I can’t help but think about the summer of 2010 in terms of formative media for myself. In that summer I managed to watch Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Gunbuster, and FLCL for the first time before heading into eighth grade and just having my shit rocked irreparably. Having examples of people tackling impossible odds and otherworldly villains in order to gain a better sense of self and bolstering of what’s worth fighting for was eye opening for a kid like me growing up in sleepy suburbia but also reckoning with how society wasn’t built for my family’s success. I bring this up if only because around the same time multiple people would have had their first introduction to the Umbran Witch we all love: Bayonetta. Bayonetta’s debut back in 2009 lines up with the surge of next-level optimism I found myself consuming in shows. I was already finding a connection in Noriko and Simon, but with Bayonetta her existence already became a topic of discourse as her intense sexuality was the ire of outside media, but soon the source of empowerment for many others who did end up playing the game or watching cutscenes. She doesn’t care what you think since it’s her life to live, and this example becomes all the more uplifting since you get to be the one in control of the hellfire she rains down on the armies of Paradiso. It’s surprising to think that over 13 years have passed since her initial debut as the other flagship title of then fledgling studio PlatinumGames, taking quick jabs at her predecessor Devil May Cry while suplexing angels and truly being on her Hot Girl Shit (Megan Thee Stallion, just saying that if you need cosplay ideas, here’s one pretty out in the open).

Now eight years after its first sequel, Bayonetta 3 comes barrelling through for the Nintendo Switch after an initial surprise announcement just three months ago since the initial teaser in 2017. You know, in another universe I’d probably be talking about this game a lot sooner, and with more focus on just how good the experience of playing this game is. But instead, on top of being another part of a publishing deal with Nintendo that also prevented Bayonetta 2 from releasing on other platforms, the series was  hit with a massive splash of controversy regarding the former voice actor for Bayonetta, Hellena Taylor, not being paid properly for her voice work. This was followed with reports of potential lying, some Twitter accounts getting deleted, and the honestly ridiculous attempt to get “Bayonutters” going as a phrase. Pay voice actors wages that they’re owed, negotiate better union contracts for those in the video game and anime dubbing sectors of voice work, and unionize the games industry are the shortest points I want to make on that whole issue.

If that wasn’t enough, discussion around the ending started cropping up after the review embargo was lifted and people were crying in the streets over Bayonetta, the character made by local straight guy Hideki Kamiya, shouting her heterosexuality out loud for the world to hear just weeks after her former voice actress urged “Bayonutters” all over the world to donate to an anti-abortion charity. Look, I came into this game on the tail end of maybe the most annoying Twitter reactions I could see and to back my case up early: yeah the ending to this game sucks. I won’t call this series the pinnacle of story writing but what is there succeeds because of its commitment to camp. This is the series started by the guy who wanted to make an After Burner mini game in the first one and it’s shitty as hell while also being the coolest thing ever. I bring this up in particular because the first two games had a drive and a focus that helped one complement the other. Bayonetta 3, despite its continuation of a gameplay formula that is structurally solid, feels divorced from a lot of what makes the first two games special and, rather than being a pillar of what the genre of character action can be, ends up feeling more like an echo of gaming trends that are perpetuating across the medium.

We start the game in the ruins of New York, the former greatest city in the world. Bayonetta, as we know her in the first game, is on her last legs fighting against an unknown entity, on the verge of death and in a state so rarely seen. In her last moments of life she helps one young woman escape the crumbling reality of this universe and flee into the reality of our new Bayonetta as she goes for a shopping run with everyone’s favorite Italian, Enzo, in the middle of Manhattan (again, the greatest city in the world).

I’d go further into the events of the story but honestly that’s where my biggest hurdles are with Bayo 3. Each game does have its own faults when it comes to the writing, and this game series wouldn’t be as popular if people meticulously sought every piece of lore outside of the stuff that lets you know Bayo and Jeanne are into each other (we’ll get there). But at the same time, Bayo 1 and 2 complement one another in their narratives and themes. Bayo 1 focuses on Bayonetta remembering who she is while also emboldening her younger self while 2 allows Bayo a moment to reconcile with her past and culture in order to secure a brighter tomorrow for herself and those she cares about. A double helix of ideals, if you will allow me to retread the Gurren Lagann tangent earlier, that wrap into the selfish but selfless, confident but caring heroine we all love.

