The Quarry: Updates #3!

June 6, 2022 PlayerOneLeave a comment

my blog: come for the updates, stay for the memes

OH HEY EVERYONE GUESS WHAT UPDATED TODAY

(In my defense, I started this post on Thursday but then I got sidetracked by dying my hair and seeing Hadestown. And then I had to emotionally recover from dying my hair and seeing Hadestown.)

So now at the time of writing this, we are just under ONE WEEK AWAY from the game’s release!! We have a new YouTube video, lots of Instagram posts, a couple TikTok videos, and of course, A BRAND NEW PODCAST EPISODE to discuss today!!

Settle in with some snacks, keep an eye out for werewolves, and let’s dive on in!

Click the image above to check out the video!

YOUTUBE

2K uploaded what they are calling the “Official Gameplay Overview Trailer” where our good friend the director Will Byles dives into more specifics about what the gameplay will look like. He goes into the various modes, covering some of what we knew already, but I do want to touch on a few things!

To start off with, we see a short new clip of Dylan and Ryan! If you’re like me and you’ve watched IGN or others talking about getting to play a short preview of the game, you’ll recognize this moment–it seems you have the decision as Dylan to climb back up the ladder, but doing so gives you a PATH CHOSEN moment and seems to point out that the ladder is now unsteady. Great. I’m sure that’s fine. It’s not like ladders need to be steady or anything. We don’t see that moment in this clip, but rather the moment before, where Dylan teases Ryan about seeing “absolutely nothing” down there. Dorks.
1. Once again, though, you’ve got me asking…where are they? Do all the buildings have ominous basements, or are they in the actual namesake quarry? Hmmmmm…
2. We do see the moment where Dylan can choose to climb up the ladder again later on in the video. It’s one of those “Path Updated” moments and seems to imply that putting just that much more pressure on the ladder is a bad idea–for later on, at least. Great, now I’m gonna be stressed out about ladders in my playthrough. Like, knowing this moment happens, do I choose not to go up the ladder then? Will that kill Dylan early? WHO DO I DOOM BY BREAKING THE LADDER THOUGH???
3. I’m gonna inadvertently slaughter everyone during my playthrough, I just know it. Sorry in advance.
There’s a brief clip where we see Jacob talking to Nick, asking him how his ~moment~ with Abigail in the woods went. We can choose to have Nick be evasive about it, asking Jacob how things are going with Emma instead, or hopeful, saying that it was okay.
1. Obsessed with how the hopeful option is just like “it was aight” like?? Sure, okay.
There’s a short clip of Jacob looking at different books in one of the cabins, and at one point he says “ugh, horror. I hate horror.”

Important things to note that Will Byles says:
1. In regards to the counselors throwing a party: “Unfortunately for them, hunting season has just begun, and they’re the prey.”
  1. a lot of the advertising earlier on seemed to be hinting that they would be hunted by other humans–Anton even points out how awful and monstrous humans can be in the podcast–but I’m just not sure that’s the case…at least, not entirely. THERE ARE TOO MANY CALLBACKS TO CRYPTIDS AND WEREWOLVES, FRIENDS. I don’t doubt they’re the prey, but I have questions about the predator(s) and their strange adherence to letting children hang out there unharmed for a whole week during the summer.
2. In regards to gameplay: “You’ll play as all nine counselors throughout the course of the game.”
  1. I’ve mentioned this before, but they have to keep bringing this up for a reason. There’s a theory that Max and Laura are our prologue characters and we don’t see them again, but I just…that wouldn’t make sense and wouldn’t explain why they keep emphasizing “YOU WILL PLAY AS ALL NINE OF THEM” because as we saw in the prologue, you only play as Laura there. We still have to play as Max. MAX DIDN’T DIE IN THE PROLOGUE.
  2. Now…are we playing a fully human Max? Thaaaaaaat remains to be seen…
He then goes on to discuss the various ways to play the game, from the classic single player experience to various multiplayer modes to the fun movie mode option, which I plan to use to watch what choices I SHOULD have made for the “everyone lives” option. Because again, I’m going to end up inadvertently slaughtering everyone, I just know it.
1. It should be noted I will likely only be reviewing the single player modes here because…it’s in the title of the blog. Also, the multiplayer options require having friends.
  1. HA JK I HAVE FRIENDS
  2. but you need friends who enjoy horror

That about does it for YouTube for now!

INSTAGRAM

We have a whopping ~~NINE~~ ELEVEN posts to get through and overanalyze, so LET’S DO THIS (they added more while I was emotionally recovering)

Up first is a cute post sponsored by our favorite podcast, Bizarre Yet Bonafide, with a list of items they claim make up a cryptid survival kit. Apparently it works on most cryptids! (effectiveness not guaranteed, however)
1. Items included in the “kit” are a Bizarre Yet Bonafide t shirt (pls I want this pls make this a thing pls), a vial of holy water, a silver crucifix, some wolfsbane, and some garlic bread. God I love garlic bread.
  1. So does this tell us what the monster of the game may be or is it too vague? Well…yes and no. The use of holy water is potentially too vague, as it can be used in exorcisms, warding off evil spirits, disease, or Satan himself, getting rid of demons, and even exposing a suspected vampire. A crucifix, as we all know (or at least those of us currently entrenched in Dracula Daily know), is used to ward off vampires, but the specification of a silver crucifix is interesting. From what I can tell, there’s nothing in mythology or folklore that says the crucifix has to be silver. To me, that seems to tie in a lot more to the whole “kill a werewolf with a silver bullet” thing. Speaking of wolves…WOLFSBANE. There is a lot going on with wolfsbane–from what I can tell, it’s one of many names for a species of flowers that could potentially be poisonous? In mythology, there seem to be conflicting accounts: some say it causes one to become a werewolf, some say it is used to repel monsters such as werewolves…and, perhaps most notably, wolfsbane was used as a sort of attempt to ward off Dracula in one of the movie adaptations. I can’t tell you if this happens in the original novel because we’re not at that point in Dracula Daily yet and I know I could just read the book myself BUT WHERE IS THE FUN IN THAT. The kit also comes with garlic bread, but it’s unclear if that’s to ward off vampires or just to eat because garlic bread is delicious.
  2. All this to say, it’s possible the kit could be just an attempt at a general catch-all for warding off monsters and cryptids, but on the other hand, a loooooot of this seems to now be pointing at vampires. Which like, don’t get me wrong, would be cool–I just feel like we’ve seen a real uptick in vampire games recently. I’d be down for some werewolves, is all I’m saying. Or both. Both is good.
The next post is our fun little introductory video to Chris, the apparent owner of the summer camp and maybe the area? Played by David Arquette, it’s Mr. H!
1. Mr. H’s video describes him as “the father figure, friendly, charming, approachable” with a brief flash to his “negative” trait as being “short-tempered.”
  1. The scene they show when they call him short-tempered is from the trailer where he’s telling the kids NO you canNOT stay another night, JACOB. But I’m kinda running on the theory that dear old Mr. H might be one of the monsters himself–I think calling a quick-to-bite werewolf “short-tempered” is a bit of an understatement, but it’s just the kind of thing I would do if I were advertising for a game like this. HMMMM…
The next post is an announcement that the release of one of the multiplayer modes is being delayed, and will not come out with the rest of the game on June 10. Instead, online multiplayer mode will be released via an update on July 8.
1. The idea behind the online multiplayer is that (from what I gather) one person is playing, but everyone else can vote on decisions as they come up, thereby shaping the story by popular demand. At least then you have other people to blame when something goes horribly wrong!
The next post is actually just the gameplay overview trailer we covered already in the YouTube section.
The next post is a preview of what the “80’s Throwback Outfits” look like for Abigail, Nick, and Kaitlyn. The throwback outfits are available in the ~deluxe~ addition, but it’s worth noting that they won’t be available in-game until–wait for it–July 8.
1. Kaitlyn’s is cute and all but doesn’t really give me her…energy? If that makes sense? Nick’s has a cute letterman jacket, which we love, but ABIGAIL. OH MAN ABIGAIL. SHE SLAYING IN THOSE PLAID PANTS I LOVE HER.
  1. gonna be so sad when I accidentally get her slaughtered
We then have a clip from the fourth podcast episode, which I covered in my previous updates post if you’d like to check that out!
Next up, we have a little arrangement of all of our lovely camp counselors, with the caption being “which counselors will survive your first playthrough?”
1. My favorite comment is the person like “I will try to save everyone but if it’s anything like Until Dawn, I will accidentally slaughter everyone and be sad af”
2. me too
Next, we get a preview of what the 80’s throwback outfits look like for Emma, Jacob, and Ryan and they are…*chef’s kiss*
1. Crop top supremacy is all I’m sayin
2. Emma and Jacob crop top power couple
Then, we get our favorite podcast episode update post with our favorite computer monitor and “Rabbit Hole” sticky note
1. still have no idea what that means
We then have a picture of our buddy the sheriff in front of the cellar from the prologue that reads “ONE WEEK LEFT”
1. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
this next post requires a lil ~sleuthing~ if you will, as it appears to be an actual tarot reading for us!! The cards presented to us are The Fool, The High Priestess, The Magician, and…The Tower
1. Aight lemme preface this by saying that as an unapologetic tarot user and enthusiast myself, I still don’t know absolutely everything there is to know about the cards and my interpretation and theorizing about this could absolutely differ from the dev’s intentions and reasons for this post and the cards chosen. So much of tarot depends on the spread being used, the deck being used, the reader, the person on the other side of the table, so on and so forth. So, with that being said–let’s dive in.
2. What’s important to note right off the bat is that there is no spread for these cards–they are simply presented to us one by one before moving on to the next one. Now, you don’t need a specific spread for readings, but sometimes the cards’ relationship to each other in the spread formation is crucial to whatever information you can glean from them. What’s a spread, you may be asking if you’ve read this far? Basically, it’s how you arrange the cards for the reading. There are any number of well known spreads (or, in simplest terms, shapes) you can use in readings, but people create their own spreads to use all the time, and the card’s position in the spread (shape) can help decipher what the cards are telling you. We don’t have any of that here, so our interpretation largely depends on the cards themselves.
3. The amount of cards given to us is crucial as well–4. Simple tarot pulls tend to involve 3 cards (or even 1), so we can rule out more well-known spreads like the past-present-future. That’s not to say there are no pulls or spreads involving 4 cards because of course there are, but we don’t know which one we’re using here, so we can’t rely on it. Anyway, all that aside, let’s look at the cards themselves.
4. Each card given to us is one of the Major Arcana–tarot decks are split into two different “types” of cards, the Major and the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana are the ones used most often in media, they’re the cards like Death, The Lovers, and yes, The Tower. The Minor Arcana are organized more closely to a standard deck of cards, with four suits and number cards as well as “face” cards. Like the Major Arcana, every single Minor Arcana card has a different meaning, the difference being you can also glean some of that from the number of the card as well as the suit. But we’re not dealing with any of that here, so back to the Major Arcana!
5. Card #1 from our reading is The Fool. This is a card we’ve seen before in the game, because it shows up as a collectible in the Prologue–Laura finds it while she’s exploring the spooky woods and the remains of the Harum Scarum show. Generally The Fool represents new beginnings, the start of a new journey, and innocence. When I covered this card in the Prologue video, I mentioned that this makes sense in context because it’s the start of the game and certainly the start of a new journey for us as the player. I don’t know how innocent we’re gonna be going into this “absolutely definitely a horror game” but…ya know.
6. Card #2 is The High Priestess. Generally, the card is one of introspection and wisdom, especially when it comes to spirituality and spiritual knowledge. It’s a card of mystery, and (depending on the cards around it) it could be telling you to take a moment to closely investigate your surroundings or the situation you find yourself in because it’s possible things around you may not be what they appear to be. The card may not always mean that exactly, but I think in the context of…horror game…that interpretation makes sense. Plus, we’ve heard that kind of phrase before, the whole “things may not be as they appear.”
7. Card #3 is The Magician. Generally the card points to success through determination and use of the knowledge and tools you currently possess–you have the power to shape your destiny and now is the time to do it. In the immortal words of Arthur in Shrek 3: “the only one standing in your way is…you.” Unlike the High Priestess’s warning of introspection, this card is all about how it is the time to act and embrace your full potential. You have the power, so use it.
8. Card #4 is, unfortunately, The Tower. Like I discussed in a previous updates post, media generally is quick to use the Death card as a bad omen when the true enemy and the one you really want to watch out for is The Tower. BUT ALSO I’M KIDDING–there’s not such thing as a bad or “evil” tarot card, it’s all about their placement in the spread and the situation you’re reading into. That being said, The Tower generally has the greater potential to point to more negative outcomes or situations than, say, The Sun or the Wheel of Fortune (the card, not the game show). Generally, The Tower is associated with sudden, unexpected change or even disaster, an unforseen accident, and destruction. However, depending on the spread, it could also be referencing liberation and a sudden change that brings freedom from a dangerous situation. Do I think the game will be using that interpretation??? Absolutely not, this is a horror game and everyone gonna be dead. But we can dream.
9. So…when you put them all together, what does it mean? Well, again, we’re at a bit of a loss because we don’t have a spread and therefore card placements and organization to use for reference. However, if I had to guess as a semi-coherent tarot enthusiast and overanalyzer of all small details in everything, I would say this reading isn’t directed at any of the characters in the game or even meant to tell us anything new necessarily–like the impossible choices presented to the Instagram audience, I believe this tarot reading is directed at us as the PLAYER as we start thinking about and getting ready to play this game. Every card can be used in this way to both help and warn us as we enter the final countdown this week. Like The Fool, we are beginning a new journey and are innocent only in that we don’t have all the answers on our first playthrough about what exactly is waiting for us in The Quarry–and we should keep that in mind and not be too cocky as we set out (unless we’re goin in with a full slaughter mindset, I suppose). I believe The High Priestess could be reminding us to not make too many snap decisions, especially because we don’t immediately have all the answers and again, things may not be what they seem to be. There’s a ton of mystery still and we just don’t fully know what’s waiting for us around the corner, so it’s worth approaching with caution. On the flipside, The Magician may be reminding us that using the knowledge we gain as we go through the story can only help us in the end. We literally have the power in our hands, so let’s use it. We have everything we need. Hopefully. And then we have The Tower, which feels…somewhat self-explanatory in retrospect. The characters we play as absolutely go through a sudden change and definite disaster, so we have to keep that in mind going in as we control them and shape their story and relationships. I think this also fits in nicely with the Prologue, and Max and Laura’s sudden change in their evening when they were attacked by…something.
  1. which like…is so absolutely their fault. WHY DID YOU EXPLORE THE WOODS. WHY DIDN’T YOU GO TO THE MOTEL LIKE TED RAIMI TOLD YOU TO. WHY DID YOU BREAK INTO THE CELLAR. Is it because you’re characters in a horror game? Yeah. Yeah that checks out.
10. This could also mean something completely and entirely different!! Again, though I’m hopeful, we don’t know how much tarot research the devs have done or what their actual intentions are with this post, and we don’t have the luxury of a tarot spread to help us out (and none of the cards are reversed in the reading, which is a whole other thing). Ultimately, we’ll have to wait just a few more days and see for ourselves…
(THEY ADDED TWO MORE POSTS SINCE I STARTED WRITING THIS SECTION CALM DOWN GUYS it’s almost like the game comes out in a couple days or something) Up next we have the 80’s throwback outfits for Laura, Max, and Dylan and they are SO. GOOD. Laura’s colorblock shirt?? Max’s sick jacket?? DYLAN’S!!! SWEATSHIRT!!!! AAAAAAAA
Then we have a short clip of Laura in the woods from the prologue when Eliza ominously whispers “Silas” in her ear. It comes with some text that reminds us the game comes out THIS FRIDAY!!!

That’s all for Instagram for now!

TIKTOK

There are two new posts on the TikTok page!

The first is the same introduction video we got on Instagram, so no need to dive back into that.
The second is the POV video the other counselors got, except instead of being from Chris’s point of view, it’s still from the counselors’ point of view, it’s just that it’s about Chris. It’s set up as “the most annoying things about Mr. H,” poking fun of his sense of style (or lack thereof) and his dad jokes. It then points out that he’s the only ride out of camp. I’m sure that’s fine, though.
1. It’s worth pointing out that one of the thing the counselors complain about is that he “won’t give phones back.” I’m curious how this plays into the story, because we know Emma films lil vlogs with her phone, and part of the trailer is Kaitlyn’s phone when she sees a strange light on the island. So…does he only take some of the phones? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE COUNSELORS STAYING AN EXTRA NIGHT WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON, DAVID ARQUETTE
Since I started working on this post, they added another video, but it’s another repeat from Instagram: the video of Laura in the woods with the “THIS FRIDAY” text announcement.

That’s really all we’ve got for the TikTok page, at least for now! There may be more before the game’s release, although they seem to have transferred primarily over to Instagram in the final days.

Click the image to check out the podcast!

IT’S HERE IT’S HERE IT’S HEREEEEEEEEEE

I’ve missed Grace so much :’)

…and unfortunately I feel like I’m about to miss her more since my girl decided camping alone in Hackett Woods was a good idea. Le sigh.

This episode is a good 3-4 minutes LONGER than our usual audio adventures, so there’s a lot to unpack here!!

We start with the usual unsettling audio editing to set the scene (monster noises, crunching, squelching, the usual). We then hear our beloved Grace and find out that she is at the check-in desk of the Harbinger Motel because she drove out to Hackett Woods ALONE to investigate all her leads.

(By the way, if you’re wondering where you’ve heard the name of the motel before, it’s in the prologue! That’s the motel that Sheriff Ted Raimi tries to get Max and Laura to go to when he insists they cannot show up to the camp one night early. Grace is, of course, ecstatic about the weird name.)

Grace makes it clear that Anton isn’t accompanying her as he is having meatloaf at his mom’s. Grace also alludes to the fact that she mayyyyyy have some type of feelings for Anton, and she’s a bit hurt that she wasn’t invited to the meatloaf shebang (even though she’s a ~~vegan~~ vague-en). She promises to make up for his absence and pretends to speak as him, though a little more…flirty than usual.

We learn that Grace went to investigate on her own because, even though the whole “missing dead body” thing ended up being a hoax, there has to be more to the story because there’s no smoke without fire (or, as the episode title suggests, no hoax without fire). After all, there are still two missing hikers and a local legend of a ghost woman haunting the woods, soooooo…Grace cuts the recorder off during check-in so we don’t hear from whomever the Harbinger desk clerk is, and Grace makes the point that the room is shockingly normal (with the exception of the old-fashioned toilet with the chain handle).

Grace checks back in with us in the morning, where she says that even her night was completely uneventful. She even did Bloody Mary in the mirror and nothin’! She then asks “what is this motel even a harbinger of, sweet dreams?” *ba dum tssss* (we love Grace so much) Grace then complains about being hungry and rummages in her bag for some food–and I bet you’re wondering, “why are we bringing this up? This seems inconsequential to ghost-hunting” and you’d normally be right EXCEPT do you know what she pulls out of her bag here??

THAT’S RIGHT. A PEANUT BUTTER BUTTER POP.

(sidenote: does this mean the butter pops are more like granola bars or something? I was thinking cereal but Grace unwraps something and refers to that one butter pop as her whole breakfast. I mean, I’m all for starving artists and actually could totally believe that Grace would eat like, one Reese’s Puff and call it good, but I’m juuuuuust wondering…)

So again, just a little nod to “haha here’s this established joke of ours for this in-universe funny-sounding thing, ha ha ha”?

NOPE. IT GETS WEIRD.

While enjoying her breakfast of champions, Grace wonders what it is about them that makes them so addictive. Could it be the nutritious ingredients, mayhaps?

There is no ingredient list.

WHAT. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN. THIS IS SUCH A WEIRD AND SPECIFIC DETAIL TO INCLUDE AND FOR WHY?? I WAS JOKING LAST TIME WHEN I WONDERED IF THE PEANUT BUTTER BUTTER POPS TURN YOU INTO A WEREWOLF BUT?? WHY ARE THERE NO INGREDIENTS LISTED. AAAAAAAAAAA.

As curious as Grace is, she shrugs off the “no ingredients list” weirdness and moves on, announcing what her goal is: investigating the sideshow fire from 6 years ago, which apparently happened on private land owned by the same family that owns the infamous Hackett’s Quarry Summer Camp. Grace notes that the desk clerk wouldn’t talk about the fire, and did point out that the camp is empty currently, but would soon be swarming with children (we saw in the prologue what happens when people visit the empty camp PLEASE DON’T GO THERE GRACE). She wonders why the fancy family who owns the land wants a bunch of screaming kids running around during the summer, ahem, “unless they’re sacrificing them to ghosts of those who died in the fire.” Ha. Ha ha. Ha.

Apparently Grace wanted to call the camp, but she doesn’t have service (of course) and apparently the desk clerk pretended the landline was down. Good. Good good. Determined to get answers, she sets out to the town to ask around about the fire. When we next hear from her, she’s ecstatic to report she was RIGHT and that the Hag of Hackett’s Quarry legend ties into the Harum Scarum Show fire. Apparently she tried talking to the older townspeople and they wouldn’t tell her anything, but the younger ones totally did. She cuts herself off though, saying she wants to save that story for the next episode with Anton because it’s so good. :’) Grace please I hope you make it back to Anton

Grace then makes the super smart decision to camp alone in the woods at night (well, outskirts of the woods). Things start off lighthearted enough–she’s clearly a little on edge, but she jokes about how even though it would suck to be killed by a bear, at least she could come back as a ghost and haunt Anton. After she hears some rustling outside, she decides to check it out, finding nothing but…a squirrel. (Though she does point out that it could be a ghost squirrel)

Actually making the smart decision for once, Grace decides she’s had enough, she’s scared, and she’s packing up to leave. We hear sounds of her presumably packing things up, followed by wolves howling, and then, of all things…the peanut butter butter pops theme song.

We have one more episode to go, and if I had to guess, I’d say we can probably expect it to come out on Thursday as a final hoorah before the game’s release on Friday. Look, I know it’s a podcast for a horror game, but I reeeeaaaaally want Grace to make it out okay :’) we can’t tell from the end of the episode if she actually makes it out of the woods and back to the motel okay, so…who knows. The final episode is titled “The Hag of Hackett’s Quarry” where I hope we’ll finally be able to learn about the full story of the Harum Scarum show and the fire that caused the ghost stories. And I hope we’ll learn that Grace is okay. Please. PLEASE.

ALSO CAN WE PLEASE LEARN THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PEANUT BUTTER BUTTER POPS. I WAS JOKING ABOUT THEM TURNING PEOPLE INTO WEREWOLVES, BUT NOW I’M NOT SURE. THE EPISODE LITERALLY ENDED WITH WOLVES HOWLING FADING INTO THE BUTTER POPS SONG. SEND HELP. I WAS JOKING.

We are days away my friends!! Before I close us out for now, I’m noting some potentially interesting timeline things we have learned up to this point (that I remember–there may be more??)

We know that Hackett’s Quarry Summer Camp was established in 1953, at least according to the camp sign we see in the preview. Assuming the game takes place in 2022, this means the camp has been running for 69 years now (obligatory “lol 69” comment here). Thanks to Grace’s comments and efforts from the newest podcast episode, we know that the sideshow fire was only 6 years ago, so again assuming the game takes place in 2022, the fire was in 2016 (I feel like America generally was on fire in 2016 so this fits). We also know that peanut butter butter pops were discontinued 15 years ago, so 2007. So if peanut butter butter pops are indeed tied to werewolves or the general story as a whole, there’s a nine year gap between them being discontinued and the sideshow fire (although as we know from Grace, people are still finding them to eat even years later).

What does ANY of this mean?? I dunno, fam. Hoping for more answers on Thursday if we get the new episode then, and then after that…IT’S GAME TIME.

I will admittedly only be playing during the morning or hours of excessive daylight because I absolutely have more of a scaredy-cat fascination with horror. Also–peanut butter butter pops merch when??

That’s all for now friends! Happy Quarry release week, and I may see you all on Thursday with a podcast update!

The Quarry: Updates #2!

May 20, 2022 PlayerOne1 Comment

HAPPY (belated) PODCAST EPISODE RELEASE DAY EVERYONE!!!

yayyyyyyyyyy

Not only do we finally have a new Bizarre Yet Bonafide to dig into, we also have some new social media posts as well (it’s finally Abigail’s turn!).

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

(If you haven’t been following along up to this point, here is the first post about The Quarry, and here is the second post with some of the updates.)

INSTAGRAM

We have four new posts to dive into!

