Super Smash Brothers 64 holds a special place in my heart. I’ve been playing this game ever since I small child. My history with Smash begins when I went to a flea market with my dad. I was about 6 years old we randomly found a copy of Super Smash Brothers for the Nintendo 64. As soon as I got home I put the cartage in my Nintendo 64 and I played it for hours. All of my favorite Nintendo characters were in one game and they, at the time, looked incredible in 3D. I never thought I would see a game where Mario would fight Pikachu, it was mind blowing. This game also exposed me to characters that I had never even heard of before like Ness, Captain Falcon, Link, and Fox. This game knows that you might not know some of the characters so they give every character a summary so you can know their background. This made me appreciate Ness the most and he quickly became my favorite and most used character after I read his bio. These character bios give an extra amount of depth that even as child could appreciate.
Smash 64 character selection screen. ( via PlayBuzz)
I showed this game to my cousins and we would play for hours and hours doing crazy challenges. For example, every character has a different target test stage and you can play it multiple times to try and get a higher score each time or even do it as fast as you can. Me and friends would always do the different break the targets to see who could do it the fastest. Then whenever we would play in versus more we would turn items up on high which made every time we played different and chaotic. There were also so many stages to play on and they had some fun twist. The best part of the whole experience would definitely have to be unlocking new characters that you were not expecting. You could unlock characters like Ness, Jiggly puff, Luigi, and Captain Falcon. After you fulfil a certain requirement the character that you could unlock will challenge you and if you win you can use them. This would create an exciting moment for an unsuspecting player and it feels like an amazing accomplishment after you unlock the character.
When Super Smash Brothers is present at any sort of gathering, a multitude of people will begin to reminisce on how much they used to play the game and claim how they were the best. This usually calls on the competitive nature of other people who also claim to be the best and this leads to a huge battle to see who is the best in this game they have not played in years. These reasons blend together perfectly to give an amazing experience and leave a lasting impression. I think Super Smash Brothers is one of the best games of all time and if you ever get a chance I would definitely recommend you try it out this title for the 64 to see where the smash series originated from and hopefully you can see why it has lasted throughout the years.
Last week we revisited a classic, and this week we move into the realm of recent hits. Undertale is just barely two years old, and has made an impression on internet culture– for better or for worse.
Introducing: Vinyl Highlights! A four-part series highlighting Deanna’s video game vinyl collection, and a brief look into others she has stashed away.
Castlevania is yet another game this year celebrating a milestone. Released in Japan in 1986 and in the US in 1987, Castlevania is now 30 years old. Simon Belmont’s first daring adventure into Count Dracula’s castle wowed NES owners back in the late 80s. It was another platformer released for a system whose library is full of memorable platforming games.
However, to quote the 80s classic This is Spinal Tap, it goes to eleven.
It’s one of the few games to fire off on each cylinder in each category. The graphics, the sound, the controls, the enemies, and bosses etc.. are all remarkable. It’s impressive the game has been unforgettable after all these years, despite being the first game in a long-running series.
For those who haven’t experienced fighting the evil vampire and his minions, they are missing out on one of the quintessential side-scrolling games.
The first battle against Dracula is one of the best, and more difficult, games on the NES A shadowy, forbidding castle, followed by a gigantic bat greets players at the title screen. Pressing start will show one of the most memorable introductions to any video game. There is no dialogue or any indication of what is going to happen.
It’s Simon Belmont, confidently walking up to a gate. He is armed with the famous Vampire Killer whip and ready to take on Count Dracula and vanquish the evil inside the castle.
One of the reasons why Castlevania is such a unique game is the world created by Konami. The game itself started out as a tribute to both the classic Universal Monster films, as well as the Hammer Dracula film series. Taking one look at the variety of enemies and bosses in this game it is not hard to see why. Besides vampires, there are mummies, the gorgon Medusa and even Frankenstein’s monster designed after Boris Karloff’s iconic portrayal.
