Articles – Page 2 – TOM CLEMENT | GAME PRODUCER

Thoughts on Mafia: The Old Country

September 3, 2024March 19, 2025Posted in ArticlesTagged Analysis, Breakdown, Definitive Edition, Design, Don Calo, Empire Bay, Frank Vinci, Games, Hangar 13, Joe Barbaro, Leo Galante, Lost Heaven, Lupara, Mafia, Mafia 2, New Bordeaux, Omerta, Rosalia, Sicily, Story, The Old Country, Trailer, Video Games, Vito Scaletta, Writing1 Comment

I love Mafia.

The three titles spanning from the first game released in 2002 to the New Orleans-inspired third setting from 2016 is one of my favourite gaming series, up there with the Ezio Auditore and the Hitman trilogy.

The whole package was remastered recently, with a remake of the first Mafia released in 2020. There has been speculation over the next game and setting, with many tidbits indicating the next release would be set in the 1970s in Las Vegas.

But this year at Gamescom, developer Hangar 13 released a trailer for the newest title in the series, titled Mafia: The Old Country. The trailer is just over a minute in length, but it has set the Mafia fanbase abuzz with excitement.

And as a proud Mafia fan, I thought I could speculate too on what we might find in the game. Let’s start!

An Offer You Can’t Refuse – Speculating over Mafia: The Old Country

1. The Location and Setting

Both the title and the trailer give clues as to where and when the game is set.

“The Old Country” as a phrase is in reference to first-generation immigrants, usually to the United States of America. So for Italian immigrants, Italy is the “Old Country”.

“The Old Country” was even used as a chapter title in Mafia II, where during WW2, protagonist Vito Scaletta was part of the US Army invading his home island, Sicily.

We can hone in on Sicily as the exact location through the trailer. The first is an image of Saint Rosalia, covered in blood droplets. When members join the mafia, the go through an initiation process where they drop their own blood onto a chosen saint. Saint Rosalia is the patron saint of Sicily, which would indicate that this would be the location.

Another image from the trailer is the final landscape shot, with a distinct building with two towers. A building very much of this likeness was also a key location during Mafia II’s Sicily chapter, so it’s plausible that these could be the same location.

_{Saint Rosalia in the trailer. She is frequently depicted holding a skull. (Source: YouTube, Mafia Game)}

The unnamed narrator’s first line in the trailer speaks of “This Thing of Ours.” This is also a veiled reference to the Sicilian Mafia, also known as “Cosa Nostra”. “Cosa Nostra” literally translates to “This Thing of Ours”, a way to obfuscate any officials listening in on the activities usually associated with the mafia, but indicates again that Sicily will be the location.

It will be interesting to see how the landscape is laid out in the game. Sicily is a mix of mountain ranges, dense cities, dry landscapes, and clear blue sea. The original Mafia included a countryside, but later entries just focused on cities.

The series has also always used fictional cities such as Lost Heaven, Empire Bay, and New Bordeaux (Chicago, New York, and New Orleans respectively). Palermo (Sicily’s main city) is heavily tied in with the lore of Mafia, so I wonder whether they keep their trend of a fictional city or will finally base it in a real city.

While the trailer doesn’t give a concrete indication of the time period, the fact it is called “The Old Country”, a rotary telephone can be seen in one frame, and a figure is seen wearing an old-style waistcoat would indicates the early 1900s, the earliest time period the series has ever been based in.

_{Sicily would be a new and interesting location for games in general, moving away from the standard US setting (Source: Youtube, Mafia Game).}

2. Characters

While we only got a brief glimpse of one character in the trailer, we can infer possible cameos, ancestors, and families from looking ahead to the other Mafia games.

To be made a full member of the mafia, a man must prove that he is from Sicily or is a descended from Sicilian roots. People from other nations can work for the mafia, but can never join as full members.

Several important characters in the series started their criminal life in Sicily before moving to the USA. From the first game, Don Ennio Salieri and his consigliere Frank Colletti grew up together, setting up dog races as children and winning bullet casings and other trinkets. Another Don from the same game is Marcu Morello, who also moved across from Sicily as a child.

_{Official artwork showing a Lupara amongst the lemons, imagery associated with the Sicilian Mafia. (Source: mafiagame.fandom)}

In Mafia II it is the same, with major characters like Leo Galante, Frank Vinci, and Carlo Falcone, all emigrating in the early 1900s. Alberto Clemente, another Don from Mafia II, had to flee Sicily after killing a police captain in Palermo. One of Clemente’s lieutenants, Henry Tomasino, was also born in Sicily, fleeing at his father’s request after Mussolini took power.

With all these characters being born somewhere between the 1880s and the 1900s before moving across the Atlantic Ocean and setting up business there, we could see a few of these family members making their start in organised crime. As mentioned above with Saint Rosalia, the image of the saint is used during an initiation, so it’s highly likely that that same imagery will be in the game.

I don’t really want any previous characters to be the playable protagonist (I would rather it be someone new to keep some mystery as to their life story), but those character could be featured as cameos for a few chapters. With so many leaving for the United States, it could be a nice bittersweet moment. When we think of people leaving for a better life, we rarely remember those they have to leave behind.

_{From L to R: Eddie, Vito, Joe, and Henry from Mafia II. Maybe we’ll see their ancestors in The Old Country. (Source: vg247.om)}

3. Story

This won’t be a general outline, but more ideas that I think may turn up in The Old Country.

The series as a whole is heavily influenced by cinema and cinematic presentation, usually taking situations and themes from films such as The Godfather and GoodFellas and replicating them in the game.

Portions of both The Godfather Part I and Part II are set in Sicily, with families taking revenge during funerals and shipping their children off to America when it becomes too dangerous for them to stay. With all the characters that left Sicily to move to America, this is probably a major story point in the game.

Artwork in the trailer includes Jesus Christ on the cross as well as the Greek myth Acis and Galatea, with common themes about love, jealousy, and eventual death. They would be easy story points to add into the game.

The 1900s was a tumultuous time for Europe, so it has to come up at some point in the game. With WWI from 1914 to 1918 and Italy being a major force fighting against Austria-Hungary, the war setting could easily be a way to have the player character have a general knowledge of how guns work.

1918 also was the year that the Spanish Flu was widely recognised across Europe. While I don’t think it would be a major part, it’s an interesting fact that Saint Rosalia is also the patron saint invoked during plagues. Maybe it will be a background theme or giving a character a death scene much like Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption II.

The main historical point in Italy in the early 1900s is the fascist Benito Mussolini’s rise to power in 1922. There was a very public and concerted effort by Mussolini to destroy the mafia, with special prosecutors sent to root out criminals in Sicily and elsewhere in Italy.

I think this will be the main crux of the game, seeing the Sicilian Mafia be built up and then crumble as more and more flee to the safety of America and Mussolini cracks down hard on organised crime. We probably won’t be fighting old Benito ourselves, but maybe a special prosecutor who is brought in.

_{Some of the artwork for The Old Country looks very reminiscent of Mafia 2‘s Sicily level. (Source: mafiagame.fandom).}

It’s also of interest to note that in Mafia II, the Italian Blackshirts surrender due to the local Don, Don Calò, who is a real life person and supposedly helped the Allies invade Sicily. Just a little something to think about, as a neat way to keep the tradition of seeing Vito Scaletta in every game.

So those are my thoughts on Mafia: The Old Country. We won’t be waiting long until we see more of the game, as Hangar 13 promised more in December of 2024. I for one can’t wait to see more!

_{Photo Banner Source: YouTube (Mafia Game)}

Office DisOrders: A Lost Game

August 21, 2024December 13, 2024Posted in ArticlesTagged Bullshit Jobs, Design, Games, Jobs, Maxis, Moment Games, Office, OfficeDisorders, Online, The Office, The Sims, Video Games, Work, Writing, Xbox Indie, Xbox LiveLeave a comment

The Xbox 360 Marketplace finally shut down last month on July 29th.

With its passing, a great host of work was lost; cool, punchy, exciting games that only released on the Xbox 360 and had not made the leap over to the most recent hardware, leaving a library to rival Alexandria to our memory cards and receptors.

I had only recently got my old 360 out of storage to reminisce on some good old-fashioned shooty games (seriously, its been twelve years and nothing has surpassed Max Payne 3) and found one little game that is now lost to the wind.

I want to talk about it, partly due to its now-lost status, and also that its seems unique in its story, setting, and humour.

Say hello to Office DisOrders.

Working 9 to 5 – Office DisOrders and the Chaos of Cubicle Work

Office DisOrders is a life simulation game focussing on the trials and tribulations of a bland, faceless corporation and its employees. Players are in control of Jennifer, a temp worker at the company.

The developer, Moment Games, are former alumni from Maxis, so the game takes similar elements from The Sims. While getting on with Jennifer’s daily tasks, the player has to manage her hunger, thirst, energy, and bladder.

Like The Sims it’s a pretty simple core loop. And while The Sims was a veiled skewering of American Consumerism (yes, really, here’s proof, (1:07:25)), Office DisOrders aims its sights at jobs and the corporate marketplace.

_{From start to finish the game is full of great gags. (Source: Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) Documentation).}

One of the first tasks Jennifer is given is to sign a non-disclosure form for her time at the company, Incomputech (rivalling Dundler Mifflin for the vaguest company name ever).

The task is a simple affair, just logging onto the computer and getting Jennifer to read and sign the form.

When The Sims would do loading screen as part of the expansion packs, they would hide little jokes in the loading screen. For example, for the Vacation expansion, there would be messages like, “Loading Weather data”, “Screening Entertainment Talents”, and “Establishing Hotline”.

Office DisOrders takes that similar tongue-in-cheek approach to its progress screens. That said disclosure form starts normal enough; “Reading Summary”, “Organising Thoughts”, and “Analysing Legalease”, but sprinkled in are increasingly paranoid thoughts like “Re-reading Subtext”, “Contemplating Implications”, and “Imagining Consequences”.

These are sight gags, on screen for a second at most, yet drew a laugh from me at the familiarity of thought processes when knee-deep in contracts.

