UPDATE - A NEW BUILD WAS PUSHED AND THE MEANINGLESS AI CLUES HAVE BEEN OBLITERATED. They've apparently had this build "a while" but test thoroughly hence the sudden release. BONE TOTEM on GOG - gog.la/rattlemebones THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo
The “hello, my name is Moses, what is your name?” Over the radio followed by a “oh god, he’s found another corpse” is both deeply unsettling and excellent storytelling
@@spartanx9293I don't think it'd be scary if you don't understand the concept of death. More likely it'd just be very confusing as to why the person isn't moving.
"Grief is the final, most painful and purest expression of love." I was not expecting to find solace here of all places, that line hits really hard as of now, but, in a good way, thanks.
I had to go back and listen to that line a couple of times. It honestly hurt quite a bit. I was not at all expecting to have a soul-searching moment in the middle of this video...
For anyone interested in more sci-fi that deals with “digital afterlife”, check out “Surface Detail” by Iain M. Banks, and “Echopraxia” by Peter Watts (and to a lesser extent “Blindsight,” also by Watts, which is a companion to Echopraxia)
Ah I was looking for someone mentioning Surface Detail!! Great book about digital afterlives and their theological, carceral, and political implications.
do not read echopraxia, it's meh and does not have much to do with digital afterlife. Read blindsight, it's good and also does not have much to do with digital afterlife
While it ismore limiting, having item interactions relegated to interact screens is great for a point and click adventure game! It takes away to fear of missing something, pixle hunting or just trying everything on everything.
It was so distressing to see Moses scared and running for his life from the hand-spider thing, especially after him having human feelings like guilt and fear it made me feel uncomfortable in a way I haven't before
They basically replicated the strength of Blade Runner where you end up sympathizing to a character who you know isn't human. And Moses also ends up ultimately achieving the same thing as Roy Batty and Joe at the end, by being more human than human.
@@StrikeWarlock The most impressive thing is that none of Moses' emotions feel cheap. Having played it, many of the 'human' interactions felt forced or cliche. You could feel the writer trying to build a connection to Hope when her parents were talking about her. But for Moses it comes through perfectly naturally, in every line. Foe example when he's looking at a human vivisection machine and saying "knives are dangerous, children should not play with them", there's an undercurrent of sadness and loss. Like he's narrating his experiences for his best friend who's no longer there. His entire character is soulful in a way that very few video game characters manage to properly portray.
I think what adds to that feeling is how helpless he is. He's a small child sized toy, if he's caught, he's caught. He can struggle all he want, but he can't escape because he's too weak for that
"He will never understand that grief is the final, most painful and purest expression of love." 32:23 Goddamn, Mandalore. Hit me with the poignant gut punch out of nowhere.
I mean, that guy is right, as someone who sailed with the military off and on for 7 years it is excruciatingly painful to try and find something in the ocean. Even if it's the size of a rig, they may look big in port but out there they become very small. (unless it is massive but that rig was mobile and we have those even today) Once again he's correct. A storm royally fucks with sensors and the like, you're probably not going to get lost but they are piloting a pretty small vessel with equipment that would probably be absolute garbage.
Writers often have a fundamental misunderstanding of scale, especially in sci-fi. The idea of stumbling across something or deliberately searching for something, when you don't know where to look, either in the ocean or in outer space is laughable. The distances involved actively make probability your enemy.
Your channel and your reviews truly are a mad fever dreams' treasure island. I found myself invested in games I never played and would never play either, while still enticed to come back for more. Great job, Mandalore. Heh, never thought I would think that while not seeing Canderous Ordo on a killing spree...
I just watched your review of Genesis and Stasis last night before passing out and as soon as I wake up, I get this gem. You reviewing all these old esoteric games that I slightly remember or never heard of is amazing and I don’t see anyone else doing it. Thanks for the hard work of playing through these games that I know must be a bitch to trudge through. I know I couldn’t make it.
I think the thing that gets me with ai art is that like no one even seems to check it before putting it out there? Like did no one see the glasses thing and even wanna redo it? Amazon doing that shit isnt surprising but its sad to see with a smaller passion product
In their defence, generative AI seems to be really good at disguising artefacts. If it doesn't fail completely, the weirdness will usually be hidden in tiny details that can be mistaken for artistic flair. I think the invisible glasses (6:28) is a good example of this. It's still weird that a team with dedicated artists didn't notice, but a non-artist did. It makes me wonder if all AI art is like this with weird artefacts and they picked the best one.
The thing is this, AI art is a tool that allows non-artists, that is people who have not studied art either through lack of time or ambition, to quickly generate random stuff. Of course they're not seeing the obvious flaws in the "art" because they never bothered to learn about it. Any seasoned artist notices these things and would want to fix them immediately, assuming they would touch AI generation in the first place. To them art is an expression of their own skill or soul and that comes with a certain amount of ego which is a good thing if done in moderation. The non-artists who use AI stuff simply do not see the flaws because of their lack of knowledge and experience that drove them to use AI as a shortcut in the first place. That's the major theme I see over and over whenever it comes to AI generated assets. I'm generalizing here of course but it's true more often than not.
@@asj3419 I think the important detail is that this game came out in May, which means the AI content was made even earlier. The AI image field has made huge strides since then, a lot of tools and properly tuned models that would fix the issues present in this game's AI art may not have been available yet.
@517342 yeah I totally get that it's just like this studio does seem to have artists on staff so like even just asking one of them to look seems like it would reveal a lot. Maybe I'm just being naive there though
At best Ill just say it was a just placeholder until they got all the art finished while still being basically finished but either they forgot to add it in or just didn't have the art in time. At worst however, they wanted to emphasis the "the game involves AI and we used AI to make it, crazy right" even though it made the final product worst. I don't want to believe they're lazy because they put a lot of care into the game but with how much they side stepped the issue it seems like they wanted to keep it in until someone with an audience thought negatively about it.
This video is like the perfect balance of everything I enjoy about Mando- jokes, horror, a dissertation on the game design challenges of AI art and a brief aside on the relationship between love and grief. Brother over here is the most interesting man in world and he runs a game review channel.