Recognizing that we basically have a full fledged character with no need for an arc, Bayonetta 3 at least wants to try different things. I don’t mind that honestly, and as Rose pointed out in her piece on the roles women have in games, Bayonetta’s willingness to be the mother figure to others makes these prior ragtag team ups believable and fun. The issue, however, comes in this game trying to justify all this with the use of multiverse theory, a trope that I’d already throw out the window if not for the fact that I am still excited for Beyond the Spider-Verse. As soon as we have our duo of Bayo and new character Viola trying to find the Alphaverse in order to stop an enemy known as Singularity, the game becomes a romp through multiple realities in order to collect Chaos Gears for reasons because we have no time to explain the plot.  Rather, Bayonetta herself gets glimpses of the could-have-been realities that her counterparts live through, from protecting the peace in Tokyo to commanding armies in China to gallivanting through the streets of Paris as a phantom thief. These alternate witches are interesting, but truthfully only the French detour feels fleshed out in terms of playing around with what Bayonetta could be in another world. Other levels introduce an alternate Bayo and then essentially have you count the minutes before they get taken by Singularity in order for the main Bayo to avenge their will. All the while you’re needing the help of an unseen doctor by the name of Sigurd while avoiding the entity known as the Twilight Wanderer Strider, whose identity quickly loses its mystery further into the game.

The gameplay, as usual, is the brightest part, but not without its rough patches. While 1 focused on the novelty of wicked weaves that would summon colossal fists and kicks to finish your combos, and 2 built on that with the Umbran Climax mechanic, 3 decides to be more vocal about its roots in Astral Chain development through its Demon Slave mechanic, which I’ll abbreviate to DS because it sucks to type that out. Pressing ZR on your controller allows you to summon one of three demons that you can then control and use with its own unique set of combos in order to handle enemies, solve puzzles, and add some oomph to combat while Bayonetta holds it down doing what she does best: dancing. Conceptually, I like this! It’s something that pays attention to the progression of demon use in the series and also folds in a part of the Bayonetta character often overlooked despite being one of the very iconic components of what makes her work. Each demon having its own, albeit shorter, moveset is an interesting touch and also lets them be separate from their associated weapon, although I’m sad at the fact the DS mechanic does mean they had to limit weapon switching to one weapon per set that you use on both hands and feet versus the more versatile system in 1 and 2 that allowed for more mixing of playstyles. It also would help with the sheer volume of weapons you collect throughout the story, and create more room for experimentation. I ended up beating the game with two weapons I wasn’t over the moon about, but did want to make use of whereas in the past, I could’ve kept my old standbys in even just one of the four weapon slots.

Of course, Bayonetta is not the only character you play in this game. Viola’s playstyle is more akin to games like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance or Nier Automata. You have your katana which is also the demon Cheshire that accompanies Viola, but rather than control him, the DS function here has Cheshire roam free and auto attack while you beat through Homunculi with your bare fists. It’s cool in theory, however Viola’s witch time powers are linked to her ability to parry and block opponents with her sword which in itself is an issue. It’s honestly the biggest friction point with the game since you’re seeing the blending of two different character action ethos brush up against each other inelegantly. Multiple times I found myself struggling to time the parry for enemy attacks and would even have moments where enemies would miss me completely and, rather than still tick the dodge and gain witch time, I’d have to chase them over and pray they would try to hit me again. I don’t think this style of play is impossible to put in alongside Bayonetta’s playstyle but the other factor is that for all fourteen chapters of this game you play as Viola for only a handful of them, never really getting to put the time to learn her while also still lacking the ability to truly master all of Bayonetta’s weapons. There’s no consideration of how these two styles of play differ which is very apparent with how some enemies feel ten times harder to strike down when you’re trying to parry; Witch Time shouldn’t be a fun little bonus, it should be the glue that helps keep your flow consistent. Also, if you’re asking where Jeanne is in all this, don’t worry, because you spend 4 side chapters playing a faux Metroid Dread-inspired side scrolling stealth minigame in order to find the aforementioned Dr. Sigurd. These levels suck and can’t be over sooner despite having a hard 4-minute time limit.