Day One is normal enough though (aside from another sight gag of the range of middle managers doing nothing put playing Solitaire on their computers). But as the days progress, Office DisOrders slowing tweaks the surrealism dial up. Re-re-reorganisations that require everyone to move chairs multiple time a day, “downsizing” where people literally get shrunk, and hedge fund managers that are actual vampires.

_{Now that Marcela has been downsized, she can’t reach the photocopying supplies anymore. (Source: YouTube, BrandoPlayer).}

Part of Office DisOrders charm also lies in its art design and location.

The characters are all simple designs, with square heads and only the most basic of features (some of the characters don’t even have mouths), yet it works. It doesn’t need super expressive faces, you get all the emotion from the text box voice lines, and it keeps the revolving doors of middle managers recognisable when they are ultimately fired, re-hired, promoted, and demoted in the same day.

The design of the Incomputech office is also oddly a strong suit. Just like The Sims, the office is laid out in “walls down” mode, allowing the player to see into every room with ease. But with bare white walls, strategic plants, and that EXACT grey heather carpet colour that every office has, it hits the perfect note.

I also love that when characters leave the office, they just step through the door and out into a dark void. It’s obviously meant to be like that as just a space to load in and out, but it gives the sense of the office being stuck in a liminal purgatory to add to the surreal vibe.

_{Jennifer is getting ready for a Power Nap. Notice the different meters at the bottom of the screen. (Source: Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) Documentation).}

After only a few days as a temp, Jennifer becomes a full time worker and then CEO as the reshuffles continue. When an AI computer called “The Bubble” is brought in by Harry the Vampire (and hedge fund manager), Jennifer is told to feed it a mission statement and vision board so that it can direct the company moving forward.

First the mission statement which the progress screen says is made up of; “Collating Disagreements”, “Ameliorating Differences”, “Mishmashing Options”, “Exaggerating Prospects”, “Bridging Contradictions”, “Rewording Gibberish”, and “Obfuscating Techno-Babble”.

Once that is done it’s time for the vision board. No-one knows what that actually means though, so Jennifer steals a pair of glasses and combines it with the notice board from the kitchen and feeds it to the machine, which makes the poor AI promptly blow up in her face.

It leads to one of my favourite dialogues in the game;

Worker: The Bubble you and your Wall Street friend created burst!

Harry The Vampire: Who knew bubbles could do that? Oh dear, look at the time, gotta run.

Various Workers: My 401k is wiped out! My husband lost his job! My house got foreclosed on!

Jennifer: But this is what Wall Street wanted me to do!

Comedy games can be rather hit or miss with their jokes. Sometimes you get stunners like Portal 2, but rarely do games age well with their jibes and tone. Yet with Office DisOrders being made in 2010, two years after the financial crash, even in 2024 the jokes still hit a perfect combination of low and high-brow quips and zingers.

The game continues with political satire later on as Jennifer heads to Washington DC to ask for a bailout for the company. Again, it’s a bitingly funny scene just from the arguments the player can choose from, such as why potatoes are great, to “Family Values”, and the concept of America.

But even after securing a hilariously huge pile of money (as it is listed in the inventory) Jennifer gets fired, only to find herself back at Incomputech four months later with palette swaps of all the characters, causing her to shake her head and turn right back around.

The game ends with a simple text box; “Just another day at work.”

_{Washington D.C. is suitable and surreal finale for the game. (Source: YouTube, BrandoPlayer).}

In research for this piece I had a look for similar titles that are also set in offices spaces and turns out there were quite a few more than I would have thought.

I already knew about The Stanley Parable, which merges its office space with surreal and liminal horror, while also being darkly humorous, with nineteen different endings.

One of the premier titles for VR is Job Simulator, a riotously funny game where the player is tasked with many jobs, with a section dedicated to office work filled with all manner of jibes such as firing staples at your colleagues and playing with your executive toys.

And Say No! More tasks you as a defiant intern who after being treated terribly by their company and having their lunch stolen by their supervisor, learns the power of saying “no!” to any request, and blazing through the company on a righteous mission of destruction.

The office space is a fruitful playground for games, allowing a power fantasy that can be drawn from both personal experiences and pop culture tentpoles such as The Office, Office Space, and even non-fiction books like Bullsh*t Jobs.

So while Office DisOrders may be lost to the digital wasteland, new games follow in its footsteps, and we that had the privilege to play it can reminisce about it, even now the servers have finally shut down.

_{Banner Photo Source: YouTube (Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) Documentation)}

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure and Childhood Fun

June 28, 2024September 3, 2024Posted in ArticlesTagged Alba, Animals, Calm, Childhood, Conservation, cozy, Design, Games, Ines, iOS, Island, Pinar del Mar, Spain, Story, Summer, ustwo, Video Game, Video Games, Wholesome, Wildlife Adventure, Writing1 Comment

I was thinking back on an article I wrote a few years back about noticeably older playable characters in games and a thought occurred to me, “Would I be able to name any child playable characters in games?”

A few examples came to mind quickly such as Link in The Legend of Zelda, Max in Life is Strange and the two siblings in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

An odd one from a few years ago also popped up, 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which had an entire level where players are in the shoes of a child during an invasion. And a short while ago I wrote about the great time I spent with Rockstar’s Bully.

But recently during a game sale I picked up a title that does a great job of recreating childhood, of giving that sense of wonder and exploration that children have.

The game is called Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, and is one of the most charming and adorable games I’ve had the pleasure of playing recently, so I wanted to talk about it today to pass on this gem of a title.

State of Play: Alba and the Wonders of Childhood Holidays

Alba follows the titular character of Alba as she visits her grandparents for summer holiday on a Spanish island of Pinar del Mar they have retired to.

Alba’s holiday starts standard enough; eating ice cream and paella, spending time at the beach, and playing with her island friend Ines.

But when it turns out the island mayor is ready to tear down the nearby nature reserve for a luxury hotel baron, Alba and Ines decide to create a nature club and rebuild the reserve, gathering signatures for a petition to stop it.

_{The island of Pinar del Mar gets involved to help Alba and protect the wildlife (Source: psnprofiles.com).}

Many other games have child or teen characters in stressful or strange environments, but for Alba it is an environment to learn from, to learn about through exploring, and in general a refreshingly calm and stress-free place, where standing up for your beliefs and challenging authority is a main bedrock of the title.

The main loop of Alba is creating a database of the animals that inhabit the island. Alba is given a nature guide and a phone app by her grandparents to try and catalogue all the animals that live on Pinar del Mar.

Alba is an open world game, so the main section of playtime is spent researching the animals in the database, learning about their unique markings, habitat, and call, before tip-toeing through the biome and taking a picture of them.

Alba originally standard as an iOS game and I could definitely see the same style working here, popping in for a few minutes every day, wandering around the incredibly detailed world and taking a few picture before heading off again.

It’s a charming little loop that I ended up spending many hours in, just learning about different animals and feverishly trying to fill out the entire book, staying out way beyond the time when Alba’s grandparents texted her to come home just to get that one last animal in a certain biome.

^{Some animals can be found quite easily, others require knowledge of their habitat and routines. Source: polygon.com}

Some of the animals for the book are only spotted in the sky, meaning you have to find the perfect spot to zoom in and out with your camera and get a good chance of catching it as it flies by.

The island of Pilar del Mar is split into eight different biomes; the beach, town, terraces, farmland, forest, marshlands, and the mountain. You would think with such widely diverse locations that Pinar del Mar might feel disjointed but each location flows seamlessly into one another.

Alba has a map that can aid in traversal, but the game’s world is easily navigated just through sight.

Need to go to the mountain? Just look upwards pretty much anywhere in the game. Want to go bird-watching by the beach? Head down the hill and you’ll get there. Buying supplies in the town? You can just see a chimney across the way, maybe the town will be somewhere close by.

It’s always lovely to play an open-world game that can give players a clear HUD, especially after years of experiencing POI to POI marker.

^{The map of Pinar del Mar with all the different biomes. (Source: medium.com)}

For a moment during the opening chapters I thought there might be a speed upgrade, something like Alba getting a bicycle to help make the trek across the island (another hallmark of holidays, bike trips). But nothing like the sort came, and I can see two reasons why.

One, the bird-watching loop. Many a time I would be trekking through the world and see an animal I hadn’t catalogued. It’s a little hard to do that if you’re speeding through the island.

The second reason is such a small one but I was charmed every single time it happened; Alba’s animations. Alba walks and runs normally, but every now and again she’ll change it up. Sometimes she skips, sometimes she runs with her arms out like a plane. These little animations give such detail to Alba and her childhood play, I wish other games would do something similar.

Throughout the game players will journey all across the island and none of it is locked by progression through the game. While some animals will only appear later in the story, the player can easily wander anywhere on the island, cataloguing animals they can see, or interacting with Pinar del Mar and its population.

Talking of the islanders, part of Alba and Ines’ mission is to get fifty signatures from the townsfolk to petition the mayor to stop the hotel build. While some of the signatures come from rebuilding the wildlife reserve the rest need to be collected from the townsfolk, each with their own little stories or dilemmas.

Clara the head of the Wildlife Association, Simón the local vet, María the carpenter, each have tasks like cleaning up the trash left by people, clearing away pesticide spillages, or fixing bird boxes across the island.

_{Heading into Town, where most of the island residents can be found (Source: zkm.de).}

There are are other characters who are just there by add a little extra charm to the island. Jaineba the ice cream merchant (who gets Alba to test new flavours), Laura the strict and stern police officer, or the two nameless older women who spend their time near the church and talk of their weekly bungee jumping classes.

Every character can be interacted with and will have a few lines of dialogue about them or the day and it gives and extra incentive to explore every nook and cranny of Pinar del Mar. It got to the point where I would interact with my favourite characters each day, despite it never being more than one or two lines, it was a joy to pass by so many recognisable faces.

I also appreciate the diversity of the cast. There are a wide range of skin tones across Pinar del Mar, different languages spoken, some same-sex relationships, and a few visible signs of faith (such as the character Alia, who wears a hijab).

Alba also fits into this diverse cast, with her last name Singh and flying to Spain from the UK, it could be referenced that she is of British, Indian, and Spanish descent. And the game doesn’t highlight any of these points, but just quietly and confidently places the characters into the world.