The game may not seem scary, but that was not Konami’s intention. They wanted to give players a creative universe, one that is set apart from the typical platformer. A spooky castle with dozens of horror homages is certainly what gives Castlevania its identity. No better example of this than the first game.
One characteristic of the game players will immediately notice is the graphics and the quality of detail. For an NES game only released one year (two years in North America) into the system’s lifespan, this is nothing to brush off. Backgrounds and stage graphics are incredible. Players will know they are in a fancy hall, broken down tower or a complicated laboratory. Simon himself is a well-animated sprite himself and actually resembles a person. A person made of eight bits, but a person nonetheless.
The controls are simple. Jump with A and whip with B. Getting that down is not hard for any newcomer. It also makes for some intense, yet strategic, gameplay.
An infamous feature of Castlevania, and the series as a whole, is the extreme difficulty. It is not a cheap game, although certain bosses are pretty difficult. However, the jumping controls are incredibly strange. Simon Belmont needs to gain a good amount of momentum in order to make certain jumps. It allows for players to not get careless and having to plan their jumps. Climbing stairs are strange too since you can’t jump onto the stairs in. Instead, players press up on the control pad. Finally, there It takes a little while to get into the setup.
Once a player finds their rhythm, jumping and climbing stairs is nothing. In a bizarre way, it actually adds to the game itself.
Impressive level design and a memorable soundtrack add to Castlevania The levels are well detailed in a cosmetic sense, but the actual designs are intricate. This comes from Konami’s technique for designing levels during this era in gaming. The team behind several of their games, including Castlevania on the NES, strictly used graph paper in order to map out the stage.
This method kept the levels of Castlevania organized, but it also makes the levels flow better during gameplay.
Finally, there is the soundtrack. Castlevania showcases one of the greatest collections of music on the NES. Tracks like “Wicked Child” have a spooky, urgent tone behind them. “Stalker” sets up an atmospheric groove. Of course, no Castlevania game is complete without a version of the song “Vampire Killer.” The NES version of the song is still the best and most addictive to listen to.
My personal history with the first Castlevania I first played the original Castlevania, not on an NES, but on a computer. Even more strange is the catalyst for how I got into this franchise. The game in question was Super Smash Bros. Melee.
It was February of 2003 and I was scouring the Internet for classic Nintendo games to play for free. I would research the games after getting a trophy of a particular character in Melee, and would want to play that particular game.
I stumbled upon a website which played NES games… nearly its whole library! I forgot which game I was intending to play, but I accidentally clicked on a completely different one without realizing it.
The game in question was Castlevania and I became hooked on it the second it booted up.
There was something about this horror-themed world that drew me in. I was, and still am, a fan of the classic Universal Monster films, which certainly helped. I always enjoyed platformers, so that is another aspect as to why I enjoyed the game. Most importantly, I was having fun. Whipping the zombies in the great hall of the castle, to jumping over Madusa heads, to finding all the classic horror monsters being represented it made for one of the best first impressions for a game.
From that point forward, I became obsessed with Castlevania and the franchise as a whole. I excessively researched the history of it; what all the bosses looked like, what other games were like in the franchise, and if anyone else had
I tried playing nearly as many games in the series as possible. I became incredibly giddy when the NES classic was re-released on Game Boy Advanced, downloaded Super Castlevania IV on my Wii as one of the first Virtual Console games, and I bought a PS3 to play the Lords of Shadow reboot.
An incredible and enduring game 30 years later
The Castlevania series has been haunting gamers for three decades. Even after numerous sequels, spin-offs and reboots, the original Castlevania is still a perennial classic. In my eyes, Castlevania is a bona fide classic and deserves to be seen as one. I also love the entire franchise so much to the point where I consider it my personal favorite gaming series.
It broke ground for platformers in level design. It introduced the world to a new type of atmosphere. Most importantly, the game was just flat out fun and manages to succeed on every single feature that makes it a video game.
The Belmonts, their allies, and others will always have their eternal struggle with the evil Count Dracula.