The first is the traditional introductory short video for Abigail–as per usual, I can’t make out all of the quick moments it flashes to, but we do seem to have the usual “shot of the same character but now they’re covered in blood,” a sketch of what looks to be a woman with long hair, Abigail screaming, and a close-up of a padlock.
1. Abigail is described as “the artist,” and it makes me wonder if we’ll have some nice sketchbook moments a la Life is Strange 2. Maybe? No? If nothing else, we may have some instances of Abigail taking on the role of “creepy child who draws creepy things in a horror setting” cliche–could the long-haired woman be the infamous “Hag of Hackett’s Quarry”? (Although, if the Hag is indeed Eliza, we never see her with her hair down…)
2. What’s with the padlock? So far the only padlock we’ve seen has been in the prologue, but that was tied to Max and Laura, not Abigail…are there other creepy cellars around the camp full of creepy creatures? AND WHY DO WE INSIST ON HAVING A SUMMER CAMP HERE???
The second post is the second introductory video that uses words to describe our counselor friend: Abigail’s are “the artist, shy, creative, quiet” and then the “negative” trait for her is “nervous” and we see two different shots, one of Abigail crawling through some presumably underground tunnel and then her running from…something while she screams. Lovely.
1. These “negative” traits crack me up because like?? Um??? I, too, would absolutely be nervous in her position??? Excuse me?????
The third post is our favorite podcast ad: the title of the new episode on an old-timey computer monitor with the “Rabbit Hole” post-it note in the corner.
1. SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WITH THE WHOLE RABBIT HOLE THING
The fourth post is a short lil clip (I’m assuming from the game) that shows Abigail in some sort of dark corridor with a large…vent? behind her. At the start, there is a silhouette of something on one side, but as the camera pans across Abigail’s face, the silhouette is then gone. We hear something whisper (likely) “Abby…” but there’s no one there when Abigail turns around. She faces forward again, and we see a different (?) silhouette cross in front of her.
1. As of now, I’m going to theorize that the silhouette in the beginning and the whispering individual are the same, and they’re Eliza. The silhouette looks to be someone maybe wearing a dress, and we know how fond Eliza is of whispering ominously to people (see: her whispering “Silas” to Laura in the prologue. Seriously Eliza…why?). Because the silhouette disappears so quickly, it’s possible that it could be one of the monsters, but I don’t think it’s the same type as the one Laura sees in the cellar in the prologue (though those do move rather quickly)–that one just looked gangly with long, awkward limbs, and this silhouette looks decidedly more human. Maybe. Being able to disappear like that doesn’t necessarily put me off of it being Eliza, as she could be a ghost of some sort. After all, she was able to sneak up very suddenly on Laura, and her clips in the story highlights allude to her not being fully human. But, that’s just a guess!
2. The second silhouette is a lot harder to make out–it definitely walks like a normal alive human, but it’s hard to tell who it could be. It’s also hard to tell if Abigail actually sees them or not–she’s not thrown off by their presence if she does see them, which makes me think it could be another counselor, but again, it’s kinda unclear.
3. Where exactly is Abigail in this clip? As we can tell from the camp map, there isn’t really a location that could logically be an underground site (unless it’s the Tree Walk? WHAT IS A TREE WALK), which makes me think there’s either some spooky underground tunnel stuff going on under the camp, OR…that’s the infamous Hackett’s Quarry itself. Which we probably shouldn’t explore. But we’re going to anyway.

TIKTOK

Currently we have three new videos to discuss, all centered around our lovely new friend Abigail!

The first is the same as the first introductory video for Abigail that’s on Instagram.
The second video is the traditional point-of-view post for each counselor–for Abigail, it’s her showing off a bunch of photos she took! The first is the top part of a house at night (maybe the Lodge?), the second is a really spooky shot of the forest at night, the third is a shot of the super big full moon over the lake, and the last few come really quickly and cut in and out with shots of a ghostly silhouette. The text says that she saw a woman in the woods, but that woman doesn’t show up in any of the photos…
1. couple things here FIRST OFF–what kinda awesome camera is Abigail using for these super clear night shots?? Amazing.
2. Listen, I’m not saying the monster is werewolves…buuuuut they do keep highlighting a full moon on the night the counselors are stuck there. Sooooooooooo….werewolves.
  1. (this does however contradict a few things–if a full moon is to blame, why is it that the counselors cannot show up a night early or be there a night later? It’s not like the full moon just says peace out for a week so that kids can hang out at the summer camp, right? Why is there a monster that attacks Max and Laura when they show up early? Why is there such fear around being at the camp one night longer? Okay fine, maybe not werewolves…or maybe werewolves are just one of the things they have to worry about…)
3. And now for probably the most important part of the video–the ghostly woman who Abigail saw, but doesn’t show up in the photographs. So I mean, she could be a vampire, or a ghost. Is it Eliza? Is it Anne Radcliffe the mysterious missing hiker?? Is it someone else entirely??? I mean, it could be a friend.
The third video is the same as the clip of Abigail walking somewhere dark from Instagram.
1. Watching it through this time though, it does look like Abigail is looking behind her the entire time the second silhouette is walking, and then the second silhouette stands in a corner frozen when Abigail turns back around. Um? Excuse me?? Why??? Abigail herself looks fairly beat-up in this clip, so I’m assuming this is late enough in the game that we know something supernatural is going on, and it’s not someone playing a joke on her. Hopefully. People in the comments are speculating that the second silhouette is Laura…maybe? It’s so hard to make out. It could be Emma, since it looks like they’re supposed to be best friends, but again…we just can’t tell.
2. Also, it’s worth noting that the Supermassive Games account commented on this video saying “Not everything is as it seems…” so uh…thanks, guys. Now I’m questioning absolutely everything.

That’s it for social media updates for now–let’s dive into the podcast!!

Click the image above to check out the podcast!

Look, I think every episode of this show is good, but THIS ONE. THIS ONE IS SO GOOD.

We begin with Grace being unusually unenergetic and Anton in a seemingly great mood, and we soon find out why: remember the whole thing about “there was a dead body that these kids found but when the police went back to investigate it was missing and there’s no evidence of it being moved so wtf where did it go?” Yeah…turns out the whole thing was uh, fake. The kid made the whole thing up to scare his girlfriend (remember? His girlfriend who is attending the summer camp? Charming).

(It’s worth noting that Anton mentions here that he told Grace the whole thing could have been a case of “the boy who cried wolf,” and turns out, it was…and look I’m not saying the monster is werewolves but like……..we keep mentioning wolves here…………)

Grace uses this as a segue into her next theory, discussing ghost stories involving women scorned.

(Before diving into that, there’s a brief moment worth mentioning: the return of peanut butter butter pops! We learn a little more about this…cereal? as Anton makes fun of Grace for eating them because they were discontinued ages ago. Grace defends herself by saying she found them in the freezer when she moved in, and everyone knows stuff in the freezer doesn’t go bad. Anton is disgusted. So, again, it’s possible all this butter pop stuff could just be used to aid in world-building and to show us that the podcast and the game are all in the same universe, but…what if there’s more to it than that? If the butter pops were discontinued ages ago, why does Kaitlyn sing the theme song for them? Is it one of those urban legend type things? DO THE PEANUT BUTTER BUTTER POPS TURN YOU INTO A WEREWOLF??? Okay anyway…)

Grace discusses the various legends about the “White Lady” and how generally, they are all stories of a woman being wronged and then haunting a specific area, appearing as, you guessed it, a woman wearing white. Grace goes into two tales in particular: one of a woman whose husband locked her away when he went off to war because he didn’t trust her not to cheat on him while he was gone (charming) except he died in the war, and the woman wasted away. The story goes that she got so hungry she ended up trying to eat herself out of desperation, and when you come across her, you are hit with a strong sensation of hunger (this is where the “hangry” in the episode title comes in.)

The second story Grace tells is about a hitchhiker who drowns herself after her husband left her for another woman, so when you come across her, she is always dripping wet and bloated-looking. Fun!

There are so many different versions of the white lady story all across the globe, and different houses or locations each have their own specific white lady story. The first story Grace tells seems to be based on a German legend from the time of the Thirty Years’ War. Just as Grace describes, a nobleman locks his wife in the cellar of his manor so she couldn’t betray him, but he never returned, and she died, supposedly haunting the premises. Interestingly, that manor was recently renovated, and workers found no evidence of human remains in the cellar. Which just…it just makes me think of Grace’s whole “missing dead body” story–like I know that was debunked, but it’s just an interesting coincidence.

From what I can tell, there isn’t one specific white lady legend that Grace’s second story is based on. There are legends of white ladies who drowned themselves, but not for the reason Grace states. There are legends of white ladies who often appear as hitchhikers, and after being taken into the car, they cause it to crash somehow. There are countless legends of white ladies with traitorous husbands or lovers, and they often come back to haunt unfaithful men. The closest example I could find is actually a white lady legend from Dallas, Texas of all places. Described as “The Lady of White Rock Lake,” she often appears completely soaked in an evening dress from the 1930’s, where she asks anyone who pulls over to be taken home. She usually disappears during the car ride and leaves the backseat drenched–thanks. Reportedly, she was a drowning victim from a boating accident.

(So what could this all mean? It’s likely no coincidence that the clip of Abigail saying she took photographs of a woman who never showed up in the pictures was posted right around the time this episode came out. It’s also worth noting that Grace says these legends are often called “the lady in white” or “the hag of somewhere” when I could, in fact, not really find any legends that referred to these spirits as “hags” (could be on me though, I’m sure something exists!). We have, of course, heard of something very similar in the trailer where Ryan says “the hag of Hackett’s Quarry.” We assume this is, in fact, Eliza. So, is that what’s going on with her? Is Eliza a white lady spirit, haunting the woods? In order to qualify for that title, she had to be greatly wronged in life…so again, what exactly happened at the Harum Scarum show? Who or what wronged Eliza in life? Is she calling for Silas in the woods because he wronged her, or was that her son and the mysterious father figure did something unforgivable? Lots to think about!

ALSO ALSO–it’s worth noting (how many times can I say that) that multiple white lady legends involve them being especially active…*drum roll please*…during a full moon.

HMMMMMMMMMMMM

ALSO ALSO ALSO–since so many of the legends for white ladies involve them “testing” people on how good of a person they are and how well they treat the people in their lives, I’m sure that’ll play into the game somehow. The devs have talked about how you can really affect your relationships with other characters in this game, so it’ll probably behoove us to be friendly to all our counselor buddies…lest the white lady comes along and we fail her test)

Grace then goes onto confirm that she’s bringing up these legends because there have been sightings of a white lady (or “hag”) in none other than Hackett Woods!! Anton still doesn’t think the missing hikers have anything to do with this, to which Grace is like “awww man juuuuuust wait till you see what I have planned…” she hints that the next episode will be a little different, and she has plans for something a little more “hands-on” for next time…Anton asks her to please not do anything dangerous.

This is, however, the podcast for a horror game, so uh…

Basically, I’m thinking next episode could go a few different ways:

Grace goes to Hackett Woods to investigate everything in person. She manages to drag Anton along with her, and the episode is recorded as the two of them trek through the woods investigating. It ends on a possible cliffhanger when they hear an ominous noise or something.
Grace went to Hackett Woods alone, and Anton hasn’t heard from her since. The episode could be a mix of recordings Grace took while she was there that Anton got a hold of and his own reactions to it as he makes the trip to Hackett Woods himself to find her.
Grace went to Hackett Woods alone, but made it back, and the episode is her desperately trying to convince Anton of all the weird stuff she saw. Anton still doesn’t believe it, but he’s never seen Grace like this, I mean she is visibly shaken and doesn’t seem to be messing with him…hmmm…therefore, the next and final episode is the two of them going back there together.

My biggest fear is that Grace and Anton will not live through the end of this podcast series…I KNOW IT’S A HORROR GAME LEAVE ME ALONE I WANT THEM TO BE OKAY.

The episode ends with the peanut butter butter pops jingle again, followed by the usual creepy voice that talks about The Quarry.

The next episode is titled “No Hoax Without Fire” and I just…I just want Grace and Anton to be okay :’)

As for when the final two episodes will be released? I have…no idea. I thought they were goin on an “every two weeks” thing, but the game comes out in three weeks, so unless the last episode is being released after the game, I’m hoping we’ll be getting the next two episodes sooner rather than later. Mostly because I’m super nervous for Grace. I’VE GOTTEN ATTACHED, OKAY?

That’s all we’ve got for now, folks! Now that all of the counselor videos are out, I’m not really sure what the social media plan is from here on in? They could do stuff for the adult characters, of course, but I don’t know how likely that is since they really want to keep them steeped in mystery. If anything, I feel like we’ll probably get more of Eliza, since she was sort of the poster child for those “impossible questions” things over on Instagram. Or we might just get more counselor content, which I wouldn’t be mad about!

#pleaseletGraceandAntonbeokaythx

See y’all in the next update post!

The Quarry: Updates!

May 14, 2022 PlayerOne1 Comment

As promised, “The Quarry” social media has been quite alive and kicking since my initial post theorizing about the game based off of everything released so far, and I am once again here to overanalyze and dive right in!

Also throwing in some stuff here that I missed the first time around because I don’t know how Instagram works. It’s fine.

This particular post will cover updates made on Instagram and TikTok–there is no new podcast episode sadly, BUT we do know that the next episode will release on May 19th and I am READY. I’ve missed Grace and Anton, I hope they’re doing well in their little spooky world ❤

INSTAGRAM

Let’s begin by talking about what I missed last time–the little circles at the top of the profile page which I have been informed are “story highlights” I think?

Anyway, currently there are four circles: “DEATH,” “WTF,” “CRYPTIDS,” and “History.”

DEATH–in a frame looking like a potential “Death” tarot card, we see Eliza! She welcomes us to “the show” saying that yes, it is exciting, and terrifying. There are some spooky cuts and sound editing. Eliza then says “this is what might come to pass. A possible future. A path yet unchosen.” At the same time, we see some sort of tarot card burning at the edges in front of us and the text “Make an impossible choice.” There are then some spooky questions for the viewer to answer:
1. Are you afraid of dying? (the image we see is a tarot card–potentially the Death card)
2. Death by immolation or drowning? (the image we see is a lovely charred corpse on one side and a peaceful-looking surface of water on the other side)
3. Would you rather be lost in the woods or lost at sea? (on top, we see Laura from the prologue in the woods and on the bottom, we see who I assume to be Emma swimming in the lake)
4. Do you believe in afterlife? (the image we see is a lovely group of clouds at sunset. Or sunrise.)
5. Would you rather be buried or cremated? (on top, some guy throwing dirt into a grave in slow-motion and on the bottom, a casket in flames. Nice.)
6. After that, it cuts back to Eliza, who says “Help me help you. And remember–what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.”
  1. FUN. CHARMING. HAPPY. DELIGHTFUL.
  2. It’s hard to tell how much of this is actually pointing at in-game knowledge, or just serves as a fun marketing scheme for their choice-based game. Both make sense, but if it is pointing at in-game stuff, that leads to more questions.
  3. Is there an in-game reasoning for why they chose the questions they did? If nothing else, it may just be reminding us that each character has like, 10-12 different possible death scenes. Yikes.
  4. Having Eliza say the phrase “what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” is on the one hand, a fun nod to what we saw in the Prologue as Laura found that phrase on the bottom of the camp map. But on the other hand, it makes you wonder…how exactly is the summer camp connected to the Harum Scarum show? If that phrase is more of the camp’s tagline, why does Eliza know and use it here? Does that also point more to what the monsters could be in the game? Werewolves? Vampires?…Zombies? Could be anything where the lore involves some element of turning into the creature after a bite or a scratch that doesn’t kill the victim. Or something. And does any of this have to do with “Silas the Dog Boy” and his destroyed cage in the woods? HMMMMM…
WTF–this one is all about our friendly neighborhood paranormal podcast, Bizarre Yet Bonafide. It mostly seems to be the preview posts we discussed last time, where the title cards for each episode are displayed on an old-timey computer monitor with the sticky note “Rabbit Hole” in the corner.
1. Nothing new here, and it only has the posts for the first two episodes. But it still begs the question–why the use of the “Rabbit Hole” sticky note?? WHAT DOES IT MEAN??? Is there some Alice in Wonderland lore we’re gonna need to watch out for now????
CRYPTIDS–Eliza’s back! This is another round of questions for the viewer, and this one starts with Eliza leaning back in a chair, a big crow friend perched by her shoulder (yay crow friend!!). She’s looking up, not at us, as she says “I was hoping you’d come back to me.” Once she does look at us, we get some spooky cuts before it fades to black and she gives us the same introduction of “this is what might come to pass…” so on and so forth. The questions this time around are:
1. Have you ever experienced “a glitch in the matrix?” (the image for this one looks like it could be Laura’s eye looking in the cellar from the prologue, but it could be something we haven’t seen yet. Shots of eyes looking into small openings are classic horror fodder, after all. However, signs do point to it being Laura because we see the…thing she saw in the cellar, and the last clip is Laura walking away. Still though, who knows?)
2. Do you think reality is simply a simulation? (The image here is a slow pan back and forth across three different computer monitors. Maybe security cameras? The first two seem to mostly be showing woodland with nothing of note there, but the third monitor has the rainbow screen of death…something interfered with the feed. GOOD. AWESOME. We then see our pal Dylan before it cuts to the next question)
3. Have you seen or heard anything unexplainable in nature? (the image here is shirtless Jacob looking around the woods at night…is this right before he steps in that rope trap that pulls him up upside-down? Babes get OUT OF THERE what are you DOING)
4. Ever felt unwelcome in nature or being “studied?” (the image here first is what might be a tree at night with a spider crawling along, and then it cuts to a worn sign that reads “WARNING QUARRY AREA KEEP OUT” so…naturally, they won’t be doing that)
5. Which is more likely to actually exist: Aliens, visiting and walking among us, or cryptids (sasquatch, chupacabra, mothman)? (the image here is a drawing on the left of some guy with squid tentacles for a face (CTHULU????) and a hand below that covered in little suckers like an octopus, and on the right, a drawing of, presumably, our friend Bigfoot)
  1. Hoo boy there is a LOT to unpack here! For starters, it’s worth noting that this is the first time in game-specific advertising that cryptids have been mentioned. They dive into it a lot in the podcast, but the game hasn’t really gone there yet. Until now! This isn’t totally surprising, given the nature of Until Dawn and the confirmation that The Quarry is functioning as a spiritual successor, but it’s still fun knowledge to have.
  2. What is up with all the speak about life being a simulation and “glitches in the matrix?” Unless it’s a fun little conspiracy theory one of our counselor friends happens to have. But maybe it’s referencing what’s going on at the camp in general–is it some sort of experiment? Is that what happened to the Harum Scarum show, or are they in on it? Speaking of…
  3. Odd how the “cryptid” section spends a lot of time talking about reality being a simulation and being “studied” in nature. Tie that into the question about whether aliens living among us or cryptids are more likely, and it opens up this whole other branch about game story possibilities. Is the camp, and therefore the whole quarry area, some sort of alien experiment studying humans? Seeing the aliens could lead to rumors about cryptids, after all. It’s not my favorite theory, right now it kind of gives off “it was all a dream” vibes and I think the overall story would benefit from a neater twist than that. Still, I think there’s probably a way to pull it off.
  4. All of this also makes you wonder…why on EARTH are they still hosting a children’s summer camp every year in this area full of experimenting aliens and missing hikers and cryptids and whoever knows what else?? Clearly, some characters are aware of the dangers outside of the “safe” time when the camp actually happens (Chris is agitated and worried about the counselors staying an extra night in the trailer, and Sheriff Travis really tries his best (kinda) to make sure Max and Laura don’t arrive at the camp until they’re supposed to) so why the insistence on the camp happening in the first place? So far from what I gather there are no rumors about children attending the camp going missing, so they’re probably not being experimented on or whatever, so…why? What is so special about the summer camp, and why is it crucial to only be there during that exact timeframe and not a moment sooner or later?
  5. ~~Does this have to do with what Grace was talking about in the podcast with the nix being more active on Thursdays~~
History–I don’t know why the others are all capitalized and this one isn’t, but ANYWAY. Eliza’s here again! She seems more agitated and impatient in this one, for whatever that’s worth. She begins by saying “Two futures to see, but only one can be seen. Make your choice.” The questions for this section are as follows:
1. Can you sleep with the closet door open? (the image for this one is the shot from the prologue where Travis stands in front of the open cellar door after chaos has ensued. I never noticed before the specific zoom in on the goosebumps on his neck…WHAT? WHY?? AAA????)
2. Can a place have memories? (the image for this one is from the prologue as well–it’s when Laura is looking at the camp map)
3. Does your hometown have a dark past? (the image for this one is a slow pan from the trees during the day over to a sign that reads “Hackett’s Quarry Summer Camp est. 1953”)
4. Has anyone died where you live now? (the image for this one is Max and Laura looking around the creepy cellar. Before Max is attacked. Poor Max)
5. Would u burn it all down if it set the “stuff” trapped free? (the image for this one is a little hard to make out–it looks like the silhouette of some fairy lights with sparks flying around, a few of the tarot cards from the game blowing by, also burning at the edges. Hmmmm…)
  1. I’m assuming the “history” title is referencing the history of the Hackett’s Quarry area, which is what I hope we’ll get into in the podcast soon! All of the questions here seem to be pointing to the conclusion that yes, something terrible happened at Hackett’s Quarry. I mean, duh, but it’s fascinating to think about–can a place have memories? How many spooky stories involve a house where someone (or many someones) was killed? So the basic conclusion we can come to is that something absolutely awful happened at the Harum Scarum show and whatever it was, it lives on to haunt the summer camp, or at least the area in general.
  2. Why the specificity of the fire question? It could just be an allusion to the ending of Until Dawn when the characters blow the house up in order to survive, but…what if that’s one of the things that happened to the Harum Scarum show? Maybe the shot of the burning tarot cards blowing in the wind is from a scene where the show burns to the ground one night. This could also be discussed in the podcast episode titled “No Hoax Without Fire.” We’ll have to wait and see!

Now that we’ve covered the story highlights, let’s talk about the new posts!

Nick is here!! His first intro video has a couple fast shots that are hard to make out, but from what I can tell, there’s a brief glimpse of him covered in blood, a brief shot of…a wolf face lunging? A wild boar? I can’t tell fam. There’s also a shot of him holding up a gun, but I can’t make out the other cuts.
There’s a short little video with one of the official gifs released that shows Ryan yelling “HEY”
Nick’s second video introduces him as “the nerd, polite, quiet, handsome” and then there’s a shot of him yelling while being pounced on by…something as it flashes to “smart.” WHY IS SMART HIS NEGATIVE TRAIT?? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, GUYS
There’s another clip from the third podcast episode, where Anton talks about how monstrous humans can be. Great.
There’s a post about Anne Radcliffe!! As you may recall, Anne is one of the missing hikers that Grace identified in the podcast. Grace presumes Anne is the body that got up and walked away. The post is a missing persons poster for Anne, and we get to see her face! The text describes that she was last seen on March 15th driving to Hackett’s Woods Hiking Trail in North Kill, NY. What this does tell us is we don’t actually know for sure if she ever made it to Hackett’s Woods…could be alien abduction apparently, or she’s a werewolf. I love that they’re doing posts about the podcast!!
The newest post is actually Part 1 of showing what everyone answered to the story highlight questions. Although some of the questions are not in those highlights, so they may have been in the actual story? Again, I don’t know how Instagram works. Interestingly, they’re all relatively evenly split, except for the overwhelming majority of people who said they’d rather be lost in the woods than at sea. We’ve all seen Shark Week. We understand.
1. The post starts with Eliza again, saying “there’s no shame in not wanting to glimpse into the futures that may come to be. All I’m trying to do is help. The last thing I want to do is take your choices from you, like mine were taken from me.” Wh–what? Eliza? You okay?? What choices were taken from you??
  1. ~~maybe she’s just talking about her choices when it came to abortion were taken away haha thanks america~~
2. One of the questions new to me is “Something’s coming. Who do you save?” and the choices are “my best friend” or “my partner/crush.” Most people chose the friend, but it’s not an overwhelming majority. The two people pictured are Nick and Emma…is this an Abigail question? Does she have to choose between them?? Ughhhhhhhhhhh
3. Another new question is “do you feel like you truly know your friends and family?” Most people said yes, but again, not an overwhelming majority. What’s interesting to note is the picture they show here, a black and white framed photograph of two boys on the shores of the lake, smiling. Iiiiiiiinteresting…who are they? Did Chris, the head of the camp, have a brother at one point? We know Supermassive looooooves tragic stories about siblings (RIP Beth, Hanna, and Josh (#JOSHDESERVEDBETTER))…HMMMMMMMM
4. Another new question is “do you trust your friends and family with your life?” and this was a bigger gap in answers, with 70% of people trusting their peeps. The image here is the counselors at their late-night bonfire party. Then there’s a brief cut to Ryan saying “wow…um…I guess ‘both’ is off the table?” which makes me think some of these questions may make an appearance in the game–maybe this is something the counselors talk about at the bonfire, and the player gets to answer these questions in the game as well. A fun idea, I like it! Also, I’m terrified at how choosing specific answers may affect my playthrough! I’m stressed out now!
5. One important thing to note is that in this video, I was finally able to make out the burning tarot card that briefly passes by on all of these videos about impossible choices–The Tower. Props to Supermassive, here, because with this knowledge, I once again remain cautiously optimistic about how tarot will be used in the game. While Death is the card that most people glom on to as “THIS IS THE BAD CARD” it’s not necessarily the case–more often than not, the Death card could refer to new beginnings, the death of something that was holding you back, so on and so forth. It symbolizes an ending, but more importantly, it symbolizes a new beginning. The Tower is actually the card you really want to watch out for. While the meaning varies depending on everything from the placement of the card in the spread to the reader giving the reading and how they interpret the cards, it’s roughly true that the Tower is generally…not great. It can represent anything like sudden upheaval because of tragedy, chaos, destruction, sudden change that doesn’t feel good, so on and so forth (again, it depends on the context of the spread). Ultimately, this chaos and destruction could be beneficial, but usually this card points to, shall we say, the storm before the calm, and it probably isn’t going to be a fun ride. What does this mean for the game? NOTHING GOOD, PROBABLY.

That’s everything from Instagram for now!

TIKTOK

We have three new videos to look at!

