I think you’re on to something actually. Back when Saints Row 3 came out I read an article explaining how it’s childish irreverence toward gender was actually sort of progressive. In character creation there is a boob slider and a dick slider (with insane proportions for both), character voice doesn’t have to match the body type, there are no gender restrictions on clothing, characters are available to romance no matter your gender, etc.
Basically the game was so unrestrained and goofy that it subverted some uncomfortable gaming tropes like boob sliders by just letting players do whatever they wanted and not taking it too seriously.
I still have fun watching other people discover it.
When people are over at my house and we are just hanging around doing nothing I like to put on a game and toss a controller to someone with no explanation and just let them play while everyone watches. Goose Game, Donut County, ABZU and Journey are always a hit even for people that aren’t normally into video games.
It’s utterly ridiculous how copyright law has been twisted to erode the very idea of ownership. Does it have software on it? Well then it’s not just against the terms of service… It’s illegal!
Every time I think about this sort of thing I remember that in Fallout 3 the developers added a moving train to the game by making the train a hat that was worn by a man that ran really fast underneath the ground to make the train move.
I sort of feel like it’s correctly-rated. It’s a serviceable third person cover shooter with an interesting setting and some great visuals. The reveal of “you’re the real monster here” has a good amount of impact but it’s hard to totally land that message when the game offers no alternative.
The main problem was that all that was a bit of a pleasant surprise. The good parts of the game were sort of hidden behind the disguise of a generic military shooter. The box art couldn’t possibly be more boring. It sold very poorly and gained momentum later for being actually good.
It’s a bummer to see it leave Steam knowing that less access to it will mean less people get to check it out.
He’s a completely insane horny man that loves action movies. His games tend to be high quality and even when they aren’t good they are at least entertaining and try something new.
He may have gone full George Lucas at this point though where he’s so overhyped that no one second guesses him at all. Death Stranding had some weird shit even for Kojima. I wonder what he could make if his personality wasn’t so dominant in a game and it had some input from other creative visions to reign in his weirder ideas.