Fans of the first Castlevania will always have their eternal appreciation for it.
When the Castlevania Netflix series was first announced, many fans were excited (I KNOW I WAS!) but overall skeptical since the quality ratio of video game adaptations to TV and film has been average at best. At the risk of beating THAT dead horse into the ground, fans breathed a sigh of relief when it was revealed cult-hit producer Adi Shankar was involved and he was using Warren Ellis’ script and storyline.
The result? Castlevania on Netflix is an overly violent, sometimes too story heavy animated series that ends up doing a great job setting up the universe and characters. The animation is top-notch and the voice work is outstanding. Most importantly, it doesn’t condescend its target audience or compromises its source material in any way. It’s a shame it’s only four episodes, though.
Sypha Belnades is a highlight of the series. She’s voiced by Alejandra Reynoso.
Caution: minor spoilers ahead.
Castlevania continues the trend of great Netflix Originals
Warren Ellis wrote the story back in the mid-2000s and based it off of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. Although, as the story progresses, elements of Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night are sprinkled in. The series starts off with Lisa visiting Count Dracula’s castle to learn how to be a doctor. The two actually engage in some sort-of sweet chemistry together and romance blossoms. Unfortunately, Count Dracula’s late wife is soon burned at the stake for being a witch and Dracula swears revenge on all of mankind by unleashing hellish monsters on the land of Wallachia. Somehow, the disgraced Trevor Belmont gets involved with a resistance involving the mage-ish Sypha Belnades and Dracula’s son Alucard. And then it’s…over?
The animation is very much in the stylish-anime aesthetic that appears to be taking after the DS games Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia. It works and becomes free-flowing during the major action scenes. When Sypha and Trevor take on the cyclops in the 3rd episode, it’s incredible with the movements.
It’s also never too over-the-top with style, but violence is a tad ridiculous. Seriously, within two episodes there is enough decapitations, dismemberments, and testicular trauma (although, the rest of the bar fight in the second episode is pretty funny) then you’d expect.
Voice work is outstanding. Richard Armitage is, without question, the best actor of the bunch. His portrayal of Trevor as a burned-out, ashamed vampire hunter is entertaining but also adds more depth to a character that really didn’t have much. Aside from his Sasuke Uchida-hairstyle, he’s an awesome character who not only acts like a total badass but manages to get some good one-liners out there.
Trevor Belmont, voiced by Richard Armitage
Graham McTavish, whose voice you may recognize as Zoran Lazaravic or Charlie Cutter in the Uncharted games, is great as the Count even if he’s not in it for too long. Alejandra Reynoso’s Sypha is great as well and doesn’t fall into typical “lead female role” trope. In fact, she partakes in more action than Trevor or Alucard and gets to use a ton of awesome spells.
Count Dracula, voiced by Graham McTavish
The length and weird script of Castlevania are the only minor problems
With only four episodes, the series manages to cram enough lore to keep fans frothing at the mouths. But its over right before it all kicks off. It’s nothing against the series itself, but it ends on a cliffhanger that rivals Halo 2. Also, a lack of the pirate Grant DeNasty is a shame for many longtime fans and the subplot with the church is just kind of there. It does get a good conclusion, but it just hangs there in front of the major conflict with Dracula.
There are some random bits of comedy thrown in, and while some of it is welcome, a lot of it just doesn’t work. The biggest offender is the quick joke during the climactic fight at the end of episode 4. Also, some lines of dialogue sound a bit too “modern.” It doesn’t destroy or hinder any of the episodes’ momentum, but it just comes off as a producer’s attempt to make it funnier. At least the majority of Ellis’ vision is retained.
Castlevania on Netflix sounds too good to be true, but it is. It’s a quick and sometimes super awkward, but overall a solid, solid first season. It’s great to see the games being represented in such a great way without having to compromise itself.