One of the reasons I was initially drawn to Alba was the apparently short run time. I really like quick and condensed games and according to How Long To Beat the 100% runtime for Alba is around 4 hours. Yet I know I spent far longer in the game.

The satisfying loop of bird-watching, trekking across a beautiful island populated with a fun cast of characters, I whiled away Alba’s days, scouring every biome, sneaking to the perfect picture spot and even returned after the game was done to soak in the atmosphere again.

It’s a charming little game with a strong message about care and conservation, standing up against authority, and that with teamwork anything is possible. If you’re looking for a new game that is a change of pace, for something both calming and enjoyable, and can be enjoyed by all ages, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

^{Banner Photo Source: store.epicgames.com}

Bully – Discovering a Classic

December 22, 2023August 20, 2025Posted in ArticlesTagged Anniversary, Bully, Canis Canim Edit, Design, Games, gaming, Grand Theft Auto, GTA, GTA 6, Jimmy Hopkins, Rockstar, Rockstar Games, San Andreas, School], Story, VI, Vice City, Video Games, Writing1 Comment

I’ve recently been doing a backlog binge of older open-world games I never got to play the first time around.

Titles have included the Guy Ritchie-inspired The Getaway, which simulates ten square miles of London for its story. Another is Mafia, which uses its city more for immersion into its 1930s world than for regular open-world hi-jinks.

The other old open-world game that I’ve been playing and has captured my heart is the infamous Bully.

Bully (also known as Canis Canim Edit) is such an unique game, even among Grand Theft Auto clones.

Despite releasing originally on the sixth generation PlayStation 2 and then re-released on the seventh, eighth, and now ninth console generation, the game never got a sequel, which I feel is a terrible pity.

I wanted to write about my experiences playing, because Bully deserves to be experienced, even so long after its time in the spotlight.

Dog Eat Dog – Why I Love Bully

Bully was developed by Rockstar Vancouver, a Canadian offshoot of the “Rockstar” brand, known for Grand Theft Auto.

While Rockstar North developed GTA, other studios effectively built GTA clones. Rockstar San Diego created Red Dead Redemption in 2010, and in 2006 Vancouver created Bully.

It’s both amusing and interesting to see GTA, the ultimate adults-only game, have to fit the mould of a schoolboy simulator.

Each new scenario took me by surprise as Bully would put its own spin on the standard GTA tropes.

The missions, vehicles, characters, authority, Bully has all the ingredients for GTA but they are tweaked just a little to accommodate both the cast and the age rating (Bully was released as a 15+ rather than the 18+ of GTA).

Things like spray-painting offensive words onto walls, riding a BMX into town to go to the carnival, Halloween pranks, Christmas snowball fights, Sports Days, it creates a charming atmosphere of being made for rebellious teens who aren’t allowed GTA, but doesn’t patronise the player either.

And while some games could lose shine as more time is spent in them, this charm of “new-yet-familiar” kept me coming back to Bully, both for the boarding school role-play and simulation, as well as the wilder moments that it invents for the story.

_{Hiding from the prefects after dropping a firecracker down the toilet…again. (Source: rockstargames.com)}

Bully does actually play a lot like a roleplaying game with its school timetable. There are six classes; Chemistry, English, Art, Gym, Shop, and Photography.

While some main missions require a particular level (the second half of the game focuses a lot on photography), a player can easily play truant and miss out on classes all together, with no real consequences unless they are caught.

However these classes give you different abilities once you pass. Chemistry allows for restocks of the player’s arsenal (all schoolboy things like firecrackers, bags of marbles, and stink bombs among others).

Art allows the player to kiss girls and boys for a health boost, and Shop lets the player upgrade their BMX, one of the better ways to get around the world.

The game also works on a yearly calendar, starting with the beginning of school term in September and finishing sometime in the summer. This allows for standout missions around Halloween and Christmas, but it’s more than just one-off episodes.

Being set in New England, the seasonal change is dramatic. At the start of the game, the leaves are coloured anywhere from red to yellow and occasionally fall from the trees alongside the odd the rain shower.

In the third chapter winter has come to Bullworth, with the cast now sporting big coats, hats, and gloves. The trees are leafless and it gets darker earlier. New props such as snowmen, snowballs, and shovelling snow as a detention are only available in this season.

Once the snow is gone and the trees sprout their new leaves, the rain continues to pour until the final chapter where the sun comes out and signals the start of an endless summer.

_{Climbing a tree and raining down chaos with your slingshot…a true schoolboy experience. (rockstargames.com).}

Bully doesn’t have the most expansive of world compared with stablemates Vice City and San Andreas, but I think it is far more detailed that either of those games.

The school on its own is rather impressive with dorms, a library, gym, locker rooms, football stadium, basketball court, swimming pool, frat house, auto repair shop, and observatory.

Then the main building also houses the headteacher’s office, cafeteria, and the four classrooms, all of which are open and explorable in the game.

The town of Bullworth is split into four distinct areas. Old Bullworth Vale is for the preppy students and faculty members, with mansions overlooking the water and lighthouse.

Bullworth Town is a major shopping district where the Geeks hang out in the comic book store. New Coventry is an run-down urban estate for the Greasers, and finally Blue Skies is a trailer and industrial park where the Townies stay.

On top of the four neighbourhoods Bully also has a map full of extra locations that are used for maybe one mission or are just window-dressing, but give an extra flavour to the world.

Things like the Happy Volts Asylum, a fully working train yard, The Bullworth Dam, a church and graveyard with a preaching vicar, abandoned tenements, Billy Crane’s Travelling Carnival, and the half-sunken pirate ship next to of one of the many islands off the coast, each one gives a little extra spice or history to Bullworth and makes the city fun to explore.

_{Bullworth Academy is only one part of the map, but could easily be its own game. (rockstargames.com).}

Bully does suffer from the same strong neighbourhood lines that were in Vice City and San Andreas, where distinct seams were visible between say the shopping district and the industrial estate, but it’s forgiven for its age.

And despite its small size, I think it feels richer, mainly due to the level of detail that could be afforded a smaller world.

One thing I do enjoy about the game being a small map is that I get to see the same characters again and again wandering around Bullworth.

While in GTA and Red Dead you do see a few of the same faces in the gang hideouts or the saloon, they soon became background characters to the main character’s individual pursuit, only to be interacted with in cutscenes.

With Bully, I always felt this growing sense of getting to know characters, even if there isn’t much outside of a simple positive/negative comment that I can throw out at them.

It perfectly mirrors being a new kid at school, slowing getting to know people as they pass by in the corridor or school grounds, some saying hello or others stopping you with a quest, some that don’t have any greater role in the game or cutscenes that just being a recognisable face in the crowd.

_{School’s out…but sliding down the handrail will still get you into trouble. (Source: rockstargames.com)}

And after a while it’s fun to pass through the school and be able to recognise people; Gloria the kleptomaniac, Mandy/Pinky/Angie/Christy of the cheerleading squad, Algie the nerd, Russell the slow-witted but beefy tank, and Pete, the only sensible and rational character in the entire game.

But as the location is a school, it’s not just school kids walking around. Teachers walk around from class to class, giving a real sense of a school working to a timetable, rather than just cycling through character and animation loops.

And Jimmy Hopkins, the playable lead, seems alright. He does act like a proto-form of a GTA character; he’s brash, confrontational, with streaks of sadism and misogyny, but I’ll excuse it due to him literally being a fifteen year old child.

While Jimmy is definitely ruthless, he is also shown to comfort other characters when they are feeling down and being heroic in other instances like putting out fires in the school.

Jimmy is actually quite interesting as a Rockstar lead, mainly due to his ambivalence to the entire school system. When he first arrives at Bullworth, Jimmy doesn’t look to take over and become its leader. He just wants to get through with the least amount of hassle and then leave.

It’s only to get back at the sociopathic schoolmate and current school ruler Gary that spurs Jimmy forward. The plot is relatively simple in its driving force, but once again it’s the surrounding essence that makes it shine.

The fact that Jimmy has to defeat all the head of the school gangs before ruling the school, how the different cliques vie for control and actually fight in the corridors and grounds, and how most the cast that give missions act like adults in a GTA game when none of them are older than sixteen is endearing.

It reminds me of games like Yakuza or films like Brick, where young characters have latched onto what they thinks makes someone “cool”, where in reality they are just massive dorks acting like their are in their own personal movie, with Jimmy being one of the only “straight men” in the game.

_{Every character in the game takes themselves way too seriously and it makes for some of Rockstar’s funniest work. (Source: rockstargames.com)}

Like I said right at the start of this piece, the theme of Bully is its strongest suit, but that’s not to diminish its other qualities. It’s a classic sixth generation console game, with a strikingly detailed world, a strong and hilarious story, and a great mix of action, exploration, and set pieces.

So if you’re waiting with anxious breath for GTA VI and wanting something to hit that Rockstar itch, or you are just looking for a open-world game that has a different pace and flavour, I think Bully might just be the thing for you. And hey, maybe one day we’ll get a sequel…

_{Banner Photo Source: rockpapershotgun.com.}

Star Wars: The Fighting Game

October 22, 2023January 1, 2026Posted in ArticlesTagged Design, Duel, Duel Mode, Episode 3, Episode III, Film, Games, Jedi, Lightsaber, Prequel, Quantic Dream, Respawn, Revenge of the Sith, Sith, Star Wars, tomclement1, Ubisoft, Versus, Video Games, WritingLeave a comment

I am a big fighting game fan.

One-on-one combat is such a thrilling experience, knowing that through reading your opponent you clutch a win or deliver a flawless victory…it can’t be topped.

I’ve dabbled in all types of fighting games; the traditional martial arts of Street Fighter, Tekken, and Virtua Fighter, to the sword fights of Soul Calibur, and the magical fantasy of Fantasy Strike.

My first proper fighting game though has been a single release, never got a sequel or a re-release, but is still one of the most fun games I played as a child. It is the movie tie-in game for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

The mid-2000s were a goldmine for licensed games, being some of most fondly remembered gems of their generation.

Spiderman 2 from 2004 brought physics-based web-swinging into gaming.