It definitely sets him in a class of his own. Some oddball mix of review and essayist that ends up being better than the sum of its parts, and he really does have a very unique wit and turn of phrase that's only improved as he's done more of this. Mandalore was never bad at this, but if you watch the very early stuff compared to stuff from 2023, the difference is enormous. It's actually flabbergasting how much he's managed to improve without really *changing.*
I already played it and think it's a huge improvement to the first game. World building, story and characters are super interesting and I love Moses, his AI has problems to process the horrific stuff that happens around him and that leads to hilarious moments. Like at 10:53, where he introduces himself to a corpse and wants to have some smalltalk with them.
I have become keenly aware of the month of October more so than any other month purely because of how much I am looking forward to a new adventure game review from you. I swear it feels like the Super Bowl for me. This year I may legitimately make some special food and get a baby sitter. Thank you so much for what you do.
Bought the game before the story spoilers part of the video and finished it in a single sitting. It can not be understated how good the dialogues are, Faran and Moses for me prop up the game, that disembodied (ahah) voice might not have the physique but he certainly has the soul of a gigachad.
I know they're not exactly spooky, but I would love to see you cover the Zeno Clash games at some point. They're so utterly bizarre and I think they'd be a great fit for this channel.
I wish you brought up the fact that devs are silencing people on the forums by deleting threads talking about AI art and locking forums to owners-only. Still, glad you brought up AI art at all.
The disturbing setting of this game reminds me Sanatorium, I felt so despair and uneasy while playing this one. The extended universe is not explained in Bone Totem but I guess the world could be that if Jeff Bezos rules the world.
I have discovered some of my favourite games thanks to your channel. Recently Northern Journey and now these two Stasis games. Keep up the awesome work Mandalore!
I might be completely off-base and misremembering but I think I recall the lead artist on this game complaining on twitter about the use of A.I. art. If that's the case those "fucked up hands" are pretty damning; the Balenciaga look could be dismissed as a coincidence but there's no getting around those hands. EDIT: Given the removal of the AI clues, my guess is there's a good chance the context was the lead artist throwing the employee who made that art under the bus. Honestly, for me the fact they couldn't be bothered to spend a few minutes in Photoshop fixing the hands is the most egregious part.
I really enjoy watching Mandalore videos before bed, something about his voice is so soothing. The problem is my dreams start getting narrated by him...
@@Supercohboy Idk man you try dreaming about falling down stairs infinitely while Mandalore is just screaming along with you and tell me it's a blessing...
Thank you so much for this video, Mandalore. I loved Stasis when I played it... some years ago, and I never would have known there was a sequel out if not for you biting into the games. You're the best, dude.
My main problem with this game was the overal mishmash of themes in the "big" plot. While character moments were great, the constant subgenre switches from chapter to chapter were kinda jarring and stretching suspension of disbelief to limits. At least gave me an opportunity to feel super smart after I caught one of the plot twists early on though
For me it actually kept my interest up. Im glad the game gradually stepped away from the dead space/ alien/ science gone wrong them from the beginning. That has been done so many times already. Im still amazed how this game could keep putting more and more horrifying things behind each locked door without it becoming a cheap gorefest.
I just picked up a humble bundle that included this and pathologic 2, I'm shocked it wasn't a branded "Mandalore Spooky Pack". I just got a little bit into act 2, and it's really interesting trying to figure out what's intent and what's maybe a little amateurish. The different reactions to horrible cronenberg flesh machines and comparable cosmic horrors seems intentional, but also the weird AI portraits, breathy, porn-y line delivery by the Charlie actress (seriously, my girlfriend thought I was watching porn), and some really stilted canned dialogue make me wonder. Still, there's genuine brilliance here, more than enough to make it worth seeing to the end.
As Night Stocker at a Krogers for 3 years in 2010 the murderous intent was on our schedule, life and how hard we had to bust or asses all night to get the store ready in the morning hell or high water the spice must flow. Holy hell what a thankless job. Mentally I could never do that job ever again not in that environment I hope its gotten better.
I was doing the same thing at about the same time for them. With how worse it is now I fully expect the next big unethical megacorp in a setting to be based on them.
I love the wildly different versions of faith that coexist in this nightmare world. Absolutely not what I was expecting in a stasis game but very thought provoking in an oddly peaceful contemplative way.
I am absolutely perplexed how interesting the story and characters are, along with the quality and detail of the environments and yet big budget games are still cardboard cutout bog-standard basic in most aspects.
I have NEVER been more facinated with the narrative concepts presented by a game in my life, it sounds like pathologic meets silent hill on H.P Scifilovecrack
Eternights has that same phone scanner at the end to see the secret ending. That was my first exposure to that concept, and I was baffled beyond belief.
You're telling me you can't remember the angler fish's name in Banjo Tooie...what, was "Lord Woo Fak Fak" too common a name? Is it the "John Smith" of angler fish names?
The obvious reference here is the Tempest play by Shakespeare, which takes place on a ship during a storm and on a remote island. One of the characters is Caliban, a monster.
@@calisto789 The way companies use anything can be negative. My point is that AI art isn't inherently bad. People shouldn't dismiss or look down on someone solely for using it, but rather for how they use it.
@SirHat they used it badly. No need to play devils advocate for hypothetical ethical uses of ai when the over all adoption of it has been bad for artistic labor.
oh yowch I had a feeling just from the first couple of NPC clips from the start of the review, but that AI-generated crap really hurts any interest i had in this game. what sucks is if they were intentionally going for that uncanny, creepy look that generated images already have, that would've been pretty cool and thematic! but the obvious lack of touch up they did reeks of laziness that docks a lot of points. it's not like the game looked bad without it either...
i really enjoy your videos but could you please balance out your audio with the audio of the in game footage? i often watch on my pc from the bed when im trying to sleep and its bothering getting up everyime to adjust the volume, regardless, thanks for all your work i appreciate it
Holy shit, Mandy really hit the nail on the head on AI in games that I have also been feeling crazy about because no one mentions it. Are we really at a point in art where intention and inherent meaning can just be glossed over and replaced by an algorithm that rapidly makes generic set dressing? Like, I understand that hiring artists of any medium can be expensive and time consuming especially to a bunch of game developers or story writers with an idea, but this feels like too much of a shortcut.
