Another Elusive Target has been activated, this time in the mansion of Dartmoor. Our targets, for there are two of them, are guilty of defiling the dead and feeding the meat from their corpses to unsuspecting patrons.
Let us make sure their latest meal is their last.
With what time we have remaining, we also start the Gluttony contract, as the fifth of seven deadly sins crosses our path.
I’m still amazed that I’ve been playing these Hitman games since 2016, and only now am I learning that we can use our gun while standing on a ledge outside a window. I’m still surprised that completing this target was so easy. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve memorized a map.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve had just playing through a solid, well made and paced platformer. Sure, it’s only three or four hours, but those hours are phenomenal.
It’s a perfect excuse both to bask in some good ol’ PlayStation nostalgia and talk about old gaming trivia.
In a way, this is a game that was almost custom-designed for me and people like me. I grew up mostly on PlayStation, not even dipping my toes into PC gaming until about 2015. As much as I enjoyed playing Halo with my friends, I could do that over at their house and PlayStation always had the better exclusive games like Ratchet and Clank. This means that I’m getting a lot out of these references to old titles, basking in the nostalgia.
It also helps that it’s an old-school platformer like the ones I’ve always enjoyed growing up too. Certainly, the variety of gameplay types on display is purposefully crafted to showcase the features of the new controller, but that doesn’t take away from the joy of using those mechanics. Further, all of these playstyles keep the play fresh and interesting through the playthrough.
Not that we’ve spent confronting eldritch and other horrors out to kill us that it’s about time we deserve some time in peace. And that’s why I’ve chosen to play this little game: Astro’s Playroom. It comes pre-installed on every PS5, ostensible as a tech demo for the features on the new controller.
Despite that, it’s a surprisingly good platforming game. Even better, there are a ton of nods to the history of PlayStation from across the years that are just perfect for people like me.
I’m excited to share it with you.
One of the joys of playing a game like this, especially with an audience, is the ability to recount the personal stories I have with some of the games being referenced and artifacts that we’ve found. Either we get to bond over our shared history, or by sharing pieces of our past with each other.
It’s also a great way to remind myself of my inevitable demise to the ever-encroaching vortex of time and space… if I were so inclined.
There are days where one simply needs to beat up monsters in order to deal with their inner turmoil and get paid to do it. And on other days, you simply want to hang out with your enby goth scythe.
Thankfully for me, Boyfriend Dungeon allows me to do both. Let me show you what I mean.
It has come to my attention that Rowan is non-binary. I apologize for the confusion and mistake in the video.
Having said that, one of the things this game has become known for was the controversy surrounding its content warning. Previously, the game opened with a warning that users “may” be subject to depictions of stalking, kidnapping, and emotional abuse. The language implied that it was possible to play while avoiding those subjects, but that is not the case as those are major themes and plot points. Since then, the content warning had been changed to reflect those criticisms.
The thing that sucks most about that is that while the criticism is valid, it overshadows all of the many positive game design choices made to maximize inclusiveness, ensuring as many people can truly enjoy the game as possible. LauraKBuzz already spoke at length about it on her Access-Ability show on YouTube, and rather than repeat her points I’ll encourage you to watch her video.
What I do want to talk about is how the game puts in the extra effort to include people that are otherwise criminally underserved in the dating sim genre. I am an aromatic and asexual man, which means I don’t experience romantic or sexual attraction the way most other people do, even among the LGBTQA+ spectrum. While I don’t balk at them, I won’t lie that there’s a part of me that gets uncomfortable taking part in even fictional romances. Despite being a dating sim, Boyfriend Dungeon affords me some peace of mind by allowing me to stay platonic with the various weapons in my arsenal.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have a friend who is both non-binary and polyamorous. Not only does the game allow them to use they/them pronouns, but there are several non-binary people who are datable options. Additionally, the game allows players to date multiple people at the same time, without passing judgment upon the player for doing so. Rather than forcing players to choose one character as their destined soulmate, Boyfriend Dungeon is perfectly content letting us date any number of them, 0 or more.
I’d like more dating sims and games that include dating sim elements, like Persona as a capital offender, to allow for this increased range of options available to the player. They’d be better experiences for it.
Addendum: During this episode’s recording, I mention that hate raids have become common on Twitch of late, and that the company isn’t doing enough to stop them. It is for this reason that no stream has occurred on #ADayOffTwitch (the date of publishing), in support of the movement against this surge of discrimination.
