niche hyperfixations on main

I'll start off by saying I never played the game, because just from the gameplay I saw I could tell I would not be good at it. And maybe that's part of the reason it didn't work for me, because I think it can be confusing for people who aren't familiar with the game. But I knew the basic parts of the story - convicted felon gets sent to explore a moon's ocean of blood in a tiny submarine after most of humanity has been wiped out, thinks he'll gain his freedom but is really there as more of a sacrifice, scary monsters and chaos ensues.

I did think going into it it was more alien/sci-fi than eldritch horror, which isn't a genre I have a lot of experience with or a good understanding of, so I think that contributed as well.

While I've seen people say it's meant to be confusing, part of my confusion stems from the fact that I couldn't understand what any of the characters besides Simon was saying a lot of the time, and I don't think all of that was intentional. Especially when it came to stuff like Simon's backstory. Apparently some theaters were having audio issues? Either way I'm filing this along with Oppenheimer under "movies I probably would've understood better if I watched them with subtitles."

I knew going into it that it was a slow burn, and while I can definitely appreciate a slow burn when I'm in the mood for it, I do think there were some shots that lasted too long and some stuff that could've been cut out, but I'd probably have to watch it again to decided exactly what.

I'm not big on single-location movies either, but I understand why they did it that way. It really does help with making it feel claustrophobic. All the flashing lights did give me a legit headache though. Maybe part of why it made me feel off is because I'm still recovering from being overstimulated.

I did enjoy the use of blood though, and thought there were some cool visuals with it. The part where he rips his own arm off was also epic, not gonna like.

All that being said, I think Markiplier did a really good job! He's a good actor, which not a lot of Youtubers can say. He felt less like Markiplier than he did in the one other thing I've seen him in, The Edge of Sleep (which I did enjoy). He also pulls off the grungy long-haried look very well.

I can tell that he's genuinely passionate about what he does and puts 100% into whatever project he takes on, which makes me feel bad about not liking the movie. But I AM glad that others are enjoying it and that it's having success. I don't regret supporting it, and I'll gladly watch him in another horror project if he ever does one, which I'm sure he will. And I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't jump at the chance to make an adaption of one of my favorite games if I had the clout, skills and resources for it.