Been playing this bit by bit slowly for a month now. Played it high, drunk, stoned and burgeoning on a k-hole at times. Still haven't finished it. But fuck it. I just wanna diary my thoughts.
I think that it's as good as a good as a game like this could ever hope to be. It is a thematically empty experience. It is not as nuanced narratively or emotionally as it thinks it is. It is all aesthetic. It is a grim, brooding Dad game for people who love violent video games. All of its maturity is mechanical and physical. It is at almost every turn always a video game first. There are skill points and weapon upgrades. All sorts of video game narrative bullshit and conveniences ripple through it. But when you're swaying trying to load a handgun bullet-by-bullet or bashing some guy's teeth into a railing or machete-ing your 500th nameless post apocalyptic goon, all under some really intentionally well mood lit areas, you feel something. It loses impact the more you play, the game is way too long. But you see the rare instance of what happens when a AAA game developer gets an unlimited budget to heavily fetishise brutal violence. It's sick. I love it. I wish it wasn't coated in so much sentimentality and artstation lustre. But I think it's the most expensive murder simulatior ever made and it's stands as almost a novelty in my mind. The only other game like is maybe Max Payne 3 (and TLOU2, which I feel identical about but just as a sequel feel lesser).
I think that it's as good as a good as a game like this could ever hope to be. It is a thematically empty experience. It is not as nuanced narratively or emotionally as it thinks it is. It is all aesthetic. It is a grim, brooding Dad game for people who love violent video games. All of its maturity is mechanical and physical. It is at almost every turn always a video game first. There are skill points and weapon upgrades. All sorts of video game narrative bullshit and conveniences ripple through it. But when you're swaying trying to load a handgun bullet-by-bullet or bashing some guy's teeth into a railing or machete-ing your 500th nameless post apocalyptic goon, all under some really intentionally well mood lit areas, you feel something. It loses impact the more you play, the game is way too long. But you see the rare instance of what happens when a AAA game developer gets an unlimited budget to heavily fetishise brutal violence. It's sick. I love it. I wish it wasn't coated in so much sentimentality and artstation lustre. But I think it's the most expensive murder simulatior ever made and it's stands as almost a novelty in my mind. The only other game like is maybe Max Payne 3 (and TLOU2, which I feel identical about but just as a sequel feel lesser).