Upgrading your movesets also works a little differently this time around. Rather than going to the Gates of Hell in order to purchase new moves for your extensive combos, each weapon has its own skill tree that also attaches to the demon it corresponds to. If the connections to Astral Chain weren’t already apparent, then this definitely denotes the overall shift right down to the UI. Alongside Homunculus Seeds (which serve as the new main shop currency), and the more elusive Angel Halos saved for purchasing figures, costumes, and concept art, you also collect currency to upgrade your skills that you earn through actual battles and your performance therein. While easy to obtain in the grand scheme of things, upgrading every single weapon and demon requires some effort and attentiveness as some abilities are locked behind use conditions (“Use X skill three times in order to unlock the final branch”). There’s also the fact that many of these skills end up bleeding over one another, acting more as general fodder. Every weapon has a launcher, every weapon has an After Burner Kick. The actual act of going through every skill feels superfluous, especially compared to the fact you used to get skills that Bayo herself would be able to make use of regardless of what was equipped. In a way, it feels like the demons are supposed to be of more importance than Bayonetta despite the narrative telling us just how important she is to the entire multiverse, which brings us back to the elephant in the room: this game’s shitty ending.

We come full circle after the series’ mandatory trip to the moon in the final hour. Sigurd’s evil — surprise, I guess — and wants to use the final version of Bayonetta, the Arch Eve Origin, for Reasons. We fight his final form various times until landing back to a set piece similar to our start, ready to see another Bayo die in real time. Luckily we’re saved by our former heroines — the Bayos from Bayonetta 1 and 2, respectively. You not only get to play as “Bayonetta 1” using her original Scarborough Fair moveset but you then get to fuse all three Bayonettas together and create this definitive final version of the baddest witch on the block. We do another big boss fight, get help from Strider Luka who now is able to control his bestial form and manage to win but ultimately lose Bayonetta as she is cast into her spectral form like Jeanne in Bayo 2, ready to be taken by Inferno but not before Luka sacrifices himself in the process, the two sharing a kiss as Viola is left alone again, to take up the mantle of Bayonetta for a new generation after a slog of a “secret” boss fight. Also Jeanne died, but not permanently maybe?

I am not going to sit here and say that this ending is good. It’s bad, rushed, makes no sense with who the characters are ultimately, and just doesn’t really have anything going for it. However, I can at least see where this could have been something more impactful, and it also sheds light on a lot of the “could haves” entangled with Bayonetta 3. Multiple sources have been reporting on the supposed plan of Bayonetta 3 as an open world game, and given the suggested depth of this story it makes sense, especially as the focus on movement comes up as well with various traversal options baked into each weapon. Unfortunately this doesn’t do much to save what feels like a removed supposition as to who these characters are.

To be clear, I’m not mad at the idea of Bayo and Luka getting together, there’s plenty of material in the game that shows she has more than just a passing fondness for her little Cheshire cat. However, that doesn’t just mean you write out Jeanne, and that especially doesn’t mean you turn Luka into some critical plot point that removes the goofy parts that make him capable of hitting it. Honestly part of what also sheds some light into the hurriedness of everything is the fact there’s so little talk of Sigurd as a villain. He has no motivations outside of some general want for strength, and sure you technically deal with Baldur twice in the other games, but that at least has consistency and loops back into itself in a way that makes both games feel fuller. Five writers are credited for this story as opposed to 1 being credited solely as Kamiya and 2 being a work between him and Devil May Cry writer Bingo Morihashi, and it shows just how spread out a lot of these ideas are and to pin these faults solely on Kamiya, as many have, highlights the lack of understanding in regard to how game studios work.

If I had to sit here and play script doctor, I feel like taking the Sailor Moon Chibi-usa route is maybe the best way to go. You establish the reality that Bayonetta is in fact dead, Luka is gone, and Viola in this whole quest is getting to have one last experience with her parents, and especially seeing the kind of goofball Luka was in comparison to the assumedly more put together adult he is in her eyes, before tying up loose ends and being a stronger person to take out the threat in her future. You make this threat some person managing to go beyond Paradiso and Inferno creating these Homunculi who mimic the angels and demons we know while being devoid of the parallelisms of the two as they are unleashed upon other time periods, thus roping in other Umbra Witches or, in the spirit of trying to make Jeanne more of a character, see what she’s up to while Bayo takes her initial 20 year nap. By no means is this a perfect rewrite of a shoddy script but it shows what could be there without needing something as bloated as multiverse theory and centers on the fact that the universe doesn’t give a shit about Bayonetta, but everything she cares about means the world to her and she’ll do whatever it takes should anything get in the way of that. Again from Rose’s article, her choice to be the mother figure as a response to her experience as a daughter while not sacrificing her sexuality or joviality in the process is the strongest thing about Bayonetta as a character, and to send that off and make that the torch to pass would have been fantastic and especially would have made the dance ending feel a little more worth it.

