I think this really confirms what I was suspecting, Civvie legit ran out of boomer shooters to review *and is now going for other famous games of by gone eras. I dont necessarily dislike this but it is bittersweet none the less, this was sadly inevitable. That isnt to say I dont think he wont find something FPS related but he is def. likely saving the ones he has left to make them last a bit.
Anyway...
I'll quickly comment on his last two reviews
The Thing - It was fine but it kind of just repeats what I already knew about this game from The Spoony review (love or hate him, most of his reviews still hold up). Im surprised there wasnt a "fuse box count" reference thrown here for veterans. I dont think its even Civvie's fault, the harsh truth is that the game is a big mixed bag where the consensus seems to be that the game is better appreciated by those that grew up with it as most that didnt find it just an alright third person shooter that really failed to capture The Thing in game form as the whole thing just devolves into evil government stuff that doesnt even make sense if you know how The Thing works as an organism (can we agree any attempt at touching what happened before and after the movie is ultimately a bad idea? Be it comics, the game or the cancelled Mini series). The review and the game fall into "Alright" territory, not the type of stuff I'd go out of my way to experience again.
I just wonder why Nightdive bothered with this one, or hell, why they bothered make it into a remaster and not wisely doing a re-imagining or a remake, trying to fix what could have been fixed. Or maybe complete the unfinished sequel the studio was cooking until it got shut down...this just feels rather low effort.
The less I talk about Nightdive having the guts of charging money from Fresh Supply owners for what is ultimately a big ass patch for it, the better.
I have no Mouth and I must scream - I legit couldnt believe it when I saw the title because I knew Civvie would never do this game justice and its clear that him holding back a lot wasnt just for the sake of youtube demonitization but Civvie just isnt comfortable with most of this game as a whole as it literally has a nazi doctor as one of the main leads (and of course we explore said dark past). I wasnt able to finish the review because Civvie wasnt able to prove me wrong and approached it exactly how I thought he would, with kiddie gloves, no matter how pointless it is to do so because everything about the game is dark and uncomfortable while also being based on a dark and uncomfortable short story (and all things considered, the game is LESS bleak actually).
None of the leads are great people, all of them have a lot of inner demons and haunted pasts and they can all do morally questionable things during gameplay (sometimes with consequences or sometimes with no consequences at all). Its really a question of how much AM is right about humanity.
A true indepth review of the game really should not be afraid to touch on said uncomfortable topics and approach them in an earnest manner, which you'll def. not see from most youtubers today, even those that like "dark stuff" (like your "Creepy Reading" types, in fact a lot of the horror community are full of thin skinned faggots, paradoxically.)
* I lie, there are more FPS games for sure but the question is if they warrant a whole video and/or are interesting enough (like, who is unironically excited for a Rage video? I assure you, not that many).
FWIW, I don't think anyone watches Civvie for deep analysis but for his general personality and the quips that come from it.
That personally have been going somewhat downhill for a while, this year especially.
Ironically it reminds me a bit of AVGN, you can tell where a lot of his reactions are legit or exaggerated and a lot of them are the latter today.
Really feels like Civvie is just going through the motions a lot of these recent videos.
This game rules. They got Ellison to sign off and the “feel-good” ending doesn’t feel like a weasel move to undercut the original story’s Message.
The "good" ending is hardly a happy one, but it at least tries to leave things on a somewhat hopeful note to offset the bleakness.
And hey, if players want to stick with the source material's ending, the game provides that too.
This is the kind of game that only could have come out in that weird wild west middle ground where all sorts of PC games ( a lot of them Point and Click) were coming out and they all focused on experimental (a lot of times edgy too) ideas, I mean, lets face it, someone had to think "How about a game from that Ellison short story? It will be like a remake of it with more stuff. Lets get Ellison involved too!" and it had to go through a wide chain of events up to its completion and arrival to stores.
Fuck, I unironically think we could have gotten a Blood Meridian video game from that era before a proper movie adaptation. And it would be as fucked up as the source material (under the mentality of "otherwise why make this?" ).
A game of this kind would have never been greenlit today and, if it it was, it would be on fucking UE5 because of course and very very much defanged. Its a relic from an era of gaming where tech was catching up to the ambitions but without enough corporate bullshit getting in the way.
Some may say the era was explotive and edgy but I say that we didnt know how good we had back then as now we live in the era of "fake edgy" slop, assuming it gets that far at all.
"Can’t say Jew? Okay, ‘Lost Tribe’ it is.” Every ten seconds it’s “Lost Tribe this, Lost Tribe that,”