King Kong is still one of the best first-person immersive survival games ever.

And X-Men Origins: Wolverine had a level of gore and violence hardly seen in any previous or following incarnation of the character along with real-time injury regeneration.

And then on top of those greats, Star Wars comes out with one of the best sword-fighting simulations of all time. So today I want to talk about it.

An Elegant Weapon, A More Civilised Age – Star Wars and Lightsaber Duels

Episode III is for the majority of the time a brawling game. Playing as either Anakin Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi, you fight droids, clones, and a few low-level Jedi through the locations of the film.

But every so often, these two will enter a duel with other fighters such as Count Dooku, General Grievous, Mace Windu, other Jedi Masters, and eventually each other in spectacular one-on-one fights.

Alongside the game’s storyline, you can participate in one-on-one fights either against an AI opponent, or in couch co-op.

While you only start out with Anakin and Obi-Wan and one location (the Jedi Temple), with each duel in the game’s storyline unlocks a character and the location.

By the final credits there are nine fighters to choose from: Anakin, Obi-Wan, Count Dooku, Mace Windu, General Grevious, Jedi Masters Cin Drallig and Serra Keto, and finally Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader from Episode IV.

_{The duellists that you can choose from. For mirror matches each character has an alternate skin. (Source: Youtube – mrnygren2)}

While it would have been easy to give all of these characters the same general moves and only a few signature moves, each one plays totally differently, giving players a proper choice in regards to playstyle.

Anakin is fast and powerful whereas Obi-Wan is slower but has the better defensive option. Count Dooku is based more on parries and thrusts, similar to a fencer.

Mace Windu is slower but has good reach and strong attacks, while General Grievous can overwhelm opponents with his four lightsabers and get a few cheap shots in with his concealed blaster.

Non-canon Jedi Serra Keto and Cin Drallig (the latter being SW combat choreographer Nic Gillard, his name reversed) are two unique styles, with Keto employing two lightsabers and multiple acrobatic moves, and Drallig being able to literally blur himself during combat.

And finally, Darth Vader is the strongest but one of the slowest fighters in the game, and Ben sacrifices some speed with stronger attacks and Force powers.

_{One of the strongest characters versus the best defensive option…who will win? (Source: Youtube – CJR Gaming)}

The combat is similar to your standard string-based fighting game like Tekken or Guilty Gear, meaning that inputting the attack buttons in specific orders will net you different attacks and sequences. As I said previously, each string gives a unique animation, which elevates the game higher than a standard movie tie-in.

Attacks are broken into light and heavy varieties, but what gives Star Wars a bit of flair is the Force, which adds a whole new system of control and power into the combat.

Despite eight of the nine characters being able to use the Force, it’s actually the thing which is most standardised across the fighters.

Every fighter has two variants of Force Push, one as a general move any objects around you, but then a more controlled version where they pick up a singular object and throw it, which can also be used on opponents.

All fighters can throw their lightsaber like a boomerang and can even heal themselves using the Force. The only main difference is the Force Stun (for the Jedi) and Force Lightning (for the Sith).

Force Stun…well, stuns the player, leaving them vulnerable for a few seconds to be attacked or for the opponent to heal, whereas Force Lightning is purely offensive, draining the health of the opponent. It’s an interesting trade off, going with a more offensive option or one that can be both offensive or defensive.

Anakin in the Duel Mode actually changes between the two as you progress in the story mode, using Force Stun until he falls to the Dark Side, where he will then start using Force Lightning.

_{Serra Keto is unqiue for her two lightsabers and her slow but unblockable Force-infused attacks. (Source: Youtube – RGLD Gamer)}

General Grevious is the only outlier being a non-Force User, but he gets some additional help, with a rapid fire blaster replacing his Force Push and a charged-up shot replacing Force Lightning. His signature four-armed attack takes the spot over the Saber Throw.

The stages are all taken from the story mode, being unlocked at the same time as the other characters.

Since they are all focussed on Episode III, the locations span space-stations, landing platforms, the Jedi Temple, and the impressive vistas of both the sinkholes of Utapau and the volcanic rivers of Mustafar.

The locations in the game are broken up by area into smaller chunks as well. Take Mustafar for instance.

The first section is the landing platform that Anakin and Obi-Wan first clash sabers. It’s a wide area with several explosive crates to throw at your opponent.

The second area is the control room, with command tables splitting the room, allowing a player to be out of range of lightsaber attacks, and either regain some health or use a long range attack to keep their opponent back.

Out from the control room onto the third section, the balcony. It’s cramped and linear, the complete opposite of where the fight started. To add even more to the mix, the explosive crates are back, but since the area is so small any explosion could impact you as well.

Dropping down from the balcony onto the “Control Arm”, again a linear section, but extremely long, not the cramped quarters of the balcony.

And while there are no more explosive canisters, the control arm is constantly getting rained down on by lava, stopping players from either retreating or advancing, having to riskily jump towards their opponent or wait until the magma has cooled.

Finally, the fight culminates on the Lava Platform, the smallest map in the game, barely big enough for the two fighters to deliver their most devastating moves.

That’s just one planet and it gives such a variety of locations that either compliment or hinder certain styles of combat, with every other location also containing environmental hazards, barriers, or extremely linear or cramped fighting halls.

_{Darth Vader unleashes force lightning on his former master on Mustafar. (Source: ign.com)}

In research for this piece I wanted to look at other players and see how they related to the game and found a small but thriving community that still plays the game competitively today.

Using a PlayStation 2 emulator, players have been continually hosting tournaments even up until a few months ago, with rulesets to keep things interesting (the main ones being no Force Heal and no Mustafar Lava Platform stage).

The fighting game tech has gotten so meta that players will use a particular save state that allows them to choose Anakin with Force Stun instead of Force Lightning.

It’s amazing to watch, with clutch matches and spectacular finishes, and the added bonus that it is a Star Wars game, with the characters, fighting styles, weapons, locations, and music that we all know and love.

***

When I wrote about my brief but fun time playing Star Wars Ep. I Racer recently, I lamented the lack of Star Wars games in recent memory. Since that post the only new game was Jedi Survivor, the sequel to 2019’s Fallen Order.

There has been a brief upsurge in announcements, with names such as Quantic Dream, Zynga, Ubisoft, and Skydance all developing some sort of game and a wide range of genres including strategy and interactive drama.

And while there were Star Wars games dedicated to duelling before (Masters of Teräs Käsi for PS1) and after (The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels for the Wii) neither have had the impact and staying power of Episode III.

Just like with Ep.I Racer, you can see the outline of a game that would sell great today. Having duellists from all three eras, different and expansive locations, selectable force powers and fighting styles, customisable lightsabers, and of course online play. But sadly I think the time has passed.

In my research I found several players reminiscing on playing the duel mode and wishing for more. Even I bought the game nearly fifteen years after it released because I hadn’t found anything that simulated lightsaber combat so well.

It was the duelling game that did Star Wars well, and it deserves to be remembered and played to this day.

_{Banner Photo Source: moddb.com}

Learning to Drive a Formula 1 Car

September 6, 2023January 2, 2024Posted in ArticlesTagged 2022, 2023, Car, Design, Drive to Survive, EA, EA Sports, F1, Ferrari, Formula 1, Games, Haas, Mercedes, Netflix, Online, Racecar, Racing, Red Bull, Sports, tomclement1, Video Games, WritingLeave a comment

Formula 1: Drive to Survive, ridiculous subtitle aside, brought millions of new fans to F1, myself included.

The now multi-season Netflix series is sometimes mocked for its hyping of minor incidents and selective storytelling, but it is a thrilling look into the high speed and high drama that comes with the sport.

So naturally, I went and bought an F1 game.

Surviving the Drive – What 1000+ Hours with Guenther Steiner Looks Like

Racing games have always been a part of my gaming life.

I distinctly remember some of the first games I ever played were Gran Turismo 2 and Lego Racers on a PlayStation 1 (quite the opposite ends of the spectrum I must admit).

On the Nintendo 64, my days were spent switching from Mario Kart to Star Wars: Pod Racer (which recently got a remaster, which I thoroughly enjoyed).

As I graduated up to an Xbox 360 I had stints in Forza, Split/Second: Velocity and Pure.

And even amongst the PlayStation 4, I dabbled in Steep and the Crash Team Racing remaster.

So I had a background in racing from all genres and was looking for something to scratch that itch once more. And originally, I wasn’t going to go for F1.

I wanted the high speed and the iconic tracks, and I originally was going to go for the Wipeout Collection for PS4. I had played Wipeout before and had fun zooming around the courses and firing off rockets at other players.

But there was one thing missing that I was really yearning for…characters and a story.

Drive to Survive does an amazing job of creating a storyline each episode, focussing on different drivers, teams, and race courses, weaving them together into a satisfying narrative.

That’s what I was looking for in my racing game, a constant and emergent story that would develop as I would play.

_{Another weekend, another race. Slowly building up a story with your wins, losses, and everything in between.} _{(Source: twinfinite.net)}

Pod Racer and Split/Second had something similar with its ever-growing cast of characters that you could choose from, with drivers having ‘favourite’ courses, but aside from their vehicle stats there wasn’t much to separate them from each other.

While I am bringing my knowledge from DtS with me, we as players get to see every driver multiple times in a single session. Through free practice, qualifying, then the starting grid where everyone’s faces are front and centre, and then finally seeing their abbreviated names on top of their cars, you get the sense that these are actual drivers, rather than just a name.

Depending on what car you are in and where you are on the grid, you will see the same names popping up around you, developing mini-rivalries as the races go on. People that I would support when watching races I became bitter enemies as they overtook me, and for the rest of the race I would be determined to beat them.

On top of these self-made rivalries, the game at certain points (in the guise of journalistic interviews) asks who you consider to be your rival. Points are given after every race, which your rival also gets.

Finishing on the podium obviously nets you more points, but also driving penalty free, getting the fastest lap in free practice, and so on allows you or your rival to advance quicker. It creates tense moments where you might not have the pace on track to beat them, but you can make up lost points in the aggregate. It’s a simple yet effective and I always had a thrill trying to beat my rivals.