Overall, I don’t hate Bayonetta 3. I might go back and replay the game to see the hidden verses and maybe do the secret boss for once. The music, as always, is incredible. Moonlight Serenade is a great song to round out this trio of Sinatra covers and the theme for Bayo in this one, Al Fine, is calling my number with its blend of French Musette and jazz for whenever it’s time to kick ass. Viola’s theme is also a fun acceptance of pop punk cringe in the most positive use of the word. Enzo’s fit is ridiculous in this game and it’s funny to realize that he and Bayo probably hang out the most out of anyone in the cast. I think that for all the missteps and stumbles this game has, I am still optimistic for what the future of Bayonetta could be and what that means. To quote Bayo at the end of her introductory beatdown all the way back in 2009, “As long as there’s music, I’ll keep on dancing,” and Bayonetta 3, all things said and done, shows that the series is not willing to get off the dance floor just yet. Truthfully, I’m still gonna be on the side watching what’s to come.

The post Bayonetta 3 (Switch) Review appeared first on Gamesline.

In the news, the Zelda Wiki has left Fandom and gone independent. Digimon World: Next Order is getting a Switch port and Konami had a lot of new Silent Hill announcements to go over. The new G4 has been shut down due to severe mismanagement, and the Diablo 4 QA department is allowed to vote on forming a union. We also go over all the new information we got over the last week regarding the Bayonetta situation.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo,  @john_michonski, and @Mavsplainiamania

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Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

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In the news, Facebook doesn’t understand how legs work and Twitchcon broke legs with their shallow and dangerous foam pit. FFVII: The First Soldier is shutting down and an old animatic for a Kingdom Hearts cartoon pitch came out. In labor news, Blizzard is dealing with a new lawsuit and Nintendo had to settle a legal case over their union busting efforts. Hellena Taylor also came out and detailed why she isn’t returning as the voice of Bayonetta in Bayonetta 3 after being offered a pittance of $4000 for the role.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo,  @john_michonski, @horngal and @Mavsplainiamania

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

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There’s were so many big news drops this week, so this is but a sliver of what was announced. Oh, and non-show things did happen too.

Games Done Quick (GDQ) has withdrawn and canceled what would have been their upcoming in-person event in Orlando, Florida, making a hardline stance against the state’s recent legislative policies. GDQ representatives have spoken against the Florida’s lax COVID-19 policies and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric present in local legislation that they feel would endanger their group and attendees.

Bonnie Ross officially resigned and left 343 Industries and Microsoft. 343 Industries has worked on several Halo titles since 2007. Pierre Hintze will take over as studio head immediately. 

Square Enix recently partnered with Oasys, a blockchain company, now becoming one of the largest games publishers to invest heavily in blockchain technology.

Genshin Impact is getting some sort of animated project. The adaptation will be developed under Ufotable, who is known for their work on Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and the Tales and Fate series.

In the tabletop gaming world, Wizards of the Coast has finally filed an injunction against NuTSR for using Wizards trademarks to publish “blatantly racist and transphobic content”. This long-winded legal saga has been going on for years.

Babylon’s Fall will be ending service in February 2023. The game has been online for less than a year.

Also having been active for less than a year, the relaunched G4TV has been hit with huge staff layoffs.

A huge portion of Fanbyte’s staff have also been laid off. The publication has been under Tencent since 2020.

And getting into all of the major show news…

A majority of the announcements made in the latest Ubisoft’s Foward event was all about Assassin’s Creed.

D23 Expo

Huge hardcore Disney heads and investors making bills rain know the D23 Expo is a huge deal, and this year features a substantial amount of games-related announcements from the House of Mouse.

