Our group is together, and our host has apparently left for greener pastures. With no access to phones or any such communications, we have been effectively isolated from the rest of the world.

This means it’s time for the spooks to begin.

The thing that is intriguing me most about the experience here is how much variance is being introduced simply by Chris’s inclusion. We’re seeing multiple instances where his choices have been direct, instantaneous effects on what I am doing on my side.

I don’t recall this same level of interactivity between the two of us when we played House of Ashes. There was some, but not this much. I’m curious what the choice I would’ve made had Chris not broken me out of the trapped room might have done to the run long term.

I hope to see more of this, not just in The Devil in Me, but in future Dark Pictures games.

At last, we’ve arrived at our destination: A pinpoint accurate recreation of H. H. Holmes’s Murder Castle… on a remote island without the use of our cell phones.

Surely there won’t be anything terrible happening. Surely not.

What can I say? I’m always down to ship a couple of lovely ladies who clearly have chemistry.

We’re still mostly in the setup phase of the horror movie, so we haven’t gotten any true scares as of yet. The characters, relationships, and backstories are being fleshed out. There’s a healthy dose of conflicts inside our group that no doubt be played on as the game’s plot unravels.

I look forward to it.

A couple of months ago, an indie game started making a few waves on the furry scene. I remember little about it other than that it was well-received and that it was a point-and-click adventure of some kind. Since it was on my wishlist and on sale, this seemed like as good a time as any to give it a spin.

We’re playing Brok the InvestiGator, by CowCat Games.

I would have never thought to combine a brawler with a point-and-click adventure, but I have to admit that the two genres blend quite well together. Time with the game will tell if the puzzles will remain interesting throughout my playthrough, but the combat seemed solid from my time with it.

There’s a lot of world-building going on in this early segment, but that’s expected from a narrative-driven game. I may have poked fun at the use of Captial Nouns that can make it hard to get into, in general, I think this game does it well enough that it’s easy for people to follow.

I’ve only got one more episode of this for the quick run, but I expect to beat this game on my own time.

Our adventures with this team of plucky journalists have just begun, and already they find themselves without backup, heading into a situation that can most charitably be described as “sketchy”.

Acharky and I have our work cut out for us if we have any hope of keeping these lemmings safe.

Something I noticed playing through this section was that there were a lot of technical hiccups we experienced when both of us were playing together. Both when the guys are traveling up to the lighthouse to shoot B-roll, and when the girls are sent out to spy. The game was struggling to display Chris’s character correctly. Either they were not visible at all, or they were in the wrong position T-posing in place.

I worry that as we progress through the game, that’s only going to get worse.

Another year has passed, and Acharky and I once more find ourselves in the study of the enigmatic Curator. And with that, we’re thrown into another tale of life and death, to ferry another group of doomed souls to salvation.

Will we succeed *this* time? Or are these poor journalists doomed? Let’s find out as The Dark Duo plays The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me.

As Chris mentioned when we were recording this episode, the introduction is based on the real story of Henry Howard Holmes. Note that is “based” on the story, and not the real story. Some fictionalization is involved, much like with Ourang Medan in Man of Medan. And yet, the kernel of truth is exactly what makes the fiction so compelling.

In terms of opening sections, this is one of the stronger ones for The Dark Pictures Anthology. Even though both of us knew going in that the couple was fated to die, we couldn’t help but grow fond of the doomed newlyweds almost immediately. It’s shame they had to go out that way, but that’s just what it means to be in a Dark Pictures opening segment.

Next time, we start to learn a bit more about our actual cast.

We’ve successfully opened and traversed the Cooper Vault while keeping its contents out of the hands of the sinister Dr. M. But before we leave Sly Cooper for good, let’s take a moment to discuss the bonus content that players could unlock by finishing 100% of the game.

• “Goodbye My Sweet” Animated Short
• Canceled Sly Cooper Movie Trailer
• Dimitri Music Video
• The Evolution of Sly

I don’t have much to add beyond what I said in this video, but in general, I have a fondness for the devious raccoon that will likely never fade. As much as I would love another entry in the series, I have long since accepted that that time has long passed, and it is unlikely that any developer could live up to the expectations I would have for such a game.

It was fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end.

Of course, we may have had to brave the obstacles of the Cooper vault fair and square, but there was no way that Dr. M was going to be held back for long. Not when he’s spent so much time lusting over this fortune.

It’s only natural that he’s our final obstacle.

The strangest part of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves is how its themes and moral message ended up playing out for the franchise on a meta-level. On the whole, this is a game about being willing to let go of the past, even if one values and appreciates it, because holding onto it deprives one of the chances to move on to bigger and better things. As the antagonist, Dr. M clings to the Cooper fortune despite all reason and dies as a direct result. Meanwhile, our gang, including Sly, by putting it all behind them, are all able to move on to new pursuits.