@@harrybirchall3308 What? If anything, I feel like there is far too much right now considering how poor the results have been overall. If people were panicking because results were too good I'd understand, but using the technology we have now to support lower scale creative works is great. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, because while I understand mandy bringing up the AI elements due to the status of AI being ill-defined and important conversation topic, I have zero problems with how the devs used it here. They obviously had to fix it to comply with Steam's policy, but if it was legal I'd have no objections to their use here.
@@goldcreeper7376 We can all see exactly where it's going so the fact that the current state isnt quite that bad yet does little to restrain my growing resentment and horror.
I dont think AI art is inherently bad like some people do. I think it's totally fine to use it in the way they used it here. The problem arises when you don't then go and fix the little details AI inevitably gets wrong, like the glasses eyes or the weird hands. Thats the real problem.
AI can be used as a great tool like anything else, but yeah that lack of human oversight to the degree it was made what they wanted to do more incoherent and sloppy.
Woof, yeah, the AI generated imagery is a dealbreaker for me. I don't understand how, for a game with excellent visuals everywhere else, they resort to something so poorly made. If it was for "non-essential story fluff," then cut it - it's non-essential. If it is essential, consolidate your fluff & do it yourself. Even outside of the ethical concerns behind plagiarism software, it just looks ugly and feels pointlessly surreal.
Dear god the captains surname being Boynya (Бойня) literraly slaughterhouse or butchery is so on the nose, but especially considering that the parasites other name "Veles" is the name of the slavic god of livestock. Also the name of the soviet sub being "Big Special" is just so funny.
@@vadimkaz1467 if you're talking about Elena Igorevich, it's a relatively normal last name, albeit a bit rare - just put the emphasis on the third syllable instead of the first. I doubt anyone has any problem with any female relatives of Leonid Yakubovich :D
Honestly, Mac going from describing Calaban as "It's a Numen, it's sacred, we shouldn't even be talking to it", to telling Calaban to shut up, he's talking to Charlie, is just wonderful representation of people under stress.
It would have been scary if a material implant transferring your "consciousness" into a virtual reality seemed even remotely, logically possible. Same with SOMA. Seriously, it's like game developers just read Descartés once and never look back. Never learning about the fact that the entirety of european philosophers, including nobility like the princess of Bohemia, essentially dogpiled on the guy over how nonsensical his dualism is. Also, it doesn't make sense. Assuming god does not exist, which this game implies. Do you really die if your "consciousness" is just transferred into another virtual world which is ultimately based in physical(non-idealist) reality? Isn't that just immortality? If they can transfer consciousness why aren't they creating biomechanical bodies for that consciousness?
Hey Mandalore - thanks for an amazing deep dive into the game! You'll be happy to know that any AI art has already been removed and replaced with our bespoke pieces. :D Keep up the good work! - Chris
31:15 "Mac is right. My fault. I am... not a good bear" Goddamn, the fact that that line is so heartrending is a testament to this game's writing and acting.
The voice acting and the visual design of Moses are just perfect. Haven't had such a strong connection with a game character in quite a while. Mac and Charlie are pretty good as well.
I personally don't like how alive he seems, not in a character sense but more that the fear and self preservation instinct he shows in his death animations is far too human for me. They leave me with a deep sense of wrongness, as if it simply shouldn't be happening.
@@foobarbazbaa5598I appreciate the fact that Mandalore's style of editing involves alot of restraint because he hopes that people would play the game, and man, Faran was amazing
To quote him on a podcast "The dance is meant to crush your spirit. Some people are finding it funny because they just started. Some are exhausted an feel absolutely humilated by it. Then some people have given up and love it because its the bright spot of their day. Those people love big brother now.
"i was really hopeful regarding these mutant nuggets, but they are instead somehow dry and soggy. I didnt think the apocalypse could get any worse, but i was wrong".
@@remobothic So true. He has to constantly poison himself with fast food because he knows modern society just isn't ready for the muscle-bound barbarian warlord that is ReviewBrah's natural state.
"Leyland-Toyota" was such an understated reference to Alien's production design and the name the concept artists were brainstorming for "The Company". Kudos for slipping it in.
Calaban reminds me in a way of Sovereign from ME1. Inscrutable intelligence that views itself as so beyond humanity but still full of those so familiar emotions, and the voice is so damn close.
The ocean in Morrowind unsettled me too. Mostly because i used those scrolls of icarian flight, overshot it and landed way out at sea. With the draw distance of that game, and it being middle of the night, both in and out of game, it really felt like being lost in the middle of the ocean.
Oh man! That happened to me too, Only I am terrified of deep water, even in games and one of those crab/squid people aggroed me and it scared me so much I exited the game, then immediately booted up again cause I couldn't get enough of it.
I played Bone Totem in preparation for this review after the Stasis one. What was merely curiosity turned into one of my favorite horror games of the past decade. The game has an emotional core that your review could never do justice, so it's great that you left it to the game itself. If you're reading this and on the fence after watching Mandy's video, his review barely shows 5% of the context and scope. Please go play this game.
I hate horror games but I have seen this and another one by a youtuber I got reccomended. Super good I have to find the name to reccomend Mandy to go over cuz I think he would like it and it would be a great video
@@damoclesecoe7184 I played it on my laptop with integrated gpu? It runs really well because its made on Unity engine,which has really low hardware requirements.
Would love to play this game but I'm a wuss and anything existentially horrifying sticks to my mind for a good week so I'm going to have nightmares for a while after playing this game.
27:17 Aaand Calaban is a fallen angel, having been dumped into the sea to literally fall deep into the depths. That's a clever bit of symbolism, these devs never cease to impress.