_{Your rivals and your teammate for the season. Those two aren’t always mutually exclusive. (Source: total-motorpsort.com)}

And beating them is quite hard. Accessibility is low on the game’s priorities, meaning you need to tweak and tinker to find the perfect set up. You have only just customised your driver avatar and chosen your team when the game throws a spreadsheet nightmare in your face of settings.

To be fair to the developers, nearly EVERYTHING is customisable.

Not just the aggressiveness of the other drivers, but the surface type, car damage, the damage rate, tyre temperature, pit lane entrance, pit lane exit…and that’s just the simulation settings.

In Assists, there is steering and braking assists, anti-lock brakes and traction control, along with a whole myriad of changes. You can even adjust the dynamic racing line (where the game tells you where to brake and how hard), either in 3D or 2D, and having it only appear in the corners.

I admit I was a little daunted at first, so I set most things on and brought the difficulty down to “Easy” and entered Bahrain. I ended up winning by a good thirty seconds and knew I had to switch to a harder difficulty.

_{Notice the menu in the right corner, allowing for car customisations during the race. (Source: operationsports.com)}

While other racing games I was always wanting to finish in 1st place, here I was fine with not always winning each race, partly because of the car I chose. Being a DtS fan, I went with the underdog, Haas.

The cars work on a tier system; the Red Bull and Ferraris can take corners better and reach faster speeds respectively, whereas teams like Williams and Haas usually fight for the bottom of the points, if not the bottom of the leaderboard.

But that comes at a cost. In Haas, the only requirement in the race is to beat my teammate. In Red Bull or Mercedes, they will expect a high points finish, with demotion or firing if you can’t deliver the team requirements.

But even in a slower, lesser powered car like Haas, the circuits are the main draw, and they are amazing.

These tracks are iconic, some having been used for over one hundred years for races, but each one does feel distinctly different, leading to a thrilling challenge each time the next race weekend comes around.

The game follows the actual race calendar of the season, starting in Bahrain and ending in Abu Dhabi. And while Bahrain is listed as “Easy” in the course selection, the second track, Jeddah, is listed as “Hard”.

_{The Las Vegas course, new for 2023 and known for being one of the harder courses. (Source: insider-gaming.com)}

The game boots you from one end of the difficulty ranking to the other (including “Very Easy” and “Very Hard”), requiring even more time spent in the settings to make certain races bearable. I had to turn off damage completely at Monaco otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to finish the race!

But while the tracks can sometimes be intimidating, the game actually gives the player plenty of chances to get used to the next race.

First comes the Pirelli Hot Lap, a small challenge that actually takes place each race weekend. Using a souped-up sports car rather than an formula car, the challenge will be something like get the highest speed in one particular section of the course or pass through every gate within the time limit. It’s still low stakes, but it gets the player used to some of the corners.

Next comes free practice, allowing teams to test out certain builds or styles, seeing which gets them the best times. Then after is qualifying, and then finally the race. Depending on the length of the session, free practice and qualifying can be up to an hour.

And while there are mini-challenges to work on in practice such as driving to conserve fuel or tire management, it all serves in learning the corners and straights, until you feel ready enough to go for the race.

_{The game is gorgeous to look at, especially during night races. (Source: racefans.net)}

And racing has me hooked. Driving a car that can reaches nearly two hundred miles an hour on a straight, sliding round corners with ease, fighting for places amongst the grid, it just has a magical quality that can’t be matched.

Also, no need to worry if you crash, spin out, or even just take the corner a little off the line, the game has a very nifty instant replay editor, going back to around the last five or so seconds, allowing you to start again from anywhere within that five seconds so you can try that corner again and again until you get it right.

I will admit I am a frequent user of the instant replay, but nothing does beat getting around the course or that one tricky corner without using it, leaving that section of the course with a giant smile on my face.

And then you get used to the track, you remember the sequence of corners, what comes next, enjoying certain parts of the track, dreading others…and then it’s done and onto the next one.

It’s thrilling yet fleeting, ever-changing yet the same, and that’s why I’ve fallen in love with F1 22 and will continue long after my first season is over.

_{Banner Photo Source: motorsport.com}

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst and Queer Coding

June 1, 2023June 1, 2026Posted in ArticlesTagged Beatrix Bloch, Catalyst, Coding, Design, DICE, Feminism, Freerunning, Games, Glass, LGBT, Mirror's Edge, Online, Parkour, Queer, Video Games, WritingLeave a comment

Despite coming out over fourteen years ago, Mirror’s Edge is still fondly remembered for both its amazing art direction and its superb gameplay.

While the concept of free running had been bubbling up under the surface of popular culture (highlighted in 2006’s Casino Royale, and reaching the gaming sphere in 2007 with Assassin’s Creed), no game had before (and in my opinion, since) made first-person free running a resounding success.

Fondness and fidelity kept it spinning in disc trays and hard drives, with lead character Faith Connors becoming instantly iconic, despite the story being quite sparse.

Eight years after the original, a sequel/reboot, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, was released. Keeping Faith and the “City of Glass”, it expanded upon the world and backstories of the characters, while maintaining focus on free running across the rooftops of a near-future city.

It’s one of these new characters I wanted to focus in on, one that got very little in terms of story and screen time, yet has left a lasting impression on me, all due to their interaction with Faith.

While never explicitly said in the games, many fans of the games have questioned Faith’s sexuality. Some claim she is gay, some say asexual, and others say she’s straight, all with their various evidence for their opinion.

While I could be swayed in any which way, there is this one character, one interaction of less than a minute and a half, that pushes me toward one direction. I like this scene, for all its coded phrases and hints, and that’s why I wanted to analyse it.

So, let me introduce you to Beatrix Bloch.

Exit Strategy – Faith, Beatrix Bloch, and Queer Coding

Beatrix Bloch’s entrance to the story is quite abrupt.

Catalyst has various side missions for the players to complete, mostly given by characters Faith has already interacted with, like free running mentor Birdman or whiz-kid hacker Plastic.

This is also how Beatrix Bloch enters the story, but not connected to any other character or mission; she calls out to Faith directly.

This is interesting for two reasons. First, Faith is quite a solitary character. She has rivalries and a few friends, but no one really close. Even Plastic, who Faith puts her…well, faith in several times during the game, they aren’t the best of friends.

Second, Faith is part of the underground resistance, whereas Beatrix is part of the hiCaste; the ruling elite of the city, putting these two characters at opposite ends of both the social and economical spectrum.

So for this woman to be able to call up Faith especially and exposing herself to an illegal underground network and banishment from the elite, she must be quite the character.

_{A striking presence…despite only being on screen for less than a minute. (Source: Youtube, ChriSEfron)}

Upon reaching Beatrix’s apartment in the more affluent part of the city, a pop-up appears, giving players a little more backstory into Beatrix and Faith’s friendship. The transcript reads as follows;

“You met BEATRIX BLOCH briefly shortly before your capture two years ago and the two of you had a short, but honest conversation. She might be HICASTE, but there is something you can relate into in her. Now she needs your help with something, thought whatever a woman like her might need help with is beyond you.”

This prior meeting takes place in the associated comic book, where the two women met in a nightclub, and Beatrix told Faith how she was envious of the runners’ freedom, and wishing she didn’t have to follow the rules dictated by her caste, even who she wanted to marry. She even says she would trade places with Faith in an instant.

However, even though there is a lot to unpack there, I’m deciding to focus on the game, so we can discard the comic story from the discussion.

Even without the prior knowledge of the comic interaction, the mission’s briefing asks several questions.

How did these two characters, of completely different social standings, come together? What does Faith relate to in her, something that she sees reflected? How are they on first name terms after one meeting two years ago?

It speaks to something hidden; this is a society based around surveillance and security, yet these two made a connection that transcends that perceived threat, something that bonds them together on a more emotional level, something that Beatrix would risk to contact Faith, and Faith would risk capture to answer.

_{Beatrix Bloch as she appears in the prequel comic, Exordium. (Source: mirrorsedge.fandom.com)}

The mission starts with Faith calling out to Beatrix. Beatrix is standing on her balcony, looking out over the city. It could be a peaceful moment, a place of tranquility, watching the hustle and bustle from on high.

Faith’s first comment; “I honestly never expected to see you again.”

It’s a small line and one that can be imbued with so much meaning. It’s to the point, no false niceties or societal “how-do-you-do’s”, but straight towards the sentimental quality we all have within us.

It’s something that only people with an intense connection could make, not something you say to someone you met for less than five minutes in a night club…not matter how honest the conversation was.

Faith’s delivery also has subtleties to give meaning. Throughout the rest of the game Faith speaks with a strong tone. Even in moments of great anger or sadness, she delivers she lines with stoicism and usually a commanding presence.

Here with Beatrix, Faith’s line delivery is notably softer, with even a slight quaver at the beginning of the sentence, as if daring herself to continue.

Beatrix’s responds with a reminder of when the two spoke last time, even asking what happened to Faith after their meeting (Faith went to prison for two years). Again, asking someone who you barely know about why they haven’t kept in contact is deeply personal and can be imbued with all sorts of meaning.

_{The “City of Glass”; a place where a board of directors control everything…even who you marry. (Source: YouTube, Foxy4)}

After a few more pleasantries between the two, Faith asks what made Beatrix reach out to her.

Beatrix drops a big bombshell, she’s recently gotten married, although within the same sentence defines it as a “corporate union”. Faith asks if she had any say with the marriage, Beatrix dismisses it as a “board decision”.

Despite being an heiress to a major logistical firm, Beatrix is still having to be ‘sold off’ to a man, one who is in an even higher social circle than her. She is not allowed to strike out on her own, but instead reduced to a gilded cage.

And the ones making that decision; old-money elders who are in charge of the City of Glass, i.e. those who don’t want any change to the status quo, like say, someone have a non-normative (aka, non-heterosexual) relationship and denying the creation of heirs to the corporations (since the hiCaste would not use surrogates, wanting to keep bloodlines ‘pure’).

_{Faith risks arrest to reach Beatrix and complete her mission. (Source: giga.de)}

Faith is outraged at the notion of marriage solely as a corporate decision, but Beatrix seems resigned to the fact, saying it’s now her “reality” and that she is, “…OK with it, duty and all…”

The mention of “duty” is an interesting one, not something one who is her own heiress would say, reinforcing the fact that it is other forces that are bringing this marriage together.

