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Yeah I think the big crux of that person's assertion is that this game was made in response to nihilism and the moment-to-moment gameplay being a shooter is just a side-effect of the game's philosophy. Which is dumb, because the CORPORATE CEO MINDSET is just a fun set-dressing for an otherwise still pretty interesting FPS. Like, I wouldn't call the aesthetic a gimmick, but it's definitely not there because it has something to say about "society" or whatever. Either way, it's a way more interesting presentation and framing device than like...Call of Duty or anything like that. Like...I don't think you could possibly read a line like "debased and blacksuppositoried" and then try to continue taking the game seriously as some sort of ideological project. It is hilarious though
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Jul 13, 2021 05:31
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cruelty squad succeeds where games that are intentionally philosophical fail because it provokes a genuine emotional reaction, instead of trying to force people into a specific emotional reaction its a pure emission from someone's brain, and uses the visual language of games in a very effective way. it captures the feeling of weird demo disc games you played as a kid before you were developed enough to really understand the mechanics of games. it also captures a lot of the look of the janky mods and custom maps we've all played at one point or another. and half the game feels like you've glitched out of a level and are somewhere you aren't supposed to be, seeing the other side of the backdrop. the engine it runs on definitely helps in that regard, because all engines have a recognisable feel to them. it's pretty easy to feel by how the movement works whether a game is running on unrealengine, idtech, or unity, and the fact that CS runs on none of those and has its own unique quirks makes it feel very unfamiliar. edit: also anything that involves worldbuilding is going to be in some way political, because how someone constructs a world connects to how they believe the actual world works. but i dont think cruelty squad is an ideological project at all, beyond expressing some of the creator's ideas about the real world subconsciously
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Jul 13, 2021 06:27
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What I really dig is that the game reminds me of the weird free indie games I used to play in like 2013 and this is most certainly a side effect of the game creator definitely having been in that scene back then too. Porpentine apparently did a project with him back in the day. I have two specific memories in mind, one was a gamemaker who made very short games with a childlike hand-drawn style who I cannot remember the name of for the life of me, and another was an insane website that talked about games in a social/metaphysical way, it had a similar color scheme as CS
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Jul 13, 2021 07:20
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This game owns. I've left it running to accumulate gamestop stocks but now that I have nearly a million plus a house I'm going to start progressing again. I found the stocks gun in the HQ and shot the boss in the head 20 times then he killed me which was unwelcome, wish I could just leave with it via the normal entrance
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Jul 13, 2021 14:36
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:nearly a million That's your problem, 1 million is the magic number where the stonks rifle does infinity damage to anything that isn't armored oh and the money has to be in the market, not in cash
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Jul 13, 2021 17:50
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Yeah I foolishly assumed it increased gradually rather than leaping up, caught three fish and killed him in one shot lmao. Now I have my gun and a giant face told me to have ceo mindset
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Jul 13, 2021 17:53
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RazzleDazzleHour posted:but it's definitely not there because it has something to say about "society" or whatever. My take is that it does occasionally do things to make a point or message because like the dev says, it seems someone's thought flow made directly into a game and that sometimes means things like that. But maybe I'm wrong, and I'm not sure I could tell you what those messages would be just that it feels like there sometimes is one. 
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Jul 13, 2021 19:19
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I don't know about you guys, but  Also, if you want some backstory and/or worldbuilding, try talking to the various non-hostile NPCs on the maps. The targets themselves often have some interesting stuff to say. Edit: 
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Jul 13, 2021 19:28
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Acerbatus posted:My take is that it does occasionally do things to make a point or message because like the dev says, it seems someone's thought flow made directly into a game and that sometimes means things like that.
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Jul 13, 2021 19:35
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My take on the "ideology" of the game, is that it is basically "What if life was worthless".
