It's no wonder Del Toro had his audience chant "fuck AI". This film is such a fuck-you to AI and even the over-reliance on digital effects in film-making. It feels hand-crafted with overwhelming thoughtfulness and love. It's a film with so much heart goddamit.

And much of the reason it all hits is because this film is so handmade. Every jaw-dropping set was hand-built. Every detail is meticulous and deliberate. It's almost all practical effects and prosthetics so when Victor saws through a leg or dumps a bag of arms on the ground, you feel it in your gut.

All the original story's themes are there and more. Del Toro makes exactly the changes needed to accentuate them (including a mercifully expanded role for Elizabeth). And, unlike the book's tragic ending, it ends with forgiveness and hope - a perfect revision for a story about fathers and sons.

Oscar Isaac is the quintessential Frankenstein - handsome, brooding and crazed. Jacob Elordi as the monster is a marvel. Both are such tragic characters - the disappointed son who became the disappointing father, the innocent creature who learned to hate itself. Del Toro captured them so well.

The sets and costume design are out of this world. In typical Del Toro style it all perfectly straddles the real and the fantastical. Everything feels larger than life, and also grounded at the same time. I couldn't sleep properly last night the images from this movie kept intruding. It's incredible

My internet chugged when posting this, like it was resisting putting such a crap joke into the world

I mean, yes, it's the best thing ever posted

Evergreen

I loved it you guys.

How do I move on? How do I live my life now, with no more vaporwave romances or mascot events in which I help a weeping block of tofu get through a slightly-too-small door? Where's my city of obelisks and goat statues? How do I live without Sam Day Break and Captain Sign in my life?

But Kaizen have gone so hard on this ridiculous world that, it works? You spend the first few hours going, "what the bloody fuck is this" and then by the end you're cheering on your best friend the giant talking finger as you help her run for mayor. And then it ends and you're like, what now?

This game is so goddamn absurd I can't even describe it. It's like a crazed Japanese fever dream. A driving game / business management sim / visual novel / card game in which you save a small town and help a bunch of magical freaks operate vending machines and fight swarms of bees

Ghostwire: Tokyo is Haunted by the AAA Design Curse - how adherence to AAA open world tropes prevented Ghostwire: Tokyo from reinterpreting Japanese folklore in any kind of interesting way. bit.ly/pixeladay_gh...

Make the XS size available and I'm in!

I love him! "Weary gamer" is also a 100% accurate description of me

Also can the folks at @kaizengameworks.com confirm or deny whether they were inspired by Mr. Blobby. The similarity (unhinged mascot constantly fucking shit up) seems too great to be a coincidence

Thank you so much, that's really wonderful to hear 😊😊😊

Mostly though, at least when it comes to studios I love going AAA in recent years, this is the way it's gone. They instantly start putting out much worse games. I know for a fact it's not for lack of talent.

I'm sure there are exceptions. Remedy seems to be managing it well