Some of the elements of Subnautica 2 worry me a bit (live service model), but can't deny the franchise had a big effect on me and I'm excited for this entry.

One of the coolest things they did is tease Subnautica 2 using the time capsule feature in Subnautica 1. Some of the earliest screenshots were to be found by exploring Subnautica 1.

this doesn't track for me because we don't hold other groups collectively responsible for eg. maintaining a car or cleaning up litter. it would track with me that we all clean up our environment as much as we personally can and then hold responsible the ones who actually generate and neglect to clean rubbish, dog poop, etc.

power stance changes everything

My favorite highlights:

The gen 3 starters we dodged a bullet on

Original smol Zigzagoon

skibidi rotom

gen 3 dev map tools! if you've ever played around with making a romhack, this is particularly cool to see.

there's also a creation myth and more lore around humans fucking pokemon which is really cool stuff

confidently wrong incarnate

decentralized platforms take me back, man. back to having to hope your server admin is a cool dude, and waiting patiently for your photos to load.

Lmao same. Felt so lame seeing all of the backlash towards the game and it's developers fade away because it visually looks good and isn't a total disaster gameplay wise.

Like that's good but I think the original core problem is still that these utterly tone deaf developers are handling a monumentally important piece of art and that problem doesn't go away no matter how satisfying the shotgun is

Silent Hill 1/2/3 are probably the earliest examples of professionally produced games having genuine theming, properly written and conveyed subtext, as well as taking advantage of the medium and landing as a great psychological horror. Pyramid Head is neither meant to be a foreboding metaphor nor a heart-racing boss fight. He is James' self-punishment made manifest, his belief that he deserves pain for what he has done. But like, not metaphorically. That's literally what the monster is in the story, brought to life by a town that holds a unique but very defined spiritual power.

James killing the monster at the end is him killing the part of him that feels guilty for what he has done, which materially changes how James behaves. Depending on James/player behavior, this why the endings of the game can range from James killing himself or James making peace with his distorted memories of his wife and leaving town.

I'm sure that a game released in 2022 does all of this at least as well if not better, but SH2 was absolutely monumental for the industry and almost every psychological horror game today has some roots in what SH1/2/3 were doing. There's a definite 'Seinfeld effect' with this. But I do reject the idea that you had to play it in its prime to properly 'get it.'

I will say that its exploration of domestic abuse, sexual violence, terminal illness, did not come off as edgy in 2001. It came off as downright shocking that a game dared to explore it and demanded maturity from its audience. Back in 2001, this was unheard of in games.

i love that i grew up in a 'post-history' world of peace because of pax americana. was taught from day one that we live in a civilized, elevated society compared to our history. anyway first sign of conflict from any country that isn't the states throws that conception into the dust bin, russian intellectuals can go fuck themselves for the crime of living in a different country, lol get rekt