\"A. You recognize death of the author and allow the viewers to make their own decisions & opinions based on their experiences even if it\'s not what you intended. B. the satire is subtle & nuanced, recognizing the issues at hand and their complexity and again, *letting the viewer think for themself* and or C. Everything is completely satirized & exagerrated to not even pick a side in the first place.\"
So... fiction should never actually pick a side? Okay then.
Seems like it Nazo. Forgive me if I don\'t have the greatest of confidence in your review due to your centrist opinions, ShrekTheNeck.
Spoilers for NITW, obviously.
Not gonna lie, I saw the title of this review and wanted to read it but I didn't want to spoil the game so I bought it and played it (17 hours) and then I played it again to see the different scenes I missed (4 hours) and then played it again just to finish off the achievements (3 hours) and now I'm back and I loved this game. So in a weird way, thanks for writing this and making me want to play it!
So now that I can actually read the review, um... I don't want to say you didn't get it, but you spend most of the time complaining about this being a 'political satire' when I thought it was a story about friendship and growing up and family conflict and mental health and stuff. Other than one line in the ending describing the bad guys as a bunch of deluded Conservative uncles then I just don't see where you're coming from. I mean, you say 'the dum dum characters the author disagrees with' and... like... you know we're talking about a cult who are sacrificing runaways and homeless people to a weird Cthulhu creature (who may or may not even exist) that lives in the ground, right? And they're a bunch of characters who, other than the aforementioned weird culty stuff, we don't really know anything about, so how are they also representative of the opposition to the author's political beliefs? I mean, I guess there's something in there if you squint hard enough but I wouldn't go as far to say "The cult clearly represents Conservatism."
Anyway I think you're just angry because you couldn't get the hang of Pumpkin Head Guy. Which is understandable, really.
So Beatrice, Mae, Gregg, and Angus are all the same character to you, even though they all have different personalities, interests, speaking patterns, and motivations?
Fanfiction I hate.
Dude...how in the world did you even come to that conclusion about this game? Having played the entire thing myself, I didn't see anything that you claim to have saw. The game is a simple story about friendship, growing up, family conflicts, mental health, and taking responsibility for one's actions. The cult is portrayed as a group of misguided people who think they're helping people but really aren't, and if one looks through the microfiche in-game, reads the articles in details, and puts everything together, things start to make more sense as to why they did what they did. Other than the line about the cult being described as overzealous conservative uncles, there is NOTHING political or SJW-esque in the game at all. I think you're reading way too deep into it and looking for things that aren't there. There's nothing in the game that somehow espouses the creators' beliefs, and I can mention several things I've seen/read/played that are much more like what you've described (*cough cough* Elsie Dinsmore *cough cough*) It's fine if you don't like the game, but trying to look for things in it that aren't there just seems petty.
Question, are the authors left leaning? because it sounds more like you knew this and played the game with pre-determined expectations.
damn dude i guess we should just boot orwell out of the canon because he sure as hell didn\'t do either of the things evidently required for appropriate political satire. but, seriously: all video games are political in the same way that all art is political. they include value judgements about everything from depictions of western military intervention in the Modern Warfare series or S Ot L to commentary on platonic or romantic relationships in series like Dragon Age or the Sims. even Minecraft, with its promise of Terra Nullius and distinctly less-than-human villagers evokes rosy myths about the Age of Discovery and the conquest of the Americas.
Nit W is a game, in part, about the post-industrial desolation of rural/suburban America. the setting is very carefully constructed and has a laser-honed focus on the alienation and mental illness that kind of environment produces. the forces that create such a place, both in the game and in the real world that inspired it, are political — they are forces of capitalism, of globalism, of deregulation. by depicting the consequences of inhabiting that kind of environment, Nit W can\'t *not* be political. that depiction is the game\'s thesis.
i\'m a depressive almost-dropout from a rural mill town ravaged by time and deindustrialization, and i happen to find the game\'s commentary on the mark and insightful. it\'s okay if you don\'t. but to walk in with the notion that political commentary must come in one of two narrow formats that do not substantially challenge your worldview is self-sabotage. you were never in a position to engage with the game\'s themes or thesis to begin with.
also wow lol really giving away the game with that last line there bub
Sir, this is a Wendy\'s drive thru.
Leave a Comment:
Author Filibuster disguised as a game.
I for one don't have much of a problem with political satire in games, hell one of my favorite game series as a whole is GTA: A series known for lambasting the shit out of american culture and politics and overall providing a fun game in itself. Not every game or piece of media needs to be political, I don't think anyone in their right mind wants Mario to become some political thriller epic, but there's nothing wrong, in moderation, to have political satire as long as either A. You recognize death of the author and allow the viewers to make their own decisions & opinions based on their experiences even if it's not what you intended. B. the satire is subtle & nuanced, recognizing the issues at hand and their complexity and again, *letting the viewer think for themself* and or C. Everything is completely satirized & exagerrated to not even pick a side in the first place.
NITW does none of that.
There are only two characters in this entire game, fans may tell you there's a lot but really like just about every story written like this there's just two. "I agree with the creator's opinions and therefore I'm the most smartest & talented" & "Durr. I am stoopid dum dum and or evil. I disagree with the creator's opinions".
Does it need to be said how...egotistical that style of writing is?
Also yes, spoiler-alert, they pull a lovecraft out of nowhere, and OH WOW, the dum-dum characters that the author disagrees with literally turn out to be EVILS. They're literally portrayed as fucking klansmen mixed with the cthulhu cult, real subtle there. (though tbf, not a bad idea for a story in it's own right)
I'm not even gonna comment on the specific ideology the game professes itself, As someone who's been radicalized in political echo chambers twice in my lifetime I lean centrist these days, it's really if anything just the utter...garbage way it is written in. that isn't to say I do agree with the game's ideals it's just that even if I did[somehow] I'd still think the game itself is garbage.
as for the actual gameplay? there's literally nothing to do. You just walk around and talk with the other one-note characters until some plot point happens or you play some boring shitty minigame that you could literally just play in ANY other game. even Telltale and DAVID CAGE titles have more depth than this game both narratively and as a fucking GAME in itself.
do I like anything about this game? well I'll admit maybe it's just my inner furry the art style is decent, it's nothing special or to write home about but it does have it's own style and that's something worthy of praise. The Game's portrayle of the rust belt from what I heard is pretty accurate as well...but that's really it, I'm not gonna shit on everyone that likes this game and I can understand why some may like it, but it really didn't deserve the praise it got back when it got released. It's nothing deep or "woke" It's just a childish simplification of shit written by someone who jerks off to chapotraphouse & rick and morty while wallowing in self destructive behavior, self-pity, egotism & resentment against the rest of society out of entitlement.