The first is the same as Instagram, the first intro video for Nick with flashes to him holding a gun and a wolf/wild boar?
The second is from his point of view with a fun song playing and the text reading “SUMMER VIBES” and it’s all very harmless and happy, with lots of beautiful shots of him and Abigail exploring the camp near sunset. AWWWWW except then it cuts to him (and possibly Abigail?) yelling, a shot of him on the ground covered in blood, him being pounced on by something…YAY SUMMER VIBES AM I RIGHT
The third is a clip of some of our counselor buddies talking and joking around: Dylan, Ryan, and Kaitlyn are talking about a podcast (I’m assuming it’s a podcast Ryan is listening to and I’m assuming….it’s Bizarre Yet Bonafide). Dylan asks what it’s about, asking if it’s about him 😉 and Ryan goes into panic mode like “YOU…THINK I’M LISTENING TO A PODCAST…ABOUT YOU” Kaitlyn says “okay if anyone here had a podcast about them, it’d be me.” Dylan then fires back “yeah, if there was a podcast about how to look and smell like a butt.” Offended, Kaitlyn says “oh my god, you are so childish!” to which Dylan replies “at least I don’t look and smell like a butt” and then a cheesy laugh track plays. Iconic dorks, first of all, but this post also tells us when the next Bizarre Yet Bonafide is coming out–May 19th!!

Those are all the updates we have for now! I will of course post another update when the new podcast episode is out, and we may have some other social media updates by then as well. We still need counselor videos about Abigail, but once those are out, I’m not sure what’s next on the plate…will we get similar videos for Chris and the other adult characters, or do they have something else up their sleeve since the other characters are not playable ones for us?

Also, fingers crossed we find out what happened to Anne Radcliffe. I’m sure she’s fine.

Right?

Splicing Up The Details of “The Quarry”–Everything We Know So Far (plus some theorizing!)

May 5, 2022 PlayerOne1 Comment

Do you ever see a preview for something and you get just like, irrationally excited for it and it becomes essentially your entire personality for the foreseeable future?

No just me?

Okay cool

ANYWAY

In 2015, the developer Supermassive Games released Until Dawn, a sort of choose-your-own-adventure novel come to life with impressive graphics and even more impressive acting thanks to a full cast featuring the likes of Hayden Panettiere and Rami Malek (am I biased? Yes leave me alone). Though Supermassive had worked on a few games prior, Until Dawn was their first big success even with the lackluster advertising for it on Sony’s part (isn’t that always the way?). The game was certainly a love letter to classic horror tropes and stories, featuring a drama-filled group of teenagers, a giant mansion in the middle of nowhere, a serial killer in a creepy mask, mysterious creatures in the woods, and of course, absolutely heartbreaking plot twists and story elements.

The game also heavily makes use of the butterfly effect mechanic–basically, the smallest decisions made early on can have the most disastrous consequences later (the effect was named for the idea that a tornado can be caused by something as seemingly inconsequential as a butterfly flapping its wings weeks earlier). It really takes the whole “your actions have consequences” to the next extreme level, as all of the characters’ fates are in your hands and it’s possible to get through the game with everyone alive…or dead. Up to you!

Despite some backlash in the years since its release (the use of the wendigo and some characters’ fates being unalterable no matter what you do #JOSHDESERVEDBETTER I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL), it still has a massive fan following and proved that Supermassive could bring something new to the horror game genre.

This is important to note because the horror game scene at this time was ruled by one particular indie series: Five Nights at Freddy’s. Since the first installment’s release in mid-2014, we were all swarmed by sequels and fangames and anything even remotely similar that you could imagine. No matter one’s personal opinions on it, the FNaF series absolutely changed everything and inspired a whole swath of games focused on childhood memories made creepy, games with a 5-night/chapter format, games set in the 70’s and 80’s filled with dead children and their ghosts for some reason? etc. and so on. By 2015 though and the release of FNaF 4, it was becoming clear that some horror fans wanted something different, the tried-and-true FNaF formula becoming a little stale. Combine that environment with the recent success earned by choice-driven story games such as Beyond: Two Souls and Life is Strange, Supermassive really had the perfect time handed to them to release Until Dawn, and I think that was part of the reason for its success.

That, and I and many others just really like the game.

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Following the massive success of Until Dawn, Supermassive got to work on a “non-canonical” spin-off called Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and a prequel called The Inpatient. Following that, Supermassive continued working in the horror scene by releasing a series of games as a part of what they call The Dark Pictures Anthology. So far three games have been released in the series and a fourth is on the way. (I haven’t personally been following Dark Pictures but I keep meaning to, that’s on me.)

Alas, years passed, and it seemed like the horror game trope of controlling dumb but lovable teenagers in an impossible situation was all but forgotten by Supermassive…

UNTIL ~~DAWN~~ NOW.

Officially unveiled on March 18 this year and officially considered a spiritual successor to Until Dawn, The Quarry gives players the chance to save (or not) a whole quirky group of camp counselors, stuck at a summer camp longer than they should be.

While the game isn’t set to come out until June 10 (giving me plenty of time to decide if I’ll be able to actually play it myself or just watch someone else deal with everything), Supermassive and IGN First have been releasing plenty of content for us to sink our teeth into while we wait.

So, just for fun (and because this game is my current hyperfixation), let’s dive into roughly everything we know so far and can theorize about based on what’s floating out on the Internet currently.

THE BASICS

On the surface, here’s what we know for sure: players will take control of 9 different camp counselors throughout the game and make various decisions that range from the seemingly mundane to the absolutely critical, ultimately deciding their fates. Just like in Until Dawn, it’s possible to save all the characters (exceptforJoshWHODESERVEDBETTER) but it’s also possible to kill everyone off–it all depends on what decisions you make. And also just like in Until Dawn, you only have one night to save (or kill) everyone.

We also know the tagline for the game: “you won’t believe what you’ll become.” Cute!

As for the characters, according to the official website, the camp counselors are as follows:

Laura (counselor, played by Siobhan Williams)–definitely seems to be the no-nonsense, organized one of the group. She is “excited to spend a quiet summer in the woods” before she begins her veterinarian studies in the fall. Oh, my sweet summer child…
Max (counselor, played by Skyler Gisondo)–Laura’s class clown boyfriend, noted for having a “friendly attitude and unfaltering loyalty.” I’m sure that won’t come back to bite him. Literally.
Abigail (counselor, played by Ariel Winter)–seems to be the quiet, artsy, romantic of the group. She’s described as being “sweet and sincere,” which unfortunately means she probably won’t last that long. I could be wrong, though!
Kaitlyn (counselor, played by Brenda Song)–basically described as being the exact opposite of Abigail, Kaitlyn is outgoing and often the de facto leader of the group. Apparently though she isn’t the best at “express[ing] her own needs in stressful situations.” Good thing this game won’t have any stressful situations! Haha. Ha.
Nick (counselor, played by Evan Evagora)–described as that classic teen heartthrob serving us a classic combination of handsomeness and hidden vulnerability. Also, he’s apparently bad at letting people in. Cue the swarms of “I CAN FIX HIM” girls.
Emma (counselor, played by Halston Sage)–because it wouldn’t be a modern horror media piece without some selfie footage, Emma is our “aspiring influencer” and the individual in charge of drama activities at the camp.
Ryan (counselor, played by Justice Smith)–all I can think of based on his description on the website is that meme about Jughead from Riverdale. You know the one. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a weirdo. I’m weird. I don’t fit in.” Now all he needs is a signature hat.
Dylan (counselor, played by Miles Robbins)–apparently beloved for his “oddball humor” and musical knowledge? But like any good teenager, he’s “terrified of rejection.”…actually, do any of us ever grow out of that?
Jacob (counselor, played by Zach Tinker)–IT’S THE JOCK BOY! HERE HE IS! I will note also that his description specifically mentions how he wants all his counselor buddies to have a fun time…but specifically Emma. ~ooOOooOOooh~
Chris (camp owner, played by David Arquette)–described as the father figure of the summer camp, I’m sure he will be super good at making sure nothing awful happens to any of the counselors. Really. Definitely. For sure.
Travis (sheriff, played by Ted Raimi)–his website description is ominously short and tells us…nothing. Except that he intends to protect and serve. But…protect and serve what exactly?
Jedediah (ominous old man, played by Lance Henriksen)–his description is unhelpfully “they can’t wait to meet you…” so…uh…maybe he’s nice?
Bobby (ominous big shoulder man, played by Ethan Suplee)–same description, so…maybe also nice?
Constance (ominous old woman, played by Lin Shaye)–I’m sure definitely nice?
Eliza (ominous old woman #2, played by Grace Zabriskie)–her description is “she knew you were coming…” so maybe she had cookies ready for us? That would be nice.

The website also features the trailer, some screenshots, descriptions for the fun add-ons included in the pre-order bonus, a FAQ, and a podcast (more on that later).

So, armed with that knowledge, let’s dive into the trailer.

THE TRAILER

The trailer starts happily enough, seeing a school bus full of happy, singing children heading back home after another cheerful year at summer camp. Some of the camp counselors are seeing them off–we can make out 5 of the 9 counselors here. We can clearly see Jacob, Kaitlyn, and Emma, but the two figures on the balcony are out of focus, and we can only guess…perhaps Abigail and Nick? One of them does seem to be wearing the red flannel Nick wears in other clips, and based on the hints that he and Abigail become ~a thing~ we can assume she might be with him. Again, though, it’s not explicitly clear. If that is the case, however, the counselors missing from this shot are Laura, Max, Ryan, and Dylan. Dunno if that means anything, but we believe in over-analyzing in this house.

Next, the trailer shows us Chris (owner of the camp) telling an unseen counselor that he wants to get the kids safely home before sunset. However…the car won’t start. Because this is a horror thing, after all. Chris seems to have an irrational reaction to this bump in the road, however, frustratingly telling the counselors that he “thought [he] told them to check everything.” In this next shot, we can clearly make out Kaitlyn, Emma, and Abigail, but the two figures on the right aren’t as clear–could be Dylan and Ryan or Nick, however. It’s Jacob, though, who tells Chris to chill; they’ll all just spend one more night at the camp, it’s not that big a deal. Chris practically yells that NO, it is a big deal!! And he says to stop, just let him think.

It’s worth noting that there are probable cuts here to make the trailer flow–Chris is inside the car when he voices his initial frustration, then he’s out of the car and standing when he asks them to let him think. So basically, it’s possible there are moments in the game between these lines not shown in the trailer. ~spooky~

The trailer then shows us various shots of the woods (possibly from the point of view of something running rather quickly through the woods), the outside of the lodge, Chris getting into a presumably working car while Ryan talks to him, and then Chris driving off. This is all shown while Chris talks over the images, telling the counselors to keep everyone inside, lock the doors, and do not let anyone in or out. He claims he’ll be back first thing in the morning. (Suuuuure, Chris)

So now we can establish something else the trailer likely shows us in order to throw us off. When Chris initially expresses his frustration at the counselors for not checking everything, it seems to imply that the car won’t start–perhaps repairs cannot occur until the following day, hence, the counselors are stuck at the camp an extra night. However, Chris is then shown driving off and leaving everyone there. Are there multiple cars? Is there some other problem Chris was referring to initially that wasn’t shown in the trailer? Unclear, potentially unimportant. We’ll find out!

We then cut to our favorite counselors having a bonfire on the beach that night–because a jumpy adult told them to stay inside, so naturally, they didn’t do that. I don’t know these actors well enough (yet) to recognize their voices, but as the next clips play, we hear one counselor suggesting to another that “hey wouldn’t it be totally spooky and crazy if we were out here partying and then we get hunted by people? I mean think about it, summer camp is over…hunting season has begun…” The clips shown here start to come a little faster–we have the bonfire, where we can clearly see 7 of our 9 counselors (at least in that shot) and it seems to be Kaitlyn, Dylan, Jacob, Ryan, Nick, Abigail, and Emma, meaning we’re missing Laura and Max. After that, we see a clip of what looks to be Dylan and Ryan walking around at night. Ryan is notably carrying around what appears to be a rifle of some sort strapped to his back. Next, a shot of two of the mysterious ominous other characters–perhaps Bobby and Jedediah? Then a clip of an unidentifiable character looking around a dark room, two characters walking ahead of them. The shaggy hair tells me it could be Max, but it’s unclear. Next, a short clip of two silhouetted characters in a doorway, potentially at the top of a staircase. It’s unclear who they are. Then, a clip of a carving in a tree, initially saying “Jacob + Emma 4 Ever” but “Ever” has been scratched out and “Summer” written underneath it instead. Ouch. Finally, we have a shot of someone’s eye looking through a crack, and someone breaking a lock with a wrench.

Next, we hear potentially Kaitlyn talk about how she saw a weird light in the treehouse across the lake, saying how it was “pretty spooky.” She turns to Ryan, saying maybe it’s his “girlfriend.” This is played over a clip of Kaitlyn showing something on her phone to Dylan and Ryan. This is cut quickly with Ryan (seemingly at the bonfire) saying in a spooky voice “the hag of Hackett’s Quarry.”

(sidenote–I could not for the life of me figure out what he was saying there until I was looking at the titles of future podcast episodes, one of which is titled “The Hag of Hackett’s Quarry.”)

So we can infer from here that Ryan was likely telling ghost stories at the bonfire (this is backed up by a later clip in the trailer), one of which is, we can assume, a local legend about whoever the mysterious hag is. We can also assume this is who Kaitlyn is referring to as Ryan’s girlfriend. Ha ha, teenagers.

Next, we get a clip of Abigail in some sort of dark ominous room, slowly turning around to face a large vent? Or something? as something whispers ominously (can’t tell what the whisper is saying–could be “Abby” or even “happy” but it also sounds a lot like when Voldemort would whisper “Harry” in the Harry Potter movies, so…idk fam). We then cut to Abigail and likely Nick, sitting super close together in some dark, undisclosed location. ~ooOOooOOooooh~ She asks if Nick heard that (maybe the whisper?) and asks if they should look at what it is.

(No!!! You should not!!! You should get out of there!! Do not investigate, do not pass Go, do not collect $200!)

It then very suddenly cuts to Abigail screaming, and then to black. See? This is why we never investigate!

Next, we see Dylan and likely Ryan, arguing about the mysterious culprit (we don’t know when in the game this conversation takes place, so it’s unclear what has happened to them up to this point prior to this conversation). Ryan suggests bears, which Dylan shoots down, causing Ryan to list other possibilities–zombies, aliens, and my personal favorite: “time-hopping Draculas.” Nice.

While he suggests other things, we get some more clips of that point of view that appears to be something running real fast through the woods. Then, we’re apparently back at the beach bonfire, with Ryan pointing the rifle at something off-screen. Someone says “uh…Ryan?”, Ryan yells “HEY!” at whatever he’s pointing the rifle at, and then everything cuts to black as we hear something growl/snarl/yell/roar.

The next clips all come REAL fast, so here’s what I was able to piece together:

a very brief moment of what looks to be Bobby (ominous big shoulder man) hunched over and holding up…someone unconscious. Or dead. Can’t make out who the someone is. Bobby is caught in what could be the light from Ryan’s rifle thing. The rifle then fires.
a clip of a shirtless Jacob being hauled up by one foot in some sort of trap thing, perhaps?
shirtless Jacob being dragged away, except now the lighting is all red. Jacob (I assume) is yelling something during these clips, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. He does yell “please” at some point.
some unknown voice says what I think is “we ain’t playing games no more, little girl” while we get more footage of “point of view of something unknown running real fast through the woods” and then a brief clip of some girl swimming (?) while she turns her head to look at something. Based on the hair, the girl could be Emma.
a different unknown voice shouts that “there’s something…something coming!” while we see Travis the creepy sheriff shoot at something off-screen.
while yet another unknown voice starts ominously counting to 3, we get a clip of Dylan walking into a room and yelling in fear at something unseen
then a clip of an unknown individual running through the woods–based on the hair, this could be Laura
then a clip of Ryan’s face
before the creepy unknown voice gets to 3, we hear a different voice say “we’re lost Max, we’re lost” (thanks to the “first 30 minutes of gameplay” video released a few weeks ago (which I’ll cover next) we know this voice is Laura!) and we see a brief shot of a few of the counselors…in the woods? Looking for/being frightened of something? We can clearly make out Jacob, Abigail, Nick, and Kaitlyn in that moment
next we see a shot of an unknown individual from behind, standing in front of an open doorway of some sort, potentially holding a gun (once again, thanks to the 30 minutes of gameplay video, we know this is Sheriff Travis!)
the next audio clip we get is another unknown voice saying, quite helpfully, “terrified kids is bad for business.” You don’t say!
under that audio, we see two different clips: one is two individuals in a car, driving off the road and through a fence (yet again, thanks to the gameplay video, we know this is Max and Laura!). The next clip is what looks to be Abigail, crawling through a tunnel of some sort while the screen shakes and rocks fall all around her.
this next section is a doozy: while we hear an unknown voice desperately plead “you have to cut it off–cut it off, cut it off!!” (I’m assuming this will be referring to a limb of some sort? That’s unfortunate) we see a whole bunch of stuff–an out of focus close-up of someone reaching out and screaming, then possibly Travis’s eyes, then a dark room in what I’m assuming is the lodge with some characters looking up before a figure drops down in front of them (from what I can piece together, it looks like Dylan and Ryan playing with fire and then it actually cuts to a different moment (yay cinnamontography!) where it looks like Bobby is looking on in horror at some sort of…not-human thing (I’m just saying, the bit of silhouette we see is crouched in a not comfy position and its skin looks like it’s seen better days) and then it cuts again to yet another moment which we can confirm thanks to the gameplay video–it’s Max being jumped by something while Laura stands a few feet away, unsuspecting). WHEW.

After that crazy montage cuts to black, we jump to Chris talking with Ryan, chastising him for telling ghost stories (maybe this is where the “terrified kids is bad for business” line actually comes into play?). Chris jokingly tells him just to “stick to Kumbaya next time” but Ryan looks confused. After Chris asks in disbelief if they don’t do that anymore and Ryan just stares at him, the trailer moves on to probably my favorite montage of the whole thing: character introductions while a, yes, creepy version of “Kumbaya” plays in the background. Amazing. 10/10.

This is, of course, another fast-paced moment, so here’s what I can glean:

a quick shot of someone whispering in someone’s ear (it’s hard to tell who either party is–however, thanks to the gameplay video, this could be Laura and Eliza)
a quick shot of an unidentified figure running behind who I think is Laura (thanks to the gameplay video) out in the woods
a shot of Chris, introducing them as being played by David Arquette (it’s worth noting that most of these shots introducing the characters and actors don’t seem to give that much away, at least on the surface–I will note some things)
a shot of Abigail, introducing them as being played by Ariel Winter
a shot of Ryan, introducing them as being played by Justice Smith
a shot of Kaitlyn, introducing them as being played by Brenda Song
a shot of Emma, introducing them as being played by Halston Sage
a shot of Laura, introducing them as being played by Siobhan Williams
a shot of Max, introducing them as being played by Skyler Gisondo
a shot of Nick, introducing them as being played by Evan Evagora
a shot of Dylan, introducing them as being played by Miles Robbins
a shot of Jacob, introducing them as being played by Zach Tinker
a shot of Travis, introducing them as being played by Ted Raimi
a shot of Jedediah, introducing them as being played by Lance Henriksen (at first I thought he was wearing a hospital gown, but I don’t think that’s it–he does look…unwell, if that makes sense. I don’t see any visible blood, but he definitely looks angry and…yeah)
a shot of Constance, introducing them as being played by Lin Shaye (this shot definitely has her talking to someone, but we don’t see whom–maybe she’s actually nice after all? Please?)
a shot of Eliza, introducing them as being played by Grace Zabriskie (please. Please tell me that the room she’s in for this shot isn’t filled with skulls. Please tell me those aren’t skulls…they’re skulls, aren’t they)
a shot of Bobby, introducing them as being played by Ethan Suplee (he looks very angry and redneck-y in this shot. Also very sweaty? WHAT WAS HE DOING PRIOR TO THIS)

The screen cuts to black again before revealing the title and other relevant release information, while an unknown voice says “hello my friend. Welcome…to the show.” (based on information from the gameplay video and the way the voice sounds, I think we can infer that this is Eliza speaking. What she’s welcoming us to and whether we want to be there or not…ehhhhhhhh)

Cool! We all good and confused now? Me too.

Click the image above to watch the video!

THE GAMEPLAY TRAILER

So like I mentioned before, IGN First released a video of the first 30 minutes of gameplay for The Quarry (so, essentially, we got the prologue).

(You can also find the first 30 minutes on the 2k Games channel and the Supermassive Games channel)

Basically: we are introduced to Laura and Max, two new camp counselors on their way to Hackett’s Quarry summer camp. Laura keeps insisting they are lost, while Max keeps insisting they are not. Suddenly, something is in the road in front of them, causing Max to swerve off the road. After crashing into (or narrowly avoiding, depending on your reflexes) a few things, Max and Laura exit the car so Max can survey any damage. While he works on that, Laura goes off investigating because she’s convinced it was a person they almost hit, and she wants to see if they need help. She finds a lot of weird things, but none of them are a person. Probably. Suddenly spooked, Laura runs back to the car and tells Max she saw something, they need to get back in the car and get out of there. Unfortunately, the engine is stalling, and this gives Travis the creepy sheriff a chance to come over to say hi. Travis asks what happened and where the kids are headed, which is when we learn that Max and Laura are one night early for camp, but Laura claims it’s okay because she called ahead and “they know we’re coming” (hey remember how Eliza’s character description is “she knew you were coming” hahahah cool). Travis insists that they will not head to camp tonight and instead will go to a nearby motel. He shows Laura the route on her map, but she uses this opportunity to learn the location of the camp as well. Totally turned off by the weird cop, Laura and Max head to the camp anyway. However, no one is there, and Max asks if Laura actually spoke with the owner or just left a voicemail (hint: it’s the latter). Frustrated, Max goes back to the car to leave, but Laura looks around a bit, spying something (or someone?) in some sort of storm cellar thing on the side of the lodge. It’s locked, so she asks Max to bring some tools over. After breaking the lock, Laura and Max head inside, where Laura spies a, um…rib cage? But instead of telling Max immediately, she doesn’t? And then Max is jumped by something. When Laura goes to him, he seems to be bleeding heavily from some sort of wound on his shoulder. Laura can decide to take him or leave him behind, but regardless: Max gets dragged away, screaming, and Laura gets injected with something that knocks her out. Travis shakes his head, shooting at something in the cellar, before yelling “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE THE HARBINGER MOTEL TO YOU??”

(Yes. The motel is actually called “the Harbinger Motel.” In this instance though, I don’t think the motel would have been a harbinger of doom and may have saved them…ah well, we’ll never know.)

Good times!