It’s good to know Netflix greenlit a second season the same day the series came out.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was first revealed at E3 2009 without the Castlevania moniker, instead of being a newly produced Hideo Kojima game. However, once it was revealed to be part of the storied franchise, Lords of Shadow became a reboot to the entire Castlevania series. This was also the first time in more than 10 years that Koji Igarashi was not involved. The game was to be developed by MecurySteam, the studio behind the immensely underrated Clive Barker’s Jericho.
It appeared this was the direction Konami wanted to take, and while the first game is excellent, the entire Lords of Shadow subseries is incredibly underwhelming.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow contains fantastic, top-tier presentation, graphics, and gameplay. MercurySteam managed to push both consoles of the seventh generation to the limits of their capabilities. It’s a rich and incredibly detailed world where all kinds of grotesque and scary monsters live and almost urges the player to keep on going.
Gameplay is similar to God of War with its stylish combat based around combos. Luckily for players, they aren’t hard to memorize and can be chained very well. It helps the controls are very responsive. The game isn’t about just fighting, as the puzzle solving and platforming is a lot of fun. Swinging your whip from Super Castlevania IV makes a return.
Lords of Shadow even features downright impressive voice acting from a variety of Hollywood actors. Veteran character actors Robert Carlyle and Jason Isaacs are superb voicing the game’s protagonist Gabriel Belmont and antagonist, respectively. Patrick Stewart, who almost needs no introduction, is excellent as always, narrating the story. The story is pretty standard stuff, but overall engaging. There is also an incredible twist that really gives the new universe a chance to shine into something different.
The game’s only major flaw is it does not feel like a true Castlevania game. To be fair, since it is a reboot, it makes sense to not have a lot of typical features. There are enough horror elements and actual castles to walk around in. The adventure in the game itself is similar to older games like Dracula’s Curse or Super Castlevania IV.
Overall, Lords of Shadow was one of 2010’s best games and looked like a promising start.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate
Lords of Shadow was successful enough to warrant a sequel and a spin-off. The spin-off, Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate (author’s note: Yes, that is the official title.) was released for the Nintendo 3DS and re-released in HD for PS3 and Xbox 360. Mirror of Fate gets back to the series’ roots with side scrolling. It does manage to throw in some exploration and combo-based combat as its console big brother. However, it’s incredibly stripped down and kind of boring. For a rebooted series trying to find its own identity, it’s a step back. To make matters worse, it looks like a late-era PS1 game.
The story is also incredibly complicated, trying to shoehorn more Belmonts. Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden joins the cast of actors, portraying the new Trevor Belmont. (Trevor is now Gabriel Belmont’s son and Simon Belmont is Trevor’s son. As Dr. Evil once said, “Right…”) Players take control of the two in varying points in the game. Instead of telling the story in a creative manner, it just makes it a jumbled mess.
Mirror of Fate was a misstep in the new rebooted series. Luckily, the new sequel console sequel, creatively titled Lords of Shadow 2, showed some promise.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Unfortunately, this game is where the Lords of Shadow subseries fell apart. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a mix of decent and awful ideas. It tries too hard to do so much and tells one of the most underwhelming stories in the entire franchise, rebooted or not. The voice acting, which was one of the best parts of the first Lords of Shadow, sounds phoned in and has some incredibly forced references. On top of these issues, the game just is not fun to play.
Confusingly enough, you get to play as Count Dracula fighting against the Belmonts and evil corporations in the present day. It’s a huge missed opportunity to recreate other classic Castlevania games, but instead becoming yet another open world game in a big city. Combat is basically unchanged from the first game but has forced and unintuitive stealth sections.
Lords of Shadow 2 took a promising new rebooted series and flushed all potential down the drain. Castlevania just became yet another series that was unnecessarily rebooted and started to collect dust on GameStop shelves.
Sadly, it was the end…or is it? It’s a shame the series has ended on such a down note. Not to get personal and start narrating the article, but as a longtime fan of Castlevania, it truly pains me knowing Lords of Shadow 2 was the last official console game. Castlevania is a series with a legacy to rival other classic franchises, it’s sad knowing this was it for the Belmonts.
