(no subject)

[sideways]

• I finished killyhawk's gift of An Unkindness of Ghosts, which proved a thought-provoking sci-fi debut bursting with diversity, and also one of the grimmest things I have ever read. I'm glad to have experienced it but I don't know that it's one I would re-read, in the same way I don't feel compelled to re-read Toni Morrison's Beloved - it lands like a blow and you never quite forget the bruise. Kudos to the author for pulling no punches.

• On a lighter note, Killyhawk also put me onto the new Netflix-Dreamworks animated series Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts! The story follows a 12 year old Kipo who finds herself stranded on the surface world some several hundred years after an undisclosed cataclysm has left the world overrun by "mutes" - mostly anthropomorphic animals of various wacky description - and has many adventures while seeking a way back to her underground home. Where Over the Garden Wall was an autumn fairytale making homage to various Western animation styles, Kipo is a similar level of humourous fever dream but in the flavour of neon afroculture anime. It's easily digested and a visual treat with some surprisingly deep character moments scattered throughout. Also, Wolf is the best.

• I finally threw on Klaus a few weeks ago, having heard the animation lauded here and there, and found it really enjoyable. Certainly the visuals are the big highlight - it is so goshdarn pretty, and a solid feed for the 2D craving - and the story had some messages in it that I appreciated seeing. I do wish they'd been just a little more willing to stray from formula, though; the romance felt more like a happenstance of expectation than something with real chemistry and was nowhere near as interesting as the various platonic relationships that developed, and the Third Act Misunderstanding honestly felt downright silly when the character in question had put the barest possible effort into hiding his secret. Still very much worth a watch.

• I didn't find myself clicking with Witcher III despite my efforts, so I switched tack and had unexpectedly huge amounts of fun with Titanfall 2, which in retrospect is not that surprising because I love shooter mechanics more than hack-and-slash and am just always the biggest sucker in the world for bond companions. Allowing me to run around with a 30 foot tall war machine who is my Friend and Pal will get me to overlook any number of cliches, I tell ya. The campaign was quite short but the level designs were genuinely very entertaining, and after running through it the first time in about 7 hours I immediately turned around and burned through a second time on the hard difficulty just to see if I could. (I could!) Can't recommend picking it up for full price unless you think you'll get lots of mileage out of the multiplayer, but luckily it's easy to get at reduced cost; I nabbed it for free on one of the PS+ runs.

• I also picked up What Remains of Edith Finch and Transistor on sale - finished the former and am nearing the end in the latter. Edith Finch is a masterclass in the storytelling possibilities inherent in video games as a medium, and also broke my heart in about four different ways.

• The next Unsounded chapter has started, hooray! Feeling very [teeth] about what this one promises to cover, but [teeth] is honestly the central Unsounded experience, so.

Comments

[unavee]

Adding so many things from this post to my list! Over the Garden Wall was already on it, and Kipo looks very interesting. My sister has so many games, and I checked in with her and she does have What Remains of Edith Finch, so I may try that one. I know she has Transistor; she wanted me to play it but I never got around to it. Unsounded is also going into the bookmarks.

Allowing me to run around with a 30 foot tall war machine who is my Friend and Pal
This should be a requirement for all games!

[sideways]

Let me know how you find any of these if/when you give them a go! The nice thing is most are a fairly quick investment of time; Edith Finch only took about five or six hours.

Also let me know if you have any areas of discomfort you might need warnings for re: Unsounded >> As much as I like the webcomic, it goes some very dark places.

All games SHOULD give me some kind of companion, honestly. My investment goes up 1000% when I have some friendly pixels to protect and/or be protected by.

[singedsun]

I felt the same way about having finished An Unkindess of Ghosts when I read it awhile back. I'm not sure I could go back and reread it either. I was glad to have read it and gutted as it finished and not sure what to make at all the bits in between.

[sideways]

To the author's great credit (it's their first novel, isn't it?), it was a similar feeling to many of the books we had to read in the literature class I took many eons ago, wherein you'd get to the end and lie there like, there were some truly gorgeous passages and I'll be thinking about it for a long time but also my entire soul hurts.

[singedsun]

Yes, I believe so. I'm looking forward to see what else they write.

[used_songs]

I watched several episodes of Kipo yesterday. I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't read your entry, so thanks for the rec. I enjoyed it and will watch the rest soon.

[sideways]

Glad you enjoyed it! It feels like something I'd have been very into as a kid, which is always a positive mark. I like that there are a plethora of kid's shows these days that strive for plot continuity and character development.

[seven]

Ah, man, I've had Unkindness on my to-read list for ages, but I keep putting it off because "technically so well-done but absolutely devastating" seems to be the consensus of people who've read it. I'm just never quite sure I'm up for it.

Kipo looks fun, though.

[sideways]

Yeah, it's... hard to recommend, sorta. At its (best? worst?) it feels like nothing but a poetic litany of unkindnesses, all the ways humans can be so absolutely awful to one another, and that's not, y'know, fun reading. But it's still something that deserves to have been written and read.

...none of which probably helps your dilemma, heh.

[nyctanthes]

Is I Lost My Body on your Netflix animation list?

[sideways]

It wasn't - hadn't even heard of it before - but it is now!

[used_songs]

It's on my list too now! :)

[sideways]

WELL. All I'll say is that film was clearly made by someone who has nursed the same lifelong obsession as I have with the way human hands look like clever little creatures.

I really enjoyed that c: Many thanks, Nyc.

[nyctanthes]

Yay! Look forward to seeing what you think.

[sideways]

Aheheh. I tossed it on over dinner just to see what it was like and next thing you know...

Very clever and gentle storytelling c: There was a moment I thought it was going to ask me to accept certain behaviours as romantic, and was pleasantly surprised when it didn't, and I LOVED the ending.

[nyctanthes]

That ending! Heartbreaking but also awesome. I have to say, I think about him and hope he's ok. Oh dear...

I loved the use of the hand, and how the flashbacks were slowly integrated into the story. And, yes, how being creepy wasn't validated.

[sideways]

I think he's okay :') That's how it landed for me - that his life could so easily be one of nothing but tragedy and resentment, but he takes deliberate action to prove to himself he still had choice, still has control, isn't locked into that sad destiny. It was an extremely "show, don't tell" narrative and done so skilfully!