Most Matthewmatosis (Patreon)

You’ll have an easier time understanding this post if you’ve seen my Devil Daggers and/or Return of the Obra Dinn reviews.

Here’s some trivia. The “Potentially Slightly Misguided” bit at the end of the Obra Dinn review was originally written like so:

“It’s a petty complaint but less petty than it first appears. If you think it over, hopefully you’ll feel I’m justified in giving Obra Dinn a Devil Daggers out of ten.”

I included this joke partly because I see the Obra Dinn review as a spiritual sequel to the Devil Daggers one. I even considered using the Devil Daggers font for that bit. I hoped people would understand that “Devil Daggers out of ten” means “theoretically imperfect out of ten” but sometimes humour needs to be sacrificed for the sake of clarity. Self referential comedy has never been this channel’s shtick anyway.

So why is it a spiritual sequel to that review? Because the first half is a quick breakdown on how the game is great, then the second half is a lengthy, difficult thought experiment about what the ideal form of such a game might be. One of the most popular comments on Mega Microvideos touts that video as the most “Matthewmatosis” video I’ve ever done. Of course I appreciate the enthusiasm but I think the Devil Daggers and Obra Dinn videos are the most “Matthewmatosis” ones because they best embody the kind of thought process that leads me to certain conclusions. These are the kinds of things I don’t see discussed elsewhere and I like trying to surface such abstract concerns in an easily digestible way. 

Now, there’s a question about how much these kinds of considerations are worth caring about. In a sense those videos are about confronting what I see as the “final boss” of a certain genre. The one, non-obvious quibble that future developers might resolve which makes earlier games seem redundant. I think both of those videos present worthwhile topics to explore - I felt them as genuine problems when I thought about the games or wouldn’t have discussed them in the first place - but I have to admit if I was a developer I might be more inclined to brush them aside. Critics have the luxury of being as pedantic as we want about everything, a privilege which should be exercised with caution. Hopefully my effusive praise of both games came through.

When Lucas announced the release date for Obra Dinn he said it was “done enough to call” which I thought was a wonderful way of putting it. Likewise, my video was “done enough to call” at a certain point, it’s the only way anything ever gets finished. Still, I’d like to think there’s value in these most “Matthewmatosis” of videos, even if only for some of you. A lot of creatives like to say they love their “children” equally but I have preferences and those two would rank higher than most. I hope I get the chance to craft another one like them some day but for the meantime we’ll have to live with slightly less pedantry.