At last, we have arrived at the bitter truths at the heart of Snaktooth Island. We have resolved(or at least tried to resolve) the lingering issues that hang heavy upon the hearts of our fellow Grumpuses, and it’s time to bring our expedition to its shocking conclusion.
But remember, no matter what happens, this is a cheery kids game about hybrid snack food/insect creatures that transform the person who eats them.
W3 4Re Wh4t W3 3At! 😉
Special thanks go out to TheAffableGiraffe on YouTube for doing the uncomfortable work letting all of the Grumpuses die during the final confrontation.
Now that I’ve seen the genocide ending, I understand why characters who have completed their sidequests are immune during the finale. By helping them complete their character arcs, we essentially break the allure that Bugsnax have for each of them. Once they realize that Bugsnax are not going to magically save them from their problems in the outside world, they’re able to rationally and logically approach the situation and resist the compulsion to indulge.
That said, I do still maintain my stance that I wish the game had gone farther down the eldritch horror angle that they pivot to in the finale. It would have been cool if our feeding Bugsnax to our friends had doomed them to snakification before we were even aware of the dangers. Part of what makes that such a cool twist is that it completely recontextualizes every single thing we have done up until this point since almost every activity is around catching the Bugsnax and feeding them to our fellows. If we experienced consequences for all that we’ve done up to that point, it would have added that much more to the horror of it all.
But despite that, I appreciate how closely the game holds its cards to its chest. Every aspect of the twist is carefully seeded early on, so it doesn’t come out of nowhere. What we lack is the vital piece of information that ties all of it together… right up until the interview with Lizbert. The true nature of the Bugsnax, parasites that infest and assimilate those who consume them, suddenly brings together the complete story.
The team at Young Horses should be proud of the work they put into Bugsnax. It’s an easy recommendation from me.
Last week, we finally got around to participating in the Sentinels of Light event, long after it had already concluded. During that battle, two new champions found their way into the game in the form of playable cards.
We’ve already explored the potential of the Ruined King of the Shadow Isles, Viego. Now, it’s time to give his rival among the Sentinels of Light his due. That man is Akshan, from Shurima.
As always, credit goes to Mobalytics for the deck recipe.
This is an unusually aggressive deck for me since I vastly prefer to pick and choose my attacks and overtake my opponent with value. Though it performed well despite that. Unfortunately, it also performed well despite not really being allowed to showcase its gimmick.
Once either Akshan or a Vekauran Vagabond hit our board, then create a landmark called the Warlord’s Palace. Along with the usual lockdown when the turn ends, this landmark also advances when one of our units is targeted, or when Akshan strikes. After the countdown hits zero, it spits out a card valuable multipurpose, and Akshan levels up. From this point forward, Akshan will instead summon and countdown the Warlord’s Hoard, which creates a card that provides several effects potent enough to completely swing the game: Potent enough to build our strategy around.
And this is why we’ve both Riven as one of our supporting Champions, along with the Reforge package she comes with. Each of these blade fragments and the Blade of the Exile created from them are cards that target our units, counting down both the Palace and the Horde.
Draven serves a similar purpose with his Spinning Axes. They’re targeted, and with all the cards we’re creating with both him and Reforge, we should usually have enough fodder to pay their discard costs.
Our removal spells, Whirling Death and Grappling Hook, also fall into this subtheme of targeting our own units to further get those landmark procs we desperately crave. If our combination of Quick Attack and Overwhelm can’t close out the game, often these spells can help us clear the way to give us the opportunity.
We also have powerful supports in the form of Ruined Reckoner, which can give us a few extra swings when we need them to chip down at a problematic opponent or get in the last bit of damage. And the odd copy of Merciless Avenger can force our opponent to block with creatures they otherwise wouldn’t, in suboptimal ways. The Reckoner’s Midnight Raid also counts as another targeted spell for our landmarks to proc off of.
That said, even if we don’t arrive at our actual win-con, both our supporting champions are strong offensive powerhouses in their own right. It’s entirely possible for us to win without Akshan if we rely on Draven and Riven to swing in for high damage.
Get in there and swing. And if your opponent still stands, swing at them again.
We’ve been trying to help out the Grumpuses here on Snaktooth Island, but it’s difficult to say whether or not we’ve been succeeding on that front. And between those menial tasks, we continue to investigate the Bugsnax.
Hopefully, everything will go smoothly and nothing back will happen.
You will once again have to forgive me for my exhaustion. I will try not to make this a continuing issue.