@@unimpartialobserverwhat? The op didn't mean a male protagonist with a wife or something of the sort, this is all over the place. Story-wise, you have Artyom and Anna from metro, half of assassin's creed games, Ethan and Mia, Jill and Chris from Resident Evil, and those ones are only the first ones I can name off the top of my head. You don't see great storytelling with those games, but I would argue you don't see it often at all. I would argue that the main reason we rarely see good close relationships in games (and every game that accomplishes it is praised, like The Last Of Us) is because the games more often focus on the mechanics, the things that prioritize interaction with guaranteed feedback, so the relationship can't be written into the game, or you could beat your wife to death for a meager karma penalty like in the Fable series.
@@unimpartialobserver What are you trying to say, bro? That straight people are oppressed because you don't play enough video games to see husband and wife protagonists very often?
UPDATE - A NEW BUILD WAS PUSHED AND THE MEANINGLESS AI CLUES HAVE BEEN OBLITERATED. They've apparently had this build "a while" but test thoroughly hence the sudden release.
BONE TOTEM on GOG - gog.la/rattlemebones
THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo
"I-I-I got this feeling, yeah, you know
Where I'm losing all control
'Cause there's magic in my bones *Marv scream*"
Glad to see a South African game reviewed by you. We don't make much here so it's cool to see.
Amogus
No hints on the Halloween video yet, eh?
You did not respond to my Email regarding the Ghost Master Episode on Halloween.
The “hello, my name is Moses, what is your name?” Over the radio followed by a “oh god, he’s found another corpse” is both deeply unsettling and excellent storytelling
Moses is an absolute gift of a character. And a very brave bear.
Imagine not knowing what a corpse is or even the concept that someone could die and finally seeing one in person that would be horrifying
@@spartanx9293I don't think it'd be scary if you don't understand the concept of death. More likely it'd just be very confusing as to why the person isn't moving.
I almost laughed but yeah that's awesome.
Moses: Hello Another Corpse. I am Moses.
"Grief is the final, most painful and purest expression of love." I was not expecting to find solace here of all places, that line hits really hard as of now, but, in a good way, thanks.
Hope you're doing okay, brother.
Aye. True.
I had to go back and listen to that line a couple of times. It honestly hurt quite a bit. I was not at all expecting to have a soul-searching moment in the middle of this video...
I had to let my dog go yesterday and honestly this line was comforting in light that
If I'd known that maybe 20 years ago...
Mandy is taking this spooky season very seriously. 2 horror game reviews in 2 weeks and it's not even October.
boy does mandy delivers horror with some titles.
this is like watching old universal horror movies at noon
This fall is gonna be great.
Either that... or he found an adventure game/series that is absolutely insane, and is getting spooky out of the way now.
@@TheDrLeviathan He always had a thing for adventure games with a bizarre art direction.
Halloween is having to take refuge in light of the Christmas invasion
For anyone interested in more sci-fi that deals with “digital afterlife”, check out “Surface Detail” by Iain M. Banks, and “Echopraxia” by Peter Watts (and to a lesser extent “Blindsight,” also by Watts, which is a companion to Echopraxia)
Ah I was looking for someone mentioning Surface Detail!! Great book about digital afterlives and their theological, carceral, and political implications.
Thought about Watts as well.
do not read echopraxia, it's meh and does not have much to do with digital afterlife. Read blindsight, it's good and also does not have much to do with digital afterlife
Starfish is alright as well
"Fall (or Dodge in Hell)" by Neal Stephenson is a pretty good entry on the theme.
3 uploads in 4 weeks gotta be the most consistent Mandalore has been in 11 years
it been 11 year ?
Just checked, technically correct
@@ufuk5872 haha you are old now! haha.... oh god...
Meanwhile his "other side" has been pretty dormant. I wonder what he is up to?
@@Ozzystrayroofighting the voices because he's off his meds.
While it ismore limiting, having item interactions relegated to interact screens is great for a point and click adventure game!
It takes away to fear of missing something, pixle hunting or just trying everything on everything.
This game is a joy to play from that perspective. The item sharing feature is also a tremendous time saver.
Unfortunately before Caliban I didn't know that you could use items ON characters. Meaning I missed basically all of the "death" cutscenes...
It was so distressing to see Moses scared and running for his life from the hand-spider thing, especially after him having human feelings like guilt and fear it made me feel uncomfortable in a way I haven't before
Guilt and fear are emotions humans have, but are not exclusive to humans.
They basically replicated the strength of Blade Runner where you end up sympathizing to a character who you know isn't human.
And Moses also ends up ultimately achieving the same thing as Roy Batty and Joe at the end, by being more human than human.
@@StrikeWarlock The most impressive thing is that none of Moses' emotions feel cheap. Having played it, many of the 'human' interactions felt forced or cliche. You could feel the writer trying to build a connection to Hope when her parents were talking about her.
But for Moses it comes through perfectly naturally, in every line. Foe example when he's looking at a human vivisection machine and saying "knives are dangerous, children should not play with them", there's an undercurrent of sadness and loss. Like he's narrating his experiences for his best friend who's no longer there.
His entire character is soulful in a way that very few video game characters manage to properly portray.
I think what adds to that feeling is how helpless he is. He's a small child sized toy, if he's caught, he's caught. He can struggle all he want, but he can't escape because he's too weak for that
"He will never understand that grief is the final, most painful and purest expression of love." 32:23
Goddamn, Mandalore. Hit me with the poignant gut punch out of nowhere.
That yearly goosbumps theme always gets me pumped for Mandy's Halloween Editions.
Do you think it sounds a bit more produced than usual?
Man gets stronger the closer we get to Halloween.
He must be Samhain
I mean, that guy is right, as someone who sailed with the military off and on for 7 years it is excruciatingly painful to try and find something in the ocean. Even if it's the size of a rig, they may look big in port but out there they become very small. (unless it is massive but that rig was mobile and we have those even today)
Once again he's correct. A storm royally fucks with sensors and the like, you're probably not going to get lost but they are piloting a pretty small vessel with equipment that would probably be absolute garbage.
Why are you saying "I mean" as if you are contradicting anything? Your entire comment is just you agreeing with the game. You are in complete accord.
