Quick Look: Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics

I bounced off this show hard. Puppets suck, except for badly yoda.

The Goblin King better be a hero unit.

@steveurkel:

You're an incredibly abrasive person.

@dweep: how? Lots of people dont care for puppets. I have history with the dark crystal as a kid but the design is still unappealing. Sorry for having an opinion.

The prequel show is fantastic. This game...not so much.

Don't know if I Jan mentioned it and I just missed it, but are missions repeatable? Seemed like a few of his characters were too low to be viable where he was at. Just curious if this is the sort of game where you have to choose who your team is early on and let the rest of the cast fall by the wayside.

And as far as FF Tactics getting a proper re-release, at this point I feel fairly confident we will get it. I wasn't for a long time after they skipped FF8 and made a PC version of 9 instead because hey, if they're going to skip a numbered entry, they'll definitely skip a side game.

But now that they've gone back and put out 8, I feel like Tactics has got to be around the corner. With 3-15 all available, there isn't a lot left at this point. They've spent several years now investing in remakes/remasters; I don't see them stopping anytime soon.

hup

I found the Netflix show still weirdly aimed at children despite having content you would never show young kids. Torture, death, mutilation ...yet the actual story follows the beats of a very basic children’s bed time story. It’s kind of bizarre because on one hand I was into the dark themes when they arose but then on the other I was constantly bored when the sugar coated happy go lucky mode kicked into gear.

Who is this game FOR?!?!

@steveurkel: Puppets are rad.

Where's the Muppets Christmas Carol DLC?

The love for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance gives me life! Also, great job guiding the Quick Look Jan, you're awesome at it!

@mechanized: I agree! Thanks Jan and team! :)

TACTICAL MUPPETS!!!

mmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm

@humanity: i look at it the other way around: it's a wonderfull show aimed at a younger audience (maybe 8-12?) that doesn't shy away of introducing darker themes; i believe that is pretty much the tone of the original dark crystal.

@eladren: I guess parental discretion is advised.. Those workers getting their mouths sewn shut with rope. People getting tortured and their life essence drained in a somewhat graphic manner. Some of the cruelty is a bit much for a 12 year old if you ask me but I'm not a parent so who am I to say. I do think generally most of the show is fine - it's just some of those moments peppered throughout can get a little rough for a younger audience.

@humanity: yeah, for sure, it's nothing that a children should watch on their own, without some guidance or explanation from an adult.

While funny/snarky to point out “video game developer Netflix”, it might be nicer to the studio and developers who made it, BonusXP, to call out their name too. At least you mentioned that they made the other game as well.

Jim Henson's Age of Resistance Tactics Babies.

I can't get behind the design of the characters. They look like aborted halloween decorations, like the Spirit store went to the planned parenthood and made an informed decision.

I feel like people sometimes forget that there's an age demographic between, say, 6 and 30 years old. ;)

The new Dark Crystal: Resistance series, to me, is squarely (and appropriately) targeted at the Young Adult crowd (13-ish to 19-ish). So, no, it might not be suitable for toddlers, and the working class might find the cuteness off-putting, but my high-school self would have eaten this series up like it was cupcakes. (And, hell, my old-millenial self still really enjoys this series.)

That said, this videogame is...weird, in a way that feels like some boomer-aged Netflix exec said, "We need vidya games! How about that one with muppies?! YOU! What kind of video game are you going to make with the muppies?!" and the devs said, "Uh, well, we liked FF Tactics/Tactics Ogre back in the day..."

I recall the design for the characters definitely having a weird Muppet-equivalent of the uncanny valley for me, but I haven't watched that film since the 80s. Loved pretty much all other Henson stuff as a kid, but flesh-toned pseudo-human Muppets felt unnecessary. Dark Crystal holds a similar place in my memory as Return to Oz. Perhaps I'm old enough now to revisit them and not get nightmares. :P

@dasakamov: I don't know what you mean by "the working class might find the cuteness off-putting" but you're right that there is a place for murer, mutilation and 'messed up' media aimed at kids older than 6, look how messed up most fairy tales are. If kids are kept in a bubble away from 'Stand by Me, the Goonies and perhaps Robocop, they may go wild when older, or simply resent their parents. I seem to remember hearing someone on a podcast a while ago lamenting how much pop culture they had missed as a kid.

@hughj said:

There's a "making of" feature on Netflix that talks about the look of the Gelflings. I assume you're talking about the little elf like people and not the gnarly looking Skeksis. I agree, they looked really odd in the original, but they are improved for this show. Jim Henson wasn't happy with them either. The challenge was to have room for a hand in the head, while also trying to make them look more human like than the monsters. The result was uncanny monkey faced people. They didn't bother me as much for the show, but your mileage may vary. Otherwise I loved the show!

This game seems to do everything that you expect a game like this to do, but i don't see anything that truly gives this game it's own face. Like it reminds me of Deadalic's Blackguard games. Totally functional and engaging enough to play, but at the same time you'll be able to pick these games up for a dollar or less. People didn't care about it at all. There's nothing there that you would really miss if you didn't play it.

Love it or hate it, i thought that a game like Massive Chalice did an excellent job at having functional tactical gameplay + an extra layer on top. the whole family tree layer truly gives the game it's own face. Xcom does a similar thing with it's basebuilding and worldmap. This could have gone hard on the production values of the series, but it seems like the budget didn't allow for that to happen.

The Dark Crystal isn't kidding about being dark and I like that the show is no different.