The video shows us a few things:

How the gameplay will work with the cutscenes. Like Until Dawn, The Quarry seems to mainly be an interactive movie of sorts, and it’s not shying away from that–so if that’s not your thing, you probably won’t enjoy this. Basically, cutscene segments will be interrupted occasionally with dialogue prompts or QTEs (quick time events) for various actions, whether that be dodging a branch while running from an unknown being, catching a falling phone, or deciding to look at a pamphlet or a map (WHAT KIND OF CONSEQUENCES COULD THIS DECISION HAVE I DON’T UNDERSTAND??). Basically, unless you have it set to Movie Mode, there’s never really a safe time for you to just be chilling and watching the action unfold–you never know when you’ll be called upon to make a decision. Exploration moments are interspersed with the cutscenes, allowing you to take control of a character and direct them to walk somewhere or investigate something–and fret not, there are plenty of choices in these moments as well (for example: do you snoop around in your boyfriend’s trunk to find his college rejection letter? It cracks me up that Laura asks herself why Max didn’t tell her about this but like–their character descriptions!! Laura, you’re an overachiever dating the class clown!! You apparently want to go to college together!! Of course he’d be nervous to tell you!!! Anyway)
Collectibles! In Until Dawn, you could find various totems scattered throughout the game that could potentially help (or maybe hinder?) you in various ways. In the Prologue, it looks like those totems will be replaced by tarot cards, something I am very excited about. Appropriately, the card Laura finds is the Fool–generally, a card of new beginnings and possibly walking into the unknown. Yeah, that checks out. I’m excited to see if the tarot cards will play different roles like the totems did–perhaps different suits tell you something different, or it means something to find a major arcana card rather than a minor arcana card. Tarot is often misused in media (the Death card does not actually mean death, fam…) so I’m curious to see how it will be applied here. I’m sure the tarot cards tie into the poster Laura finds that seems to hint at Eliza (ominous old woman #2) being some sort of famous fortune teller or the like. This would also explain her line (if it is her speaking) at the end of the reveal trailer when she welcomes someone to a show.
Situational hints! As Laura and Max talk with Travis, the player receives little notices on the side of the screen, alerting them to how, in this case, Travis is reacting to their choices. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the game, potentially warning us if characters don’t believe us when we’re lying to them, or letting us know how they’re feeling if they’re not being obvious about it. These hints seem to be more tied into the “smaller” choices you make throughout the game that affect relationships between characters more than anything else. Unlike the…
BIG CHOICES. There are two instances in the Prologue where big choices happen, and you can tell that’s what they are because after you decide, the screen goes a little static-y and warns you that there has been a “PATH CHOSEN.” This is super ominous and will haunt me forever, thanks. Now, unlike in, say, Life is Strange, where the big choices are super obvious because the screen freezes for a bit to let you decide, this game doesn’t seem to make it that obvious–while the choice of helping or leaving Max definitely seems to be a big choice and makes sense that it is one, Laura’s conversation with Travis isn’t built up as a big choice and yet still gives you that ominous “PATH CHOSEN” screen. WHAT DOES IT MEAN. And will you be able to see the decision tree at some point so you can know where everything may have gone wrong so you can avoid that next time? Only time will tell.
There’s something very wrong with Hackett’s Quarry…I mean, DUH. The big thing the trailer tells us is that it’s not a good thing AT ALL that the camp counselors are stuck there a night longer than they’re supposed to be. This Prologue, however, confirms that and takes it a step further–they can’t even be one night early because things still go horribly wrong. Laura claims to Travis that they spoke with Hackett and he knows they’re coming early. Even with this knowledge, Travis urges them to spend the night at a nearby motel instead. Not trusting Travis, however, (an unfortunate decision) Laura and Max go to the camp anyways, where Max learns that Laura was lying–er, well, stretching the truth. She did call Hackett to say they were coming early, but she left a voicemail and never heard back from him. So it’s safe to say Hackett doesn’t know they’re there. (which leads to a separate line of questioning–if it’s such a bad thing to be at the camp outside the allotted time, why doesn’t Hackett make more of an effort to check his phone just in case something like this happens? Surely this isn’t the first time? Unless…Hackett can’t check his phone…hmmmmmm) Deciding to investigate because that’s just who Laura is, she peers through a crack in the…storm cellar? Basement thing? I dunno, but she sees what she thinks is someone trapped down there…but they’re gone when Max comes over to see. While the camera work in the beginning suggests something running way too quickly to be human through the woods, it seems that the only being Laura actually stumbles upon when she’s out there is an old (probably human) woman (Eliza?). This is not the case for the creature in the cellar, however, as Laura and Max discover. Whatever is down there shares its space with a very unfortunate rib cage of…something, and it tackles Max behind Laura, giving him a nasty bite (?) on the shoulder. It then drags him away and Laura gets knocked out by Travis, frustrated that the two of them didn’t go to the motel like he asked. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE.
Though the release trailer hints at humans hunting humans being one of the monstrous elements, they’re also not shying away from the fact that there is something more…unnatural at play, also. Creepy as Travis is, by the end of the Prologue, it really seems like he was trying to help the kids by steering them away from the camp before they’re actually supposed to be there. It’s just a shame he came off as so unsettling they decide not to listen to him. Ah well. Horror’s gotta horror.
So what happens to Laura and Max? We unfortunately don’t know. It’s possible that they are only the Prologue characters, and they don’t survive after Travis finds them (similar to Hannah and Beth in Until Dawn). It would be a shame, of course, but it is strange that, at least in the release trailer, we don’t see them at all with the other 7 counselors (potentially–some of the clips went by real quickly). It’s also worth noting that the poster has Max and Laura separate from the other counselors as well–their faces are above the others and not included in the happy bonfire gang. However, Supermassive also makes the point to say in multiple places that the player takes control of all 9 counselors, and in the Prologue, the player never actually controls Max, only Laura. So it’s possible that Laura may be out of commission after the Prologue (RIP) but Max may come back somehow. Ironic that the one who gets dragged away by the unseen cellar monster is the one who might come back, but hey, ya never know. Honestly I kinda want a playthrough where only Max survives–even in the Prologue he was very much “hey maybe we shouldn’t be doing this” so he deserves to make it out. Am I biased because that actor was Jared in Booksmart? Yes, leave me alone.
We also learn some more specific story-details! Potentially!
1. It truly is unclear what they almost hit on the road–it looks like something hunched over? Maybe? But it doesn’t seem to react at all to the oncoming car, and it doesn’t chase after them either. Maybe.
2. There is an option to take a closer look at any clues/tarots you find, but the person playing this for the video doesn’t give us that luxury D: I get it, but also…D:
3. Besides the first tarot card, Laura also stumbles across a weathered poster stuck on a tree for something called “Harum Scarum Sideshow Spectacular.” Some of the poster is missing so we can’t make out every detail (and the player doesn’t investigate further D: ) but it looks like the fortune teller on the poster is indeed Eliza (she knew you were coming, after all!). I can’t make out the text on the left side, but the right side says “Mystery and Magic” and the bottom says “Escapologists and Enigmas.” Oh good!
4. Not far from the poster, Laura finds an “Escapology Trunk.” Again, the player doesn’t investigate further, so we don’t know what context this will have in the game, but boy if you want a fun time, google “escapology” (the practice, not the escape room business of the same name–although hey, escape rooms are fun!). It’s basically exactly what you’re thinking–the practice essentially coined by Houdini that involves escaping from often impossible situations. It’s an oddly specific thing to include here in the prologue–I’m curious to see how it gets utilized in the game. Or maybe I don’t want to know.
5. A little while later, Laura comes across what I initially thought was some sort of dilapidated lean-to in the woods but what is apparently a mutilated, absolutely ginormous CAGE. Next to this, she finds a weathered sign that reads “Side Show Act Silas the Dog Boy.” GOOD. GOOD GOOD GOOD. GREAT. AWESOME. Laura decides that’s enough investigation for today, and she leaves.
6. It’s at this point, however, that she starts hearing voices. What’s interesting is that not all of the voices are clear–that is, they don’t sound like they come from anyone actually physically in the space with her, like it’s too magical for that, it almost sounds like a flashback (or maybe a flash-forward?). At the end, however, we get a closeup of her face and a view of likely an old woman (likely Eliza) whispering very clearly in Laura’s ear: “Silas.” Laura decides that alright, enough is REALLY ENOUGH at this point, and she books it back to the car.
  1. so, okay, clearly this could be hinting at the main monster being werewolves (please be werewolves. I mean, the tagline is “you won’t believe what you’ll become.” C’MON.) perhaps stemming from the original dog boy himself, but that still begs a lot of questions: what happened to the Harum Scarum show? Why is all of this stuff from the show abandoned in the woods? And why is Eliza wandering around whispering dog boy names in people’s ears?
7. There’s a lot of weirdness and a lot of player choice in the conversation with Travis, but one key detail worth pointing out is what appears to be blood on the side of Travis’s neck. It’s never explained, of course, and maybe its only function is to add to Travis’s overall creepy aura, but if it does come into play…where did it come from? And if he’s so keen on wiping mud from Laura’s face, why does he not wipe the blood from his own neck? Hmmmm…
8. At the actual camp now, there’s a moment where Laura runs her flashlight over the map of the camp. Her light is small, so we can’t see it all at once, but lucky for you, I tried to piece the full thing together. Huzzah!

As you can see, it looks just like the map Laura finds. Supermassive you can hire me whenever, thanks.

ANYWAY this is fun because as far as I’m aware, it’s our first glance at the overall layout of the camp! The trailer includes a lot of clips from the Firepit and references to the island where the Treehouse is, but I’m curious how these other locations come into play. The Lodge of course seems to be where Laura and Max first arrive, which means the cellar thing is connected there–but what about the Boathouse? The Cabins? THE TREE WALK? (what IS a tree walk? Is this a classic summer camp experience that I just never received? Hmmm…)

It’s also worth noting that even though many clips seem to show underground locations…none of those are on the map.

OR ARE THEY??

THE SOCIAL MEDIA

The Quarry‘s official website directs you to two social media sites to keep up with updates: Instagram and TikTok. Most of the posts seem to be very tongue-in-cheek, and it’s not entirely clear if they are intended to mean anything beyond extra marketing, but let’s dive in anyway, shall we?

INSTAGRAM
1. Character posts–reels with close-ups of character faces that occasionally flash to other images, as well as reels that show one-word descriptions of the characters before flashing to something more ominous
  1. I can’t make out all of them, but Kaitlyn’s definitely flashes to a crow and Bobby at some point. Kaitlyn’s other video describes her as “the cool kid, wise, goofy” and then it ominously flashes on “lives her life out loud.”
  2. Jacob’s first video definitely flashes to that clip of him being swung upside-down, and there’s also a flash of someone smiling creepily? His other video describes him as “the jock, loud, charismatic, confident” before it ominously flashes to “obnoxious.”
  3. Ryan’s first video is hard to make out, but there’s a definite clip of him possibly covered in blood. His second video describes him as “the loner, brooding, charming, passionate” before it ominously flashes to “sensitive.”
  4. The most obvious flash in Laura’s first video is her face perfectly matching up with definitely Eliza. Interesting!! Her second video describes her as “the fighter, wise, strong, fierce” before ominously flashing to “independent.”
  5. Dylan’s first video also seems to flash to him covered in blood, and there may be a clip of Travis in there also? Hard to say. His second video describes him as “the class clown, loud, confident, funny” before ominously flashing to “hiding behind a persona.” (sidenote–can we talk about how funny it is that both Dylan and Max are described as the class clown in different ads? And if Max does get taken out in the Prologue, it’s like a “THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE” moment)
  6. Emma’s first video definitely flashes to a ouija board at some point (horror’s gotta horror) as well as?? A zombie face? Maybe a mummy??? Her second video describes her as “the popular girl, confident, charismatic, plays to an audience” before ominously flashing to “dramatic.” (YEAH I’D BE DRAMATIC TOO IF I WAS STUCK AT THIS SUMMER CAMP)
  7. Max’s first video absolutely flashes to him covered in blood, likely from the Prologue, but there’s also a flash that looks like someone sitting in a chair?? Maybe Max??? We don’t see that in the Prologue–MAX SURVIVAL 2022???? His second video describes him as “Mr. Witty, sarcastic, helpless, friendly” before ominously flashing to “dependent.” (why is helpless one of his positive words??? Justice for Max 2022????)
    1. WE ARE STILL MISSING VIDEOS FOR: Abigail and Nick, as well as the other non-counselor characters (if they get videos?)
2. Trailers–basically little trailer videos tailor-made for social media.
  1. The very first one is, as we now know, a little audio montage from the Prologue and Travis’s conversation with Laura and Max. Visually, we see the last shot of the Prologue, with the police car pulled over next to Max and Laura’s car, and Travis himself standing in front of the open cellar.
3. Extras–miscellaneous shorter videos?
  1. The first one is a video of our good influencer pal Emma, talking about the treehouse. Specifically, she mentions that this part of the island is an “unexcavated” part that “re-wilded” itself after “the flood into the lake.” She then jokes about how when she was little, she used to think islands would just “float” in the middle of the water. But, she’s “older and wiser” now and realizes that “not everything is as it seems.” Good. I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything in particular.
  2. The second is related to the podcast–a reel showing a newspaper article with the…really good headline “FOUND BODY FOUND MISSING.” The article basically states that 6 teens were trespassing in the woods near the summer camp and came across a body. They reported it to the police, who stated that once they went to investigate…there was nothing there. None of the area surrounding the supposed body location was disturbed either, so it’s unlikely someone moved it. Still, the police claim that they will continue looking into it. No names are used in the article, but can we semi-confidently say the sheriff interviewed is our good pal Travis?
  3. The third is simply called “Do you see it?” and it’s some shaky camera footage of the woods at night. Near the end, the camera holds on one tree in particular and you can see a silhouette of something slowly move behind the tree. Also the audio sounds like walking and maybe…crunching?? Don’t like that.
  4. The fourth one is a better view of the camp map!! So my map I drew earlier is completely obsolete!! Oh well. I did actually get everything pretty close, except there is an arrow at the bottom of the map that says “this way to scrapyard” which isn’t ominous at all. It also focuses on the text at the bottom of the map that says “what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger!” haha. Sure.
  5. Next is a slow close-up of a sign warning of the danger of hiking alone at night, specifically saying that many people have been injured and have even lost their lives from falls, hunting accidents, and wildlife attacks. I’m sure that’s nothing to worry about, though.
4. Podcast–lil preview vids of the podcast!
  1. The first one is a trailer for the first episode, slowly zooming in on an old-fashioned-ish computer monitor which has a sticky note in the corner that says “Rabbit Hole”???
  2. The trailer for the second video is the same, with the same “Rabbit Hole” sticky note. WHAT DOES IT MEAN??
  3. SAME THING FOR EPISODE 3. WHY THE RABBIT HOLE. WHY.
5. Images–lol who posts pictures anymore
  1. The first is the game poster with the absolute best captions ever: “who else is excited for ‘Teens Go Camping and Nothing Goes Wrong Simulator 2022’?” BAHAHAHAHAH
6. Updates and announcements–mostly for the sake of marketing
  1. The first is the announcement that the game has “gone gold” (I wish I knew what this meant, sorry fam…gamer fail)
  2. The second is a clip showing what the “horror history filter pack” does (do you wanna make the whole thing look grainy and fuzzy like a horror film from the 80’s?? GUESS WHAT genuinely a fun and cool idea, and adds to the whole idea of the game being a love letter to the horror genre)
TIKTOK
(some of the posts are the same as what is on Instagram, so I will only list the different uploads)
1. Character vids–videos that seem to be from the pov of the character themselves, but with some sort of ominous twist included…because of course
  1. Kaitlyn’s is framed as “top 5 camp counselor goals” and seems harmless at first until it cuts to “late-night sneak outs” and shows her and I think Dylan walking through the woods, probably covered in blood, and oh yeah Kaitlyn has a gun. #justsummercampthings
  2. Jacob’s is framed as “my morning routine as a camp counselor” and it goes back and forth between normal things and jokes about saving kids from various things: drowning, missing breakfast…and from the ominous cut to when Jacob is swung upside down in a trap. They do love that shot, don’t they?
  3. Ryan’s is framed as more of a self-deprecating video about how weird he is (remember: hE’s a WeiRdo someone get him a Jughead hat), making fun of stuff he does that actually is “weird” before it cuts to footage of him looking scared of something off-screen. Worth noting here is that Ryan canonically listens to paranormal podcasts–mayhaps he listens to Bizarre Yet Bonafide, setting the podcast I will talk about momentarily as a truly in-universe podcast? WE LOVE THIS TRANSMEDIA APPROACH.
  4. Laura’s video is framed as “my roadtrip pet peeves” and it’s all good and fun until it cuts to the scene where Max drives off the road.
  5. Dylan’s video is framed as “here are some really terrible jokes I will be telling at camp” and he’s not kidding–they’re bad. Worth noting is the “did you hear about the kidnapping in the woods?” joke because that’s when it cuts to ominous footage of Dylan and Ryan in the woods and Dylan screaming before we get the punch line of “they woke up.” Hahaha. Ha. Ha…
  6. Emma’s video is framed as her talking about what she’ll be doing for her last year as a counselor at the camp, and as per usual, it’s all very harmless…until she jokes about “breaking some hearts” and it cuts to her and possible Jacob in the woods while she screams “RUN!!” don’t play with my jock boy Jacob like that Emma 😡
  7. Max’s video is framed as a very cute romantic video about all the ways Laura makes him feel and it’s super cute until it shows that footage from the Prologue of Laura trying to drag him up the stairs before he gets nabbed away again. Because teenage couples can never be happy in these things!! We know this!!!
    1. Once again, we are missing videos for Abigail and Nick (and other non-counselors?)
2. Miscellaneous–extra videos, some seem to be in-universe, some not
  1. The first one is very similar to the Instagram “do you see it?” video, except it features a real human at the beginning who says “HEY WANNA SEE A DEAD BODY” It then cuts to shaky cam footage of the forest…but no dead body. Probably. The Human comes back to say “yeah I didn’t see it either and that’s the POINT.” This ties into the podcast! This does seem to contradict the newspaper article from Instagram, however, because the human here says the boy who found the body was a camp counselor and not one of six teenagers trespassing near the camp. Hmmm…Human then goes on to talk about the podcast and how it talks about the folklore of Hackett’s Quarry–mayhaps related to whatever happened to the Harum Scarum show?
  2. There are a couple “joke” videos that seem to play on TikTok trends as fun marketing–one is pointing out QTE’s in the game so Laura doesn’t smack her head on a branch, and one is Dylan and Ryan joking about Ryan’s perhaps questionable music taste. ~Character building~There’s another one featuring Emma, which jokes about how they spent weeks “babysitting kids in the middle of nowhere” and they’re ready to go home, but now the van won’t start (clip of Emma screaming). So did they all come in one van?? Awww, roadtrip buddies!!

Again, it’s unclear how much of this is key for us learning hints about the game and how much is simply for marketing, but still! Fun stuff and I love the variety of content we’re getting!

THE PODCAST

I AM SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THIS

okay SO.

As much as this game has wormed its way into my brain (in a good way) since the trailer dropped, I’ve been not so great at keeping up with all the updates? That is until I checked out the website again the other day and went “??? PODCAST????”

At first, I assumed it would be some sort of “behind-the-scenes” kinda deal with interviews with devs and actors and the like, or maybe even an in-universe sort of thing where it’s the game characters talking about camp goings-on, but it is neither!!

“Bizarre Yet Bonafide” does seem to be an in-universe podcast, but our two narrators are not in-game characters (that we know of…). Grace and Anton are your determined (or, maybe less-than-determined in Anton’s case) hosts, intent on proving the presence of the paranormal up near Hackett’s Quarry…or not.

The overall vibe of the podcast is hilarious–having one host be such a believer and one be such a cynic is perfect, and reminds me of the good old days on Buzzfeed Unsolved. Their back-and-forth banter is immaculate, and I hope it’s a preview of what’s to come from the game itself. Like yeah, sure, it’s a horror game, but a lot of the behind-the-scenes interviews features the devs talking about the humor?? So I hope we can expect more of that!

So far, 3 of 6 episodes have released, and while each episode does talk about something different, the overarching storyline involves that “found body found missing” from the newspaper article on Instagram. I’m beyond curious how this mystery will tie in with the game itself.

Episode 1 introduces us to the general vibes of the show and our hosts, Grace and Anton. It’s unclear how they came to be the ones hosting this podcast seeing as Grace is beyond excited about this and Anton frequently makes it clear he’d rather be anywhere else talking about anything else. We are also introduced to the missing body story: Grace describes the incident and it’s a lot closer to the story presented in the newspaper article rather than the TikTok video (six teenagers find the body rather than one camp counselor, for example). Grace tries hinting that mayhaps the body was eaten by some sort of ~mysterious creature~ and that’s why there was no trace of it, but Anton tries to offer that maybe, just maybe, the kids were caught trespassing and they made up the story of the body as an excuse. Grace doesn’t buy it though, and she is determined to talk with the eyewitness kid about his story. Anton seems exhausted.
Episode 2 starts with Grace reading the response she got from the kid who found the supposed body–he specifically describes a “sweet but in a bad way” smell and that he’s worried because if there’s something out there killing people, he does not want his girlfriend going to camp there. Uh-oh. The majority of the episode sees Grace and Anton discussing cryptids (primarily Bigfoot) and how likely it is (or not) that a cryptid is the bodysnatcher culprit. Hilarity ensues. One thing to note here is that Grace does mention wendigos (perhaps as a nod to Until Dawn) but the other character she goes into detail about is something called a “nix.” According to Grace, the nix likes to trick innocent youths into drowning because they’re lonely, and it’s most active on “Midsummer’s Night, Christmas Eve, and…Thursdays.” From what I could gather, there is a creature from folklore sometimes referred to as a nix (or nixie, or nøkk, depending on the region the myth comes from) and though descriptions vary, the nix is definitely usually a water spirit of some sort. Sometimes humanoid, sometimes horse-like, it depends. Whether or not the nix is friendly or malevolent also depends on the specific myth. Grace seems to be drawing her research from the Grimm version, as the creature is described as a sort of pied piper who enjoys drowning their victims once they follow their song. I couldn’t find anything about being active on Thursdays, but I mean…who’s to say? Let’s all avoid bodies of water once a week just to be safe, eh? I bring up the nix section specifically because one of the Instagram posts advertising the podcast features that same section–could a nix be just one of the monsters our counselors encounter? There’s definitely plenty of water around for them to get lured into…
Episode 3 is WEIRD. And yes, I realize that I’m saying that about an already weird podcast but no really hear me out–IT’S WEIRD. Though everything begins simple enough with the usual banter we’re all used to, things get funky strange real quickly. Grace begins by describing how she looked into missing persons reports in that area, and she found someone she believes is our Jane Doe (aka the vanishing body): Grace tells the story of two seasoned hikers, Anne Radcliffe and Ed Benson who went…missing. That’s about all we know for sure. The article Grace discusses talks about how there actually isn’t any evidence to support them even being in the Hackett Woods to begin with (which really only fuels her fire that ghosts are involved somehow. Oh yeah, last time cryptids were the culprit, and this time? Ghosts). Grace remains convinced that Anne Radcliffe is the vanishing body, but she offers no explanation for where Ed Benson may have gone (at least not initially, later she claims that Anne ghost-teleported him to another dimension). Anton seems more on edge than usual this episode, making really dark comments about the bodies on Mount Everest and how it’s entirely possible that Ed killed Anne for life insurance reasons or something, and he claims that’s much more terrifying than any made-up monster. Anton is always the voice of reason, of course, but he’s usually not this dark with his comments–usually he’s a lot more open to whatever Grace has to offer, even if he clearly doesn’t believe it. I wonder what’s up? The episode briefly jumps back to the banter we remember, with Grace now convinced that ghosts are the culprit, and she promises to do more research before the next episode. Then, things get…real weird again. Usually the episode ends with some very typical ~spooky noises~ and some information about The Quarry and the likes. This episode..does none of that. Instead, we hear about 12ish seconds of…a jingle? For a cereal or something? A cheerful voice sings out “pop pop peanut butter butter pops, pop pop pop ’em in your mouth…POP” While this seems totally and completely random, and it absolutely is, it’s also worth noting that…we’ve actually heard this jingle before: in Kaitlyn’s second character video on Instagram where she’s described as “the cool kid” among other things. Before the ominous flash of the video, there’s a brief moment where Kaitlyn says “pop pop peanut butter butter pops.” I gotta be honest…I don’t know what this means or why it’s relevant, but there ya go! If anything, it may just be solidifying that the podcast takes place in-universe–maybe that jingle is the super catchy jingle everyone knows and sings, and maybe the idea is that they’re now a “sponsor” of Bizarre Yet Bonafide (ya know, like how your true crime podcast sometimes gets interrupted by a Blue Apron ad? Yeah, like that). Maybe all it means is that this game is going to be full of ridiculously dorky characters and honestly? I’m on board with that.

There are three more episodes airing for sure, but we don’t know exactly when. We do know the titles of the upcoming episodes:

Episode 4 is called “Hangry for Revenge,” which is where I’m assuming Grace may go into cannibalism-related myths and cryptids. I’m sure Anton is very excited about that (also, here’s hoping he brings up the Donner Party since he’s been Mr. Debbie Downer lately anyway, it would be perfect.)

Episode 5 is called “No Hoax Without Fire” and…I honestly don’t know what this could be about. I’m sure there are fire-related myths and cryptids out there, but I’m personally drawing a blank right now. Unless they discuss forest fires for some reason? Mayhaps that is what happened to the Harum Scarum show? HMMMM…

Episode 6 is called “The Hag of Hackett’s Quarry” which is where I’m hoping they’ll really dive into the folklore they’ve created for the story itself. It would be a great tie-in to the game, especially since we know Ryan tells ghost stories and listens to paranormal podcasts. Maybe he talks about the Hag because he heard about it on Bizarre Yet Bonafide?? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

All in all, the podcast is delightful and it’s such a fun transmedia approach that I’m having an absolute blast. It’s a fun way to expand the universe, but the podcast stands just fine on its own as a quirky lil…thing! I can’t wait for the remaining episodes (which I will be covering here of course) and I’m excited to see how the vanishing body ties into the game…

While I don’t necessarily think the podcast has given anything away as far as the game goes, it does seem to be fitting into the general marketing theme of “are monsters or humans more scary? Can humans become something monstrous? And what does it take to write a catchy jingle that gets stuck in everyone’s heads??”

ANYTHING ELSE?

As of right now, we don’t have much else to go on. In a recent interview, the game director estimated a typical playthrough of The Quarry would be about 10 hours, which does make it slightly longer than Until Dawn, but not by much. The team is quick to point out that it also depends on the player, as some choices may make the playthrough shorter or even longer (depending on how quickly you get everyone killed?) and I’m sure some people…like me…will spend some time investigating the clues we come across (UNLIKE THE PLAYER IN THE GAMEPLAY TRAILER *COUGH COUGH*). Also, keep in mind that this game is supposed to have a whopping 186 different endings all dependent upon every single choice you make throughout the game–each character has like, 10-12 different death scenes. INSANE. So the replayability value should theoretically be extremely high.

(also–okay but how many alive scenes does each character have, huh?…please)

You BET I’ll be overanalyzing every update we get–with a little over a month to go, there is still so much to be learned!

And hopefully this will tide my funky horror side over until Nope comes out in July.

Next on the agenda (at least until we get another The Quarry update) is a masterlist of sorts for game recommendations based on length and, honestly, my personal taste. Basically, what I wish the Nintendo store would give us for game recommendations. “Hey we saw you replayed this game an ungodly amount of times, so we figured this other very similar game may interest you!”

What do you mean “why do you start and replay games constantly without finishing them” leave me alone.

Arcane Act 3 REVIEW

January 2, 2022January 3, 2022 PlayerOneLeave a comment

How are we doing

Have we recovered yet

I have not

(“But it’s been over a month and now it’s literally a whole new year how are you still not–”

“I KNOW THAT THANKS AND NO, I AM STILL NOT OKAY”)

I mean, I knew it wasn’t going to end HAPPILY or anything, but I could still dream, right? I ALSO DIDN’T THINK IT WOULD END LIKE THAT MY GOD AHHHHHHHHH

When I first finished Act 3, I sat in shock for a good like…3 full minutes, at least. To say the ending felt like a gut punch is a serious understatement–like in a good way. I mean, I thought so, at least.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I felt about it, though–my brain just like, couldn’t process everything they threw at us.