That said, it might have ultimately been a boon. That means we can confidently go into next week with nothing else but the finale on our minds.
It’s been over a month since our last excursion to the lands of Runeterra and in that time a whole special event has come and gone. With this Sentinels of Light event, a slew of new cards, alongside new champions, have been added to the game.
And naturally, my eyes are drawn to the champion that enables an Aristocrats strategy using my favorite nation to play: Shadow Isles. Even better, this new champion pairs with my beloved Nasus and his support from Shurima.
That’s right. We’re joined by the Ruined King himself, Viego.
Thanks as always to Mobalytics for providing the deck recipe.
Decklist code is: CEBQIAIFBMUDAMIDAQDQEL3HAMCAKAZWG4BQCBAHGYAQIBIQAEAQKGICAICAOO3ZAICAKBA4
On its face, this deck uses a lot of the principles that we make use of in the Thresh/Nasus deck I showed off way back when Shurima first dropped. We use our own creatures as sacrificing fodder, slaying both them and our enemies in order to power up both of our champions. The difference is that our original deck relied on Nasus as the sole win condition, with Thresh being an alternative method of getting him onto the board. With him enough power he can attack it or kill him with an Atrocity for a victory.
While that’s still on the table, we have an alternate win condition in this deck with Viego and his level up. In the event Viego ever attains his level up, the game is almost definitely over. Each turn, he will either take control of our strongest enemy unit or kill them if they are a champion. Very few boards will be able to withstand this shift in tempo, especially since we are equipped to sacrifice our brainwashed pawns to make sure our opponent never gets them back.
And even if we never reach that payoff, Viego, and his Camavoran Soldiers, create Encroaching Mist that power up all future mists and Viego himself every time that are spawned. This can quickly transform Viego into an extremely powerful Champion on his own, without the level up. And if you’re willing to take the hit, his signature spell Despair can get rid of a major threat before it can do even worse damage to the Nexus.
It’s far from a top-tier deck, but it’s a deck I love to play. And I doubt that will ever change.
Our investigation into Bugsnax and the disappearance of Elizabert Megafig continue, and we’ve returned as many of the remaining Grumpuses to their homes in Snaxburg. Hopefully, if we help them deal with they’ll problems, they’ll provide the information we need to get to the bottom of this.
At this point, we have started completing the side quest chains offered by our fellow Grumpuses, and a pattern has begun to emerge in them. Each has come to Snaxtooth Island in the hopes that Bugsnax will be the solution to a problem that they face in the outside world.
To that end, we help them by hunting the Bugsnax they request and delivering it to them. And each time they provide a temporary, yet fleeting surge of pleasure before the fundamental issues underlying the hole in their heart reemerges. Culminating in the hunt for a legendary Bugsnak, and the ensuing boss battle.
My stream audience remarked that the ends of these questlines didn’t feel meaningful because we aren’t really addressing the problems any of the Grumpuses have. There’s no growth or sense of development whatsoever.
I don’t disagree necessarily, but I would posit that the pointlessness is entirely the point. At the end of the day, what we are is a journalist moonlighting as a Bugsnak catcher in order to get to the bottom of a big story. The Bugsnax don’t perform miracles and we aren’t a therapist, there was no world in which we were magically going to make Chandlo stronger or give Wiggle the inspiration to compose a new song. At best, all of them are running from their problems without confronting or addressing them in a meaningful way. As a result, their efforts were destined to amount to naught.
It’s a lesson that we must all strive to engrave into our minds.
Another Elusive Target has entered our crosshairs, one befitting the Season of Lust. A wedding planner that grows obsessed with his clients to such an extreme design that he kills their partner to be in order to be with them before falling out of love and leaving them alone.
Such a man cannot be allowed to live, so let us save the unwitting victims-to-be by taking him out.
The best about this episode is that it really highlights one of the other perks of using poison that I don’t often get to talk about.
As you know if you’ve watched my other Elusive Target videos, the rules of an Elusive Target dictate that the moment one objective is complete, such as the death of the target, then the attempt is locked in and cannot be restarted or retried. Therefore, if I attempted to snap his neck, I would immediately be spotted and have to deal with that problem.
However, when injected with poison, there is a brief moment after the attack, but before the target is officially “killed” by the poison. If I was noticed during the attack, I have that window to pause and restart the mission to make another attempt, even though logically my attempt should be locked in.
Between this and the many other benefits, the lethal poison syringe is the most useful weapon in the game, and it has been since 2016.