Return to Monkey Island releases on September 19 for the Nintendo Switch and PC. The game will be published by Devolver Digital in will be in coordination with Lucasfilm Games, the latter acquired by the Walt Disney Company back in 2012.

The Sega Genesis Gargoyles game from 1995 is getting remastered. No release date has been determined, but it is slated for release on consoles and the PC.

Disney Illusion Island will be a multiplayer co-op platformer that will release exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. The game is a revisit to a previously canceled title that would have been Metroidvania-like.

Indie studio Bithell Games has been given the green light to help develop TRON: Identity, an adventure-mystery visual novel set to release next year in 2023. The game seems to take place in a new setting that has yet to be explored in the rest of the franchise.

Disney Dreamlight Valley, Disney’s newest online roleplaying game, will have its first major content update revolving around the universe of Toy Story. Dreamlight Valley’s character creator is available and free to try,  in which the character you produce can be imported into the full game.

Somehow, we’re still getting Avatar content in the year 2022, so trust us, Avatar: Reckoning will be coming out eventually. Reckoning is intended to be an online MOBA for mobile devices.

Nintendo Direct

The rumor of the rumor was true: The latest Nintendo Direct wasn’t delayed, but it wasn’t shown live in the UK. Speculation believes it might possibly be due to the The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sequel subtitle in relation to the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II—

And after much waiting, “Breath of the Wild 2” is officially now known as Tears of the Kingdom. The game will be released in May 2023.

Previous leaks have proven that the stark, red-blue character design of the main character in the upcoming Fire Emblem Engage is apparently real. The game revolves around a mechanic in which you can summon past Fire Emblem characters to aid you in battle.

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is getting a remake. The game will be billed under the official Story of Seasons localization trademark for its English-language release. A remake of the GameCube game that came out in 2003, the game will not only feature a significant graphics overhaul, but will now allow you to play a male, female, or non-binary protagonist on top of flexibly being able to woo any of the game’s marriage candidates regardless of gender.

Various Nintendo 64 games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online. Titles like the first Mario Party, Pokémon Stadium, and GoldenEye 007 are included in this lineup.

Tales of Symphonia is getting remastered. The remaster seems to be based on an older PC port and will run at 30 FPS, much to the chagrin of fans who played it at 60 on GameCube.

John is ready to be hurt again because Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE is the new game from Tookyo Games and Spike Chunsoft. Yeah, the Danganronpa team is bringing the band back together for a new mystery solving game. It launches Spring 2023.

Splatoon 3 is having its first Splatfest near the end of this month!

Nintendo Switch Sports will now have golf. But you have to wait.

Pikmin 4 has been confirmed as the next mainline game in the respective series.

And a little more of Bayonetta 3 has been shown.

You can watch the entire Direct below.

Sony Playstation’s State of Play

God of War: Ragnarok now has a story trailer.

Tekken 8 has been officially announced. The game is currently being built from the ground up using the Unreal Engine.

Bandai Namco is debuting a new IP called Synduality.

Pacific Drive, the debut game by Ironwood Studios, has now dropped a reveal trailer. Ironwood Studios is based in Seattle, Washington, comprising of a team of developers who have previously worked in AAA.

The entire State of Play is can be watched below.

Accompanying the State of Play’s showcase was the RGG Summit, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s own showcase regarding their studio’s IP, announcing that:

The previously unreleased in the West Yakuza spin-off Yakuza: Ishin is set to release as a remake titled Like a Dragon: Ishin!

Judgment and Lost Judgment are now officially available for the PC.

And finally, Like a Dragon 8 is set to release in 2024. It seems as though that Yakuza series is set to drop the “Yakuza” moniker here on out, following Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Like the seventh game in the series, the game will remain a turn-based RPG. Protagonists Ichiban Kasuga and veteran Kiryu Kazuma are to return.

The post The Bulletin: Directs and Drops appeared first on Gamesline.

Nintendo acquires production studio Dyanmo Pictures and intends on renaming it as “Nintendo Pictures”. This acquisition likely comes coupled with the fact that Nintendo possibly wants to develop a dedicated film branch in light of the upcoming Mario movie.

Unity has decided to team up with ironSource, a company that notoriously has come under scrutiny due to their history of producing malware. This was all in light of what continues to be a shakeup at the company that laid off about 200 employees a couple of weeks ago.

