A follow up of sorts this week to last week's initial discussion of Suda51's Shadows of the Damned. This is a considerably more considered discussion because, well, I'm actually done with the game, and the ending had a significant effect on how I'm seeing the game now.
Last week, I was still kind of stuck between admiring some of the gameplay (which is so not something to do when playing a game by Grasshopper Manufacture) and being really stuck on the fact that the game seemed just so focused in its juvenile attitudes (which works to a point as "punk"--again, see last week's essay). Then the ending came, and I realized why Shadows of the Damned very much needs to revel in its juvenile qualities. It speaks to mythologies that are at the core of masculine development. It is a game about the stories of masculinity taught to boys.
“I would kill the world before it did you harm”
No comments:
Post a Comment