So I watched the entire thing again, naturally. Having finished the re-watch, I am now here with my thoughts.

And my tears.

SPOILER WARNING NOW IN EFFECT–PLEASE GO WATCH THIS FOR YOURSELF I AM BEGGING YOU IT’S LIKE. GOOD.

I MEAN IT WILL CRUSH YOUR EMOTIONS BUT WE ALL NEED A GOOD EMOTION-CRUSHING NOW AND AGAIN, RIGHT

ANYWAY

SPOILERS

THE STORY

Picking up right where we left off at the end of Act 2 (no time-skip this time), it turns out both Vi AND Caitlyn were taken by the Firelights, and yes, they also nabbed the crystal. Vi and Caitlyn are arguing about who’s at fault here, who was lying about what, so on and so forth, all the usual flirty banter, until one of the Firelights comes in and takes Vi away, leaving Caitlyn alone.

Vi is led to the leader of the Firelights, who is revealed to be, drumroll please….EKKO. Wow shocking none of us saw that coming omgggggg

okay anyway

Ekko is initially furious at Vi, because he hasn’t seen her since pre-timeskip, a.k.a., since the factory explosion–he assumed she was killed in the blast like Mylo, Claggor, and (presumably) Vander. Now here she is, with an ENFORCER, so he has no idea whose side she’s on. Vi manages to convince him that she never meant to make him think she died or abandoned anyone, it was just the circumstances of being knocked out and imprisoned for years ya know, and they have a really heartwarming lil hug. Vi tells him that Caitlyn is actually like, decent, and she’s completely oblivious to everything happening in the Undercity and everything bad the Enforcers are doing. Caitlyn thinks if she can get the gemstone back topside and to Jayce (who’s like, in charge now or something I guess), she can make a case for the Firelights and get help against Silco and all that jazz. Ekko is skeptical, and says he will join Cait and Vi on their trek back to Piltover and to the Council, not wanting to let the gemstone go that easily. Caitlyn agrees, and the group head out.

Unfortunately, they’re about to run into trouble. You see Jayce, in his never-ending crusade of just the absolute worst decisions but people keep listening to him because he’s pretty I guess, set up a huge blockade on the bridge. He claims it’s for safety, and to stop those nasty Undercity folks from like, blowing anything else up or whatever, but it’s a massive show of power and it’s about to cause a huge amount of problems.

For example, let’s take a second to catch up with local lanky disaster boy Viktor–we last left him on his way to meet up with Singed to get help with the hexcore. Singed basically tells him “this is gonna suck and be really painful, but you can use Shimmer to ease the pain caused by using the hexcore to heal you yayyyy” and Viktor is like “UGHHHHHHH” but he’s also really desperate, so. On his way back to Piltover (because Singed hides out in the Undercity, of course), he gets stopped at the blockade. Jayce comes over personally to bail Viktor out, but he’s FURIOUS about it. He’s basically like “I SET UP A BLOCKADE FOR SAFETY AND THEN MY OWN PARTNER VIOLATES IT CAN YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS WILL DO TO MY IMAGE” and Viktor is like “I’m sorry what now” and Jayce goes on this whole ugly thing about how the blockade is supposed to keep Undercity freaks out because they’re dangerous and can’t be trusted and Viktor just gives him this glare and is like “I’M from the Undercity.” so Jayce has to backtrack like “oh uh everyone from the Undercity but you of course you’re different ha ha love you” like. My guy.

Viktor then does some freaky science fun with the hexcore, using the Shimmer and carving various runes onto his own skin as well as this contraption thing he has around his leg, and it turns his leg all purple-y glowy. It’s not explained explicitly, but it does kind of sound like his leg might now be made of metal of some sort, if the sound design for when he walks around is anything to go bye–oh yeah, Viktor can walk now! Kind of. There’s a gorgeous scene where Viktor runs along the bank and it’s just *chef’s kiss* but it seems like he has to keep doing the runes and Shimmer stuff with the hexcore, because the effects don’t last. Or something? It’s not blatantly explained, unless it just went right over my head, which is entirely possible. I’m sure none of this freaky science fun can go wrong in any way, ha ha. Um.

We’ll check in with him later.

Back with our Undercity + Cait crew, let’s see how the blockade ruins THEIR day–as the crew works on crossing the bridge, Vi suddenly stops, saying she can’t go with them because she can’t leave her sister behind again, she won’t do it. Ekko keeps trying to convince her that Jinx is too far gone, but Vi is determined that she can reach her. Ekko and Vi hug goodbye, wish each other luck, and then Cait and Vi have this really emotional hug and it’s very sweet and uh-OH JINX IS WATCHING THEM FROM ON TOP OF THE BRIDGE. Understandably, she’s confused and upset that Vi is now friends with an Enforcer, of all people, but she believes that Vi is saying goodbye because she wouldn’t leave Jinx again, not again.

However, the blockade kicks in. Marcus is there with the other Enforcers, ready to attack Ekko, but Caitlyn desperately tries to talk them down, saying that she has proof that Silco is behind everything, they can fix this (if you’re caught up to this point, you will note that Caitlyn saying this is actually a problem because remember–Marcus and Silco are in cahoots, and so far, Marcus has not turned on Silco…probably won’t be too excited about Caitlyn being all “I HAVE PROOF SILCO IS THE BAD GUY WE’RE LOOKING FOR” ya know). Marcus has Caitlyn and Ekko at gunpoint, and Vi, seeing this, starts to turn back because CaitLYN IS AT GUNPOINT COME ON. Also Marcus does actually shoot Ekko which is rather rude of him.

Right then, the bridge is swarmed by firelights (I didn’t mention this previously, but firelights are these cute lil green glowing bugs (essentially fireflies) that were swarming around Ekko’s hideout in the Undercity–hence why their lil gang is probably called the Firelights), or at least, what appear to be firelights. One lands on the hand of one of the Enforcers, and the wings ominously click into place right before all of the “firelights” explode. The carnage takes out basically everyone on the bridge; Marcus asks Caitlyn to tell his daughter that he…right before he dies. Caitlyn is trying to pull herself up after being caught in her second Jinx-related explosion of the series so far and Vi races to her side to help her. Just then, Jinx emerges from the smoke, looking less than thrilled about Vi running to help Caitlyn. Vi looks torn between wanting to get Caitlyn to safety and help, and wanting to try and talk her sister down. Ekko steps forward then–he survived Marcus shooting him!–tossing Caitlyn and Vi the bag with the gemstone and telling them to get out of there, facing down Jinx himself.

What follows is a FANTASTIC fight sequence between Jinx and Ekko. I’ll talk about it more in the Art section, because holy cow, but I don’t think I can fully do it justice. It’s just. Wow. At the end, Ekko has Jinx pinned, but he pauses before delivering the final blow, seeing the scared look in her eyes. She uses the moment to release another bomb, leaving their fate unknown.

Hearing the explosion, Vi sets Caitlyn down and gets ready to turn back, worried, but she’s too late–Silco emerges from the smoke and picks Jinx up, meeting Vi’s eyes across the bridge. Caitlyn then tells Vi that the gemstone isn’t in the bag anymore. It’s gone. So it was “all for nothing.”

Later, Caitlyn and Vi make it to Caitlyn’s house, where Caitlyn’s mother says that she can get the two of them an audience with the Council to explain everything (remember, Caitlyn’s mother is a member of the Council. This is, sadly, relevant later). The two have a very sweet bonding moment that is just the definition of the word “peace” and I adore it. Jayce, meanwhile, is confronted with the massacre at the bridge, and he’s uh, he’s a little thrown-off. Like, barfing-over-the-side-of-the-bridge thrown-off. Like, maybe-this-whole-blockade-thing-was-actually-a-bad-idea-and-they-should-not-have-put-me-in-charge-I-just-like-science-I-didn’t-sign-up-for-this thrown-off.

MEANWHILE MEANWHILE, Mel’s mother arrives to try and get her foot in the door for some hextech weapons, and Mel is…less than thrilled, to say the least. I mean, Mel’s mother did kind of disown her when she kept refusing to like, endorse her mother’s decisions to like, behead people. Which is fair.

MEANWHILE MEANWHILE MEANWHILE, Silco is dealing with what seems to be the Undercity version of the Council from Piltover, although they’re a lot less “round table” and a lot more “when they question Silco’s leadership he almost poisons all of them ha ha.” The Undercity Council people are not excited about Jinx’s actions of late, but anytime anyone questions Jinx, Silco shuts them down immediately. Jinx is his precious murder daughter, okay? Leave her alone.

Speaking of Jinx, she’s in terrible shape when Silco takes her from the explosion on the bridge. He takes her right to Singed, telling him that she absolutely cannot die. Singed knocks Silco out so he doesn’t disturb the evil science and then he basically just injects Jinx with a whole lot of Shimmer (it’s possible there was more to the evil science than just that, but the main point is that Jinx has Shimmer now). She goes through a horrendous transformation sequence where the Shimmer messes with her body and already incredibly fragile mental state, and she keeps seeing Vi and Caitlyn teasing her, saying she’s been replaced. She survives, and now she has cool glowing purple-pink Shimmer eyes. But now she’s extra mad at Vi and ESPECIALLY Caitlyn, and soon, she’ll be extra mad at Silco.

There’s literally so much that happens, but to kind of crash-course it before we move on:

Vi and Caitlyn meet with the Council, and they seem determined to try and eventually maybe just like talk things out with Silco? They basically want to avoid war. Vi also wants to avoid war, but she tries to explain that you cannot negotiate with Silco. She wants them to charge down there, take him out, and then once Silco is gone, surely the Undercity will go back to sort of the way it was before everything went terrible!

(It’s sweet. And sad.)

Ultimately the Council is like “yeahhhhhhhh but resources, let’s chat with him instead” and Vi storms out, feeling like they’re not taking her or the problems of the Undercity seriously (and like teeeeechnically she’s not wrong). Caitlyn chases after her, saying they’ll figure something out, begging her to stay, but Vi shuts her down, saying that both Piltover and Zaun are like oil and water–not meant to be. Caitlyn says “what about us?” and Vi repeats herself: “oil and water. Wasn’t meant to be.”

And it’s totally fine and I’m not crying about it don’t worry.

Vi seeks out Jayce, convinced maybe HE’LL do something if the rest of the Council won’t. She takes on the hextech gauntlets from Act 2, and Jayce takes the big hextech hammer also from Act 2, and they go down and just absolutely decimate one of Silco’s big Shimmer mine place things. It’s another delightfully choreographed fight scene, but it ultimately ends with Jayce accidentally hitting a child with this big laser blast, and that’s enough for him to be like “HAHA OKAY NO MORE OF THAT I’M OUT.” Vi, frustrated yet again because unfortunately dead kids are really just another day in the Undercity, refuses to give the gauntlets back and stalks away.

One of the other Undercity Council members finds Sevika, Silco’s second-in-command, strongly hinting that Silco’s time as leader of Zaun is up, and maybe she should consider helping out the next leader. By this point, Sevika is definitely frustrated with Jinx and Silco’s attachment to her, so it’s unclear how this will pan out. The Council people go to confront Silco, however, and Sevika takes them out, standing by Silco till the end. It’s a nice, layered little scene that involves the audience (and even Silco) truly not knowing if Sevika will help Silco or betray him, all while he gives a lengthy speech about loyalty.

Later, Vi finds Sevika at The Last Drop and challenges her to yet another fight (as you may recall, Sevika is someone she’s had frequent clashes with but has yet to actually win against)–it’s another brilliantly choreographed fight sequence, and there’s a sweet little moment when Vi gets knocked down where she sees Vander and talks to him before she gets back up to knock Sevika out. While she does win a fight, finally, it’s unclear if that’s even what she wants anymore.

Jayce, meanwhile, takes matters into his own hands and meets with Silco. He agrees to give Silco the independent nation of Zaun that he so craves–if Silco will hand Jinx over. That’s his deal.

Heartbroken, we catch up with Silco at this big memorial statue of Vander, which he talks to. Silco seems torn–Jayce has offered him everything he ever wanted, but it’s in exchange for Jinx, the one person it’s clear he would do absolutely anything for. Jinx overhears this, of course, and seems to think that Silco is leaning towards turning her in.

We follow Jinx as she takes Caitlyn, Silco, and eventually Vi, keeping them all together for the big finale scene, which we’ll discuss later because it deserves its own section. And I’ll start crying again as soon as I talk about it so

THE ART

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGOHMYGAWDYALL THIS SHOW IS SO PRETTY

The thought that goes into every little detail is just. I can’t talk about it enough. Every time I think I’ve exhausted every possible thing I’m reminded about something else and have to go “AND ANOTHER THING”

I mean it’s. It’s the way that each and every character has a unique nose (yep–even the WOMEN!!). It’s the weight that all the character’s bodies have, so we feel each punch or each time they collide with something (Vi’s parkour scenes come to mind in particular). It’s the subtle changes in the way the characters look at things, how you can watch their eyes moving to take in different objects or people. It’s the way the audience is so seamlessly taken from Jinx’s perspective filled with static and neon scribbles and ghosts to any other character’s, seeing her from the outside instead. It’s the colors and how they come to life in each and every setting, no matter how different they are. It’s the way Jinx’s comically long braids always move the way you’d expect real hair to. It’s the NUMBER of parallels that are present all the way through, from Jinx playing with the clockwork firelights that later blow up the bridge, to Vi and Powder mirroring Vander and Silco’s last confrontation and relationship in general, to Viktor and Jayce saving each other on opposite ends of the series with that same phrase of “am I interrupting?”

It’s the way I feel like I could watch the series multiple times and still miss a ton of details–it’s the love and care you can absolutely tell went into every blissful second of this series.

Even now as I’m listing things I’m SURE I’m missing stuff that I’ve thought of–I’ll probably come back and edit as I think of more because EVERYTHING deserves to be called out, I mean it’s just INSANE.

In particular, there are 4 standout scenes for this Act that we absolutely must discuss for art purposes.

THE EKKO AND JINX FIGHT–hooooooooo boy none of us were ready for this. One of my absolute weaknesses in any sort of storytelling piece is silent storytelling, when so much is said without a single word. This fight at the end of episode 7 is ABSOLUTELY one of those. We didn’t see much interaction between Jinx and Ekko when they were kids. We knew they knew each other and probably hung out, but we had no idea to what degree (it’s hinted at in the Enemy music video, but how canon is that??). THIS FIGHT THOUGH. The transitions between the graffiti art showing two kids messing around together and the art style of the show depicting two lost kids with broken childhoods suddenly at life or death odds with each other is just…like from what I remember, there’s not any sort of exposition line that is like “oh yeah Ekko and Powder are off playing together again ha ha tryna figure out Ekko’s watch or something” but we get ALL of that from just the visuals of this fight, and it’s shown in such a heartbreaking way. I just. AHHHHHHHHHH. Okay. I’m fine. This is fine.
THE BEDROOM SCENE–please send help I will never recover from Caitlyn and Vi. These two are just like, constantly in danger or getting beat up or blown up or stalked or yelled at or who KNOWS what else, so to have this sweet, simple moment where for the first time they just got to relax and just TALK to each other and just be in each other’s presence and just ahhhhhh?? It’s beautifully done and just such a nice break for these characters, I hope Jinx gets a break scene at some point too. No? Please?
THE SHOWER SCENE–Another DELIGHTFUL moment of silent storytelling here. I mean, I’m sure there are so many layers to this scene, with Caitlyn brooding in her super fancy Piltover shower while she thinks about Vi walking away from her in the rain, telling her to go back to her fancy house and forget about her because they’re oil and water, not meant to be. And then when the blood from her leg wound starts mixing with the shower water?? LIKE THERE ARE SO MANY METAPHORS I’M PROBABLY NOT EVEN ABLE TO PROCESS PROPERLY BECAUSE IT JUST???? IT’S SO WELL DONE
THE FINAL DINNER PARTY SCENE–See the upcoming section about this which will be filled with mostly me, sobbing.

There is probably also a lot to be said for how color is used in the show–Piltover is all golds and whites, with some rich blues and reds and the occasional purple thrown in (because they have to emphasize that “holier than thou” aesthetic ha ha love the city of progress am I right). Zaun is all dark browns and blacks with blinding neon accents in purples, pinks, blues, and the occasional green (it’s a bit of a jumbled mess and somewhat disorienting, which fits). The Firelights’ hideout, meanwhile, is all incredible earthy tones, with gorgeous greens and lighter browns, tans, and warm golds and creams. The visual vibe from each location is simply *chef’s kiss* and I am living for it every second.

THE MUSIC

IT’S. SO. GOOD.

New songs from this Act include: “Misfit Toys,” “Dynasties and Dystopia,” “Snakes,” “When Everything Went Wrong,” and “What Could Have Been,” all of which are BOPS as always (“What Could Have Been” will be discussed more when we talk about that final scene ha ha oh look I’m crying again already). From the score, my favorites from this Act are “The Price of Our Freedom,” “Everyone Else Betrays Us,” “We Call Them Firelights,” “Old Friend,” “First Steps,” and “You’re Perfect,” because it’s incredibly important to me to have at least one song from every Act pop up while I’m listening that makes me sob on cue.

It’s amazing to me how they manage to blend the orchestral score with all the other like, BOPS, so seamlessly? And have it work so well?

Also did anyone else watch The Game Awards and can we talk about how they started right off the bat with a performance of “What Could Have Been” with the RED MOON IN THE BACKGROUND AND EVERYTHING HOW DARE THEY????

Ahem. Yes. We’ll get to that.

THE YIKES

Alright, alright, but before we get to all that…

Look, it’s clear that I don’t have enough good things to say about this show, and I recognize that. I’m sure I sound like a broken record at this point, but I truly do believe that we have something special on our hands with this show and I will ABSOLUTELY never shut up about it. If I had to sit through years of people screaming at me about Hamilton, y’all can put up with this, thanks.

HAVING SAID THAT–the show isn’t perfect, of course, and there’s one scene in particular from Act 3 that just…it makes me feel a lil uncomfy, and I haven’t really seen anyone else talking about it? I’m sure someone has and I just haven’t come across it yet, but nonetheless…

So one of the characters I haven’t talked about much is Sky, and it was somewhat on purpose–she’s not a League champion as far as we know, and her reactions with other characters were on a fairly minimal scale, so I just wasn’t sure how important she was in the grand scheme of things. She seemed like a perfectly delightful individual, but again, she just didn’t have as much screentime as some others so it just wasn’t clear how she measured up. Sky seems to be the lab assistant for Jayce and Viktor, and you realize fairly early on that she has feelings for Viktor. Viktor doesn’t shut her down or anything, he’s just so absorbed in figuring out the hexcore that he doesn’t even notice her attempts, but he seems fairly nice to her. Also Viktor is literally dying, so…so I mean there’s that.

One night when Viktor is hard at work sacrificing himself to the hexcore and whatnot, as you do, Sky is on her way to ask him out. When she walks in, it looks a lot like the hexcore is trying to like, suck the literal life out of Viktor (he’s not really reacting to it much, though, so it’s not entirely clear what is actually happening). Determined to rescue him, Sky runs to him and grabs him, trying to pull him away from the hexcore’s grip. However, she is unable to do so, and the hexcore like…literally incinerates her and releases Viktor, leaving him in a pile of ash that used to be Sky.

(maybe it’s like a “Little Shop of Horrors” kind of deal? Except instead of alien man-eating plants it’s magical bloodthirsty magic glowing cubes?)

Shocked and appalled, Viktor is now determined to get the hexcore destroyed. Any chance it might have of saving him from death is not worth the death of others. He takes Sky’s ashes and scatters them, and his follow-up conversation with Jayce has one of my favorite lines in the whole series:

“In our pursuit of great, we failed to do good.”

MMMM. THAT’S SOME GOOD STUFF RIGHT THERE.

But…there’s just a lot about that whole scene that is just…not great, ya know? I mean it’s frustrating any time a good side character dies too early (SEE MYLO AND CLAGGOR MY BELOVEDS), but so much about Sky’s death feels extra icky. For starters, it hits a little too close to the “fridged woman” trope, where a female character is killed off just to further the character development of the male counterpart (remember–Viktor only comes to his conclusion about the dangers of the hexcore AFTER it incinerates Sky, not after it like, literally uses his blood to grow more powerful). That trope is bad enough, but to make it worse, Sky is one of the few female POCs of the series, and she died so that signature lanky WHITE MAN Viktor can have more of a backstory.

Now, absolutely, the tragedy of her death fits in well with the series as a whole–I’m just not sure why it had to be HER, ya know? If she was always going to be a side character whose only purpose was to die so Viktor could feel guilty, why did they design her to be a woman of color? Why couldn’t they have had some white guy lab assistant or something? (we can’t have him also be in love with Viktor because he still would have to die presumably, which brings us to BURY YOUR GAYS HAHAHAHA NOPE)

In a show filled with wonderfully layered characters and stunning storytelling decisions, I don’t understand why this scene was carried out as such.

I mean, maybe she’s not actually dead or something. That would be fun! But as it stands, there’s a lot about this scene that just doesn’t sit well with me, and it’s unfortunate, because so many other things are carried out so well, and then…there’s this. And I just don’t understand why it was written and executed this way.

Sky deserved better. And so do we.

THE CHARACTERS

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but by and large one of the things I think the series does really well is present us with incredibly layered, complex characters–what affects them and their choices are their circumstances and in turn, how they react to them. No one is simply evil or good just for the sake of it–there’s more to every single one of them.

With Jinx for example–it would have been so easy to write off her violence by simply saying “yeah–she’s crazy!” and leave it at that, but they don’t. They don’t excuse her actions by any means, but they present us with a character who feels like a real person. It almost never seems like Jinx enjoys the chaos and violence she creates, because we have scenes like her visiting the old hideout from when she was a kid and desperately trying to beat Vi’s high score on the boxing machine and still not being able to. We have scenes like the one when she reunites with Vi and is scared to tell her what she’s become, all the things she’s done. More than anything, we get the impression that she’s good at what she does because she had to be. She constantly feels like she has to prove herself to everyone, because if she doesn’t get it right, she’ll be left behind again. Again, it’s never presented as an excuse for her, simply a fact.

Silco is a fascinating character, creating a perfect foil to Jinx with his calm, collected demeanor and his low-voiced threats. The Silco we see in Act 1 is presented as power-hungry, obsessive, and driven by vengeance, and yet his choice to take in Jinx and raise her after seeing a bit of himself in her changes him. He’s not a great person, obviously, but to see the love and care he has for Jinx is just super intriguing. It’s a fascinating contrast to even Viktor’s arc involving Sky–Silco is presented as a typical villain, and yet when given the chance to change the world he owns and get everything he’s ever fought for, he turns it down, all for the love of one person. Viktor, meanwhile, was so focused on the hexcore and changing his world that he didn’t realize how important the love of one person could be until it was too late for her.

(am I reading too much into this ABSOLUTELY YES next question)

Mel has been such a fascinating character the whole series, but to see a glimpse of her past and see her go head-to-head with her mother was just *chef’s kiss*. Also that moment?? Where her mom sees the last painting she did???? JUST SLATHERED IN GOLD PAINT????? I don’t know WHAT it means but I LIKE IT

THE TRAGEDY

I’m using the above picture of Ekko and Heimerdinger on purpose I swear

So often when people recommend things to me and I shy away, I get hit with the ol’ “oh it’s just because you don’t like SAD STORIES”

(ask anyone who tried to get me to watch “La La Land”)

And like–they’re right! A lot of times I DON’T like sad stories! The world is sad enough right now and I think we all could use a lot more happiness and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that!

But the caveat is also this–I don’t like poorly written sad stories. And I completely blame my obsession with Shakespeare for this. One of the things I love about Shakespearean tragedies is that they are incredibly well-written (this is a hill I will die on) AND they are really never presented without hope. What makes a Shakespeare tragedy a tragedy is because of how incredibly human it all is. Characters are layered and complex, they make decisions in ways that completely make sense with their personalities and identities (even if they’re horrible, horrible decisions), they are often victims of circumstance more than anything else, and it’s never 100% all bad all the time–there is pretty much always a glimmer of hope.

“Arcane” is incredibly Shakespearean in this way. The true villain of the story isn’t Silco, or Jinx, or Mel’s mom, or Sevika, or any one person–it’s society. It’s wealth. It’s class warfare. It’s the building tension between a rich, well-off “city of progress” and their drug-and-crime-addled Undercity whom they largely ignore. If one thing had gone differently in Vi and Powder’s story, and they never got separated and Powder never became Jinx, it would have been another kid. All of this would have blown up in everyone’s faces eventually.

The initial separation of Vi and Powder as kids, presented as Vi turning away from her sister in a moment of grief and then being unable to get back to her because Silco shows up right then and Marcus knocks her out right then absolutely reeks of the finale in “Romeo and Juliet,” doesn’t it? The unfortunate timing of it all?

Jinx being so haunted by the ghosts of her dead friends to the point where she ultimately destroys the one thing that mattered most to her is so incredibly “Hamlet” it hurts.

