Video Game Discussion – Persona 5 tackles Misogyny in a Remarkable Way

Image taken from themeraider.com

More than simply a game about youthful rebellion, Persona 5 encourages players to interrogate the social structures keeping abusive people in power, while also challenging their tendency to make fallacious judgments based on ignorance and internalized biases. The game took particular aim at sexism, detailing how societal expectations for women often force them into dangerous circumstances. At the same time, misconceptions about their personality or physical appearance end up enabling their abusers. It was a (sadly) bold statement to make in a male-dominated medium, so I wanted to broadcast my appreciation for its presence in the culture.

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Video Game Discussion – Are We Tired of Loot Yet?

By that I mean, are we tired of sifting through the endless volumes equip that pretty much only exist to clutter the screen and dump onto merchants? Because I am. In this article, I talk about my major issues with the incrementally differentiated wave of negligible content called Loot: how it wastes player time, impacts game design, and could possibly be improved for games in the future.

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Video Game List – Cool Games from E3

Is E3 basically just a protracted commercial for video game publishers, a stage from which companies can lie to use about the scope and content of their products? Sure. Is it made consistently redundant by how often these publishers leak their biggest surprises online or at other, more specialized gaming conventions? You could say that. Does E3 just become an hours-long waste of time when publishers only have live performances and cinematic trailers? Wouldn’t it be nice if these companies could just be transparent all the time, without performative corporate events? Where was I going with this?

I’ll be honest, I don’t envy anyone who has to cover this event professionally, nor do I wish to be in the shoes of people who pay thousands of dollars to wait in line and keep the professionals from doing their jobs, but if you tell me that a whole bunch of new games are getting previewed and announced in one block of time, I’m going to look. E3 may not look good on paper anymore, but that doesn’t mean the games aren’t still awesome. Here are the ones I’m keeping my eye on.

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Video Game review – Far Cry 5

I bet I’m going to come out on the positive end of this game’s critical reception, but I really loved Far Cry 5. Despite a snore of a protagonist, the residents of Hope County, Montana are all colorful and lively. The villains are menacing, the resistance fighters are delightfully relatable, and the attack animals are cute. I especially enjoy the focus on creating an engaging open world, using principles of exploration and discovery to keep the player from acquiring side activity burnout. I wrote off Assassin’s Creed earlier this year, but Far Cry still has some kick!

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Video Game Discussion – Kratos, Making a Better Father

A big part of rebooting the God of War franchise was re-imagining the for the modern age of gaming. I.e. Kratos was becoming a real irredeemable piece of garbage over the last few games, and characters today tend to require more nuance than that. Hence the child. A lot of people compared this game to The Last of Us (though I think it more closely resembles Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice), in so much as a child is generally meant to soften the edges of a hardened male character. This idea on its own is not particularly unique, and it puts children in the unhealthy position of fixing their parent-figure.

Despite that, I think there is more to offer in the dynamic between Kratos and Atreus. You really see the steps this violent Spartan takes to becoming something resembling a human being. I get that there are going to be a lot of people who still find this kind of unimpressive (particularly women), but the decidedly male focus of the narrative does make some strong points about how masculinity and fatherhood will have to get introspective in order to remain relevant. Redundancy isn’t something Kratos can punch.

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Video Game review – Celeste

This game will naturally be remembered for its impressive platforming challenges and welcoming accessibility options (so all may get involved in said challenge), but I hope that when the statute of limitations on spoilers is up, it will also be remembered as an incredible journey into emotional exploration, empathy, and self-compassion. As I say in the review, it was nice to play a game that loved me as much as I loved it.

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Video Game Review – Shadow of the Colossus (2018)

Despite how much I dislike Sony for selling a console that is not backwards compatible, I do enjoy the opportunity to play classic PlayStation games that have been bumped up to modern production levels. I am ultimately glad that I got to play Shadow of the Colossus, as this is a monumental title in the history of gaming. It offers a journey unlike any other, with ideas and ambitions that have gone unmatched to this day. I only wish one of those ambitions involved improvements to the control.

It may look gorgeous, yet it plays like something from a decade-and-a-half ago, clinging to its awkward platforming, clumsy aiming, and unbearable horse. I still recommend that everyone give it a try, since it is such an important part of the medium, but it requires a greater tolerance for janky controls than is expected of releases these days. In many ways, this is a testament to the strength of the core experience, but you definitely are playing in spite of the controls rather than because of them.

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Video Game Review – Assassin’s Creed Origins

The saddest part is that I can really see Ubisoft trying. They want to squeeze the life back into their most popular franchise, but it just is not working for me. Between the soul-sucking open world and the serious identity crisis, Assassin’s Creed Origins is just not the bolt of lightning that many see in it. While I feel alone in beating my head against a wall that many critics and gamers are eagerly climbing, I was left tired and disappointed.

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Video Game Review – Mulaka

Mulaka was such a rich game about the Tarahumara tribe, a group of indigenous people from Northern Mexico. In one of the best uses of the Unity Engine, Lienzo sought to capture the vibrant lives and mythology of this tribe. The cultural exploration provides the fresh coat of paint over solid gameplay, making this a key purchase for lovers of indie titles. I enthusiastically recommend this title.

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