Far-right platforms have misidentified and used photos of Hideo Kojima to paint him as Shinzo Abe’s assassin. This misinformation is alleged to have originated from bad faith, online trolling on 4chan. Kojima Productions is now threatening legal action.

In conjunction with Metal Gear’s 35th anniversary, Konami is planning on putting Metal Gear 2 and 3 back in storefronts. Several Metal Gear titles were temporarily pulled from retail due to licensing issues.

According to and alleged by Jeff Grub, the release of GoldenEye 007 HD remake remains up in the air, due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.

While some anticipated titles are experiencing hurdles with their release windows, late summer to early fall will be having a slew of pretty big releases:

Kirby’s Dream Buffet, a party game, is slated to release later this summer.

MultiVersus is hitting Open Beta this late July. Early access for previous testers will be the 19th, and it will be fully open on the 26th, staying open through the game’s full launch. Iron Giant will be added in this release.

Official launch day and the start of Season One for Rumbleverse will be this coming August.

Bayonetta 3 has been confirmed to be released on October 3.

Meanwhile, SEGA is planning on releasing its SEGA Genesis Mini 2 on October 27.

Unfortunately, EA’s Skate’s developers are suggesting the fate of the game’s series will have to be free-to-play based.

But as unfortunate as that all is…

GameStop launched an NFT marketplace. This is all in the midst of the crypto market still reeling in all the negative impacts by undergoing one of its lowest plunges in a year. Point and laugh. (But also keep in mind that GameStop and Game Informer were hit with layoffs as well.)

The post The Bulletin: Verses to Versus appeared first on Gamesline.

After that we crank up the Limp Bizkit and work our way through the chaos of news from the Nintendo Direct and Tokyo Game Show, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater getting a remake, Sony acquiring Bluepoint, and Melty Blood Type Lumina getting Saber and being awesome. We also cover the most recent fallout from the Activision/Blizzard/King lawsuits.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo, @scottblah, @mavspaniamania, and @chorbySP

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

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The post VGCC Episode 374: The Deltarune Variant appeared first on Gamesline.

As I played The Last of Us Part II, one of the things that really stuck out to me, amongst my many issues with the game, was my incapability to find the notion of its female main character, let alone one that was openly gay, even remotely compelling. I’ve played plenty of bad games in my time, and even at their worst, I’m usually able to at least appreciate when something’s making bold strides in either representation or diversification. However, here, Ellie didn’t really register to me as gay, despite me loving her lesbian antics in the Left Behind DLC for the first game. At the time there was far too much else going on with Part II for me to really nail down this lack of resonance, but after some time away I know exactly what’s going on.

The main lesbian relationship between Ellie and her girlfriend Dina, isn’t contextualized by the nature of their personalities, or their love for each other, but rather by their obligations as a daughter and a mother respectively. Ellie’s motivations throughout Part II are driven by her feelings towards the death of her surrogate father Joel, and Dina is swept up along with her out of support for her partner. However, for some reason, the writers of the game decided that it wasn’t dramatic enough to have a messy relationship on the basis of filial revenge, so they decided to throw in the wrench that Dina is pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s child.

At first, I’d be inclined to give Naughty Dog points for the all-too-rare case of a character being bisexual, as well as the notion that somebody in a lesbian relationship could be pregnant without that invalidating it. However, it quickly becomes clear that those are not the reasons for this development. Rather than expanding the relationship between Ellie and Dina, the game becomes secondarily about the father of her child, who crosses hundreds of miles and manages to find them almost instantly. From then on, things aren’t about Ellie and her girlfriend, but rather about Ellie and her revenge quest, and about her pregnant girlfriend’s involvement with the father of the child. If that wasn’t bad enough, even when the game later suggests that Ellie and Dina do get married to raise this child, the relationship may as well have put traditionalized labels on each of them for “Dad” and “Mom”.