There is so much of each character’s story that seems hopeless by the end–Vi and Jinx are still separated, unable to come to terms with a broken childhood and how they have both changed as individuals without the other one being present. Caitlyn may have lost her whole family at the end, and her entire worldview has been shattered by the realities of the Undercity. Jayce and Viktor set out to change the world and help people in need, and instead they got caught up in glory, power, and an incurable illness and selfishness rather than selflessness. Mel is now seemingly at odds with both her own mother and her love interest, unable to protect the city she swore to save. Heimerdinger has been cast out of the city he created. Ekko has lost more friends than he can count. Singed has been cast aside for his obsession with his experiments. Sevika has lost almost life and definitely limb in the fight for a unified Undercity. Silco has presumably died. Vander has presumably died. Sky…Mylo…Claggor…

and yet

One of my most favorite and most unexpected scenes from Act 3 comes in the midst of all the other chaos and tragedy and craziness–Heimerdinger runs into an injured Ekko, and two incredibly brilliant minds connect. Heimerdinger has been so focused on how far Piltover has come as the City of Progress, it seems he too has been disconnected from what Zaun was going through in the meantime. He’s so convinced that true peace can only come with caution, and only after years and years of safety checks and living precariously, it shocks him when Ekko takes him to the Firelights’ hideout and shows him this beautiful thing he built in such a short time. I’m so excited to see where this partnership goes in the future, because it’s such an unlikely combination and yet, it makes perfect sense. Heimerdinger has seen so many friends and students come and go, all with grand ideas and plans, but none of them have accomplished what Ekko has with the Firelights, and I think he says it best when he tells Heimerdinger that you can’t just give people what they need to survive, you have to give them what they need to live.

In the midst of the broken-down, chaos-ridden, and violence-driven environment of Zaun, the Firelights have a safe haven, in the form of a beautiful tree. There’s so much metaphor there about resiliency, new beginnings, nature, I just…AAAAHHHHHH IT’S GREAT.

And it’s so important. There’s a reason why Pandora found hope at the bottom of the box, and why the best tragedies capitalize on it in some way–it’s our greatest superpower, I think. The ability to be kind even in the face of horrible things, to do good even at the cost to oneself, to keep going for the sake of someone else when you can’t do it for yourself anymore, it’s all because of hope, and hope is always there. That’s what makes these stories relatable, and what makes them and their themes last for centuries, told in all forms from a story around a campfire to a speech on a stage to a mission in a video game; it’s the hope.

Alright that’s enough profound speeches from me, time for some sobbing as we discuss…

THE FINAL SCENE

I am already crying

The finale of Act 3 (and of season 1 aaaaaaahhhh) is…a lot. I mean it’s the sequence that made me just sit in utter shock after watching it the first time for a good three straight minutes at least. I wasn’t even actively crying I was just sitting, staring at the credits with my mouth open while tears rolled down my face.

It was fine

ANYWAY

The final moments bring together a majority of our main players from the series as a whole–at the dinner scene, we have Jinx, Vi, Silco, and Caitlyn, and then on the opposite end at the Council meeting we have Jayce, Viktor, and Mel (plus the other Council members, like Caitlyn’s mother, and that one member with the cool clockwork collar).

(Sevika is notably absent, likely recovering from Vi’s bashing in the previous scene, and Ekko and Heimerdinger are busy being science buddies together and it’s so wholesome and pure and good and I’D RATHER FOCUS ON THAT BUT OKAY HERE WE GO)

So on the Piltover side of things, Jayce is addressing the Council about the deal he made with Silco for the independent nation of Zaun. They are all less than thrilled about this and to some degree I don’t blame them because literally all Jayce has done since getting added to the Council is act alone without discussing anything with any of them?? Which like, has its pros and cons because the Council is a hot mess, but that’s a discussion for another day. What I do like about this moment is that Jayce is present with Viktor, and including him, which is a nice change. Mel also ends up agreeing with Jayce, hoping that this is the best step forward for peace between the two cities before it all dissolves into war.

Meanwhile, Jinx has forcibly gathered all her favorite people back in the cannery from way back in Act 1, which was where Silco had initially set up shop, and therefore is where Jinx accidentally blew up her friends and family ha ha oops.

Jinx initially starts out just talking to Vi, and their back-and-forth here is fascinating. As Jinx slowly unveils more of the scene and more of the players involved, it becomes clear that what she’s trying to do is figure out who she is based on the people in her life (or, as it turns out, not in her life…ha ha…..*sobs*). She has created an elaborate dinner scene that absolutely brings to mind the Mad Hatter’s tea party–on one end of the long table she has Vi chained to a chair, and on the other end: Silco. Partway through she brings out a cupcake with the magical gemstone stuck on top in the frosting, and then she wheels in a chained-up Caitlyn as well.

(This is, of course, after the famous “I paid a visit to your girlfriend this morning” line which, if you’re wondering, I have also still not recovered from, either)

With all the key players in place, (this includes the replicas of Claggor and Mylo that she made, which Vi is seeing for the very first time which ha ha that’s super fun right) Jinx almost lets them have it out amongst themselves for who they want her to be. She has one chair on one end of the table with the name “Powder” written on it, and on the other end, a chair with the name “Jinx” splashed across it. She makes it very clear that it’s up to them, but especially Vi, who will leave the table after everything is said and done–Jinx, (Team Silco) or Powder (Team Vi).

Although it’s worth noting as I think back on this now that one of the fascinating elements of this scene is a massive miscommunication on everyone’s parts. Jinx is assuming that Vi wants her to go back in time to be Powder while Silco wants her to embrace her new way of life and move forward with Jinx while ignoring her past and where she came from. She’s operating from the standpoint of “they both want me to be different people from who I am currently, and I don’t know how to choose for myself.”

What Jinx misses, however, is that I think ultimately both Vi and Silco want her to just be herself–with some caveats. Vi doesn’t want her to go back to being the Powder she remembers, because it’s clear that she has grown and changed and Vi doesn’t know who her sister is anymore but she wants to know. Vi wants her to remember the good parts of her past and how those shaped her as an individual because she believes that can be more powerful than the pain and the suffering. Silco, on the other hand, wants her to embrace that pain and that suffering because it is a part of her and, in his mind, a necessary part of her. He purposefully makes all these comparisons between Jinx and himself because he sees a lot of his own pain reflected in her, and he knows that he has set his whole life around how his pain changed him.

Caitlyn is…honestly just stuck there because she had the audacity to get involved with Vi, and it’s just a poor timing thing.

But truly everyone is there just with completely different ideas of what is happening and goals and they’re all doing a terrible job at communicating what they want exactly and honestly it’s due in no small part to the fact that Jinx has everyone chained up and also she’s waving a big gun around like, yeah, that’ll certainly not help things, and it’s all just…it’s tragic.

And it gets worse.

In a moment of rage, Jinx breaks one of the glasses on the table, which Caitlyn is able to snag and use to free herself from her chair. Caitlyn has Jinx in her sights, she’s threatening to shoot, Jinx is giving her these sad puppy eyes, Vi is begging her not to shoot because that’s her sister, and ultimately Caitlyn’s hesitation costs her and Jinx is able to knock her out cold and take the gun from her. So now Jinx has a bigger gun, Silco has the smaller gun, Vi has her usual like, big muscle arms as her guns but that’s about it, and in the ensuing chaos and arguing and trying to pull her one way or the other, Jinx shoots–

and hits Silco.

Realizing what she’s done, she rushes over to him, apologizing, crying, begging, and Silco, very calmly, reassures her that he would never have given her over to them. Never.

She kneels before him, tears falling, and with his last breath, tells her “don’t cry. You’re perfect.”

It’s shocking. I mean, I didn’t necessarily expect Silco to make it through, but…I mean maybe I did? But more than anything, what that final moment with him does is solidify both what a fascinating character he was, and also how wrong Jinx was about him.

She always gets left behind. Her defining moment that sets the tone for the rest of the story is when Vi leaves her, just for a moment, except then it becomes forever. It is so embedded in her that people she loves will leave her, so when she overhears Silco talking about the deal that was offered to him, she just assumes that he will hand her over because how could she be worth more than the dream he has fought for for years and years and sacrificed so much for?

Except she was worth more to him. She was worth everything to him. He literally picked her up in the ruins of the cannery that day back in Act 1 and said “yep, I am a father now.”

All Jinx wants is for someone to love, accept, and see her for exactly who she is–not who she was, or who she will be. She wanted it to be Vi. And yet, it was Silco.

Except now he’s gone.

Steeling her resolve, she stands up and stalks over to the “Jinx” chair, which she collapses in.

Then she takes the gemstone, leaving Vi behind, and she stalks up to a sort of scaffolding where she can see the Council room in Piltover. She sticks the gemstone in the gun (it’s Fishbones, one of her weapons she uses in League and yes it’s a shark and yes it’s GLORIOUS), takes aim, narrows her eyes, and fires.

We then get this horrendous slow-motion montage of the missile Jinx fires, which is heading right for the Council, whom you may remember just finished agreeing to broker peace between the two cities.

Awkward.

Right before it goes through the window, we see a glint on Mel’s…armor? Outfit? The fancy lil gold things she wears, and she turns–we see Caitlyn and Vi stumbling out of the cannery together, seeing the missile, seeing where it’s headed…Vi is watching on in shock, Caitlyn is screaming (her mom is on the council remember so that’s cool that’s fun)

The screen cuts to black, and that’s the end.

WE ALL HAVING FUN YET HA HA HA THIS IS SUCH A FUN SHOW ABOUT FRIENDSHIP AND FAMILY AND ALSO CLASSISM AND OPPRESSION AND TRAUMA AND I AM NOT OKAY

This whole end moment with the missile is set to “What Could Have Been” sung by Sting and flourished with beautiful violin by Ray Chen and it’s juST. IT’S. FINE.

THIS IS FINE. I AM FINE.

Everything about the final scene is such a punch to the gut–like it’s not even a cliffhanger, it literally brings you to the edge of the cliff and then just sucker punches you right off of it and just when you manage to grab a branch to hold on to it comes up to you and says “no, I think not” and then breaks the branch you’re holding so that you’re falling again. We’re all gonna be in just massive freefall for the next probably couple years until Season 2, everybody hold hands, we’re going down together.

I could honestly just write an entire post about that final scene alone and dissect every little detail, because you just know an insane amount of thought went into it–partly because the team knows what’s coming next and we all have NO IDEA, THANKS FAM. Thanks for that. Love it.

Send help.

THE SECOND SEASON

So yes, we are getting season 2, it’s just likely we’re gonna have to wait quite a while. I mean, they said it took like…what, 6 years to make season 1? Yeah. Love that.

(but no actually I do because that means that season 1 gets to be as good as it is because so much time was taken for it–does it physically pain me to wait for season 2 because I will be stuck falling off that cliff until then yes it’s FINE)

All we know is from a short little announcement clip where we hear short lines from Vi, Caitlyn, and Jinx telling us…virtually nothing, honestly. Vi and Caitlyn imply they’re going after Jinx, someone’s probably gonna die, Vi insists it has to be just her so no one else gets hurt, Jinx says something like “I knew it was going to be you. It had to be you.” So…I mean I’m assuming that’s about Vi?

Or maybe that’s referring to Vander finally coming back. Who knows!

Anyway–will I post eventual updates once we have even the slightest CRUMB of knowledge??? Yes.

NO REALLY PLEASE WATCH THIS FOR YOURSELF

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again–seriously for reals, give this show a try. I mean, absolutely the tragedy of it all is a punch to the gut but like…it’s a good punch, ya know? It makes me sad but at the same time I’m like “honestly this is like…a masterpiece?”

Like in a time where we’re “looking forward to” the, what, 200th Marvel film or the next unnecessary sequel to a beloved movie that absolutely should just be left the fuck alone or the live-action origin story to, what, Ursula’s evil eels from The Little Mermaid?–it’s so genuinely nice to consume a piece of media that is just good. I realize there are money-making ties to it because it’s a LoL property but like, that’s precisely one of the reasons I feel good recommending it. Like, y’all, things that are created because they tie to a franchise that makes a lot of money can actually be GOOD. LIKE. GENUINELY.

They have set the bar SO high and I love them for it.

So, yeah, give it a shot. It’s a gorgeous show with beautifully written characters and an incredibly compelling story in a stunning setting.

Also I need more people to cry about it with.

All in all, I give Act 3 of Season 1 of “Arcane”…

5/5 EMOTIONALLY TRAUMATIZED AND STILL CRYING ABOUT IT RED MOONS!!

(Before we go, please enjoy this picture from the bedroom scene between Caitlyn and Vi:

PRECIOUS!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!)

Arcane Act 2 REVIEW

November 16, 2021 PlayerOneLeave a comment

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH

And we are BACK, folks!

As much as I have mixed feelings about the whole “wait a week to release more episodes” format (because I want it all nowwwwwwww), it was super fun walking into work on Saturday knowing that once I survived, I would have more Arcane to watch!

(is that sad? Maybe. Let me have this)

I will preface this post by saying I THOROUGHLY enjoyed Act 2–I think it did a great job of fleshing out the more overlooked key characters from Act 1 (CAITLYN MY BELOVED) while also still focusing on the ones already fleshed out nicely in Act 1. Plus we still had stellar animation and STELLAR music.

Were there questionable moments?

Yes.

Do I tentatively hope those moments were included for an actual reason and not just…to make us all feel uncomfortable?

Also yes.

(Seriously…did anyone ask for that sex scene? Anyone at all? Yeah. That’s what I thought. More on that later, though.)

Without any further ado, let us dive in!

(Also, spoiler warning now in effect!!)

THE STORY

We begin somewhat innocently with a conversation between Jayce and Heimerdinger. It starts out as a subtle way to show the audience that some undisclosed amount of time has passed–enough so that Jayce has like, forgotten how to shave? And also so that Jayce is now viewed as Piltover’s golden boy after successfully incorporating Hextech into a brand new feature for the city: the Hexgates. Heimerdinger tells a layered story to Jayce about a scientist of the past who was like, terrible at everything, but realized his students could change the world for the better. It’s a harmless enough conversation unless you’re watching it again after finishing the Act in which case o h n o

It’s apparently Progress Day for Piltover, (as well as a Bicentennial!) a day where the city celebrates its founding on the principles of science and progress in order to make the world a better place. This involves celebrations, visiting dignitaries, and a big speech where someone (usually Heimerdinger, as the city’s founder) talks about plans for the future and happiness and so on and so forth. This year however, Heimerdinger explains that the Council would like Jayce to give the speech instead, and Heimerdinger agrees with them–after all, even though Jayce explicitly went against Heimerdinger’s wishes years ago to work with Hextech, it is now undoubtedly helping the city prosper, so…yay!

We then catch up with Jayce’s buddy Caitlyn, who has joined the Enforcers against her family’s wishes (because she is a lady of good upbringing after all, why would she want to dirty her dainty hands being an Enforcer, smh). The audience learns that Caitlyn joined because she wants to make a difference, to serve the people of the city and protect them, but because of her family’s influence, she gets stuck with jobs like “standing outside her mother’s tent” and “the graveyard shift of walking around but out of any actual danger.” She’s frustrated, but congratulates Jayce on being asked to give the speech this year (after she makes fun of him for it a lil bit.)

We then finally catch up with Jayce’s lab partner and resident lanky disaster man, Viktor, who has…looked better, to put it lightly. Viktor and Jayce want to present what they are calling “the next chapter of Hextech,” a stabilized version of the tech that can put it into the hands of the common folk to help them and make their lives easier (this scene includes notable nods to both Vi’s eventual signature weapon as well as Viktor’s). Heimerdinger is suitably impressed, but he also tells them that they need to take more time perfecting it and guaranteeing its safety. This frustrates both men, Viktor in particular–this is their Hextech DREAM, after all! Later, when Jayce brings up Heimerdinger’s decision to Mel, she encourages him to throw aside his professor’s advice and instead give the people what they want. So who will Jayce listen to?

MEANWHILE, there seems to be a new gang causing trouble for both the citizens of Piltover AND the citizens (or rather, mostly just the criminals) of Zaun–the Firelights. These funky guys fly around on hoverboards of some sort, sporting angular full-face masks and wreaking havoc, though their end-goal is unclear. They interrupt a smuggling operation aboard an airship, and just when it seems like they’ve foiled the plans of the Zaun crew who are smuggling in Shimmer (remember that ominous purple liquid from Act 1 that turned people all beasty? It’s a drug problem now, and they’ve called it the very ominous sounding…Shimmer), our favorite blue-haired gal makes a comeback and destroys…basically everything.

Sporting twin braids and an arsenal of gadgets and weapons, Powder is back, but she goes by Jinx now. In the ensuing fight between her and the Firelights, she accidentally knocks the mask off one of them, revealing a girl with pink hair. It’s not Vi, but Jinx thinks it is for a moment, and it throws her off. Fractured by the memories that come flooding back to her, she opens fire on the entire ship, shooting some of her own Zaun-mates in the chaos.

Later, Caitlyn sneaks aboard the wreck of the airship to investigate on her own, sneaking some pictures of the damage and trying to recreate what happened for herself. Alas, she’s not supposed to be there (because, you know, she’s supposed to be “standing outside her mother’s tent and this blown up airship is definitely not a tent Caitlyn c’mon”), and the new sheriff of the Enforcers, Marcus (whom you may remember from Act 1 as Grayson’s hotheaded second-in-command, and also the Enforcer who knocked Vi out at the end before she could get back to Powder), tells her this isn’t her place and now she’s gonna take the graveyard shift and she’s gonna ENJOY IT.

Jayce’s big speech goes well, and he chooses in the moment to follow Heimerdinger’s advice, not yet revealing the new Hextech stuff to the general public. This disappoints Mel and frustrates Viktor, but don’t worry, soon he’ll be impressing Mel and…still…frustrating and upsetting Viktor….

wait that’s not what we wanted–

That night, one of the tents mysteriously gets set on fire. Caitlyn and the Enforcers go to investigate, hearing a little girl’s voice drawing them inside. Caitlyn recognizes some of the same imagery from the airship wreck, and yells for her fellow Enforcers to get out, but it comes too late–it turns out the little girl luring them inside is actually Jinx, causing chaos yet again. She blasts the tent and steals Jayce’s stabilized Hextech crystal thing he decided against showing to the public. Six Enforcers are killed, Caitlyn survives but with some injuries, and she uh…she also gets fired. Literally. Ba dum tssss

Back in Zaun, we learn that Jinx is a bit of a, uh, loose cannon, shall we say–Silco, who now runs the Undercity now that Vander is “gone,” vouches for her when everyone tells him she can’t be controlled, and it’s clear the two have an interesting if extremely not healthy father-daughter relationship. Because she wasn’t actually supposed to blow up an entire airship when the Firelights showed up, Silco tells her to sit out for a while and focus on her gadgets. Determined to prove herself, she blows up the tent and steals the Hextech crystal, which she presents as a Progress Day gift to Silco. (It’s around this time that we also learn that Silco and Marcus are working together, and it’s heavily implied that it’s due to Silco that Marcus is now the Sheriff–it’s an interesting juxtaposition to the previous relationship Vander and Grayson shared).

In order to patch up the problem of an entire Hextech crystal being stolen, Mel proposes that Jayce be made a new Council member in order to more effectively oversee Hextech safety. This is met with some skepticism, but it does work. Jayce attempts to enlist Caitlyn into his personal Council security (since she got fired and all), but she’s not content with a new desk job and is determined to get to the bottom of both the airship blast and the Progress Day attack. Her search leads her to a very gnarly prison, where we finally, FINALLY, see Vi again, having been likely locked up since she was first taken back at the end of Act 1 (it’s hinted that Silco told Marcus to kill her so that there wasn’t a danger of her coming back to steal Powder/Jinx from him, but Marcus wasn’t able to do so, and instead kept her locked up). Caitlyn and Vi team up, but what will Jinx do when she learns that her sister is back in town?

What will Silco do?

THE ART

This section is purely in here so I can reiterate that THE ART IS STILL INCREDIBLE AHHHHHH but also so I can give proper credit to Fortiche, the studio behind the animation and also one of the producers for the show. It’s great, it’s lovely, it makes me feel things. Thanks guys!

The glimpses of sketchy overlays from Act 1 (and seen more in the “Enemy” music video) are more prominent in this Act, which makes sense as they directly tie into being a visual representation of Jinx’s mental state. The quick cuts and overlays do a great job of helping us see into Jinx’s head a little bit, and specifically how it can really start messing with her even in/especially in the heat of battle. That first moment when she unmasks the Firelight and thinks it’s Vi? Iconic. Depressing. Beautiful.

There’s also even more of a pointed visual difference between Piltover and Zaun this Act, which again, makes sense story-wise. The elegant, muted colors of Piltover during Progress Day are a stark contrast to the almost blinding colors and sharp angles of Zaun now that Silco is directly in charge and distributing Shimmer freely. Zaun’s initial introduction in Act 1 with Bea Miller’s “Playground” playing over it wasn’t necessarily inviting, but it felt downright homey in comparison to the Undercity we’re introduced to in Act 2, and rightly so. Especially that scene showing off the transition of The Last Drop from a comforting sort of tavern into a drug-addled nightclub–it feels like a slap in the face, and it brings the audience right into how Vi must have felt once she’s finally able to return.

Visually, there’s one scene in particular we have to discuss, unfortunately, but it really deserves its own section…

THAT ONE SCENE

Have a sweet picture of baby Viktor because I refuse to include a picture of the actual scene in question.

So…if any of you have watched Downton Abbey, there’s a scene in Season 4 where our dearly beloved Anna is assaulted during a concert at the house. It’s a visceral scene and one that stays with you, for better or worse. I bring it up because the editing for the scene was an interesting choice–cuts of Anna were spliced with the peaceful music from upstairs in a jarring, almost whiplash-esque effect. It was an intriguing if divisive way to show this juxtaposition of two completely different events occurring at the exact same moment in time.

Episode 5 of Act 2 brings us a scene similar in that fashion–and visually it’s striking, which is why I feel like I have to bring it up. It’s also…very uncomfortable, and I have to hope that it was presented in such a way on purpose for whatever Act 3 has in store for us.

To set the scene–

As previously mentioned, Viktor doesn’t look so well from the very start of the Act. He seems to be limping more, he has permanent bags under his eyes, and he just generally looks more shaggy than he did previously, especially in comparison to Jayce. There’s a moment when Jayce is overlooking Hexgate transportation and shipping logs when Viktor coughs, leaving some blood on the railing (classic movie/TV trope of YOU BE DYING). He has similar coughing fits throughout the Act, but insists on waving off anyone who shows concern. Feeling snubbed by Jayce’s refusal to show off the next chapter of Hextech and by the fact that Jayce is spending more and more time in politics rather than in the science that initially inspired and bonded the two of them, Viktor locks himself away in the lab, night after night, determined to come up with something impressive. Specifically, he wants to crack what it is exactly that bonds mages to the Arcane so they can use it naturally and without danger (mages being folks who are born with the natural ability for magic, all of whom are banned from Piltover because they a city of SCIENCE and also because Heimerdinger had seen some nasty stuff from them and just wants peace, this poor tired immortal fuzzball). He works on it night after night, but can’t crack the code.

At the same time, Jayce is focusing more and more on politics and schmoozing with the Council members. Specifically, Mel. After all, she’s the one who allowed them to start Hextech work in the first place, and she’s the one who pushed to make Jayce a full new member of the Council. After Jayce decides to really step up Hexgate security in the wake of the smuggling disaster and his crystal being stolen, Mel brings to light the fact that now the entire Council is mad at him because he unintentionally ruined all of their black market deals. Ah, politics. In order to continue his push for safety while also keeping the Council on his side, he follows Mel’s footsteps and makes deals with the Council members so they can keep drinking illegal alcohol or whatever. The scary thing is that he’s good at it, too, and really impresses Mel.

The main point is that in Act 1, Jayce and Viktor became a team, they became partners. Viktor literally saved Jayce’s life when he was at his lowest point, and believed in him and his work when no one else did. Viktor risked everything to help Jayce with his research that first night, and in return, Jayce was determined to share the credit for the project (it was “OUR HEXTECH DREAM” aaaaaahhhhhhh). Act 2 shows how much that has changed. They still work and create together, but Jayce is receiving all the credit. He’s the face of the city, the only face of the city. Now it is implied that Jayce isn’t necessarily doing this on purpose, at least not currently. Before his big speech, he does say that Viktor should be up there with him, and Viktor says no, “not in front of all these people.”

(There’s a lot to unpack there when it comes to why he says no here–does he really mean yes, he wants to take the credit he is due, but he’s just as socially awkward as the rest of us and he’s hoping Jayce will understand what he actually wants and he doesn’t because bless Jayce he’s just so, so dumb? Possibly. I think it probably has more to do with Viktor’s past–he grew up a cripple from the Undercity, after all. As we see in his flashback, he’s used to being alone, possibly because he was bullied for his condition. How can he hope to stand beside Jayce, the golden boy, a perfect physical specimen of the city of progress, and claim any sort of right to those scientific breakthroughs? It’s mostly speculation at this point, so we’ll have to wait and see if Act 3 brings us the uh, robot Viktor we all know from LoL and the feud he has with Jayce.)

Though their friendship is still present, it’s clear that there are cracks starting to show, and it’s this state of things that brings us to…

that scene.

So basically, Viktor is working alone in the lab, again, desperately trying to get this new Hextech thing to work the way he wants it to. Jayce isn’t there, who knows how long it’s been since he’s been there, because he was busy schmoozing and impressing the Council members, but particularly, Mel. At the same time that Viktor has another coughing fit, his vision blurring, his blood splattering the console in front of him, Mel turns and kisses Jayce. We then experience this absolute insane sequence that, I kid you not, goes back and forth between a Jayce and Mel sex scene and Viktor LITERALLY DYING. The hextech thing Viktor has been working on reacts with his blood–that’s the key Viktor had been missing this whole time (which makes sense when you think about it–he’d been trying to figure out why mages, those born with the ability to bond with and control the arcane, are able to do just that, and it could be because they have a personal connection to it–it’s literally in their blood). He almost misses it, however, collapsing to the floor, and the crystal’s melding with his blood and changing is spliced with moments of Jayce and Mel…getting it on.

