living dead duo

It’s relatively rare for a game built around power fantasy to be actively invested in the nature of power. What Rogue Trader did is fascinating on that front. Every avenue to roleplay available, every romance, every bit of character role discussion and colony text is here to remind you that you’re a colonial agent in a specifically patriarchal fascist empire. You’re a woman? Too bad; you’re ‘Lord’ and ‘Father’ anyway because that is the shape of power. You’re an iconoclast? Cool story; your very existence costs thousands of lives constantly, and abnegating responsibility only makes it worse.

one of the most underrated but brilliant parts of cyberpunk that i have been admiring as i get close to the end of my second playthrough is how v's dissolution into johnny is so innocently integrated into the gameplay as a series of fun silly or mechanically powerful loot drops. on a gameplay level its a fun incentive to do side quests! look! you can get johnny's super powerful and sleek gun! how fun! you can get his unique custom paint job car! how cool! you can get a samurai replica jacket like the one v wore in the game's promotions! how silly! you can find his pants and shoes and glasses and look just like him! how sweet! he gives you his dog tags! you might not think twice about it as the player. it's just a bunch of cosmetic quest rewards, after all. but... in world? on a story level? what does it look like to vic? to misty? when v shows up for some cyberware upgrades driving johnny's car, in johnny's pants, in johnny's jacket, in johnny's glasses, in johnny's shoes, with johnny's gun at their hip and johnny's name around their neck? is that still v in there? do they even know what it looks like? do they even care? is that still v in there? is that still v in there? it seems like just a fun little easter egg but what does it look like to the people who are watching their friend dissolve into someone else in front of their eyes?

thinking about how if you decide to kill so mi, reed will come in and cradle her head close to his. how fondly he speaks of her. how he knows her mind so well. how they spoke after the mission in night city was over. how fond of her he is. he loves her so much but couldn’t see what was best for her. he wanted what was best but wouldn’t see what it was until it was too late. it is so. it hurts man what the hell

I just have to get this off my chest, but the fact that Mr. Hands buys V the mini car because the streets are tight is genuinely one of the cutest details in the entire game to me.