Recent reviews by Stúlka

I LOVE WATCHING NUMBER GO UP

Decent game. Drops the ball at the very end. (No spoilers in this review)

I'm going to be listing out criticisms only because I think that overall, this is most certainly a good game, and whilst I think the game falls short on alot of it's most promising aspects, it does step up and do alot of things that an overwhelming majority of games refuse to do. Before I get to that, I want to say that mechanically the game is quite fun. It does a good job throwing in variety, minigames and captivating moments while slowly building up and presenting the story. I was not bored once during my entire playthrough. My compliments to the chef.

The crux of the issue I have with this game is that it ultimately feels as if it is scared of being left-wing, in an inherently left-wing narrative that it has created for itself. It has alot of pleasantly surprising displays of faux-anarchism, a confident antifascist identity and a consistent anti-authoritarian theme.

I'm afraid the game just doesn't go far enough, which is a shame because it opens the door to alot of really interesting themes and important topics, but lacks the courage to fully flush them out. It has you interact and cooperate with armed revolutionaries against a totalitarian state, which is great! But... It rarely displays the real, valid reasons why these characters aren't complicit in the status quo.

Are they rebels out of principle, risking and even giving their lives to achieve democracy for philosophical reasons? Doesn't seem like it, the game refuses to specify where on the political spectrum the 'black brigades' even sit - sure, their symbol may evoke anarchism, but we never get to hear what a post-revolution regime may look like from the revolutionairies themselves. Are they then rebels out of neccesity? Are members maybe marginalised groups who face an oppression so extreme that it leaves armed insurrection as the only option? I never got that impression or anything that hinted at it in my playthrough.

I think that's a shame! I think that it is really cool that a game is willing to have an overtly political narrative where 'extremists' are portrayed as good guys, that the premise centers around a situation in which radical political action is morally good! Even if it takes you siding with them actively. I just really, really wish the game would take that one extra step to show and tell *why* authoritarianism is horrible, *how* it systematically discriminates and oppresses members of it's own society, and *who* those members are.

Besides this, the game is quite good. Some, if not many of the characters, are actually really charming and memorable, even one 'villain'. However, given how the game's rotation of characters can only be interacted with semi-randomly, I often found myself forced by the game to spend time with and complete narratives that I was extremely disinterested in. I do not want to spend my time with a pretentious 14 year old and be forced to do their chores. I do not feel inclined to speak to police officers who are arresting me at all, actually. The worst parts of this game are easily ones where you are forced to do random ♥♥♥♥ with and listen to monologues of characters you couldn't care less about.

In some ways, it also felt like the game spent alot of time giving you really important choices and communicating strongly that you are influencing the story in tangible ways, but then when the consequences of your decisions and actions actually come around, the game pulls whatever narrative magic it can to make it's preferred sequence of events happen anyway if you didn't pick the "right" option. It's hard to go into detail without spoiling, but unfortunately, I think this applies to the ending too.

I got this game on sale for 5 euros, I consider it a steal. I do not think the full price is unreasonable, if you have the money to spend for this kind of thing, do it. I hope that we get more games like this one that are willing to have overtly political premises, but are willing to spell out or seriously engage with it's viewpoints and narrative in a less sanitized manner.

its ok

got the cannibalism achievement before the "survived day one" achievement

extremely well written, extremely funny abstract tactical shooter about the nigh-esoteric insanity of hypercapitalism . it's a great, overt example of games as art and not merely visceral entertainment, it's got alot to say for itself and is good at communicating it's beliefs and critiques (loving transhumanism and hating cryptobros)

relevant quote from an interview with the developer:
"I’m not personally very attached to human biology as it exists now. I was at some point very obsessed with the idea of biotech-induced change and mutation, some sort of explosion of different forms, a fluid spectrum of being. This kind of thing is often depicted as being extremely horrifying in media, but being a biological entity is already quite a raw deal to begin with, especially when you can hardly influence what shape you take. There’s only decay and death. Obviously, this is very much in the realm of fantasy and actual developments of this nature would probably just end up creating monstrosities for the military-industrial complex."

Differences bring the people without them together. My arm is stuck in the wall.

This game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wicked awesome, I wish they'd turn down this photorealistic lighting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ a bit though, this emulation of your eyes adjusting to the light just really does not work well when it's this exaggerated and the environments get real dark. Besides that, no complaints, minimal flaws for a day 1 launch and by the time I stopped playing there was already a patch out.

Before playing this game, I was told to learn as little about it as possible and just go in blind. I was skeptical, "So are all games, surely this can't be so good it warrants reiterating that?" and thankfully I took a leap of faith and was shown just how wrong I was. This is such a good ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game. Don't read up on it, don't watch your favourite streamer play it, just play it. Play this game right ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ now.

♥♥♥♥ you Take-Two, killing this project with amazing potential dead in the water before it could ever see any of it realised. The best we'll ever get out of this whole ordeal is rewatchable video essays. Glad I refunded this piece of ♥♥♥♥, modded KSP1 will sadly always be infinitely better. I really, really, really really really wanted this game to be good, or even just represent what was promised a tiny bit. We'll likely never see that, though. Instead, all we see is extremely skilled, passionate developers get booted by a bunch of leeches.

Take-Two are pond scum, dirt beneath your heel. Do not under any circumstance forget that this project dying is entirely their fault.

this game is great for the same reasons it sucks