While it’s absolutely one of the most stunning visuals of the show, it also comes across as just…insanely uncomfortable. Mel and Jayce have a weird relationship already, but it never felt like it was leading towards any sort of “romance” prior to this point (and honestly, it still doesn’t feel like that). It’s also unclear if Mel actually has any sort of feelings for Jayce, or if she’s focusing on manipulating him for her own gains. I like Mel as a character–she’s incredibly clever, and we have seen her manipulate others to get her way in previous episodes (she manipulates a council vote this way in Act 1). It more seems like she likes having the golden boy under her thumb–when she’s frustrated that he left her after their “night together,” it’s unclear if it’s because she’s upset that they slept together but he left without a goodbye or a “hey call ya tomorrow,” or because she’s starting to learn that maybe she doesn’t totally control him as much as she would like. It’s an interesting dynamic, but again, it makes the whole scene with them reeeeaaaaally uncomfortable. And it’s unclear at this point if the scene is SUPPOSED to be uncomfortable, or if we’re supposed to be like “awwww yay romance” because it SURE doesn’t feel like it.

As many fans in the tumblr tag will tell you, Jayce and Viktor had WAYYYYYY more chemistry together than Jayce and Mel, and also a way more developed relationship?

(So do Vi and Caitlyn…we will absolutely get to that, don’t worry)

Now, in the story’s defense, there really wasn’t any point where it was confirmed that Jayce and Viktor even thought about being more than ~lab partners~ ya know? I mean, is it frustrating because we’re all just overly starved for queer content? Yes. Is it also frustrating because, as previously stated, Mel and Jayce have almost zero development and this whole thing came out of NOWHERE? Also yes.

On the flip side, I’m cautiously optimistic simply because the storytelling up to this point has been grand, and everything has felt in place the way it is for a reason. It is a WEIRD choice to juxtapose Viktor’s almost-death with Jayce and Mel’s sex scene, and weird enough that I’m, again, cautiously optimistic that there has to be a reason for it. I dunno what it is yet, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Anyway. Weird scene. Bleh. Moving on.

THE MUSIC

IT IS SO GOOD, ONCE AGAIN.

New bops incorporated through the episodes with the score include “Dirty Little Animals” and “Guns for Hire,” both of which are excellent in like, completely different ways.

As for the score, my new favorites include “A Bicentennial,” “She’s Here,” “Too Risky,” and “Showdown,” but ohhhhhhh bOI THEY’RE ALL SO GOOD.

Also??? Ray Chen???? Violinist extraordinaire????? Incredible. Amazing. 400/10.

THE AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Okay. Alright. Okay.

So I was vaguely aware going into this show that Caitlyn x Vi was a popular ship, but also like, there’s a zillion characters in LoL and therefore a zillion ships and again, the present lore is kind of a hot mess so confirmations on any sort of…anything are rare, really.

I would also like to state that TECHNICALLY. TECHNICALLY. AS OF NOW. THEY’RE STILL NOT. NECESSARILY. CANON.

HOWEVER.

OhhhhhhhhhhhmyWORD. I also agree with everyone saying there is no heterosexual explanation for this??? Like Vi does this to Cait in the brothel scene??? She says “you’re hot, cupcake”????? She asks “man or woman” and Cait just panics and then Vi sees her flirting with a woman no problem????? “Stop calling me that.” “But you’re so sweet…like a cupcake…”?????? Not to mention the apothecary scene where Caitlyn trades her rifle for a potion to save Vi’s life and she barely knows her I’m????? And then when Vi comes back to consciousness and she’s holding her face that way I’m?????????

Now is it very possible that we will still get no confirmation by the end of Act 3 YES. But again–I am, perhaps against my better judgment, cautiously optimistic? There’s too much there, right? SURELY THERE’S TOO MUCH THERE.

Not to mention when Jayce comes to see Caitlyn earlier on and gives her a bouquet of flowers and she LITERALLY TOSSES THEM ASIDE???????

Again, I am fully prepared to be let down. However I am also. Cautiously optimistic.

Caitlyn was also the first character I really loved in LoL so she holds a dear place in my heart and I wiLL LOSE MY MIND IF WE GET CANON QUEER CAITLYN. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.

THE CHARACTERS

JINX–I really enjoy how they’re handling her so far. Though years have passed since Act 1, she’s still very much a scared child, and circumstances being what they are, she’s fallen into very much the wrong crowd. Silco was her lifeline at the end of Act 1, and he still is here. Interestingly, he genuinely seems to care about her, perhaps because he sees much of himself in her, and she would do anything for him and his approval. Combine that with the clear moments where she is tinkering and inventing and creating, we have a very smart girl who was handed a really bad hand. Also, her recreations of Mylo and Claggor in her room (lair?) are just heartbreaking, thanks.

VI–It absolutely destroys me that Vi has likely been in prison since the end of Act 1. Seeing her come back to Zaun was heartbreaking–she still fits in, but so much of it has changed with Vander’s absence. Her teamup with Caitlyn is, of course, delightful, but her determination for her sister is what brought us all here, of course (at least initially. The tumblr tag may have you thinking otherwise). She has quips for days and muscles that are just yeah. Yep. She’s extremely likable, even when she’s making brash decisions, which is good.

CAITLYN–We saw so much more of my love this Act which was delightful!! One review I saw talked about how Caitlyn’s arc is so interesting specifically because she genuinely wants to do good and help people, but at this stage, she’s still so naive about everything. It never occurs to her that the Enforcers running the prison would be taking prisoners and beating them up for fun, because aren’t they the good guys? She genuinely didn’t know what life in Zaun was like. Her whole world is turned upside down in this Act, and her determination to actually be the good guy is what drives her forward. And probably her determination to stay with Vi and honestly, same.

JAYCE–Ohhhhhh my poor man is so, so dumb. I guess Jayce in LoL lore is supposed to be like, a total asshole, so everyone was all “aw he’s nice in this!” but we’re starting to see where that potential for asshole-ism can come from. He started out as a total science bro, but as we saw in this Act, he likes attention. He likes the power. He’s still not totally overrun by it yet, but that scene where he schmoozes with the other Council members about their illegal dealings was like, gross. He was too good at it. I don’t like it. But what’s fascinating is that as disgusting as some of his decisions were in this Act, it’s all written in such a way that it all makes sense with the way his character is right now. He made the choices he did because why wouldn’t he?

VIKTOR–OHHHHH MY POOR MAN. HE NEEDS A HUG. OR SOMETHING. I said most of my Viktor thoughts in the section about, uh, that scene, so there’s not much to revisit. The big news is that Viktor is officially dying (though we all kind of knew that) and his new discovery with Hextech, which he’s calling the Hexcore, could potentially save him. Curious to see when he transforms into Viktor Robot, as he is in LoL.

I don’t have a lot of specific things to say about Silco, Heimerdinger, or Mel, as I’ve said some things already. I will say for Heimerdinger that I think he’s really interestingly written–he’s frustrating because it seems like, as the founder of the City of Progress, he’s weirdly intent on stifling the progress that Viktor and Jayce want to make, but we know he has reasons. The Rune Wars have only been alluded to so far, but they are the reason Heimerdinger is skeptical of magic and intent on safety when it comes to science. Again, it does make him frustrating sometimes, HOWEVER…he deserved better than that ending thank you.

HEADING INTO ACT 3…

Awww man it all comes to a head on November 20, so what do we have to look forward to?

Furious that she’d been lied to about her sister’s life and whereabouts, Jinx leaves Silco and lights a flare in an attempt to encourage Vi to find her. Vi, meanwhile, has been hunted down by Silco, who is determined to get rid of her so he can keep his relationship with Jinx intact. Caitlyn and Vi manage to escape, much to Silco’s frustration, and on their way out, Vi catches sight of the flare Jinx lit up.

Meanwhile, Jayce, potentially drunk on power and I guess, Mel, is determined to make real change in the city, but Heimerdinger thinks they need to change their focus back to what made Piltover so successful to begin with–good ol’ fashioned SCIENCE. It should also be noted that Jayce is a little miffed at Heimerdinger for wanting to get rid of the Hexcore, despite its potential to be able to save Viktor’s life (maybe). Again, in Heimerdinger’s defense, he can tell the thing is downright dangerous, and let’s be real, nothing good in these stories has ever come from something that needs blood to work properly. With all of this urging him on, Jayce puts forth a vote to forcibly remove Heimerdinger from his head seat on the Council, stating that perhaps it’s time for a well-deserved retirement. At this point, Jayce essentially has the entire Council in his pocket thanks to his earlier schmoozing and sex…ing, so the vote is unanimous, and Heimerdinger is ousted. His lil face is VERY SAD ABOUT THIS AND IT MAKES ME VERY SAD ALSO.

Meanwhile meanwhile, Viktor is off to seek the help of an old ally of his from when he was a kid, someone who knows a thing or two about mutations and magic and weird stuff like that–essentially, someone who can help with his Hexcore problem. Basically as it is now, it has the power to react with living things and make them flourish, but then they die almost instantly. So that’s not ideal. So yeah, our buddy Singed is back! You may remember him briefly from the initial lab experiments with Shimmer before Jinx accidentally blew everything up, and he met Viktor when Viktor was a kid and they formed sort of a temporary friendship over a giant axolotl dragon, as you do.

Back with our main girls, just as the flare burns out, Vi does manage to reach Jinx. Right then, however, they are attacked by the Firelights. The battle starts out well enough with Jinx and Vi actually working together, but Jinx’s cracked psyche comes into play and she almost hits Vi with one of her shots. We get this really heartbreaking moment where Vi realizes that her sister didn’t just become this way because she did what she had to to survive, like she’d originally thought–some part of her actually enjoys this, so much that she can’t always control it. What’s interesting though is that even when Jinx hallucinates in the heat of battle, her body still reacts before she does, often saving her from being hit.

At the end of it all, the Firelights knock Vi out and take her away, leaving Jinx alone. Again.

SO THERE’S A LOT TO DEAL WITH.

We also still have some questions not dealt with from Act 1–for example, where was Ekko this Act? The popular theory is that he’s actually the leader of the Firelights, which would explain their inclusion to begin with, but we don’t know for sure yet. We also saw no further hint of Vander being confirmed as Warwick, and again, I’m assuming Robot Viktor has to come into play at some point.

I’ll need to watch it again, because I also can’t recall where Caitlyn or the Hextech crystal that Jinx stole ended up at the very end–did the Firelights take Caitlyn too, or just Vi? I know Jinx doesn’t have the crystal anymore and Caitlyn was trying to get it, but I think it might be with the Firelights also. Unclear, must watch again. Oh noooooooo.

There’s also a little speculation that the violinist from the concert scene where Jayce schmoozes might be JHIN which would be amazing, I love that crazy man, one of my favorite characters to play in LoL.

HAVE YOU WATCHED THIS FOR YOURSELF YET AND WHY NOT

Seriously, if you haven’t hopped aboard the Arcane train yet, I still highly recommend it. Act 2, at least in my opinion, absolutely lived up to the impressive standard Act 1 set, and expanded the world and the characters introduced to us. Plus if you get into it now, you can enjoy the countdown to the Final Act! Yayyyyy!

All in all, I give Arcane Act 2….

5/5 CUPCAKES!!

Do you…do you get it…it’s because…….because Vi calls Caitlyn cupcake…………..andthatwillbetheendofmebye

Arcane Act 1 REVIEW

November 8, 2021November 8, 2021 PlayerOneLeave a comment

HOOOOOOOOOO BOY LADS IT’S HEREEEEEEEEE

I’m qualifying this as video game-adjacent enough that it belongs on this blog so here we gooooooo!

Lemme preface this review by stating that I am approaching the series as an EXTREMELY casual League of Legends fan–I play exclusively on bots because real people are terrifying and it’s absolutely true that League has earned its reputation for, um, less than savory 5v5 human interactions, unfortunately. That being said, the world of League has fascinated me for years, and I have a grand time trying out different characters and play styles while also avoiding the repercussions of playing against other real humans.

I’m also a huge fan of the storytelling Riot occasionally throws into its events–yes, at the end of the day, League is an MMO with a minor focus on story and the like, HOWEVER…they pretty much always have some sort of event running to tease us with storytelling potential. Is it primarily to sell skins and other merchandise? Yes. Do I buy into it often? Also yes.

While Riot has certainly played around with the idea of story before, they’ve almost never (to my knowledge) really threaded it into the game itself. Yes, each champion has extensive lore, but you have to seek it out for yourself if you’re curious, and it’s not essential to the gameplay. Is it more fun with the lore?? I mean I think so, but Riot is also aware of their audience–mostly people who don’t like reading, I assume. Some events in the past have offered some alternate universes with story for the champions, i.e., Star Guardians, Odyssey, Spirit Blossom, and K/DA (I’m sure there have been others, but as a suuuuuuper casual player, these have been some of my personal favorites). While many of these events have come with their own stories and often really impressive animated clips to help hype everyone up (or music that is a real bop and has no reason to go as hard as it does???), they still haven’t shoved lore down anyone’s throats necessarily.

THAT ALL CHANGED THIS WEEKEND WITH THE RELEASE OF ARCANE, BABYYYYYYYY.

Set to release in 3 acts over the next couple weeks, Arcane delves into the lore of some specific regions involving some of League’s well-known champions, telling their story in a beautifully animated and also incredibly heart-crushing tale. Again, I’m approaching the series as someone who has delved (shockingly) very little into League lore itself (unless it involves Xayah, the actual love of my life…also possibly Ahri, unironically), so I’m going in mostly blind.

Did I have an absolutely fantastic AND terrible time as Arcane managed to fill my heart with happiness and then promptly rip it out of my chest and crush it in front of me? HEEEECCCCKKKKKK YEAHHHHHHHHHH BOIS.

Do you need to know anything at all about League of Legends before going into this show? Amazingly…NOPE! It’s miraculously built this story that both (from what I’ve read so far) satisfies long-time fans and complete newbies alike. It’s exactly what I’ve been craving from Riot for a loooooong time, and so far? I ain’t disappointed in the slightest.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

(light spoiler warning now if you’d rather go into the show totally and completely blind)

THE STORY

Arcane starts on an absolutely decimated bridge, full of bodies and fire and all manner of cheerful things. It is here we meet our (arguably) primary trio of ultimate Dad Vander, protective and too grown up already Vi, and too precious for all of this crap going on around her Powder. Through a rather haunting and mostly silent opening scene, we gather that in the carnage, Vi and Powder’s parents were killed. They both fall into the arms of Vander, who makes a point of removing these massive metal gauntlets he was wearing to fight in order to carry them both.

We cut forward a few years, and we learn that Vi and Powder now run with a lil gang of sorts with their buddies Claggor and Mylo (oh look I’m already crying ha ha we’ll talk about that later)–mostly it seems like they go on jobs to steal fancy rich things from the fancy rich city of Piltover so they can survive in the Undercity. On this particular job, however, they end up raiding some sort of science-y place, though they can’t figure out what anything inside actually does. Powder wanders into a side room and comes across these eerie blue crystals. In the panic of almost getting caught when someone tries to open the door on them, one of the crystals drops from Powder’s grasp and uh, blows up…the building…

This is fine.

The four kids race through Piltover to escape the Enforcers and the consequences of, you know, blowing up a building, but they manage to slide down a sewer to safety. For now. On their way back through the Undercity, they are challenged by a ragtag group of thugs for their treasures. Vi tosses the bag of loot to Powder while she, Claggor, and Mylo attempt to fight their way out. Powder is seen by one of the thugs, however, and runs off, hoping to keep the loot safe. Cornered, she attempts to create some sort of mechanical bomb to throw the thug off and get away safely, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work, and in order to save herself, she tosses the bag of treasures into the water, where it’s (presumably) lost forever. Claggor and Mylo (mostly Mylo) are furious with Powder for losing everything, but Vi tells them off, comforting Powder as best she can.

(Anyone coming into this with previous LoL knowledge will note that Mylo calls Powder a “jinx,” because everything goes wrong whenever she tags along, like she jinxes the jobs….for any newbies out there, just note that that’s an important moment for the future.)

While Vi and Powder reconcile, letting the audience in on the fact that Vi is best at fighting with her fists while Powder seems to be more gadget-oriented (despite the fact that none of her inventions have actually worked….yet…..oh look I’m crying again ha ha), Vander meets up with one of his pals Benzo at his shop. It’s here we’re introduced to Ekko, another well-known champion from League, so therefore, someone to keep an eye on. Vander and Benzo’s chat is interrupted by some Enforcers from Topside–it’s hinted at that Vander actually works with the Enforcers to some degree, and has been for some time. Though the peace between the Topside of Piltover and the Undercity is strenuous at best, it is present, and it’s implied that that’s due in no small part to Vander and his “partnership” with the leader of the Enforcers. Grayson, the Enforcer…captain? tells Vander that she needs to bring someone to justice for the um, blown-up building that um, got blown up. She hints that if Vander just gives her a name, any name, things don’t have to get any uglier–the Council just needs someone to blame. Vander, of course, knows that those to blame are his adopted problematic children, and he won’t give them up. Grayson warns that if he doesn’t, the Enforcers will keep coming down to the Undercity until they have someone they can blame. Because of this, Vander tells Vi and the kids that they need to lie low for a while until this can all be sorted out.

Meanwhile, on the Topside, we catch up with the person whose scientific lab thing got blown up–a young idealist and magic enthusiast, Jayce. Even though Jayce didn’t blow up the lab himself, it was still his lab and his research, and the Council doesn’t yet have anyone from the Undercity they can blame, so Jayce is brought in for a trial to determine his fate. It comes to light that Jayce is fascinated by magic, specifically because it saved him and his mother when he was younger (they were rescued by a mysterious mage whom I believe most have theorized to be another LoL champion, Ryze, although I’m not sure if that’s been officially confirmed or not yet). Piltover, however, is strictly anti-mage and anti-the-arcane (ROLL CREDITS) because of all the damage magic can do. Jayce has seen the good it can do, however, so he’s intent on combining magic and technology to be used for good, and he tells the Council as such–annnnnd it almost ruins his trial. Ultimately, Jayce is expelled from the Academy and sent to live with his parents, rather than being banished from Piltover for good. His mother is thrilled about this, of course, but Jayce doesn’t understand how she can be so okay with this whole anti-magic sentiment when it literally saved her life. He almost gives up entirely, but not before his professor Heimerdinger’s assistant, Viktor, comes to talk to him. Viktor wants to team up with Jayce because he believes this magic-technology thing could definitely work, and he wants to help. Together, they agree to break into the Academy and Heimerdinger’s office in particular in order to nab Jayce’s equipment and create what Jayce is calling “Hextech” (and if you’re even a casual LoL fan like me, you probably said “hextech” right along with him).

MEANWHILE meanwhile, in an abandoned building in the Undercity, some freaky creepy dude with a nasty scar on one side of his face and one eerie glowing eye, Silco, is working on some sort of purple serum that turns humans and animals into raging beast forms of themselves with incredible strength and, likely, bloodlust. Working together with Singed, Silco gives this purple serum to Deckard, one of the thugs who attacked Vi and the gang earlier on in order to take their loot. But what exactly is Silco’s endgoal with this serum, and how will Vi and Powder be tied into it all?

SPOILER WARNING NOW IN EFFECT!! LIKE FOR REAL THIS TIME!! If you wanna go in mostly blind, I highly recommend doing so!

As someone who, as we all know if you’ve spent any amount of time on this blog, is REALLY SUPER INTO STORY, so far this show is doing a FANTASTIC job. Act 1 essentially serves as the prologue, and it’s PHENOMENAL. It’s dark, it’s intriguing, it’s incredibly heartfelt, it does a beautiful job of rounding out its key characters and their motivations, and it pulls you in and keeps you there. Was I in pain basically the entirety of the third episode as I watched all the unfortunate events unfold? Absolutely. Did it only hit as hard as it did because the show did a brilliant job of preparing me and making me relate to and love the characters it gave me beforehand? Definitely. Did it build an intriguing world with intriguing issues that were relatively easy to follow and feel for? For sure. The unfairness of Benzo’s and Grayson’s deaths at the hand of a ruthless monster just because they were in the way? Smacks you in the face. The suddenness of Claggor’s and Mylo’s deaths just when things started going somewhat their way? Hits you upside the head. The heartwrenching mini arc of Vander giving himself the purple serum just so he can save Vi one last time rather than pursuing revenge against Silco, and then asking Vi to take care of Powder? Vi learning that Powder was the cause of the explosion that ultimately cost Claggor and Mylo their lives (and, presumably, Vander as well) despite the fact that Vi asked her to stay home and stay safe? Calling her a jinx, blaming her for everything? Running from her? Trying to get back to her but being pulled away by the Enforcer? Silco realizing he can use Powder’s pain to his advantage in his war?

I’m crying again.

I’ll be curious to see where they go from here and if the other Acts are able to pack quite the punch this first one did–Act 1 really plays like a perfect tragedy, misunderstandings and all, and I’m interested to see if they format the remaining two acts in the same way.

Also, will it make me cry more? Probably.

THE ART

Alright so first off–visually, this show is STUNNING. The best description I’ve seen so far is from people calling it “concept art come to life” and it really feels like that! The animation is smooth and wonderful, and the choppy looks of the characters really fits into the world they inhabit, both Piltover and Zaun alike. And the fight choreography?? THE FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY????

Even the slow-motion moments don’t feel out of place, giving the viewer time to really focus on and think about the horrors both they and the other characters are witnessing, whether it be Powder watching her friends getting beat up while she sits on the sidelines, or Vi watching Vander fall to the serum-ed beast Deckard. The color schemes for both Zaun and Piltover are different enough to separate the two environments clearly, but similar enough that it’s clear they’re still somewhat unified.

THE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. THE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS!!!!!!

There are also glimpses in Act 1 of these sketchy, messy overlay animations that flash in and out–if you’ve seen any of the other marketing for Arcane, including the “Enemy” music video and the Worlds 2021 Opening Show, you may recognize this. It seems that those flashes directly tie into Powder’s mental state, but we probably won’t see more of it until she’s fully transitioned into the Jinx we all know and love and are also kind of terrified of from LoL. It’s a jarring effect, but somehow it doesn’t feel out of place in Arcane’s world, which is nice.

THE MUSIC

OHHHHHHH BOY Y’ALL, THE MUSIC.

If there’s another thing I’m continually pulled in by about Riot, it’s the music. Whether it’s K-Pop bangers like K/DA or sweeping orchestral songs like their champion themes, the music is just *chef’s kiss* and I’m thrilled to report that Arcane is no exception. Just like the episodes, songs and music from the show will be released each week following each Act.

The score, composed by Alexander Temple and Alex Seaver of Mako (according to the opening credits) is DELICIOUS. It’s eerie and unsettling when it needs to be, it’s powerful and endearing at other times, I love it. And yes, I’ve had it on repeat since I started writing this review, what of it.

So far, my favorite tracks are “The Bridge,” “Just A Taste,” and “You’re a Jinx” because I really like crying.

For the other songs, so far we have the opening theme “Enemy” as well as “Playground,” “Our Love,” and “Goodbye.” All of which are complete BOPS albeit it very different ways. I am thrilled for the rest of the soundtrack–so far at least, the songs have folded really well into each episode, and I’m excited for more.

THE CHARACTERS

Like I’ve mentioned above, so far I think Arcane does a brilliant job of introducing characters and their world and having the viewer really feel for them (or hate them, depending). From Vi’s ragtag group of misfits to Jayce and Viktor to Vander and Silco and whatever was going on there, I really felt like I understood them all to some degree.

We also know already based off of trailers that we will follow (the surviving) characters into the future some years, which also creates potential for even more LoL champions to make an appearance–as of now, we have Vi, Jinx, Jayce, Viktor, Singed, Ekko, Caitlyn, Heimerdinger, and Ryze (have we determined that that was definitely Ryze? Probably? Most likely? Okay). Because the show also gives us some key characters who seem to have no tie to current League lore, it leaves us with some fun speculation about who they could become…

The two most popular theories I’ve seen so far relate to Silco and Vander–while most seem to be concluding that Vander will eventually become Warwick (for any LoL newbies out there, Warwick is not a champion I play personally, but he’s essentially a werewolf experiment man gone horribly wrong, and his lore hints at previously being a man who just wanted to settle down and do some good in the world after a troubled past, and also apparently he remembers a little girl…could be Vi or Powder?), I haven’t seen a lot about who Silco could become, aside from, perhaps, a brand new champion introduced in League at a later date.

Could be fun! Could also be extremely satisfying to go head-to-head with him in game as Vi.

While the speculation about champions in the series and who else could be introduced is a fun game, it’s also worth noting that you don’t need to know ANY of that to enjoy Arcane–the series so far is doing a great job as a standalone piece, with plenty of easter eggs for LoL fans, but mostly it’s just an enjoyable piece of media all on its own.

HEADING INTO ACT 2…

So what happened at the end that needs to be addressed and dealt with in Act 2 on November 13?

EVERYTHING IS A MESS THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED

Okay really though–

After Silco and his mad scientist group of friends kidnapped Vander, Vi, Claggor, and Mylo race off to save him.Vi tells Powder to sit this one out, because she cannot lose anyone else. Powder reluctantly agrees, but she’s clearly not happy about it–after all, wasn’t Vi the one who said she was ready?