@@conorkelleher2571 Do you want me to change it for you? :)
@@codydagg2259 I mean, yes.
Writers often have a fundamental misunderstanding of scale, especially in sci-fi. The idea of stumbling across something or deliberately searching for something, when you don't know where to look, either in the ocean or in outer space is laughable. The distances involved actively make probability your enemy.
Your channel and your reviews truly are a mad fever dreams' treasure island. I found myself invested in games I never played and would never play either, while still enticed to come back for more. Great job, Mandalore.
Heh, never thought I would think that while not seeing Canderous Ordo on a killing spree...
I just watched your review of Genesis and Stasis last night before passing out and as soon as I wake up, I get this gem. You reviewing all these old esoteric games that I slightly remember or never heard of is amazing and I don’t see anyone else doing it. Thanks for the hard work of playing through these games that I know must be a bitch to trudge through. I know I couldn’t make it.
I think the thing that gets me with ai art is that like no one even seems to check it before putting it out there? Like did no one see the glasses thing and even wanna redo it? Amazon doing that shit isnt surprising but its sad to see with a smaller passion product
In their defence, generative AI seems to be really good at disguising artefacts. If it doesn't fail completely, the weirdness will usually be hidden in tiny details that can be mistaken for artistic flair. I think the invisible glasses (6:28) is a good example of this.
It's still weird that a team with dedicated artists didn't notice, but a non-artist did. It makes me wonder if all AI art is like this with weird artefacts and they picked the best one.
The thing is this, AI art is a tool that allows non-artists, that is people who have not studied art either through lack of time or ambition, to quickly generate random stuff.
Of course they're not seeing the obvious flaws in the "art" because they never bothered to learn about it.
Any seasoned artist notices these things and would want to fix them immediately, assuming they would touch AI generation in the first place. To them art is an expression of their own skill or soul and that comes with a certain amount of ego which is a good thing if done in moderation.
The non-artists who use AI stuff simply do not see the flaws because of their lack of knowledge and experience that drove them to use AI as a shortcut in the first place.
That's the major theme I see over and over whenever it comes to AI generated assets.
I'm generalizing here of course but it's true more often than not.
@@asj3419 I think the important detail is that this game came out in May, which means the AI content was made even earlier. The AI image field has made huge strides since then, a lot of tools and properly tuned models that would fix the issues present in this game's AI art may not have been available yet.
@517342 yeah I totally get that it's just like this studio does seem to have artists on staff so like even just asking one of them to look seems like it would reveal a lot. Maybe I'm just being naive there though
At best Ill just say it was a just placeholder until they got all the art finished while still being basically finished but either they forgot to add it in or just didn't have the art in time. At worst however, they wanted to emphasis the "the game involves AI and we used AI to make it, crazy right" even though it made the final product worst. I don't want to believe they're lazy because they put a lot of care into the game but with how much they side stepped the issue it seems like they wanted to keep it in until someone with an audience thought negatively about it.
This video is like the perfect balance of everything I enjoy about Mando- jokes, horror, a dissertation on the game design challenges of AI art and a brief aside on the relationship between love and grief.
Brother over here is the most interesting man in world and he runs a game review channel.
It definitely sets him in a class of his own. Some oddball mix of review and essayist that ends up being better than the sum of its parts, and he really does have a very unique wit and turn of phrase that's only improved as he's done more of this. Mandalore was never bad at this, but if you watch the very early stuff compared to stuff from 2023, the difference is enormous. It's actually flabbergasting how much he's managed to improve without really *changing.*
I already played it and think it's a huge improvement to the first game. World building, story and characters are super interesting and I love Moses, his AI has problems to process the horrific stuff that happens around him and that leads to hilarious moments. Like at 10:53, where he introduces himself to a corpse and wants to have some smalltalk with them.
I have become keenly aware of the month of October more so than any other month purely because of how much I am looking forward to a new adventure game review from you. I swear it feels like the Super Bowl for me. This year I may legitimately make some special food and get a baby sitter. Thank you so much for what you do.
Step 1: Impregnate Intern with Kane
Step 2: Go to prison for assault
Step 3: Insert Despicable Me meme
Wakes up. Opens youtube to start my day foff with my coffee. "Mandalore posted 53 seconds ago".
Yeah its gonna be a good day.
Bought the game before the story spoilers part of the video and finished it in a single sitting.
It can not be understated how good the dialogues are, Faran and Moses for me prop up the game, that disembodied (ahah) voice might not have the physique but he certainly has the soul of a gigachad.
I know they're not exactly spooky, but I would love to see you cover the Zeno Clash games at some point. They're so utterly bizarre and I think they'd be a great fit for this channel.
I wish you brought up the fact that devs are silencing people on the forums by deleting threads talking about AI art and locking forums to owners-only. Still, glad you brought up AI art at all.
The disturbing setting of this game reminds me Sanatorium, I felt so despair and uneasy while playing this one. The extended universe is not explained in Bone Totem but I guess the world could be that if Jeff Bezos rules the world.
*Sanitarium. How nice would it be if it was sanatorium instead D:
I have discovered some of my favourite games thanks to your channel.
Recently Northern Journey and now these two Stasis games.
Keep up the awesome work Mandalore!
"Moses is a very brave bear."
I'm fairly sure all USSR submarines operating in 82 had an escape pod integrated into their sail. Very minor nitpick, but, still.
I might be completely off-base and misremembering but I think I recall the lead artist on this game complaining on twitter about the use of A.I. art. If that's the case those "fucked up hands" are pretty damning; the Balenciaga look could be dismissed as a coincidence but there's no getting around those hands.
EDIT: Given the removal of the AI clues, my guess is there's a good chance the context was the lead artist throwing the employee who made that art under the bus. Honestly, for me the fact they couldn't be bothered to spend a few minutes in Photoshop fixing the hands is the most egregious part.
The way the madness is explained reminded me a lot of Signalis, I'd love to see Mandalore do a video on that.
Another insanity-inducing adventure game will be featured by Mandalore on October 29th 2023. 97% accuracy prediction. I am Numen.