Until Adi Shankar decided to take his own stab at the series with help from a little comic book writer named Warren Ellis…
Haunted Castle is regarded to be one of, if not the, worst in the series. Castlevania’s first mobile title Order of Shadows kindly asks, “You think you’re bad!? Hold my beer.”
Castlevania: Order of Shadows is a mobile game…and not much else
When you’re only defining feature is the platform its available on, it shows how poor of a game Castlevania: Order of Shadows is. Starring Desmond Belmont (*groan*) as he goes on a quest to defeat..zzzz.
Ok, it’s a 10 dollar mobile game, there is not much to expect in terms of high quality, but it’s not like a mobile game HAS to be horrible. Take a look at the awesome Doom and Wolfenstein RPG games. Maybe going for a first-person dungeon crawler would have been a good idea? Point is, a side-scrolling platformer with all the awkward controls as the other games makes Order of Shadows basically unplayable. The controls are either unresponsive or too sluggish. It almost comes off as Konami trying to make the most actively frustrating Castlevania. Well, they succeeded.
Gameplay is nothing spectacular, just classic jumpin’ and whippin’. If the Metroidvania formula was slowly wearing thin at this point, this bare-bare-bare bones gameplay style is even worse. They try to shoehorn RPG elements…but eh.
Also, it’s super nitpicky, but the game looks horrible. Sprites are way too big, and the same problems Haunted Castle had are prevalent. Also, Desmond looks like a HUGE dork with the spiky hair.
So, yeah, Order of Shadows is bad. Don’t play it.
Luckily the next handheld game was an improvement. A massive, massive improvement.
At this point in the franchise, the Metroidvania format is what most gamers associate Castlevania with and its one that slowly became overdone. Released in 2006, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin manages to shake things up with a creative setting and some much-needed updates to the gameplay.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is a sort-of sequel to Bloodlines
Castlevania Bloodlines is a fan-favorite, so it’s nice to see Koji Igarashi and his team acknowledge it. Starring John Morris’ son Jonathan and his friend Charlotte Aulin, Portrait of Ruin takes place during the dying days of World War II. The evil Count Brauner, (the only Nosferatu inspired villain in the series, by the way) has been using the souls of dead soldiers to bring the evil of Count Dracula back to life through the paintings in his castle.
Hence the name, Portrait of Ruin.
Having the chance to mix-up to playstyles on the fly with Jonathan and Charlotte is a welcome addition. Jonathan wields the whip and all of the classic Castlevania sub-weapons (the cross, holy water, etc.) and Charlotte knows a variety of spells and fights enemies in a simplified version of the Souls system in Dawn of Sorrow. It’s a lot of fun creating attack combinations between the two and neither of them never feel useless.
They also amusingly shout their names when the player switches characters like a mid-2000s anime. Boss fights are probably the most fun they’ve been in a while and don’t rely on the gimmick of “drawing a soul.”
Unfortunately, the two friends share the same life bar, so there is a challenge here. Also, many of the enemies may come off as uncreative.
Level design wise, it’s pretty simple, but the aesthetics make it worth the trip. Jonathan and Charlotte jump into Count Brauner’s paintings and are transported into different worlds. Portrait of Ruin carries on the creativity in Egyptian deserts, a Roman colosseum, and a fun house-stage. The actual castle hub is also MASSIVE. The whole game doesn’t feel too daunting, but in order to get the 100%, exploring every nook and cranny comes off as a chore.
Other features make Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin worth checking out
The game gives players the option to play as the original guy-and-gal vampire fighting duo of Richter and Maria from Rondo of Blood. However, this is only unlocked after the game is beaten.
In a franchise full of great soundtracks, Portrait of Ruin can be added to that list. There’s a great collection of original music, but it’s the remixes by Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage 2, Actraiser, dozens of other phenomenal OSTs) that take the cake. His remix of “Simon’s Theme” is incredible.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin keeps the wheels rolling on the Metroidvania subgenre with its unique premise and tight gameplay. At this point, it sounds like the handheld Castlevanias can do no wrong.
