But whoever thought of it, I'd like to thank them. I don't know whose bright idea it was to let your Mortal Shell pack around an acoustic instrument in a land that wants to kill every part of you. Sitting crisscross applesauce, rocking gently to the music, articulating notes through my gauntleted hands like a medieval Rodrigo y Gabriela (either one). Playing some four-string melody to myself in the middle of the swamp. But I get better, simply by playing the thing. Then, after having nothing to listen to but the wheezing, dying breaths from my enemies, I sit down, take out my lute, and pluck away at a tune. Exploring, now, a game that expects me to walk slowly into each room, but dares me to become a speed runner like everybody's watching. Nearly reliving the sense of loss that used to come 25 cents at a time in loud, dark arcades that smelled like ash trays and sticky soda. Reminding myself of what it's like to be afraid of the game I'm playing. Getting beaten by this downer, trying to keep my head up. Why play into your own frustrations? What's on the other side of that wall you're bashing your head against? Who do you think you're fooling, you fake Mahatma Gandhi? Then again, people drink alcohol, a downer, in the club, trying to keep the party going and people drink coffee, an upper, in coffee shops, trying to keep quiet. Even the streamers that kept their cool during death screen after death screen. What I'd watch on Twitch only reaffirmed my distaste for this whole category of video games. Yes, this is another so-called gamer having a "coming to Jesus" moment with the Souls-like genre. Games defined by their commitment to full-golf-swing sword animations, boss fights with health bars longer than your ultrawide monitor, and even low-tiered enemies with a forgiveness that I'm going to say is rather unforgiving. But Mortal Shell owes its existence to these games. It's not Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or even Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Mortal Shell is not affiliated with developer FromSoftware, and doesn't have its checks signed whenever a Soulsborne game is sold. And the game taking me out of the correct headspace is Mortal Shell. It's an indictment against my work ethic. That's not an indictment against Werewolf. With 48 hours to go before my Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood deadline, I'm doing that thing critics sometimes do and playing anything but my review assignment.
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