Damn this looks amazing and I'd never heard of it. The world is truly large and there some amazingly creative people out there.
I really enjoy watching Mandalore videos before bed, something about his voice is so soothing. The problem is my dreams start getting narrated by him...
That's a blessing, not a curse, what are you talking about
@@Supercohboy Idk man you try dreaming about falling down stairs infinitely while Mandalore is just screaming along with you and tell me it's a blessing...
@@IsaacAllwood "I told you man. I TOLD you about stairs!!!"
IT'S BALENCIAGA
Thank you so much for this video, Mandalore. I loved Stasis when I played it... some years ago, and I never would have known there was a sequel out if not for you biting into the games. You're the best, dude.
My main problem with this game was the overal mishmash of themes in the "big" plot. While character moments were great, the constant subgenre switches from chapter to chapter were kinda jarring and stretching suspension of disbelief to limits.
At least gave me an opportunity to feel super smart after I caught one of the plot twists early on though
For me it actually kept my interest up. Im glad the game gradually stepped away from the dead space/ alien/ science gone wrong them from the beginning. That has been done so many times already.
Im still amazed how this game could keep putting more and more horrifying things behind each locked door without it becoming a cheap gorefest.
Another certified banger from Mandalore
I just picked up a humble bundle that included this and pathologic 2, I'm shocked it wasn't a branded "Mandalore Spooky Pack".
I just got a little bit into act 2, and it's really interesting trying to figure out what's intent and what's maybe a little amateurish. The different reactions to horrible cronenberg flesh machines and comparable cosmic horrors seems intentional, but also the weird AI portraits, breathy, porn-y line delivery by the Charlie actress (seriously, my girlfriend thought I was watching porn), and some really stilted canned dialogue make me wonder. Still, there's genuine brilliance here, more than enough to make it worth seeing to the end.
The balenciaga AI lol
Sounds like a really great game, can't wait to play!
The "20,000 Leagues under the sea" bit was clever, lol
Also somewhat outdated, Gold is the new Silver.
She bone on my totem until I stasis
This is like my third year watching your Halloween videos. Always find some real gem games for the season watching these, thanks for another good year
Thanks, Mandalore -- due to that grape fence post ambulance carbon I am now even closer to understanding your variety of madness...
As Night Stocker at a Krogers for 3 years in 2010 the murderous intent was on our schedule, life and how hard we had to bust or asses all night to get the store ready in the morning hell or high water the spice must flow. Holy hell what a thankless job. Mentally I could never do that job ever again not in that environment I hope its gotten better.
I was doing the same thing at about the same time for them. With how worse it is now I fully expect the next big unethical megacorp in a setting to be based on them.
I love all the little things Mandalore does in these videos that I have to perk up and giggle, like, "hey wait, no, I saw that, you cheeky bastard"
I love the wildly different versions of faith that coexist in this nightmare world. Absolutely not what I was expecting in a stasis game but very thought provoking in an oddly peaceful contemplative way.
Moses is a very good and smart bear :(
couldn't help but notice the ghostmaster music in your conclusions segment.
I am absolutely perplexed how interesting the story and characters are, along with the quality and detail of the environments and yet big budget games are still cardboard cutout bog-standard basic in most aspects.
I have NEVER been more facinated with the narrative concepts presented by a game in my life, it sounds like pathologic meets silent hill on H.P Scifilovecrack
Eternights has that same phone scanner at the end to see the secret ending. That was my first exposure to that concept, and I was baffled beyond belief.
I honestly thought you added in those balenciaga AI animations as a joke. Looks indescribably terrible...
Lord Woo Fak Fak! That fight also scared me as a kid, but became one of my faveorites later
You're telling me you can't remember the angler fish's name in Banjo Tooie...what, was "Lord Woo Fak Fak" too common a name? Is it the "John Smith" of angler fish names?
Everything good your end? Sounding different in this video. Feel really spoiled with all your uploads lately, solid work and thank you!
The obvious reference here is the Tempest play by Shakespeare, which takes place on a ship during a storm and on a remote island. One of the characters is Caliban, a monster.
11:29
did you seriously add the food guy to the little monitor lmao
I feel that we gonna see a lot of AI monkey' paws in the future just to churn new games from dead franchises.
A Balenciaga runway show’s included?!?
I’m inside a McDonalds, using their wifi & now it feels like Fashion Week in here! The devil wears Moses
As a former Walmart worker, I can't tell you how thankful I was that my autistic ass didn't have to do the cheer routine and just had me push carts.
3:22 It's been years since I've heard Hang Castle, I was not expecting it here
I agree with Mando's points about why the ai stuff doesn't work here, but I don't agree with the implications that AI art is bad inherently.
The way companies wanna use it is pretty bad
@@calisto789 The way companies use anything can be negative. My point is that AI art isn't inherently bad. People shouldn't dismiss or look down on someone solely for using it, but rather for how they use it.
@SirHat they used it badly.
No need to play devils advocate for hypothetical ethical uses of ai when the over all adoption of it has been bad for artistic labor.
"A product of David Cronenberg's Build-A-Bear Workshop" Good one.
The art team for these games needs to be given an immediate raise. Goddamn...
The art team is one of the two brothers lol
Maaan what a shame. I'll play it but the AI bullshit is gonna pull me out of the game.
Coming back after having just finished Bone Totem I have to thank you for introducing me to such an incredible story. Also I fucking love Faran
Did you forget to add the sonic heroes haunted mansion level sound track to the credits mr knight man?
Never would have found this game had you not covered it. Real glad you did; game is absolutely great
oh yowch I had a feeling just from the first couple of NPC clips from the start of the review, but that AI-generated crap really hurts any interest i had in this game. what sucks is if they were intentionally going for that uncanny, creepy look that generated images already have, that would've been pretty cool and thematic! but the obvious lack of touch up they did reeks of laziness that docks a lot of points. it's not like the game looked bad without it either...