Soma Cruz returns in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the Nintendo DS. (Author’s Note: Wait, Dawn of Sorrow…Nintendo DS…oh I get it!).
By now, the Metroidvania format is a well-traveled road, but somehow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow manages to keep things fresh with refined gameplay, and tons of extra modes and characters to make Dawn of Sorrow an adventure worth going on.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow continues the great handheld Castlevania trend
Taking place only a year after Aria of Sorrow, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow has a trio of vampires, Celia, Dmitri, and Dario, wanting to resurrect the Count. Luckily, since Soma Cruz is still living in Japan, he is up to the task of stopping them using a more powerful version of his Soul system in Aria.
First thing players will notice is the massive art style change, going for a full out anime style similar to Rondo of Blood. It’s a bit jarring at first, but it works. The actual in-game graphics are well-animated as well, rivaling Symphony of the Night.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow retains the typical Metroidvania-style and the controls have been perfected for this style. Although, would it have killed Konami to change up the level design a bit? The throwback level to the first Castlevania stage ever is great, but the rest of the levels have a big case of the “same.”
Dawn of Sorrow fleshes out the soul-gathering system by having the souls of the enemies not only improve Soma’s combat prowess but also help with puzzles and certain boss fights. It’s a more rounded out system where players will feel like they are armed to the teeth with all kinds of useful souls. The touchscreen is even utilized well, although it can come off as gimmicky having to draw to defeat a boss.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow adds some great features to the complete package
In several entries to the series, there has been an option to play as another character without any real change. You can play as Simon Belmont in Harmony of Dissonance, Richter Belmont in Symphony of the Night, etc. But this game adds the lesser-known Julius Belmont as a playable character with an actual story with him.
Playing as Julius is, without question, one of the highlights of Dawn of Sorrow since he is a BLAST to play as. You can also play as Alucard and Yoko from Aria of Sorrow (who plays like her canonical predecessor Sypha), almost making Dawn of Sorrow a pseudo-remake of Castlevania III.
Despite the hiccups with the levels and the game starting to feel too well-traveled, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is still one of the better games in the Metroidvania subgenre. The gameplay is still as fun as ever, and the addition of more characters to play as makes it a great addition to the series.
This article contains major spoilers for Doki Doki Literature Club. You probably shouldn’t be reading this if you haven’t already beaten it. (There’s also a Bioshock spoiler in here if you don’t know what happened to Andrew Ryan)
When I was told that some cutsey looking high school dating sim by the name of Doki Doki Literature Club had some pretty bleak warnings at the beginning of it about how its not suitable for children, I felt there were 2 strong possibilities as to why:
There will be H-scenes, and given the aesthetic of the game, there’s either going to be a lot of them or they’ll be made in the vain of Starless: 21st Century Nymphomaniacs.
One or more characters is a yandere and it’ll turn into a watered down Higurashi clone (that is, a cute looking dating sim with cute girls that suddenly becomes extremely gruesome).
Normally if I’d been told I was wrong I’d be more interested in the game–after all, it’s clearly trying something different, nobody would talk about it otherwise. Perhaps it’s more worth looking into than I thought. In the case of Doki Doki Literature Club, on the other hand, had I been told that its version of “doing something different” was just becoming a self-aware deconstruction game I wouldn’tve thought twice about ignoring it.
Frankly speaking, I’m just getting tired of self-aware deconstruction games. It’s become somewhat of a fad in the past 2 years or so. Like any fad it had its high points, sure, but now it’s just getting old, trite, and even somewhat predictable to me now. I’m ready for the next genre/trope cycle because I’ve had my fill of this one.
