hip to be freyr
persona 5, patrick bateman, marvel snap, devil dinosaur, god of war ragnarök
hey folks! this week was a rough one, so the newsletter is a little lighter than normal. if you missed last issue (“my favorite puzzle games are lousy with adorable penguins”), i’d be really happy if you went back to check it out; it was something i’ve wanted to write since leaving kotaku and it felt very cathartic to finally get it published after months of work.
thank you all for still being here, in any case! subs are growing and views are steady and i’m still having a lot of fun just… writing for myself. all my love.
patrick bateman mod adds a little american psycho to persona 5 royal
i don’t play games on PC all that much, but i always get excited when a console release gets ported to the more open platform because it expands the possibility of modifying the game a million-fold. case in point: here’s american psycho’s eponymous psychopath patrick bateman killing shadows in persona 5 royal with the rest of the phantom thieves.
the “patrick bateman over joker” mod by madmax1960 does just what it says on the tin, replacing persona 5’s protagonist with a custom 3D model of the eponymous american psycho. it even adds graphics like a patrick bateman cutout to all-out attack animations and a great photo of the possible serial killer showing off his favorite album, fore! by huey lewis and the news.
why is patrick bateman attending a japanese high school and talking to a cat? who cares! grab the mod for yourself over on gamebanana.
look at this freaking marvel snap artwork
i mean goddamn.
that’s it, that’s the whole story.
i wish god of war ragnarök didn’t treat me like an idiot
god of war ragnarök is a lot of fun. sure, the moment-to-moment writing is annoying at best and gag-inducing at worst and the main adventure is very much overstaying its welcome (please god, odin or otherwise, tell me i’m almost done), but i’m very much enjoying the semi-bloated combat and storyline. i only wish the game didn’t take a condescending amount of pity on me because i can’t solve its puzzles within .03 seconds.
as you travel the nine realms of norse cosmology in search of more and more asses to kick, god of war ragnarök sees fit to barrage you with all sorts of environmental challenges. sometimes you’re asked to break urns or ring bells to open special treasure chests, other times it’s just about getting to the other side of a ravine. in every case, however, you can be sure NPCs will almost immediately push you towards the solution while you’re still figuring stuff out.
for instance:
at this point, i’ve encountered similar-looking rocks that need to be blown up about fifty times already and know there’s a bomb-dispensing pot nearby. but freya, one of god of war ragnarök’s many talkative companions, takes my inaction as a sign that i need constant lecturing about what to do next when i’m really just looking for a spectral raven to destroy (you can hear its ghostly screeching in the background). i couldn’t help shouting “shut up!” at my screen.
i don’t mean to pick on freya—i quite like her, in fact—but the above is another example of how overbearing your allies can be. i’ve just entered a new area and, before i can get my bearings, she points out a bramble of vines that need to be burned away with one my metroidvania-style abilities. i hadn’t even seen the obstacle yet.
and finally, the pièce de resistance: an NPC (this time a disembodied head known as mimir) giving me hints after i’ve already figured it out. yeah dude, i’m literally in the process of utilizing “a way across” the gap. did you not see me burn down all those flowers and reveal the grapple point? i know you spend most of the game bouncing off kratos’ ass but come on, pay attention.
although god of war ragnarök is a beautiful game that begs to be taken slowly so as to appreciate the work put into its lush environments, it’s almost as if it feels the need to punish you for taking your time. i sure as hell don’t envy the work developers on these major projects must have to do to make sure difficulty is balanced for everyone who might play their game, but at least give folks who can handle a simple puzzle the opportunity to, i don’t know, limit or turn off guiding NPC banter entirely. i can only take so much quirky handholding.
good stuff you should check out elsewhere
Implicated in the ritual (Yussef Cole, Bullet Points)
Legendary Sonic designer Yuji Naka arrested in Japan (Luke Plunkett, Kotaku)
The story behind Metal Gear Solid’s “The Best Is Yet To Come” (Jack Yarwood, Time Extension)
Does God of War Ragnarök reference The Mask? An investigation (Maddy Myers, Polygon)
Subjective analysis of Modern Warfare 2019’s objectivity in one scene (Edward Smith, Unwinnable)
moment of zen
oh, and if you know me from twitter and want to follow me elsewhere, i’m in the process of expanding to other social media platforms (tumblr, cohost, twitch, the usual) just in case elon musk tanks the hellish bird site for good. you can find more info on where to find me here.
thanks again and have a great weekend!