But “duty” doesn’t correlate with societal demands, it recalls more familial pressure. I can almost picture the scene, of Beatrix’s family explaining that she needs to carry on the Bloch legacy.

While it’s not mentioned in the game, it can be inferred that women, like everything else in the City of Glass, are treated like property, and by the fact Beatrix and her husband are part of the hiCaste system, that only pure offspring between the two would be heirs to their respective empire.

So Beatrix resigns herself to be married to a man, one who has the exact same level of apathy toward the marriage as she, reduced to providing the next generation of hiCaste people.

As the conversation between Faith and Beatrix continues, Beatrix reveals her new husband is violent, liking to “…argue with his fists.” Faith offers to break his wrists. Beatrix says it’s tempting, a slight smile on her face, but declines.

_{Faith leads a lonely lifestyle with only a few genuine connections. Is Beatrix one of them? (Source: steam.com)}

Beatrix cannot simply annul the marriage though, she needs something stronger to present the board of directors, and she thinks she has a lead.

Beatrix knows her husband is sleeping with another woman, and so needs recordings of the two secretly meeting. This is where Faith comes in.

Beatrix presents a few listening devices and Faith immediately pockets them, saying she’ll help Beatrix. Again, a single five minute conversation, between a runner and a hiCaste, and Faith is willing to jump in without any hesitation…

As a final note before Faith heads out, Beatrix lightly touches Faith’s arm while thanking her. Throughout the game Faith talks with several characters, and only a few does she let touch her.

She visibly steps back when she reunites with Runner leader Noah (the two later hug). Later when Noah dies, Faith doesn’t hold Noah’s corpse or be close to him, only touching his arm and chest to try and wake him up.

In other scenes, Faith only lightly taps Birdman on the shoulder when he gives her his first dash, and she completely blanks Icarus when he offers his hand later in the game.

So it means something when Faith allows someone to touch her, and means an extra note that it is soft, not a steady handshake of a corporate board member, or a shoulder bump of a runner, it’s more intimate than that.

_{Faith interacts with several characters in Catalyst, but none like Beatrix. (Source: wallpaperflare.com)}

After Faith leaves the level proceeds, with Beatrix giving directions to the places for the listening devices and Plastic hijacking the call to inform Faith of the increased security presence. Once Faith has placed all the bugs she hopes Beatrix gets what she needs and Beatrix responds with thanks.

And that’s it. No final note in a later level, no other radio transmission letting us know whether Beatrix was successful and what she plans to do after getting her divorce.

Conclusion

I find it both odd and amusing that this conversation and this character have stuck with me for so long.

I’ve been trying to understand why and I think it comes down to the light touch of it all. In the end, Faith (and Beatrix) don’t need to be identified as gay by the creators and it doesn’t really matter if they are. This entire dissection is purely speculation.

But in that speculation is a kernel of…something. LGBT characters and themes have reached wide prominence in the AAA sphere, and speculation of characters’ sexuality runs through nearly every genre, from Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil 4, to Rhys Strongfork in Borderlands 3, and Lara Croft in the most recent Tomb Raider reboot trilogy.

I feel Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst plays it delicately; it can be inferred and isn’t queer baiting with “almosts” and “what-ifs”, but if someone wanted to pick up on the threads, it can be seen.

In comparison to a character sexuality being directly stated in-game or other media (which has its place and I wholeheartedly support), here the light touch allows the right amount of colour and shade into Faith and Beatrix’s lives.

It makes space for other games to make off-hand comments about same-sex partners and coded references to non-heteronormative relationships (in itself a step towards normalisation) while not overshadowing the game or the mission with a heavy-handed “this character is gay” statement.

So while I can totally understand fans of Mirror’s Edge to go either way on this subject, I will hold up the coding and subtle references between Faith and Beatrix to be a strong standard for threading LGBT themes into characters and games and I would be interested in seeing more.

Banner Photo Source: wallpapercrafter.com

South of the Circle and Love, Memory, and Lost Moments

April 16, 2023July 1, 2024Posted in ArticlesTagged 11 Bit Studios, Antarctic, Clara, Design, Dialogue, Ed Critchley, Emotions, iOS, Love, Masculinity, Memory, Peter, Screen Print, South of the Circle, State of Play, Story, Traditional Gameplay, Video Games, Writing1 Comment

Romance has become quite the topic in the gaming landscape.

I’m a sucker for a good romance and am always interested in where the game will focus its attention.

While love stories have been a part of the medium forever (one of the most famous cases being “save the princess”), it’s only in recent times that gaming has started to take on some more bigger and mature themes when it comes to romance.

Ideas like teen romance (Life is Strange Season 1), infidelity and commitment (Catherine: Full Body), and reconciliation (It Takes Two). I’ve written about love, death and endings in games like When The Past Was Around.

And it just so happens I’ve played another game recently that tried to tackle deeper themes with love.

South of the Circle is a narrative game first released for Apple Arcade in 2020, but was released late last year for consoles and PC.

I was immediately struck by its visuals and sound design, but was drawn in by it being labelled as a love story.

South of the Circle takes on the development of a whole relationship, societal pressures and conventions, but its main theme is memory, its failings and faults, and it perfectly works its way into the gameplay.

Best of British Luck – Love, Memory, and Lost Moments in South of the Circle

South of the Circle’s story focuses on two people, Peter and Clara, both lecturers at Cambridge University, how the two meet and fall in love, before a breakdown in communication leads to tragedy.

We play Peter throughout his time with Clara, but also during a research trip to Antartica, taking place after the two’s romance. This double story, of Peter searching for rescue at the South Pole and his growing relationship with Clara forms the narrative hook of the story.

The pair first meet on a train from Scotland down to Cambridge. It’s a perfect romantic introduction; Peter offering to help Clara put her suitcase on the top rack, her offering to share the carriage as everywhere else would be full.

_{South of the Circle‘s art design is evocative of screen prints from the 1960s, full of clean lines and stark contrasts. (Source: mezha.media)}

The main point of interaction in the game is dialogue choices, but instead of seeing a preview of words, you see a shape that gives a general emotion.

A red circle indicates panic, confusion, or concern. A green circle indicates caring and honesty. The black square is for being strong an assertive, a pink circle is negative and shy, and finally a sunshine image is for enthusiasm and interest.

Not all emotions are accessible with each interaction, only three at one time. It’s a great concept for a replaying a past love story, of people thinking back on moments and regretting acting in a certain way, whether shyness or being too forthright, and it’s great to get a general sense of how Peter could have reacted differently.

It’s also interesting that in certain conversations, one of the prompts comes up before the other. For example, when Peter helps Clara with her suitcase, two options come up in response, one being strong and assertive (the “be-a-man” approach) or honesty and openness. For a few seconds, the strong and assertive is the only prompt on screen.

It gives Peter a little bit of depth; so many characters with dialogue choices can change on a player’s whim in a certain situation, leaving their backstory a little vague and blank as to why they are acting in a certain way, but here it gives a small detail as to Peter’s background.

The two keep crossing paths once they arrive in Cambridge. Peter drives Clara to work when she misses catching her bus in the pouring rain, and she sits in on his lecture and asks question about his work. Again, it’s a perfect romantic setting, of two people in their element, thrown together by fate, both seeing sparks fly as they talk.

Chance meetings turn into coffee dates, into a night at a funfair, into seaside holidays, and finally into secret Scottish highland hideaways (with Clara remarking, “I don’t know what my father would say about me bringing an unmarried man up there.”)

It’s a gradual and believable slide into comfort and romance, yet it’s fleeting. It’s tableaus and snapshots, of little inside jokes (the game remembers what choices you’ve made and the characters reference them), the sort of thing someone remembering a relationship would envision.

_{Happy memories of times gone by. (Source: news.xbox.com)}

Alongside the development of Peter and Clara’s relationship, we get further flashbacks into Peter’s life, such as his childhood and him with his fellow researchers.

His childhood doesn’t seem to be filled with fun, with an over-protective mother and a quick-to-anger father. A lot of the prompts in these sections are delayed; we see the prompt appear but it doesn’t become clickable for sometimes five to ten seconds, as if Peter is finding the courage to speak back to his parents. His responses are usually the panicked or negative choices.

With his friends, Peter is still a little shy and reserved, but given a few seconds the “man-up” choice is presented. A lot of the talk with his friends would be regarded as “locker-room talk”, with the two researchers always hunting for new “conquests” and seeing Clara as, quote, “inspiration” for Peter.

_{Peter’s childhood and social life is also explored in the game, giving glimpses into other areas of his life. (Source: mezha.media)}

And to be fair, they are right with Clara being a muse for Peter. For three years he has been writing a research paper and has been stuck for a long period. But when Clara comes into his life, she reads his work and helps him complete it.

From there, their relationship takes a turn for the worse, as society starts to turn its eye onto the couple.

First, it’s the time period. The game is set in 1964, the height of Soviet paranoia, anti-nuclear marches, and Russian spy rings working inside academia.

Second, the location. It’s only been fifteen years since women were first admitted to Cambridge University, and some of the old guard still believe they are, “not built for academic work”.

It’s both the sexism of the time and guilt by association that causes the breakdown of Peter and Clara, the British “stiff-upper-lip” being the finishing blow, of words left unsaid, and memories now tarnished with emotion.

While half the game is set in the English countryside and sunlit offices and streets, the other half is of Peter and his ill-fated research trip to the Antarctic.

_{Maps, radios, and scientific equipment are all used to great effect in mini-puzzle sequences. (Source:} _mezha.media)

The game takes a little while before explaining the contrasting locations. It drops little hints and off-hand mentions of geography and weather patterns at the start, only really coming to the forefront once Clara and Peter have settled into their relationship.

The scenery is bleak and other-worldly, yet it works perfectly with the developing romance back in England. It says that even in chaotic and unsettling moments there is always some pin of normalcy, of hope and clearer skies at a later date.