Before I go any further, let me elaborate on what I mean when I say “self-aware deconstruction games”. Like the name implies, a deconstruction game is a game that deconstructs its genre–it breaks it down and exaggerates it, maybe even parodies it in a way. If you’ve ever watched Cutthroat Kitchen, this is the exact same thing as when someone says they’ve made a deconstructed BLT and just put some meat, lettuce, and tomato on a plate. As for the self-aware part, it means games that are aware that they’re games and makes sure that the player knows that the game knows it’s a game and probably utilizes that in some way for progressing. To be more specific, it’s not games that make maybe one or two self-aware jokes that I’m talking about (EX: if someone in a game says, “WE’LL BE FINE! IT’S NOT LIKE WE’RE IN A VIDEO GAME OR SOMETHING!”), I’m talking about games that utilize their degree of self-awareness as game mechanics or a necessity to progress. Games in which their level of self-awareneness directly ties into the main story/gameplay. Some examples of such games are Undertale, Pony Island, The Stanley Parable, and of course, Doki Doki Literature Club. It may seem niche or overly specific, but these are exactly the kinds of deconstruction games I’m getting sick of: Deconstruction games that use fourth-wall breaking as their means of deconstruction.
via gameplay.tips
Now that we’ve got that established, let me explain myself: In this gamer’s opinion, if you’re going to break the fourth wall effectively, it has to be done with a lot of finesse to not feel arbitrary or just shoved in for the sake of just having it there. Bioshock, for instance, does this in Andrew Ryan’s famous A Man Chooses, A Slave Obeys monologue: Without flat out telling the gamer that they’re a sheep who just does whatever a game says, it still says it vicariously through the speech by likening the player to Jack–a brainwashed test tube baby who has to do what he’s told. This blew my mind the first time I played it. And the second. And the third. And every single time after that. That, dear readers, is breaking the fourth wall powerfully and with finesse.
So if that’s what finesse looks like, what doesn’t finesse look like? What does it look like for a game’s fourth-wall breaking to not seem forced? To understand that, we have to talk about this fourth-wall breaking trend in video games: It’s been around for a while, but has only recently started to see a significant rise in the number of games that use it, particularly in indie games. The first time I noticed this was when I played Undertale 2 years ago (feels like much longer, right?)–the game directly addresses save files, directly addresses the player, and even makes use of uninstalls and reinstalls. This is definitely much more elaborate than most other fourth-wall breaking games, and to be honest, I was impressed at the time.
And then it became a small trend. Or perhaps the preamble of a full-blown trend.
The next time I noticed it was in Pony Island, where some boss puzzles will require you to actually go into the game’s coding to progress. Seemed kinda ridiculous to me, but I rolled with it. Then it was The Beginner’s Guide–but that was made by the same group who made The Stanley Parable (also a fourth wall breaking game) so I honestly wasn’t surprised with that one. Then it was Thimbleweed Park’s polarizing ending, which requires the player to look at the original trailer of the game. By this time I was starting to notice making use of a game’s “sentience” was becoming a thing games did now. And now it’s Doki Doki Literature Club, requiring you to go into the game’s files and deleting/bringing back characters.
via youtube.com
I’m sure to some gamers this is quite fun and clever, but to me it just feels arbitrary more times than not. I can honestly say I’ve never picked up a game and thought, “Yea, I can’t wait to dig into this game’s files to progress!”. And again, I’m sure for some people it is fun–this is an incredibly subjective article, after all–it just feels very unnecessary to me. Why can’t there be an in-game solution? I get it–it’s a game that knows it’s a game. It’s poking fun at the plethora of staple dating sim tropes. This might’ve been clever if a notable amount of other indie games hadn’t done the same thing in the past 2 years, and it’s starting to feel old to me.
“But Kennedy,” you’re thinking, “you only listed off 5 games. You’re overreacting.” Fair, probably true in some regard. But every trend once started with only 5, and based on the general gaming community’s love of games like this (after all, shock value will make games go a lot farther than you think, and if nothing else, these games all have shock value), I think 2018 and 2019 will have notably more entries to turn this into a full-blown trend. Until then it feels more like the beginning of one to me. Perhaps it’s because I’ve never been too keen on self-aware/deconstruction games in the past (again: they have to be done with so much finesse not to feel forced for me) but 5 entries is plenty for me to already feel like it’s getting old. Maybe one game like that every other year is my threshold for appreciation for them, which admittedly, is probably lower than most other people’s. Even ignoring all that though–totally forgetting that I usually don’t like these kinds of games–I still don’t think Doki Doki Literature Club is a good game even after all this is factored out.