This is intentional because while the team Sucker Punch loved (and still loves) the franchise and the time spent creating it, they were itching to move on to new horizons. They would go on to create two amazing new franchises with inFamous on the PS3 and PS4, and Ghosts of Tsushima on the PS4 and PS5. Both of them would go on to receive huge critical and commercial acclaim due to their individual strengths. And while they did, Sly may not have gotten any new games or media, but people held a fondness for him and his friends.

And yet, it didn’t end there. After porting the PS2 entries over to PS3, Sunzaru Games developed the fourth game in the Sly Cooper franchise: Thieves in Time. Rather than letting the franchise’s finale stand, on such a high note at that, a new official Sly Cooper game was in the pipe, with all of the original cast for Sly, Bentley, and Murray making a return. In hindsight, it’s not a bad game by any stretch, but it is easily the weakest entry in the series, with some plot twists and reveals that fans are unhappy with to this day.

It’s almost poetic how the original trilogy ended with the theme of needing to move on but failed to fully commit to that same message in real life. As a result, it created a middling game that fans regularly contest. While it’s not impossible to revive an old franchise with a new development team and fresh ideas, as Crash 4 can readily attest, it’s extremely difficult to do so. Sunzaru sadly couldn’t quite pull it together.

We’re done with the main game, and we have one episode left. Next time, we’ll take a bit about the extras that we’re included for those of us who achieved 100% of the optional objectives.

At last, we have cracked open the Cooper Vault. Sadly, though Sly wished to bring his best friends with him for the adventure, he must continue on alone.

And so, we explore the vault for the game’s final platforming sequence. May it be one for the books.

This is perhaps one of the strongest notes for the platforming in this game to end on. Not only does it feel suitable grandiose to physically traverse the Cooper family history, up to the present day, in playable form, but there’s an underlying tragedy that is felt just as palpably as that grandiosity.

Earlier, back in the Panda King segment, I spoke of Sly’s ancestry as a weight on him, and this level gives that weight a physical presence. As we navigate the traps and obstacles Sly’s ancestors left to keep non-Coopers out of the vault, we can almost feel Sly’s struggle and desire to measure up to the legacy laid out before him. With each ancestor’s trap we overcome, he gets that much closer to proving that he’s a worthy successor to the name.

Yet at the same time, the vault itself has clearly seen better days. What must have once been a beautiful monument to the family line has decayed to ruin over the years. Great stores of wealth and splendor have been left to fester and rot, worthlessly hidden away from the rest of the world, unable to be of use to anyone at all. In that sense, this cave is a tomb as much as it is a vault. It is almost like peeling back a layer of gold on a piece of jewelry, to be greeted by the pyrite core underneath.

While it still remains just as magnificent, there is an element of sorrow that is felt while beholding the place. For that reason, it beautifully encapsulates the themes that rest at the core of the game.

At last, we’ve assembled the full crew necessary to tackle the Cooper Vault job. With Dr. M still squatting on the island, looking to take the fortune for himself, it will be tough. And yet, with the talent we’ve gathered, we just might be able to pull it off…?

Wait. Crap. I remember now. We were in the middle of being crushed to death by a giant mutant. Guess it was just too good to be true.

Or was it?

Of course, Sly gets rescued immediately after we return to the scene from the introduction, but his injuries give us enough of an excuse to give all of our new playable characters a chance to shine, for the most part.

We already mentioned how Dimitri only gets used exactly twice over the entire game, something I was at least aware of even at the time. What somehow escaped me is that the Panda King doesn’t get a playable section at all in the finale, even if he does get a few moments to utilize his fireworks. I’m honestly a little shocked that escaped my notice in the numerous times I’ve played and replayed this game.

Fortunately, all of these sections are exactly the right length where they introduce something new to break up the normal gameplay without overstaying their welcome. It’s a sequence that’s paced well, showing how the cast has come together as a unit.

Now that they’ve gotten us into the vault, we’ll have all of the next episode to collect our inheritance.

Captain LeFwee, this so-called “smartest man on the seven seas”, may have gotten the better of us this day, but we’re nothing if not tenacious. We’ll bite back, and harder.

Let’s give him a show he won’t soon forget.

This particular segment just so happens to have many of my favorite missions in the entire game one after the other. The Kraken fight in particular is a great set piece, where both the Panda King and Sly get to shine. And then to pay it off by letting us play as that same sea monster, turning it against the scurvy dogs that we’ve been fighting this whole time… chef’s kiss.

Speaking of payoffs, Penelope’s duel against LeFwee himself is another, both for her and Bentley’s character arc and the time-honored tradition in pirate fiction of hypercompetent female leads who are roughly twenty times as capable as their male counterparts. There’s no better way to send off a pirate episode than such a daring duel on board a ship out to sea.

With that taken care of, and our final member on the team, we’re ready to finish this game next week.