The story in Antartica is as desolate as the landscape around it, with an increasing sense of foreboding and mystery. I won’t spoil it here for the story takes some jaw-dropping twists and turns as Peter stumbles through the tundra.

The snow and cold starts to affect Peter, blurring the line between memory and locations, with conversations, atmosphere, and even set design switching from Cambridge to Antartica.

It’s interesting visually if a little jarring the first time; editing cuts like this haven’t really been done before (lest people think their game is lagging for the quick cuts).

It keeps Clara in the forefront of the mind, this warm presence that may be lost to Peter, but he is fighting to find her.

_{There is no camera movement in SotC, but there is always something on the horizon to guide you forward. (Source: polygamer.com)}

The story is very structured with only little spaces for Telltale-style branching, which can lead players to feel frustrated any the lack of choice, but that is the central point of the story, that memory can be influenced by emotion, but can’t change what happened.

Peter is in the Antarctic no matter what; that is the present and everything else is in the past. Events and choices start to contradict, yet Peter is always seen as the sympathetic one and Clara starts to over-react.

While Peter is the protagonist, we as players have to come to the realisation that he isn’t presenting us with the whole truth. It reaches an apex as Peter sets off for the Antarctic, with the player’s feeble attempts to change what happened, but for Peter mentally torturing himself by the final moments.

It’s a devastating ending to come to, that all choices lead to the same conclusion for our protagonist, and it’s only how he chooses to remember himself (and how we as players guided him) that gives him comfort.

It’s a hearty mix of mature themes and aching loneliness and despite the short run time (an average of three hours), I highly recommend it as a great interactive story.

Banner Photo Source: nintendo.de

Assassin’s Creed: Liberation – Discovering a Classic

December 15, 2021December 19, 2024Posted in ArticlesTagged Assassin, Assassins Creed, Aveline, Best Assassin, Black Flag, Connor Kenway, Design, Games, III, Kenway, Kenway Saga, Liberation, New Orleans, Online, PS Vita, PS4, Remastered, tomclement1, Video Games, Writing, Xbox One1 Comment

I’ve just finished playing Assassin’s Creed: Liberation, originally a PlayStation Vita exclusive, now bundled with the recent Assassin’s Creed III remaster.

It feels refreshing and fun to go back to a game that uses the old AC formula, but with a new location, story and character.

And even after a short time playing it, Liberation is probably one of my favourite AC games, easily passing III and Black Flag in my ranking of the series.

So I thought a little breakdown of what I loved about it, and hoped to spread the good word to some AC fans that may want to return to something with a classic feel.

Ragin’ Cajun: Why I love Assassin’s Creed: Liberation

Scope

As mentioned previously, AC: Liberation was originally released on the PS Vita in 2012, to tie-in with the mainline entry ACIII. With the smaller hardware, reductions were needed to be made, but every change seems to benefit the game.

Instead of an intensely expansive world, Ubiosft Sofia (creators of the Prince of Persia HD release as well as the AC spinoff, Rogue) decided to keep things small and contained.

New Orleans and the Bayou, the two main areas of the game, are comparable to AC2’s Florence or Venice than the sprawling maps in ACIII (here is a forum thread of players calculating the size of the cities).

Smaller design leads to more intimate and detailed sections of the map, and allows players to get quickly attuned to their surroundings.

The churches of New Orleans, with their towering spires, become waypoints, allowing players to orient themselves to the location without having to pull the map out every few seconds.

It’s similar to the original Assassin’s Creed in that regard; a small contained map with distinct areas and easily identifiable landmarks. It helps the city feel rich and unique, directly because it is smaller.

This direction of scope is even found in the story and characters. While ACIII spends almost five whole sequences setting up the tragic backstory and family dynamic of its lead, Liberation does it in less than thirty seconds, with only around ten lines of dialogue.

It’s a masterstroke of character and lore-building and gets you right into the story. So let’s talk about that next.

_{Despite its smaller scale, New Orleans feels as detailed, polished, and} _{“living” as later games in the series. (Source: ign.com)}

2. The Story

Written by veteran narrative designers Richard Faresee (who worked on Revelations and III) and Jill Murray (who worked on Black Flag, its expansion Freedom Cry, and recently Shadow of the Tomb Raider), Liberation is one of the more unique narratives of the AC franchise, with it winning the Writer’s Guild of America Award for game writing for 2012.

After the Ezio Trilogy, Assassin’s Creed started to play with the formula for its stories. During AC2, Brotherhood and Revelations, the Templars were moustache-twirling bad guys worthy of a Saturday morning cartoon.

From ACIII to Unity, the mood shifted to portraying the Templars and Assassins as two side of the same coin, with more in common than what separates them.

Liberation follows this theme, but takes it even further, having a fun meta narrative within the story. Liberation is in fact a game created by Abstergo Entertainment, a video game branch of the Templar company, wanting to push their propaganda onto the public.

Your game signal is ‘hacked’ by an Assassin, who tells you the Templars are hiding the truth. The Templars doctor the events to suit their purposes, so you have to hunt down a ‘glitch’ known as ‘Citizen E’, who then reveals the truth behind each edited scene.

It’s a cool idea, echoing the interrogations and glitches from the first Assassin’s Creed, of a world beyond the one we are perceiving, of secrets and subterfuge that some of the other games have lacked (looking at you, Unity, where nearly every NPC knew who the Assassins were).

_{The ‘Citizen E’ missions add an air of mystery and suspicion to the narrative, making the player question Aveline, her allies, and her enemies. (Source: assassinscreedwiki.com)}

The “Full Synchronisation” elements (where players can complete extra challenges during missions) are well thought out and aren’t just added difficulty. Ever since the concept was introduced in Brotherhood, I’ve felt that this was the most ‘game-y’ aspect of the series and didn’t fit either with the mission or the previous freedom of gameplay choice.

Here the Full Syncs add to the narrative, giving hints to the main character, Aveline’s, backstory. For example, the first assassination of the game (and possibly Aveline’s first assassination) isn’t with a hidden blade but with a musket stolen from an enemy.

It’s such a small detail but adds a ton of information to Aveline’s first recorded kill just by what weapon was used.

The story, like all ACs, twists and turns, threading the role of women, race, and indigenous people, something powerful and note-worthy in a major franchise like AC.

Another franchise staple, the First Civilisation, is present, but it isn’t treated with the same world-shattering aspects like previous games.

It’s a small thing in the grand scheme of the game (and has a nice twist at the end), so I’m happy that this series thread is kept to the background.

_{Liberation takes short detours to Chitzen Itza and Mexico, adding First Civilization temples and items, and uses them as standout platforming sequences (Source: assassinscreed.fandom.com)}

But the high point of the story is it never loses sight of its lead. The story is squarely on the Assassin, Aveline de Grandpré. We see her triumphs and defeats, and turning from naive freedom fighter, into stalwart Assassin, and finally someone who can see from all sides, and carves out a path of her own.

Speaking of which…

3. Aveline

Aveline is such a cool character. While it would take another three years until a female protagonist became a lead character (Evie Frye sharing with her brother Jacob in Syndicate), Aveline is no slouch when it comes to characterisation.

Aveline is constantly torn between two worlds, playing all sides, creating an interesting dynamic not only in story but also gameplay.

The most on-the-nose is her status in New Orleans. Born to a white wealthy merchant and a slave mother, Aveline has known both the stuffy aristocratic life afforded to her by her father, but also the hardships of slave life, even having nightmares of being snatched with her mother by traders right off the street.

Throughout the game Aveline switches outfits, from her Assassin ‘robes’ to ball gowns to slave attire, each one with their own abilities and quirks.

Her Assassin outfit is the one suited for combat, allowing for all her weapons and tactics, and also shows some cool details on her personality. For instance, instead of the trademark hood, Aveline uses a tricorn hat, allowing her braided hair to flow freely.

It’s a small detail but something that gives her an edge, of defining herself by her own skills and attire, not standing by the tradition of the Assassins.

When in her ‘lady’ outfit, Aveline can ‘charm’ guards away from their post and has lower notoriety, but is only limited to her hidden blade and can’t freerun.

When dressed as a slave, Aveline also only has her hidden blade, but can blend with other slaves and free-run, while gaining higher notoriety when doing ‘high profile’ actions.

While incredibly gendered, it adds a small layer of choice and tactics to the game, using Aveline’s duality as part of gameplay, with Aveline even altering her speech when wearing different outfits. It’s a great mechanical example of one of the tenets of the creed, “hide in plain sight”.

_{Aveline uses a variety of disguises to achieve her goals. I love this aspect and wish it would make a return in the series. (Source: siliconera.com)}

Storywise, Aveline’s status as an Assassin also rides the dual aspect. Neither her father or mother are Assassins, a far cry from the rest of the series where it is usually a family tradition.

She may be inexperienced, but Aveline has already earned her hidden blades, allowing the narrative to skip the ‘origin’ story and get right into the main events without showing us her discovering the Brotherhood.

The only person who ‘knows’ about her rooftop exploits is Gérald, an employee of Aveline’s father, who holds down Aveline’s base of operations in New Orleans. Gérald gives Aveline information and equipment and knows of the Assassin/Templar conflict, but he is not immersed in the Assassin life.

Aveline is alone in her pursuit, not chasing down her family’s murderers or looking to gain back her family’s honour like other AC leads, but just watching over New Orleans, leaving only when needs must.

She helps free slaves and guides them to the bayou, she disrupts over-zealous colonial rulers and greedy merchants, and kills any Templar that sets foot in her town.

^{Late in the game Aveline leaves New Orleans for Boston to hunt down a spy and enlists Connor Kenway’s aid. They fight side-by-side in a knockout cameo sequence (Source: assassinscreed.wikia.com)}

Aveline’s actions sometimes bring her into conflict with her mentor as she goes against Assassin dogma, not in a ‘trying-to-be-edgy/I-don’t-play-by-the-rules’ way, but as Aveline’s internal struggle with the tenets of the Creed and wanting to act.

It’s such a departure from the rest of the series, but every other attempt at ideas like this in later games has come across as being contrarian for the sake of it (mostly in AC: Unity).

While Aveline is cool and calm under pressure, smart and resourceful, she isn’t afraid to lose her temper or her composure.