Showing the Garten of Banban document in this is making me paranoid that Mandy is gonna cover that soon
i really enjoy your videos but could you please balance out your audio with the audio of the in game footage? i often watch on my pc from the bed when im trying to sleep and its bothering getting up everyime to adjust the volume, regardless, thanks for all your work i appreciate it
Dude I played Quake 4 at like 11 years old, strogification changed my whole life trajectory lol
Holy shit, Mandy really hit the nail on the head on AI in games that I have also been feeling crazy about because no one mentions it. Are we really at a point in art where intention and inherent meaning can just be glossed over and replaced by an algorithm that rapidly makes generic set dressing? Like, I understand that hiring artists of any medium can be expensive and time consuming especially to a bunch of game developers or story writers with an idea, but this feels like too much of a shortcut.
@@harrybirchall3308 What? If anything, I feel like there is far too much right now considering how poor the results have been overall.
If people were panicking because results were too good I'd understand, but using the technology we have now to support lower scale creative works is great. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, because while I understand mandy bringing up the AI elements due to the status of AI being ill-defined and important conversation topic, I have zero problems with how the devs used it here.
They obviously had to fix it to comply with Steam's policy, but if it was legal I'd have no objections to their use here.
@@goldcreeper7376 We can all see exactly where it's going so the fact that the current state isnt quite that bad yet does little to restrain my growing resentment and horror.
I dont think AI art is inherently bad like some people do. I think it's totally fine to use it in the way they used it here. The problem arises when you don't then go and fix the little details AI inevitably gets wrong, like the glasses eyes or the weird hands. Thats the real problem.
AI can be used as a great tool like anything else, but yeah that lack of human oversight to the degree it was made what they wanted to do more incoherent and sloppy.
Awesome video as always!!
13:20 Trying to pull off a little The Forest there, Mandy?
Woof, yeah, the AI generated imagery is a dealbreaker for me.
I don't understand how, for a game with excellent visuals everywhere else, they resort to something so poorly made. If it was for "non-essential story fluff," then cut it - it's non-essential. If it is essential, consolidate your fluff & do it yourself.
Even outside of the ethical concerns behind plagiarism software, it just looks ugly and feels pointlessly surreal.
funny you bring up weyland utani when I think they straight up put facehuggers and chest bursters in some of the art things
Someone needs to make a mod where the characters Charlie and Mac are from it’s always sunny and just use their lines
Wait, you don't tell us how it all ends? Who survives and all? Very disappointed.
13:41 Dude! Thats straight up the water puzzle in Resident evil 3
There has to be a genre name for the "trapped in a twisted science facility far from civilization" scene. I see it so much it has to be its own genre.
Also: "James Cameron's Wankavator" had me cackling.
Dear god the captains surname being Boynya (Бойня) literraly slaughterhouse or butchery is so on the nose, but especially considering that the parasites other name "Veles" is the name of the slavic god of livestock.
Also the name of the soviet sub being "Big Special" is just so funny.
The Lima was an actual soviet sub, designated БС, большая специальная :D en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima-class_submarine
@@STASISGame Lima-class? Uhh, no, thank you, I don't think I will. That's disgusting.
@@STASISGame "The exact purpose of this boat has remained unclear to western observers" - NOW WE KNOW WHAT IT WAS
Veles is the god of not just livestock, but also the underworld, making the reference much more appropriate.
@@vadimkaz1467 if you're talking about Elena Igorevich, it's a relatively normal last name, albeit a bit rare - just put the emphasis on the third syllable instead of the first. I doubt anyone has any problem with any female relatives of Leonid Yakubovich :D
Honestly, Mac going from describing Calaban as "It's a Numen, it's sacred, we shouldn't even be talking to it", to telling Calaban to shut up, he's talking to Charlie, is just wonderful representation of people under stress.
Depends on their faith. Some would rather die than let go of their delusions
@@512TheWolf512 careful not to cut yourself on that EDGE
@@Racald you will be replaced
@512TheWolf512 you will be replaced 🤓
@@512TheWolf512 🤓
"Heaven is real and it's also Amazon prime" I'm not sure I was ready for that statement despite it being a stasis video
Rather shallow version of heaven.
As a Christian myself, I think that's legitimately the most terrifying concept I can conceive of.
That's easily the scariest thing I've heard recently.
that sentence filled me with such overwhelming dread I need a drink at 10am
It would have been scary if a material implant transferring your "consciousness" into a virtual reality seemed even remotely, logically possible. Same with SOMA.
Seriously, it's like game developers just read Descartés once and never look back. Never learning about the fact that the entirety of european philosophers, including nobility like the princess of Bohemia, essentially dogpiled on the guy over how nonsensical his dualism is.
Also, it doesn't make sense. Assuming god does not exist, which this game implies. Do you really die if your "consciousness" is just transferred into another virtual world which is ultimately based in physical(non-idealist) reality? Isn't that just immortality? If they can transfer consciousness why aren't they creating biomechanical bodies for that consciousness?
Hey Mandalore - thanks for an amazing deep dive into the game!
You'll be happy to know that any AI art has already been removed and replaced with our bespoke pieces. :D
Keep up the good work! - Chris
THANK YOU
@@MandaloreGaming Thank YOU.
I really loved your take on the story!
SO happy to hear this, now I can buy it!
LES GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Fantastic game, can’t wait for the next one.
31:15 "Mac is right. My fault. I am... not a good bear"
Goddamn, the fact that that line is so heartrending is a testament to this game's writing and acting.
The voice acting and the visual design of Moses are just perfect. Haven't had such a strong connection with a game character in quite a while. Mac and Charlie are pretty good as well.
I actually winced, it hurt so bad
He may not be a good bear. But he is a very good boy.
I personally don't like how alive he seems, not in a character sense but more that the fear and self preservation instinct he shows in his death animations is far too human for me. They leave me with a deep sense of wrongness, as if it simply shouldn't be happening.
@@foobarbazbaa5598I appreciate the fact that Mandalore's style of editing involves alot of restraint because he hopes that people would play the game, and man, Faran was amazing
That Walmart line hit harder than I thought it would, that dance was soul killing
Oh, man. I can see the awful semi-human logic behind mandating those dances, too. Oh boy.