We learn that Vander and Silco were involved in the original uprising of the Undercity against Piltover, and that Vander decided to focus on keeping the peace and Silco hates him for it, convinced that fighting is the only true way to victory. He locks Vander to a chair, but before he can perform any sort of experiments, Vi and the gang show up to the rescue.

While Claggor works on an escape route and Mylo focuses on freeing Vander from the chair, Vi challenges all of Silco’s goons, actually doing a decent job. She equips Vander’s gauntlets–a nod to the giant hextech gauntlet fists she wears in game and will eventually have on the show (I’m assuming)–and though she manages to fight off most of them, it’s almost lights out when Silco sends a serum-ed up Deckard after her.

Meanwhile, Powder decides to try her hand at gadgets one more time, employing the explosive crystals she stole in the beginning, determined to save her sister and her friends. Once she sees Deckard overpowering Vi, she knows she has to help, and sends in one of her homemade gadgets, crystal attached.

Meanwhile, one of the Council members, Mel, assisted Jayce and Viktor in getting inside Heimerdinger’s office to work on Jayce’s experiments. They manage to crack the hextech code just in time for Heimerdinger to witness it, claiming that this is dangerous and isn’t Piltover’s future, just as Mel walks in and says “well, actually…”

Back with the rest of the crew, in a really unfortunate sequence of just…all-around bad timing, it looks like Vi, Vander, Claggor, and Mylo actually would have been able to escape just in time, but right then, Powder’s crystal bomb goes off. One of her gadgets finally works, but uh…not…not in a good way.

The multiple explosions brought about by the crystal send the abandoned building reeling, setting everything ablaze–Silco shoves a wounded Vander off the edge, where he lands on a pile of vials of the purple serum. The ceiling collapses on Claggor and Mylo, trapping Vi as well. Seeing Silco closing in on Vi, Vander takes the serum himself, morphing into a beastly version of himself in order to save her. As the last of the building catches on fire, Vander and Vi manage to escape, but it seems that the fall from that height was too much even for Vander’s beastly form, and he seems to die right in front of Vi.

(It should also be noted that Singed was shown for a brief moment in the chaos, but his fate remains unknown)

Vi, reeling from losing all her friends and her father figure all at once, is interrupted by Powder–having been blasted from the building herself after the first explosion, she has seen none of the consequences of her actions thus far. She’s thrilled that one of her inventions finally, finally worked!

Confused, grieving, and frustrated, Vi takes it out on Powder, once she realizes what her sister has done. Despite Powder’s pleas, Vi walks away from her, collapsing around a corner in tears. Powder falls to the ground, screaming and crying. Vi notices that Silco has spotted Powder, but before she can go back to her, she’s knocked out by an Enforcer and taken away.

Silco, realizing he can use Powder’s pain to his advantage, promises to be there for her.

So, basically, everything is awful, and we now have the setup for why it seems Powder(Jinx) and Vi are fighting each other in the opening sequence. So where will Act 2 take us?

SHOULD YOU WATCH THIS FOR YOURSELF?

YES. I mean, if you’re a League fan, definitely. If you’re into gnarly animated series with excellent characters and worldbuilding, yes. I don’t know that I’d say this is for everyone, but I definitely think it’s worth a shot if you’re at all curious about it. Again, you don’t need to know anything about League prior to going into it, which I think is such a great selling point for it.

Time will tell if the other Acts are as strong as this first one was, but man, what a way to begin your story.

Tune in next week for “will I cry about Act 2 HAHAHAHA IS THAT EVEN A QUESTION”

In the meantime, I highly recommend you chug on over to Netflix and check out Act 1 of Arcane.

All in all, I give Arcane Act 1 a rating of….

5/5 UNFORTUNATELY EXPLOSIVE CRYSTALS!!

Life is Strange: True Colors Review

September 20, 2021 PlayerOneLeave a comment

Hey good people of the internet!

So it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that I haven’t been seeing many new movies lately…and by lately I mean for like a year and a half because ya know #pandemic and all–but you know what I have been doing a lot of??

Playyyyyyin VIDEO GAMES

So without further ado (and know that eventual rebranding of the blog is on the way), I will now be reviewing both movies AND games on here!! Huzzah!!

To start us off here, none other than Deck Nine’s latest and quite literally emotional adventure: Life is Strange: True Colors.

So let me preface this by saying that I am a big fan of the Life is Strange series, therefore I had been counting down the MINUTES until this one came out, and oh BOY WAS IT WORTH THE WAIT.

Deck Nine has given us a gorgeous, heartfelt, lovely story and I think whether you’re a longtime fan of the series or you’ve never even heard of it till now, I highly recommend you check it out (especially if you like crying. Or if you just like games with stunning graphics. Or if you like crying.)

LET’S DIVE IN, SHALL WE

(Spoiler alert now in effect!! If you’re even slightly on the fence about this but you’re thinking of checking it out, this is your sign to please do so! If you’re kind of like me and you don’t mind a bit of spoilers before heading in, feel free to continue, but trust me–this is absolutely something you should experience on your own accord. If you’ve already played it and you’re here to fangirl with me, WELCOME. LET US CRY TOGETHER.)

THE PLOT

As per Life is Strange tradition, we begin by following a totally normal character starting their totally normal day in their totally normal life (no really that’s it that’s the game I promise nothing funky going on here).

Haha just kidding–as per ACTUAL Life is Strange tradition, there’s more to Alex Chen than meets the eye. As she’s been struck with “Life is Strange protagonist syndrome,” she has a special ability that the player can utilize throughout the game. Alex has a sort of “super empathy” skill, where she can see emotional auras around other people if they’re feeling something strongly enough. As the player comes to discover, sometimes these auras affect Alex, especially in the beginning before she really explores what she can do with this ability.

Initially, Alex is pretty unhappy with this power of hers, and with good reason–negative emotions of others can sort of infect her and take over, making her react to situations in ways she maybe normally wouldn’t. As the player learns early on, this has gotten Alex into some unfortunate situations in the past.

Now though, she’s on her way to the quaint and idyllic Haven Springs, Colorado, to live with her older brother Gabe. It’s been years since the siblings have seen each other, so they’re still working out how to be around each other–it’s a situation that involves a lot of awkward and extremely heartfelt moments. As Gabe brings Alex on a mini tour of sorts around town, the player gets to meet some of the other key characters to the story–namely, the two potential love interests, Steph and Ryan (they’re both super pretty, send help).

There are hints dropped that someone in town by the name of Mac has been looking for Gabe, and that he’s…less than thrilled with Gabe right then, for whatever reason. Eventually Alex and Gabe end up back at Gabe’s apartment, above the Black Lantern Bar where Gabe works. After a (potential, depending on player choice) super cute air jam session with the siblings, there’s a knock at the door, and none other than the aforementioned Mac barges in. Immediately both the player and Alex are aware of a pulsing red aura around Mac, indicating his anger. In a tense scene, as Mac starts accusing Gabe of sleeping with his girlfriend and then attacking the defenseless Gabe, Mac’s anger sort of takes over Alex, and she shoves him off of Gabe and into the hallway, proceeding to beat the crap out of him. When Gabe tries to pull Alex off of Mac, she swings around and hits Gabe instead, Mac’s anger still controlling her.

As one can imagine, things are then pretty tense between the siblings, and after Alex has a chance to prove herself as a server at the Black Lantern and meet some more of Haven Springs’s delightful residents, Gabe and Alex meet up on the rooftop garden of the bar to talk. It’s a sweet little scene, and the player has the choice of having Alex tell Gabe the truth about her past in the foster care system, or the truth about her ability. Either way, the siblings deepen their bond, and just when it’s looking like things might start to be okay, Ryan announces that Ethan (Gabe’s girlfriend’s son) is missing.

The rescue squad (Gabe, Ryan, and Alex) make their way over to the old abandoned mine in the mountains near the town. Depending on player choice, the knowledge that Ethan is there could be offered up earlier in the chapter or only after Ryan acknowledges that Ethan is missing. Regardless, Alex manages to piece together Ethan’s likely location thanks to his genuinely delightful comic book, and Gabe says he’ll call the mining company, Typhon, to ask them to hold off on the evening’s scheduled blasts until they can locate Ethan and get out of there.

Once Ethan is located, Alex is able to use her ability to tap into his fear and encourage him to cross a ravine back to safety with her. Unfortunately, right as Ethan is rescued, warning sirens go off–indicating the imminent mining blast, despite Gabe’s call to the safety guard earlier. Suddenly a loud explosion can be heard, and a massive boulder from the ensuing rock slide takes Gabe out and over the cliff. In an instant, everything Alex had come to know that day is gone.

What follows is a truly heartfelt tale of a small town, brought together by Gabe’s sudden death. Alex can choose to use her ability to really get in the heads and hearts of the residents of Haven Springs, whether to try and unravel the truth behind Gabe’s death (was it really just an unfortunate accident?) or just to help them out and be kind. Along the way, the player can have Alex start to view her ability as more of a gift or a curse, use it to help (or not) the people she meets, and of course…romance Ryan or Steph.

It’s genuinely a tough decision okay, this game’s tagline should be “BI PANIC: THE GAME”

THE CHARACTERS

I’ve seen a couple reviews now mention that one of the things they love about this game in comparison to the first few entries in the series is that there is so much development put into the side characters, and I agree. I think the reasoning behind this is in part because getting to know the other characters can literally be woven into Alex’s story with her ability if the player chooses to do so, but also I think because it serves to really build up this whole “small town” setting of Haven Springs. This is further emphasized with the “MyBlock” app Alex can access on her phone–a far more pleasant version of the real app, “NextDoor.”

What I really appreciate about the characters in the game is that they felt real, and their problems felt real, and their relationship (or lack thereof) with Alex felt real. I’ll talk more about it in the section about Alex’s ability, but I loved how many times Alex could hear a character talking and then she could read their emotion and their thoughts and learn that what they were portraying on the outside was completely different from what was going on inside–I mean, how realistic is that??

As much as I adore the characters in this game and how they are presented in such a way that we as the player can really get to know them, I do think it does them a bit of disservice to compare them to the side characters in the previous games in the series. I mean, do we get to know the side characters more in this particular game? Yes, of course! But again, I think part of that is due just purely to the setting of this game and the tie-in to Alex’s ability. For example, in the first Life is Strange, sure Arcadia Bay (RIP, I definitely destroyed it and I will never live it down) was sort of presented as a small town somewhat akin to Haven Springs, but the focus of that game was Max discovering her powers AND rekindling this friendship with Chloe. Because of that, much of the gameplay time was devoted to having the player learn about Max’s power right along with her as well as fixing (or breaking, I suppose) this relationship with Chloe. While the setting was filled with different side characters in a town where everyone pretty much knew each other, there was more of a laser focus on Max’s ability and especially Max and Chloe’s relationship–it wasn’t as necessary in that story to focus on and build up all of the side characters (arguably). Then you have Before the Storm, which followed a very similar track. Though it took place in a small town and did have side characters who filled out that world, the primary focus was Chloe’s personal journey and her relationship with Rachel, so it wasn’t (arguably) necessary to fill out the details of the side characters. Life is Strange 2 feels even more appropriately episodic than the previous entries–each chapter is a brand new setting with brand new characters and interactions. There were definite snippets of side character interactions and getting to know them, but because the whole story was this grand “on the run” narrative, Sean and Daniel could never stay in one place long enough to really explore relationships with anyone they met (with some exceptions depending on player choice). There were lovely moments of that found family, small town aesthetic during different points–the campfire scene with the people on the weed farm and the morning spent exploring the mom’s desert community in particular are lovely. Again though, the primary focus of that game is Sean and Daniel’s relationship and how Daniel’s ability comes into play.

With this game, that sibling relationship is presented as key at first, and then that rug is absolutely ripped out from underneath the player at the end of the first chapter–both Alex and the player are flung into this town they barely know full of people who knew and loved Gabe but don’t know anything about Alex beyond what Gabe has told them. Establishing relationships with the other characters in the town is key in order to restore some of that relationship with Gabe that Alex was robbed of, but it’s also key just to provide some stability for Alex where there previously has been none. The other characters are absolutely woven into the very fabric of the game itself, and it just wouldn’t be the same without them, which is not an argument I think you can necessarily make for the previous entries in the series. Which is wonderful, and not a bad thing in the slightest! What I love about this series is just how many different types of stories can be told with this sort of format, and I love exploring each world presented to me and getting to meet the people who live there.

(“They’re not real people they’re digital characters–” “THE EMOTIONS ARE REAL, OKAY.”)

I could discuss the specific characters and their stories at length, and I will be thinking about them for quite a while still. Eleanor, Riley, Duckie, Jed (more on my problematic fav later), Mac, Charlotte, Ethan, Diane, Guy Friend and Gal Friend, Guy who lost his dog, Birdwatcher, that poor ice cream couple, THE WRITER BOYFRIENDS, the list goes on and on. By the end they all truly felt like a family for both Alex and me as the player, and I dreaded finishing the story because I knew I’d be saying goodbye to them all. I mean I know I can play it again and make different choices and see them all again but like…I had a good playthrough and felt like I really helped them, I don’t wanna change anything! This is the only problem I can see in designing these characters to feel so real–I don’t want to try out different choices because I don’t want to hurt or disappoint any of them! YOU’VE PLAYED YOURSELF, DECK NINE.

But wait, aren’t there a couple characters I’m forgetting about mentioning specifically…?

THE ROMANCE

hi yes I need some help I am desperately in love with both of them yes I know they’re not real leAVE ME ALONE

*ahem*

So yes there are love interests! As per Life is Strange tradition, of course! I know based on the choices in the world stats right now that Steph is the majority pick and listen, I get it, I destroyed an entire town so that Max could kiss Chloe and go on a roadtrip with her, I avoided the cute dialogue about the bracelet so that Chloe and Rachel could kiss, and yeah I went along with an absolutely harebrained scheme so that Sean and Finn could kiss and end up in Mexico together.

But Ryan started talking about bird calls and I was GONE.

In all seriousness, though, I sincerely applaud Deck Nine here for giving us two really wonderful and equally delightful love interests. Usually in a game like this it doesn’t take long for me to meet the love interests and immediately decide “ah yes I would like this one” and I really don’t regret sticking with that decision. But dang, it was actually really tough to choose between Ryan and Steph–different as they are, they’re both incredibly dynamic and well-built characters, and Alex has wonderful chemistry with both of them.

The problem I run into now is that I would like to romance Steph next time, but does that mean Ryan is gonna be sad?? Like it was hard enough learning that Steph was sad I had Alex say Ryan should be the hot distraction, how am I supposed to live with this??? THEY BOTH DESERVE ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD. Their absolute dedication to the LARP in drastically different ways?? I ADORE THEM.

I also just have to discuss the scene after the Spring Fest where, if you have Alex meet Ryan on the roof, the man plants a tree for her. And his delightfully awkward “…it’s a tree!” after he presents it?? I can’t. AND THEN THE ENTIRE TREE BLOSSOMS IF ALEX AND RYAN KISS AND THE HAPPY AURA FROM THEM BOTH I JUST.

I need a minute.

(I’ve seen gifs of the Steph and Alex kiss and GAH THAT SCENE LOOKS JUST AS AMAZING. DECK NINE PLEASE HAVE MERCY)

THE ABILITY

Ah yes and now a topic that is a STAPLE of a Life is Strange protagonist–dealing with some sort of funky magic power thing!!

Unlike previous entries, Alex is aware of her ability prior to the start of the game (it’s also implied that Dr. Lynn may know as well?? But we block her early on so like pfft get outta here with that). The player does have choices throughout the game that encourage Alex to consider her ability to be a gift or a curse, and she does learn to control it more as she explores using it to help various residents of Haven Springs.

I will admit that as excited as I was about this super empathy skill from pretty much the minute it was announced, I was a little curious about how it would translate into gameplay. The answer–SUPER WELL. The emotion auras provide a lovely visual cue to tap into throughout the game, and in such a story-driven experience, there’s something really lovely about being able to read into the emotions and thoughts of other characters and use that information to help them (or, in Diane’s case…guilt-trip them). I also think one of the major reasons the whole end confrontation at the council meeting works so well is specifically because of Alex’s ability and how it’s presented and used in the game.

It’s just…it’s so lovely. The introduction of it, presented as picking up on Gabe’s aura of fear at messing up this meeting with his estranged sister despite how confident he appears on the outside, is so simple but so powerful. It works in bigger moments, like Ethan’s fear of the ravine when Alex rescues him and Charlotte’s improbable anger at the various people in her life and their connection to Gabe’s death, and it works in smaller moments, like choosing to dance with Duckie through his sadness on the night of the Spring Fest and reading the miscommunication between the ever star-crossed Guy Friend and Gal Friend to help them get together (finally).

My favorite part, though? It really brings up some fascinating discussions, like previous entries in the series do. How far is too far when it comes to using these powers? Is there a time when you shouldn’t use them? And can we talk about how traditionally in these games the character with the power is part of a typically marginalized community, and how that affects their story?

I just…I really love these powers/abilities as a mechanic in these games and I have a lot of feelings about it (ha. HA. get it. because Alex’s ability is all about feelings.

k bye)

THE TWISTS

I adore how this game is like “you…you want plot twists? Twists are what you want?? WE’VE GOT TWISTS” but like not in a bad way!! I mean, again, in true Life is Strange tradition, there are plot twists a plenty and they work wonders…for the most part, I think.

The initial twist comes to smack you in the face at the end of the first chapter, and it shouldn’t be a surprise because it was all over the advertising for the game pre-release BUT JUST IN CASE THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO BACK OUT IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE SURPRISED

So anyway–Gabe’s death at the end of Chapter 1, even if you know it’s coming, still feels like it comes in out of nowhere and just hits you upside the head. I mean, it works though, because just as the situation would be in real life, it’s sudden and shocking and absolutely miserable. Extreme extreme EXTREME kudos to Erika Mori for her absolutely heartbreaking screams as Alex in that moment, I love sobbing, thanks Erika. Chapter 1 served to introduce both the player and Alex to the world of the game, and just when both of you start to get comfortable with that, it’s absolutely RIPPED out from under both of you. You start Chapter 2 in the exact same space Alex is, and it makes for a fantastic setup!!

Arguably there’s another plot twist in the form of “ohhhh man Gabe’s death may not have been an accident and the giant mining corporation might be behind it!!” but like…c’mon, we all saw that coming, of COURSE it’s the giant mining corporation. Corporate Sabotage the Game YES PLEASE.

I would argue as far as big plot twists go, the next one is the reveal about Jed and it’s closely tied with the reveal about Alex and Gabe’s father.

My mom and I sort of jokingly called out Jed as the villain early on, mostly because we learned from the first game that you can’t trust literally anyone apparently. I mean it was either Jed or Eleanor, so…

The reveal about Jed is heartbreaking on a number of levels, and it serves to really show off just how good the writing for this game is. Jed is this perfectly wonderful guy who sort of adopts Gabe and then sort of adopts Alex in turn. He’s kind and gracious to everyone, and is always looking out for others. Like Ryan says in a text to Alex following the council meeting, Jed was a hero in the eyes of everyone in town. I think it’s set up so that even if you can tell the twist is coming, even once you reach the point of “ohhhhh Jed…noo….” as he takes Alex out to the old mine, it’s still sad to watch.

It’s frustrating then to watch him during the council meeting denying all of Alex’s claims, because you know there’s good in him, you’ve seen it, and that can’t be a lie, right? The final moment between Jed and Alex, when she looks inside and lays down everything for him, putting words to thoughts he’d long since buried (liKE THE MINERS HE LEFT BEHIND AHAHAHHhhhhh…yikes…) is so incredibly powerful. That buildup to the decision to forgive or condemn him? MMMM. I’m not sure what the scene looks like if Alex condemns him because like…I couldn’t do it fam, but the way he just breaks down when Alex forgives him? Again, kudos to Stephen F. Austin for that breakdown from Jed, I love sobbing, I love it a lot.

The other twist that comes in around this time is the reveal that Alex and Gabe’s father, John Chen, was one of the miners Jed left behind in the mine. At the time of writing, it’s probably the only twist in the game I’m just…not sure about. It’s not that it doesn’t work–the reveal is well-written, the symbolism of the locket works well, and it does serve to connect why Gabe was in Haven Springs in the first place. Generally I’m just…not sure how necessary it was, ya know? John Chen is presented and remembered as like, kind of the Worst. So it’s already hard to feel that same gut punch about his reveal than it is about Jed–Jed has known these kids for way less time and has been fantastic to them, so the twist about his betrayal HURTS. John Chen was like, already not awesome and we only really saw him for part of a chapter, not the whole game. It’s hard to know how we’re supposed to feel about his death, or the fact that he carried that locket with pictures of his kids to work with him and, eventually, to his grave.

I get why the twist about John Chen is in there, I just think the game and the story didn’t need it. I mean, I really had no problem believing that Gabe was in Haven Springs just because he wanted to be there, not necessarily because he was searching for his dad or anything. I mean, I want to be in Haven Springs just because like, look at it, so I was totally like “yeah I see why Gabe lives here.” I didn’t need a different reason for his choosing to be there, but that’s just me! Again, I get why it’s in the story and it’s not that I don’t think it works, I just kinda…meh.

SHOULD YOU PLAY THIS GAME FOR YOURSELF?

YES YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES. This game is a heartwarming journey from start to finish–even when it hurts, it hurts GOOD.

That sounds weird. Anyway.

There’s a LARP section.

A LARP SECTION.

If that won’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

(Okay in all seriousness–genuinely the whole LARP thing is absolutely one of my favorite moments in a game like, ever. It’s so well done, it’s fun, the constant little updates from MyBlock are FANTASTIC, and that last segment where Alex taps into Ethan’s emotion and she sees the final battle of the LARP through his eyes and it’s like, high end fantasy RPG suddenly??? ICONIC. Absolutely joyous and wonderful, 15/10)

If story-driven games are your thing, this game is for you. If you’re a longtime fan of the series, this game is for you. If you tried but didn’t love the other entries in the series but you’re intrigued, I think this game could be for you. If this isn’t your genre at all and you’re not interested even after my telling you there’s an entire LARP section…I’m not sure why you read this far, but hi! I still think you should try this game out if you get the chance–I think it’ll surprise you!

All in all, I give Life is Strange: True Colors…

5/5 EMOTION AURAS!!

Listen we only got 4 in the game so I went with the only other color that was on that brain poster in the Silver Dragon okay

FAVORITE MOMENT:

Ahhhhhh I have so, so many…that first moment we see a happiness aura and it’s around Ryan and this absolutely goofball moment he had with Gabe, the entire fear sequence for Eleanor, the LARP (have I mentioned the LARP), the romance scenes of course, and absolutely hands down mxmtoon’s beautiful cover of “Creep.” This game is just full of beautiful, funny, and lovely moments and I can’t pick just one bye

MECHANIC I WISH WAS EXPLORED MORE:

A brand new section here for games!

There are a couple moments where it’s sort of implied that Alex can sort of “talk” to the dead, or at the very least, read the emotions of them and hear them. It starts when she sees Gabe again during a dream sequence when she’s blacked out from being shot into the mine shaft (#thanksJed), and then she hears the voices of the dead miners who were left behind, linked to the strong emotion of anger coming from the locket her father held onto. Then Alex gets to speak with Gabe again before she makes her final choice about staying in Haven Springs or leaving. There’s also a missable moment with Duckie near the end where Alex can hear the voice of his dead wife Tabitha linked to specific memories Duckie has of her. Nothing is set in stone about what this could mean, whether it be more hallucinatory in nature (she had to have gotten hit on the head so hard when she fell down that shaft!!) or explicitly linked to her powers. I think it’s super fascinating, and I wish it had been explored more!! What a lovely way to keep people with us, if Alex is indeed able to do that to some degree.

I’m not saying they should make an Alex sequel where she explores her powers more and potentially solves more mysteries by talking to dead people and/or piecing together what happened thanks to their memories linked to emotions in objects but uh……….I mean…………….

“OOF” MOMENT:

I don’t think the twist about John Chen qualifies exactly, so what comes to mind is having to pick between Ryan and Steph for the hotter distraction. Deck Nine please I am just a stressed-out bisexual, please don’t make me do this.

Also that entire foosball game I was stressed out and screaming.

GAMES TO LOOK OUT FOR:

I am, of course, absolutely thrilled for the remaster of Life is Strange and Before the Storm, so I’ll definitely cover those. Who knows, I may even NOT destroy Arcadia Bay this time!

(…I will definitely probably still destroy Arcadia Bay this time)

In non-LiS news, we are awaiting any sort of crumbs about Breath of the Wild 2 and Dragon Age 4. Whenever. We get those. Maybe.

Also awaiting news on the sequel to Oxenfree and Fullbright’s Open Roads!

And that about does it for this review! Again, I cannot recommend this game enough. In a world right now that’s full of just really depressing news around every corner, it’s refreshing to escape for a few hours and immerse yourself in a deeply heartfelt story about emotions, the people around us, and how the little things can end up meaning the most. Plus, couldn’t we all use some happy endings right now?

(Yes, it’s true, though I haven’t played through each ending myself, from what I can gather, every ending is basically happy and good, which is really kind of refreshing–don’t get me wrong, I love a bittersweet ending as much as the next person, but by the end of this I just really wanted Alex to get that peace she so deserves. Plus Haven Springs didn’t get destroyed, so no one can make fun of me for destroying another town–HA!)