To further drive the nail into Doki Doki’s pink, anime coffin is that the whole story stems from Monika feeling frustrated over wanting to date you but it’s really hard for me, at least, to feel justification from this because she wasn’t even an option that they player has–everyone has to ignore her her. I know you’re thinking, “Well duh, that’s the point of the game–that she can’t have you.” but it makes no sense. Any other dating sim would’ve had her be a datable option–the club/student council president is another one of these staple tropes that this game likes to parody so much, so why not make her datable? There’s no reason. Obviously she won’t get any attention from the player–we don’t even have the option to give her attention. I bet there’s a fair share of players who would’ve dated Monika first, given the option. This could’ve been alleviated by perhaps having a true route where you do date Monika on your first run which could in turn maybe affect other save files where she perceives you as cheating on her when you try to do another route (which leads to Sayori’s suicide, etc.). Maybe if you decide halfway through a route to start her instead (EX: Starting Natsuki’s route, seeing Monika act out and then switching to Monika’s route again) she becomes incredibly jealous and possessive of you–effectively causing conflict with the other girls. Suddenly, Monika’s getting upset over you not choosing to love her feels more justified and maybe even makes the player feel a tad guilty. That, to me, would’ve been better.
I think what makes me especially bitter about Doki Doki Literature Club is that I actually would’ve enjoyed it if it were the aforementioned Higurashi clone. Or even just a regular, basic dating sim. When everything’s a deconstruction, there’s nothing left to deconstruct–so why not get back to the basics? A real dating sim where I don’t have to flat-out delete characters or deal with a club president who’s messing with everyone’s dialogue. I think I might’ve genuinely enjoyed Doki Doki Literature Club at least somewhat if it hadn’t broke the fourth wall so needlessly and just perhaps made Monika an ultra-manipulative bitch without superpowers–if nothing else, to highlight how insane she really is: Maybe you get to Sayori’s suicide and Monika threatens/blackmails the other members into avoiding you or acting out so you avoid them, but to no avail. Maybe Monika is driven to murder other club members to get your attention. She could easily be a classic yandere and it could’ve made the game much darker. If Monika has the power/sentience to remove characters from the game without reprimand, of course she’d do it–there’s no punishment. But if she were a regular character who couldn’t break the fourth wall who sought to remove other characters by, say, murder, then suddenly it’s much darker: There’s more for her to lose if it doesn’t work out, there’s more pressure on her to make sure it’s worth it. In a sentence, it’s much darker because her character has a lot to lose now. She has to put in effort to get what she wants now.
If nothing else, Doki Doki Literature Club cemented my being sick of fourth wall breaking deconstruction games pre-trend. I guess this all boils down to me just not liking this flavor of deconstruction and the game not being otherwise good enough to make up for it (Thimbleweed Park, for instance, was so excellent that it vastly outweighed its fourth-wall breaking deconstruction segment at its end). To the gamers who are also getting sick of games breaking the fourth wall arbitrarily, this is 100% a waste of time for you. To gamers who wanted a cute dating sim, the warnings on this game, albeit a bit over exaggerated, aren’t kidding: This game is definitely not what it appears to be. To the less jaded gamer or the gamer who likes fourth wall breaking deconstruction though, I can see how this could be entertaining (I know that sounds kind of condescending but I mean it–I 100% understand why people love this game so much and I can think of a handful of people I know who’d like it, too, if they tried it. I see the appeal, it’s just not an appeal that works on me). Combined with the fact that this game is free, I’m really not surprised this game is so popular right now. I’m disappointed because now this might further promote more fourth-wall breaking deconstruction games, but not surprised.
