Sundays are for… god, there’s more, isn’t there? I thought it was just a regular cave, not a cave of literally a million new things. Before I go left and spend the next three hours stressing about the things I missed by not going right, let’s read this week’s best writing about games (and things related to games!)
Kastel wrote about “big and ‘huge'” games via Cohost, or games that are traditionally, insistently massive, and games that are a little more sparing and thoughtful in their expansion. Yell at the increasing critical distance for the location. It occurs to me that there’s a whole world of these wonderful, personal Cohost blogs out there that I’m just not tuned into, and it’s likely that a lot of the most interesting writing in the field currently resides there. I will try to dig!
But there are other ways to do something big without giving up everything. Something that stood out to me while listening to the creative director of 1000xRESIST was his description of Final Fantasy 7 as a game where you leave places. For him, there is something sentimental about leaving the places you’ve been forever and then exploring a wide new world. It transforms the sense of loss of not being able to access places into something big and wonderful. As if to say, “You may have to leave your hometown, but there’s a bigger world out there.” If you play 1000xRESIST, you’ll find that each chapter is full of unique designs that don’t appear in other chapters. The same goes for Final Fantasy 7, Mass Effect 2 and other games where you lose access to places you know. You are forced to go to other places, to a new world. I think this negative sense of loss and strange need to “immigrate” for lack of a better word makes the world feel bigger and harsher than it really is.
Unwinnable decided to see me coming this week and have pieces on the dark fantasy TTRPG MÖRK BORG and Godzilla minus one. If you’re not familiar with MÖRK BORG, it’s a completely unique phenomenon on desktop in my opinion with its open license, which allows for a lot of spinoffs, expansions and add-ons, and it’s always a pleasure to see people doing wonders with its signature atmosphere and spectacular soulful snippets tradition.
For Aftermath, Nathan Grayson (RPS in peace) wrote about how Dr. Disrespect, depressingly, will probably get out of all this with the same career. I usually pay very little attention to what Grayson describes as the “middle-aged man yelling at video games” industrial complex, so his perspective is always enlightening.
There’s an obvious attraction to the wreck, but some fans also look up to these creators aspirationally, as an avatar of sorts. If a great content creator can embrace a cutting edge lifestyle and get what they want, maybe viewers can too. Those viewers will always root for someone like Beahm, a 42-year-old man who acts like a 16-year-old boy, because they see themselves in it. And while Beahm will likely lose viewership in the aggregate as a result, regardless of whether he stays on YouTube or ends up somewhere else, the viewers who stick around will likely become bigger fans than ever. Because ultimately it’s not about morals or principles; it’s about people who develop such a strong attachment to the creator that they feel that attacks against him are attacks against them, and platforms who realize that they will make more money than they lose by using that ugly energy.
Hellworld aside, The Bear season 3 is here! Good news for people who enjoy watching fictional people in tiny kitchens get very stressed out about each other, i.e. me. Gingy is one of the better summaries of the ‘Tubers lore imo, and for your viewing pleasure he has summarized the reveal of Shadow Of The Erdtree. Polygon’s Simone de Rochefort made me sad about the armor I wear for most of the Elden Ring DLC. This week’s music is Lost by Robohands. Enjoy the weekend!