This type of situation, where representation doesn’t end up feeling like actual representation, is increasingly prevalent throughout the medium of games, and almost entirely because of who exactly is given the job of writing them. While The Last of Us Part II is co-written by a woman, it takes all of 5 seconds to find director and lead writer Neil Druckmann talking about his feelings on becoming a father and how that affected his writing of Ellie and even the characters of other Naughty Dog games. He’s not the only one, either; the aforementioned God of War was lauded specifically for its molding of Kratos into more of a father figure, while the game itself positioned each of its women into the role of a mother. That one was also written by a guy, in case you were wondering. In games, fatherhood has become almost entirely conflated with maturity, despite the failings of these games to even begin to reconcile with their treatments of the roles of women.

To consider another heavily praised female lead, also written by a man, there’s Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn. Aloy’s initial motivations in Horizon come from the murder of her father. While in the grand scheme of things it’s largely inconsequential to the plot, it is nonetheless the entire reason she sets out on her journey in the first place, immediately placing the primary role of Aloy as, yes, the protagonist, but also as a daughter. While Aloy does gradually get fleshed out more and more as her journey goes on, it’s hard to forget that the driving force behind her adventure was limited by the idea that she wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t because of her father.

There are countless other examples of this, even more obviously in games focused on a male lead. For Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar used strong imagery of Bonnie MacFarlane, one of the only women in the game, brandishing a gun throughout promotional material, in contrast to their more sexualized advertising for Grand Theft Auto. In the actual game, however, while she’s ostensibly a rough and tumble character, her entire personality is shaped around the notion that she’s a surrogate wife for John Marston, as well as tied to the ideas that her father represented. When making Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar decided that this dictation of the woman’s role was too subtle, so they made nearly every woman in the plot a stationary NPC at a camp who does nothing but act as a therapist for Arthur, calling him a good man and comforting him on command.

Video games aren’t made by one person obviously, and in all of these cases there are more than certainly several women involved in the creation of each of the games I’ve complained about. However, as is so with every industry, systemic sexism and power structures put a wrench in what change is readily attainable. As we’ve seen throughout the years with Blizzard, Riot Games, and most recently Ubisoft, the world of games is trapped in the inherent mindset that men must be in power, and powerful men tend to believe they’re always in the right.

There are plenty of games across multiple decades that showcase the sheer difference of women being in more direct control of a game, and just how different it can be. Kim Swift directed Portal, arguably one of the most iconic works of the medium, and it and its sequel are driven by the conflict of two women. Every Yoko Taro game has been primarily written by women, with Drakengard 3 being a particular standout for showcasing a more blatant sexuality for its female lead, without absolute fetishization.

When I think about some more of my favorite works, it should be no surprise through reading this article that many of them focus heavily on women; games like Bayonetta, Fate/Grand Order, and Final Fantasy XIII. However, when it comes to most games, especially those in the AAA sphere, it’s particularly hard for me to resonate with nearly any of the characters because of that limited lens through which women are seen. To me, these works I adore resonate because of the dynamism afforded to the women they’re about.

The thing that gets me about these games is that they’re not games written by women, or even particularly for women as their main goal: Bayonetta was penned by Hideki Kamiya; Fate is penned at times by women, but generally by Kinoko Nasu; and Final Fantasy XIII is even written by a dude who self-admittedly fell in love with Lightning. Yet somehow, each of these works take into consideration the notion that a woman can be driven by multiple things and become who they want to be, rather than having to be defined by their relationships with a male character.

Bayonetta is a story that, yes, places its lead character in both the role of a mother and daughter, but at the same time uses those roles to contextualize the trauma she’s experienced in her life while letting her flaunt both sexuality and personality in spades. Fate/Grand Order is sourced from a visual novel that gradually attempted to show that women are capable of doing countless things beyond what men generally expect, and takes that further by transforming the notion of certain historical figures into not just hot anime women, but hot anime women with both independent agency and purpose. The Final Fantasy XIII trilogy is in part about Snow trying to find his fiancee, Lightning’s sister, but the game quickly makes it clear that he has little to do with these women’s characters, and as things develop he is driven more by their actions than they are by his.

The problem with AAA gaming isn’t just that it’s men leading the conversation, but rather that it’s one specific type of man consistently being rewarded by other men who see themselves in each other. If big games want to make a difference with their diversity, then the identities they’re championing need to be more than just assumptions. Games shouldn’t be held back by such a myopic lens, and the sooner we broaden the perspectives and groups behind them, the better we’ll all be for it.

The post For Women in Games, You Can Be a Mother or a Daughter appeared first on Gamesline.

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