (at least, before the recent patch) no way of keeping track of where people end up unless you happen upon them on your travels and mark the map yourself. How people say INT is broken too, but us mages only have two cool end game spells whereas faith builds get dragon heads, eyeball lasers, homing lightning... but again, what is it to experience a From game without staring into the abyss of all the things that boils your piss as the hours roll by, your friends and family ignored, house getting dustier, meals skipped, until you emerge two weeks later into the spring sunlight actually somewhat tarnished and dead behind the eyes, shrugging and saying "yeah it's alright, but I'd have done X, Y, and Z differently." If it was just alright, why was I so compelled to inhabit that world at the expense of my actual life, and why am I going to cut this off midsentence to play some more when I should be working or
2021
How many of the following points apply to you will determine your suitability for this product:
1: A proclivity (past or present) for drugs
2: Overworked and underpaid
3: Depressed
4: Fantasise about the return of Guy Fawkes and/or billionaires toy spaceships burning up on re-entry
5: Tell people Bela Tarr is your favourite director when really its David Lynch
6: Feel the last remaining shreds of optimism for the human trajectory leave your body every time you open Twitter and yet another sickeningly bad faith talking head swings downward and is met with a resounding cheer
7: Proselytise experimental indie games providing there's some familiar mechanics
8: Have frequently tried to radicalise moderate friends and family by demonstrating any number of tangible examples of oppression and inequality the world over
9: Worry you may actually, permanently lose it one day, whatever "it" is
10: Have sat in a gallery staring at a Rothko or Pollock or anything similar that people call pointless, pretentious, not-art, whatever and F E L T S O M E T H I N G
If you've scored 6 or above on our Hypercapitalist Revenge Fantasy Suitability Test TM, may we offer you our most heartfelt sympathies, and welcome.
1: A proclivity (past or present) for drugs
2: Overworked and underpaid
3: Depressed
4: Fantasise about the return of Guy Fawkes and/or billionaires toy spaceships burning up on re-entry
5: Tell people Bela Tarr is your favourite director when really its David Lynch
6: Feel the last remaining shreds of optimism for the human trajectory leave your body every time you open Twitter and yet another sickeningly bad faith talking head swings downward and is met with a resounding cheer
7: Proselytise experimental indie games providing there's some familiar mechanics
8: Have frequently tried to radicalise moderate friends and family by demonstrating any number of tangible examples of oppression and inequality the world over
9: Worry you may actually, permanently lose it one day, whatever "it" is
10: Have sat in a gallery staring at a Rothko or Pollock or anything similar that people call pointless, pretentious, not-art, whatever and F E L T S O M E T H I N G
If you've scored 6 or above on our Hypercapitalist Revenge Fantasy Suitability Test TM, may we offer you our most heartfelt sympathies, and welcome.
2021
This is the most fun I've had in a spaceship. You can drift the thing for crying out loud! The story is, I feel, well-intentioned but a little wishy-washy in places. But drifting and blasting mf's more than makes up for that. Genuinely hope there's a sequel coming.
2016
Pretty good for a Twine game
2015
After a short life break from gaming, I find myself with COVID, housebound, and nothing to do. Fittingly I've decided to punish my fevered mind with the weirdest shit in my backlog.
I'd guess this beautiful, alien creation is vaguely about being a round peg in a world of square holes - or a lone Dali hanging in an exhibition of renaissance paintings - but who can say for certain. While baffling and overwhelming for the first 15 minutes, confusion quickly falls away to reveal a mechanically sound micro-RPG with some of my favourite art and sound in recent memory.
I'd guess this beautiful, alien creation is vaguely about being a round peg in a world of square holes - or a lone Dali hanging in an exhibition of renaissance paintings - but who can say for certain. While baffling and overwhelming for the first 15 minutes, confusion quickly falls away to reveal a mechanically sound micro-RPG with some of my favourite art and sound in recent memory.
2022
I really want to rate this higher as when the flow state gets flowing, it's a genuinely sublime experience. Art direction, sound, and level design are all great, but it's let down (for me at least) by some cheap bullshit moves and a few fights that make my want to burn my house down with me inside it.
2022
Finishing this game off makes for round 3 in my COVID feverdream binge, and I think it's my contender for GOTY so far. Horny, homoerotic VN and just the snappiest puzzle platforming collide and make for a cocktail that is dangerously "just one more go" and genuinely thrilling and funny in its moment-to-moment execution. I have lots more to say but my brain is melting out of my ears. TBC, I hope
2019
Altruism of the highest order, in the smallest of gestures. That this even exists is reason enough to do away with some cynicism towards to your fellow people, but the fact that even now, two years after launch, I can throw my day's anxiety into the void and get a number of thoughtful, lovely responses is the best kind of baffling.
True radical acts of kindness. Be good.
True radical acts of kindness. Be good.
2021
A gorgeous sci fi world, a serviceable story, horrendous combat. And the traversal feels so nearly spot on it hurts. Just needed a little more time in the oven I think.
2013
I beat this omnipresent monolith of bullshit on the 360, and more fool me for nibbling when it was offered up all shiny and new for the PS5 for £8.
Fuck me dead though if this isn't the definition of a polished turd. Or perhaps more like Dorian Gray's portrait - as this game somehow manages to keep it's impression of youth, the anarchic spirit of early-naughts R is locked in an attic, rotting, screaming out for someone just to kill it and be done with it.
Leaving all other complaints aside in the interest of my own sanity and retiring this forever, I don't understand how R get a pass for their game mechanics anymore. The combat is pure jank, the cars handle like you're steering melting butter around a frying pan, and WHO THE FUCK WANTS TO SPAM X TO SPRINT? In the bin, for good. Until they hire a UX/UI designer that's worked this side of the millenium and they sort all of their interface bullshit out (there's an entire essay on this that made me feel seen like nothing else, google RDR2 shit controls or something who remembers) I can honestly say I won't be back.
Gets a 1 star bonus for introducing me to Kendrick Lamar in 2013.
Fuck me dead though if this isn't the definition of a polished turd. Or perhaps more like Dorian Gray's portrait - as this game somehow manages to keep it's impression of youth, the anarchic spirit of early-naughts R is locked in an attic, rotting, screaming out for someone just to kill it and be done with it.
Leaving all other complaints aside in the interest of my own sanity and retiring this forever, I don't understand how R get a pass for their game mechanics anymore. The combat is pure jank, the cars handle like you're steering melting butter around a frying pan, and WHO THE FUCK WANTS TO SPAM X TO SPRINT? In the bin, for good. Until they hire a UX/UI designer that's worked this side of the millenium and they sort all of their interface bullshit out (there's an entire essay on this that made me feel seen like nothing else, google RDR2 shit controls or something who remembers) I can honestly say I won't be back.
Gets a 1 star bonus for introducing me to Kendrick Lamar in 2013.
2021
Daniel Mullins strikes again with more meta-horror madness. Believe the hype.
2018
An hour and a half long campaign that takes a firm look at toxic masculinity through the lens of a world of dicks fucking each other. I'm baffled and somewhat impressed that I was brought to care about a wiggly little wang's development arc.