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Jul 13, 2021 19:50
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the targets on the house map have a lot to say about the lore of the cruelty squad universe
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Jul 13, 2021 20:02
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the bataille quote is the game's clearest ideological underpinning that doesn't also double as a shitpost. cruelty squad's setting is a world that's become so glutted with "life" in the form of capitalist excess that it's now a pulped, mutated nightmareland where hardly anyone can even die. if life is an economy (and the avatar of life in CS literally provides financial advice when confronted), then cruelty squad is one where the "accursed share" now makes up 99.9(...) percent of stock. the player gradually engages in consummation of that excess over the course of their missions - while they and the handler initially just kill who they're assigned to, the handler eventually starts telling them to go ham and kill everyone and everything, everywhere, until the player achieves apotheosis and euthanizes existence itself it's not trying to be a deep philosophical text in its own right, it just has a neat way of approaching its ideas that matches the grotesque presentation
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Jul 13, 2021 20:18
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while the game is absolutely just a train-of-thought shitpost by the dev, the dev themself seems fairly anti-corporate which leads me to believe despite being a shitpost there's still a message in there somewhere, subconsciously
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Jul 13, 2021 20:27
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the aesthetic of the game is perfect for 2021. it's like if you left vaporwave out in the hot sun for 12 days and came back to scoop up its maggot-filled corpse it's a pack of hotdogs left in the office in march 2020
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Jul 13, 2021 21:50
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While everything probably has a subconscious message, the dev and the game itself seems entirely like a high effort shitpost that doesn't need nor want to be read into. Half of it seems like poo poo he just chuckled at, then went "gently caress it, into the game".
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Jul 14, 2021 15:33
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I've been thinking about it and I would say it's loosely based on the two linked ideas that infinite growth is "the ideology of the cancer cell" and that under nightmare turbocapitalism the only point in life is to accrue value/profit. Combine those two and you have the insane nightmare world of the game, and even the dumbest idea fits in perfectly well, because all the numbers are meaningless and nothing matters. So no, don't look too hard into any individual aspect/level, it's probably largely nonsense that loosely fits a relatively coherent overall theme It's not nihilistic so much as *portraying* a nihilistic world/system
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Jul 14, 2021 17:55
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I like the grappling hook
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Jul 14, 2021 20:16
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BONGHITZ posted:I like the grappling hook same I feel really pro with it now
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Jul 15, 2021 03:35
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the sun looks down upon you with malice sounds metal as gently caress i feel ready to don my fedora and katana to invest in short sells, big pharma, and worker exploitation also anyone remember that hondo hl1 mapper especially ahl_5am??
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Jul 15, 2021 15:16
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For a game with a lot of joke music, "Rent Due" unironically slaps. It's like somebody tried to shove Trent Reznor into an NES slot.
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Jul 16, 2021 06:31
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Booty Pageant posted:also anyone remember that hondo hl1 mapper especially ahl_5am?? Oh Hell yeah. Hondo's maps were incredible. I was more familiar with their maps converted to the Scientist Hunt mod but they were great. Endless Rain was a jam.
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Jul 16, 2021 16:46
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There are missions where your landlord sics the police on you because you're past due on rent and comments on how quickly they respond and another where the elites of the world are having a secret masquerade. A mission has you attacking a police station where the chief has turned into a monster because of steroids the head of narcotics was giving him. Another has you taking out a politician in a mall because of his anti-corporate stance with a comment that this aligns with the policy of the shadow president. One of your targets is chosen because he was increasing the survivability of rocket trips and the higher ups wanted more sacrifices. A gated community is built over an ancient burial ground. I think it's a bit odd to kinda dismiss it as a shitpost.
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Jul 16, 2021 18:46
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I'm just taking the "It's all bullshit I made up on the go" at face value. He's absolutely got his own politics but I don't think he wants this game to be a discussion. https://twitter.com/villecallio/status/1407957959334891525
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Jul 16, 2021 20:11
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He's on at least level 7 irony dude he's not going to break kayfabe and tearfully announce that he thought he was writing kapital 4.20
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Jul 16, 2021 20:24
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I'm only qualified for level 5 irony, sorry.
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Jul 16, 2021 20:34
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dogstile posted:I'm only qualified for level 5 irony, sorry. *hitting you on the knee with a small hammer* tell me what you say when you see a cylinder
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Jul 16, 2021 20:43
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dogstile posted:I'm just taking the "It's all bullshit I made up on the go" at face value. He's absolutely got his own politics but I don't think he wants this game to be a discussion. I know I follow him on twitter. But like Lunchmeat Larry said he's an ironyboi and we have the game itself. It's not like it's a random collection of stuff it has a coherent through line.