There are several stand-out scenes near the end of the game which top any other moment in the series with their levels of emotion, pathos, and engagement.

One other major section that helps build Aveline’s character is…

4. The Combat

Liberation uses the same combat as ACIII and Black Flag, but has its own quirks that for me add to Aveline’s characterisation and to the game as a whole.

Aveline has the regular assortment of swords, daggers, hidden blades, and accessories, but the animations and their usage are so powerful.

Take the sword for instance. While other Assassins are usually hacking and slashing (such as Connor), Aveline’s sword-work is based more on cut and thrusts, disengages and parries.

It’s more intricate and indicates some formal training, indicative of her childhood in one of the more affluent families of New Orleans.

Her short blade is at the complete opposite end of the social scale. In the first mission of the game Aveline frees a slave and then fights off the enraged owner with his own sugarcane machete.

In another slave encampment, she wrestles away a slaver’s whip before turning it on him, and uses it to hang her enemies from tree branches.

It’s a powerful image of a young black woman using the tools of her oppressors against them, similar to Lincoln Clay’s rampages in Mafia III, a game which similarly stars a bi-racial main character fighting against the systemic racial prejudice of the time, also set in Louisiana.

_{Aveline strangling an enemy with her whip, getting ready to equip her machete to deliver the killing blow (Source: gamerstemple.net)}

In the same camp where Aveline gains the whip, she builds her own hidden blades. Pickpocketing materials from around the camp; a small plank of wood here, a kitchen knife there, and finally a few soldier’s belts, Aveline lashes them all together to re-arm herself.

It’s a cool moment after a long section of having to work around enemies rather than face them head-on, now being able to break free and take on the rulers of the camp.

For many missions Aveline has to use her fists, which adds another layer to her characterisation. It’s mentioned in dialogue and appears in-game when she wears the slave disguise, Aveline is attacked by thugs that roam New Orleans.

In direct opposition to her bladework, Aveline’s hand-to-hand combat is brutal and lacks formal training. She swings wide haymakers, incorporates stomps and flying knees, it is the exact type of combat I would expect someone who had to fend for themselves on the street would have.

And since the game is based off the updated ACIII engine, there is less of the stop/start counter combat from the earlier AC games.

_{Aveline has all the tools of the trade at her disposal and can easily go toe-to-toe with any Templar that gets in her way. (Source: spieltipps.de)}

Conclusion

I did’t have much hope for Liberation when I first booted it up.

I wasn’t a major fan of either ACIII or Black Flag when I first played them, only really feeling the series had won me back when I played Syndicate.

And as the game was a PlayStation Vita exclusive when it first came out, it gave the impression Liberation was an also-ran, a stop-gap that played safe and didn’t offer anything of value.

But I gave it a chance and found myself relaxing into it, feeling comfortable in my controls and abilities, challenged by new locales and events and spirited away by an unspoiled story, but having a sense of familiarity, old yet new.

It’s been almost five years since AC has leapt from action-adventure to the RPG crowd, and I don’t fault it. Sale numbers and audience reception to Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla have been phenomenal.

But if you a looking for a change of pace, a palette cleanser between the big, bombastic games, something that tells a small story in a larger frame, or is just a nice reminder of a time and gameplay styling that has been absent, then AC Liberation might just be right for you.

It’s been a pleasure to play as Aveline, and my only wish is that I wanted more.

_{Banner Photo Source: gamestar.de}

Assassin’s Creed, Evie Frye, and Older Female Characters in Games

October 9, 2021May 30, 2026Posted in ArticlesTagged Assassins Creed, Design, Female Character, feminist, Games, gaming, Online, Sexism, Star Wars, Story, strong, Video Games, Writing2 Comments

I recently finished Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate’s Jack The Ripper downloadable add-on. It was a fun little side story featuring some stand out moments and mechanics, but what really sucked me into the story was the change to the playable character, Evie Frye.

Evie and her twin brother Jacob, the two playable characters in Syndicate, are in their mid-to-late twenties during the course of the main story. The Jack the Ripper DLC is set twenty years after the conclusion of the Fryes’ narrative, making the twins both over forty in the game. Jacob is missing from the story, having being kidnapped by Jack, meaning the entire narrative is played from Evie’s point of view.

And that struck me as something quite unique. When was the last time I had played as a female character over forty years old? Heck, when had I ever played as a female character that made a point of them being over thirty?

The gaming landscape is becoming more diverse with each game that comes out. Characters that are male or female (or in some cases neither), black, brown, or white-skinned, and LGBT+ are increasingly common on our screens. The only outlier is age, I can’t remember a playable character with graying hair or a few wrinkles.

Well, apart from male characters.

Some of the biggest characters in gaming are men in their later years, such as Ezio Auditore in Assassin’s Creed and Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell/Rainbow Six (around fifty years old), Max Payne in Max Payne 3 (forty-eight years old), Joel from The Last of Us (late forties), Geralt in The Witcher (late forties), and Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4 (who even though is canonically forty-two years old, looks closer to eighty), yet I couldn’t think of a single female character that could fit the same age bracket.

So I went for a look.

More than a Number? – A Search for Older Female Characters

First, some people might take umbrage at my liberal use of the phrase ‘older female characters’. One person’s idea of old might be another’s thought of coming into the best years of their life. I’m going to use the phrase ‘older female characters’ just as a catch-all term, but I’m trying to match male for female characters, like the male characters listed before.

And secondly, this is only for PLAYABLE characters.

The first older female character that came to mind was Iden Verso, the lead character of EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront II. Iden is a member of Inferno Squad, the special forces of the Sith Empire, and her story plays out from the end of Return of the Jedi, as she slowly changes sides from the Empire to the Rebels.

Iden’s story comes to close a few months after the destruction of the second Death Star when she is still in her thirties, but the rest of her story continues in a downloadable epilogue, dubbed Resurrection. Here, Iden, now with graying hair, brings herself back into the fight against the First Order. However, these final levels amount to three playable sections out of thirteen overall levels.

_{Iden as she appears in SW: Resurrection. Iden was one of the only older female characters I could remember playing (source: reddit.com).}

Evie and Iden are of the same cloth; the most elite warriors of their day, brought out of retirement to bring the fight to enemies once again (funnily enough they almost mirror each other, being brought away from familial duties by the disappearance/death of a loved one, to do battle against a former friend turned enemy).

And after Iden and Evie, I had to do a deep dive to find some more older female characters, which was much harder to do that I previously thought it would be.

First was Selene, the main character of the recent sci-fi-Souls-like Returnal. Selene is middle-aged in the game, but is just as smart, capable, and agile as any of the thousands of playable white men in her same age category. Without giving much away, Returnal is all about the passage of time, and so an older character with skills and knowledge that a younger person does not possess factors in pretty well.

Another character is the ‘Crime Granny’, Helen Dashwood, from Watch Dogs: Legion. This character, despite being nearly eighty years old, became the stand-out character of the E3 Reveal Trailer, and when she became freely playable in-game, we found she was just as capable as any of the other resistance fighters. However, Helen must come with a caveat; she is an optional character to play as, as all characters in Legion are, and so doesn’t carry the same weight as Evie, Iden, or Selene.

_{Helen fights to free London and isn’t afraid to pull out the big guns to get the job done (source: tweaktown.com).}

Rainbow Six: Siege has twenty-five out of its sixty-one operators identifying as female. Most of these characters are actually in their thirties, with only a few outliers in their late twenties. The oldest is the Peruvian operator Amaru, who is forty-eight, but the oldest male operator is Zero (Sam Fisher under a different codename), who is sixty-three in the game.

One place I didn’t think would have older female characters were fighting games. While all fighting games have at least one old man archetype (usually doing some powerful ancient martial art), I didn’t realise that Chun-Li from Street Fighter is fifty-three in the most recent game. The same goes for Sonya Blade from Mortal Kombat, who in MK11 is now well into her fifties. But while these are both kicakss older characters, would we ever see Chun-Li reach the same age as Gen, one of the older men of Street Fighter, who is believed to be in his seventies?

***

So from everything above you could say there are quite a few older female characters. But all of these characters come with asterisks; most are character selections, or if they are the main character then they are relegated to a downloadable extra or an epilogue. Why is that? Why have older female characters not taken centre stage like older males?

Plausibility is out of the window. Iden and Evie are raised from birth to be fighters. Selene is an accomplished astronaut. Helen is a retired police engineer. All of Rainbow’s operators are hand-picked due to their combat skills. Chun-Li and Sonya have dedicated themselves to perfecting martial arts. Each of these women have learnt the skills to be competent and capable video game protagonists.

Is is just…the ‘M’ word? Possibly. But I would also posit that age factors into that discussion as well, as a younger woman on the cover is an easier sell than an old-age pensioner in the same position.

But then I have to think, are people coming to these games for the female characters, and not say the frenetic multiplayer, or the fact it’s another Souls-like game, or high review scores, or the myriad reasons that people chose to play their games?

Again, possibly. But somewhere there is someone playing the game because there is a woman in the main role. Anecdotal evidence aside…it’s me. I was drawn to Evie Frye for being the first female Assassin in the series, in the same way as I’m drawn to Kassandra and female Eivor. And upon learning that Evie was approaching middle-age in Jack the Ripper, I was hooked.

_{Time has changed Evie, both inside and out, and it was cool to see how she had developed into a different role and personality (source: steamcommunity.com).}

An older character can give us something unique, bringing up questions that have rarely been explored in gaming like ageing and the concept of change. Losing skills that were once easy, a defiance against advanced/unemotional responses in war and peace…or even just to see a character grow and mould over time.

Not to mention, women are going to have different responses and issues to grapple with than their male counterparts, would this not also be something new and interesting for the industry to show?

And even if a game doesn’t tackle personal drama and age is relegated to cosmetics, just making the character look older would be something special.

I want to see Lara Croft raiding tombs in her 50s.

I want to see Chun-Li with graying hair still being able to go toe-to-toe with Ryu.

I want to see Ellie in TLoU3 be older than Joel was in TLoU2.

It’s possible and there is no real reason why it can’t be so.

***

_{Banner Photo Source: steamcommunity.com (User: EndsWithABulletOnline)}