To quote him on a podcast "The dance is meant to crush your spirit. Some people are finding it funny because they just started. Some are exhausted an feel absolutely humilated by it. Then some people have given up and love it because its the bright spot of their day. Those people love big brother now.
@@winstonsmith3703 that's genuinely horrifying
@@winstonsmith3703 Name checks out.
Don't forget Walmart Radio™
I'm glad somebody else acknowledges that ReviewBrah will thrive in an apocalyptic/dystopian setting.
Imagine a cannibal raider clan starts cutting you up for meat, and then ReviewBrah sits down in front of you and starts reviewing your legs.
@@remobothicLike a somehow more deranged version of Hannibal Lector that escaped straight out of the 1920s.
"i was really hopeful regarding these mutant nuggets, but they are instead somehow dry and soggy. I didnt think the apocalypse could get any worse, but i was wrong".
@@remobothic So true.
He has to constantly poison himself with fast food because he knows modern society just isn't ready for the muscle-bound barbarian warlord that is ReviewBrah's natural state.
@@remobothic Get roasted and then your roast gets roasted
"Leyland-Toyota" was such an understated reference to Alien's production design and the name the concept artists were brainstorming for "The Company". Kudos for slipping it in.
No surprises there, prior to finally deciding to review games, Mandy initially wanted to be a movie reviewer.
@@StrikeWarlock oh, so that's why his email is like that
@@StrikeWarlockso Mandy is a successful AVGN?
@@jamesreed2888 The fuck do you have against AVGN? He's successful by classic UA-cam metrics for sure.
The Balenciaga bit fucking killed me. So true.
11:29 bruh, did you see that?
I was drinking soda and that bit made it go straight to my sinuses ahahahahaha
"You are Balenciaga, Harry" *Balenciaga intensifies*
we may have lost Hope, but we haven't lost Balenciaga
"School for kids who can't read well" got me too.
the writer for all of the environmental green circle descriptions, Olga Moskvina, also worked a ton on Disco Elysium, which may be interesting to know
So that's why they felt so familiar
Oh damn, nice to see the Disco devs are still getting work in the industry.
I do hope Mandalore checks out Disco Elysium at some point.
@@diamondmetal3062Nobody wants to associate with the creeps that like it
@@P7ab That’s a cope and you know it 💀
95% accuracy prediction that you are a weary brave bear if u finish this game
Q
Calaban reminds me in a way of Sovereign from ME1. Inscrutable intelligence that views itself as so beyond humanity but still full of those so familiar emotions, and the voice is so damn close.
Funny how this channel covered enough games to make a pantheon of AI gods from it, from Durandal to Lowry
@@rafaelfigfigueiredo2988 SHODAN
The reapers had so much promise in ME1
It also looks like the brain bug from Starship Troopers.
If I must tear you apart Shepherd I will
Mandy couldn't have worded it better the relationship of the bear and Faram.
"Two broken beings helping each other"
Not ashamed to admit I teared up at those clips
Faran is also peak, "I've suffered too much, but I'll do what I can so you guys don't have to go through it" kind of energy
The ocean in Morrowind unsettled me too. Mostly because i used those scrolls of icarian flight, overshot it and landed way out at sea.
With the draw distance of that game, and it being middle of the night, both in and out of game, it really felt like being lost in the middle of the ocean.
Oh man! That happened to me too, Only I am terrified of deep water, even in games and one of those crab/squid people aggroed me and it scared me so much I exited the game, then immediately booted up again cause I couldn't get enough of it.
I played Bone Totem in preparation for this review after the Stasis one. What was merely curiosity turned into one of my favorite horror games of the past decade. The game has an emotional core that your review could never do justice, so it's great that you left it to the game itself. If you're reading this and on the fence after watching Mandy's video, his review barely shows 5% of the context and scope. Please go play this game.
Sold, now I just need a computer that can run it ;P
I hate horror games but I have seen this and another one by a youtuber I got reccomended. Super good I have to find the name to reccomend Mandy to go over cuz I think he would like it and it would be a great video
@@damoclesecoe7184 I played it on my laptop with integrated gpu? It runs really well because its made on Unity engine,which has really low hardware requirements.
Would love to play this game but I'm a wuss and anything existentially horrifying sticks to my mind for a good week so I'm going to have nightmares for a while after playing this game.
I won't
27:17 Aaand Calaban is a fallen angel, having been dumped into the sea to literally fall deep into the depths. That's a clever bit of symbolism, these devs never cease to impress.
At last, I am vindicated for writing my bachelor’s thesis on The Tempest.
Oh.
OH
I knew this but still defaulted to summoning Asmodai to make the Fallen repent
I hate my brain sometimes.
IT IS TIME FOR MY MOSES
ISHMÅĘL SANTIAGO
Moses is a smart bear
Moses is a brave and strong bear
“Bone Totem is about how far they’ll be pushed for hope” is a chilling line after finishing the video
Very interesting that there's a husband and wife duo. You almost never see that in games
Weird how the most traditional relationships are actually the least represented, no?
@@unimpartialobserverwhat? The op didn't mean a male protagonist with a wife or something of the sort, this is all over the place.
Story-wise, you have Artyom and Anna from metro, half of assassin's creed games, Ethan and Mia, Jill and Chris from Resident Evil, and those ones are only the first ones I can name off the top of my head. You don't see great storytelling with those games, but I would argue you don't see it often at all. I would argue that the main reason we rarely see good close relationships in games (and every game that accomplishes it is praised, like The Last Of Us) is because the games more often focus on the mechanics, the things that prioritize interaction with guaranteed feedback, so the relationship can't be written into the game, or you could beat your wife to death for a meager karma penalty like in the Fable series.
@@unimpartialobserver What are you trying to say, bro? That straight people are oppressed because you don't play enough video games to see husband and wife protagonists very often?
@@ZaiketsuKumori lmao just go look at who they sub to, that person is certainly not interested in good faith arguments
@@niyandrey wait wut? Jill and Chris were never romantically involved (unless I missed a manga that that was in), let alone married