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Jul 16, 2021 20:53
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Groovelord Neato posted:I know I follow him on twitter. But like Lunchmeat Larry said he's an ironyboi and we have the game itself. It's not like it's a random collection of stuff it has a coherent through line. https://twitter.com/villecallio/status/1408752058652663808/photo/1 i have figured out why this game resonates with me so much... we share the same shade of windows 95 turquoise as backgrounds
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Jul 17, 2021 13:08
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Bullfrog posted:What I really dig is that the game reminds me of the weird free indie games I used to play in like 2013 and this is most certainly a side effect of the game creator definitely having been in that scene back then too. Porpentine apparently did a project with him back in the day. This game looks and sounds like what you'd get if a dragon took Beestmeel [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVUjVqKKmoI, click at your own risk, has a lot of Shmorky and Lowtax I think] and Nier to a black orb or something, they walked in, and something came out. That's a compliment.
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Jul 19, 2021 08:40
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Groovelord Neato posted:I know I follow him on twitter. But like Lunchmeat Larry said he's an ironyboi and we have the game itself. It's not like it's a random collection of stuff it has a coherent through line. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Bataille#Key_concepts quote:The notion of "excess" energy is central to Bataille's thinking. Bataille's inquiry takes the superabundance of energy, beginning from the infinite outpouring of solar energy or the surpluses produced by life's basic chemical reactions, as the norm for organisms. In other words, an organism in Bataille's general economy, unlike the rational actors of classical economy who are motivated by scarcity, normally has an "excess" of energy available to it. This extra energy can be used productively for the organism's growth or it can be lavishly expended. Bataille insists that an organism's growth or expansion always runs up against limits and becomes impossible. The wasting of this energy is "luxury." The form and role luxury assumes in a society are characteristic of that society. "The accursed share" refers to this excess, destined for waste.
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Jul 20, 2021 12:41
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Jul 20, 2021 19:54
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I hope nobody else is dumb enough to go for the zippy3000 but just in case you are it turns out the loving thing is a tiny pistol and so even harder to pick out of the giant pile of guns than I expected, I thought I was watching for something smg-sized just based on how it looks good luck fellow brainworms
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Jul 21, 2021 00:49
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that’s why you periodically go to the gun pile and throw them around the casino one by one to clear space of course, you only do this after getting the zippy on your fifth pull with 10 health remaining and then head to the exit only to be shot down by the cops outside gamer tipz
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Jul 21, 2021 01:34
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Irony.or.Death posted:I hope nobody else is dumb enough to go for the zippy3000 but just in case you are it turns out the loving thing is a tiny pistol and so even harder to pick out of the giant pile of guns than I expected, I thought I was watching for something smg-sized just based on how it looks I knew the gun it was based on so luckily I avoided this.
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Jul 21, 2021 13:40
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So, there's a pretty neat secret on Neuron Activator. First of all, bring weapons that can deal with the armored golems, like the lmg or the rocket launcher. Bringing some HE grenades wouldn't hurt either. When you start out, turn right, and head over to the door on the building opposite of the club entrance. Inside here you will find a lot of enemies, including 8 armored golems which you will need to take out. Once you're done with that, the third room on the right will have a door inside it, which lead to a seemingly empty corridor with an enemy at the end. Once you shoot the enemy (or if you have the life sensor equipped), you will notice other enemies coming out of the right wall, that's because there's a secret entrance there, with a vault inside. This can be opened with any exposive damage. In the vault, you will find about 10k in cash. Not a whole lot for such a lot of fighting, but if you examine one of the corners, you might find a small indent which leads to the real price: One million dollars. I imagine this could be popular for 100% or Trauma Loop completion speedruns of the game.
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Jul 22, 2021 16:47
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I bought this game yesterday and I'm popping in here to say it is fuckin great.
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Jul 23, 2021 06:18
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Rahu posted:I bought this game yesterday and I'm popping in here to say it is fuckin great. Hell yeah get in that CEO grindset 
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Jul 23, 2021 08:16
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So A Thing happened that seems to have permanently changed just about every level (a little), but I'm not sure why or if it matters. All the water is red now, I think it happened some time around when I beat the last normal level. I can still fish and swim in it, so it seems to be functionally the same as before but it is weird!
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Jul 25, 2021 01:47
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Rahu posted:So A Thing happened that seems to have permanently changed just about every level (a little), but I'm not sure why or if it matters. have you been hope eradicated
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Jul 25, 2021 02:32
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I have now, but I'm pretty sure that started happening before I had either hope eradicated or death. It actually doesn't happen when hope eradicated is on because the water is poison instead. I suppose I'll just keep murdering and see if it changes again. 
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Jul 25, 2021 02:44
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