Quick Look: Drawn to Death

I'm kinda with Dan on this one. Game doesn't look all that great to me. Of course we've gotta mention the childish humor now; I think the basic feel of the art and humor is more or less correct. It's just an actual 12 year old would be much more sincere and earnest with the style and tone than it is here. It's too self-aware to work. There's too much PC commentary going on with the designs. The 'rah-rah Murica' stuff with Bronco, the Ninjaw stuff feels like an actual design by a 12-year old run through a SJW acceptance filter. The announcer feeling more like Toonami rants from a failed pilot than some goofy kid ranting.

Yep. The notebook artstyle and commitment to the aesthetic are the takeaways here. The best parts. Danny Ryckert - I'm with ya 100%. Everything else is just too lame and try-hard, not to mention inaccurate in regards to the earnest sincerity a kid would do all this with. A kid wouldn't wallow in his or her immaturity like it was cool; they would try to be "mature" with their work. So much wrong here; so obviously 30-something adults with their politics and standards, trying to imitate tween culture. Yeesh.

It was a well-meaning attempt I'd assume, but way too much of this game doesn't seem to hit the mark. It's kinda sad. Doesn't enrage me like it did Dan, but it's not really selling me on it's vibe either.

It brings to mind some Bulletstorm marketing.

The tone of this game reminds me of the two guys who demoed Legendary back in the first QL ever.

I don't think this game looks good, and the humor feels like it really misses the mark, but I sincerely don't understand Dan's intense anger about it. It just looks like bland gameplay wrapped up in a dumb sense of humor and a somewhat interesting art style.

@treefingers: Dan is talking as though he's absolutely certain about something he can't possibly know? What!?

Seriously though, that's kind of what Dan is.

Some neat ideas for making unique character actions (powers?), but the core gameplay just looks so bad.

I think I might like this game's style if you removed the announcer, the tutorial frog and the taunts. Still wouldn't play it, I hate competitive multiplayer AND shooters.

It's the aggressively asshole-ish nature of the humor I find off-putting, and I honestly I have no idea if I'd find this kind of stuff funny at 13, in terms of all the swearing and in-your-face wannabe punk nonsense.

That literally was his response to this QL on Twitter ^_^

I love God of War and think Twisted Metal is kind of lame for the same reasons Dan hates this game. I am not surprised at all that the dude who made TM made this.

Vinny is getting soft in his middle years!

this game looks like the textbook definition of 'try-hard,' and even puerile middle-schoolers can smell that shit from a mile away. while the look has appeal, it doesn't come close to being as funny as it clearly thinks it is...it's laughing at its own jokes.

but yes, let's get back to the important issue at hand and have a referendum on dan's right to dislike a thing.

I had to stop this video short because I couldn't take Dan anymore. I'm sure the game was garbage, but that voice...

it seems the developers put a lot of time into pissing dan off

2 toxic 4 TV

I love how this post goes from critique to what the fucking fuck is this game as the video kept playing.

What's funny is that Jaffe posted that exact same clip a few years ago on Twitter, saying he'd love to do that to his own critics -- completely missing the point of the scene, and fully oblivious of the irony of him using it to lash out at his critics.

EDIT: Oh, you literally meant that his response to this Quick Look was to post this video, I thought you meant he just responded in a similar way. That's both hilarious and sad that he did it again, he might just be the least self-aware man on the planet...

"Isnt this wrestling"

These criticisms from a person who wrote a book containing the line of dialog: "Lick my asshole, asshole" and then had one of the best voice actors in the industry read that line over and over for a joke.

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

The gameplay seems basic enough, might try it. But I think Dan's outrage at the game is based on jealously, because he wished he thought of the concept and executed it himself.

Dan is right, this is a shit show. Its a shame, because it looks like it was made with all the misguided love in the world. Just comes off as trying way to hard.

I know y'all just took AP psych but stop trying to diagnose why this makes Dan angry.

I wonder if time from download to deletion is a thing Sony can track? I'd venture this has, among a certain demographic (mine), the shortest average in years.

Dan's impressions of the announcer are hilarious! I wish he would talk like that all the time.

@av_gamer: give it a try. The game's fun and intense gameplaywise. One of the charms of it was like im focusing on fighting then suddenly youll hear the announcer's lame jokes. You either didnt pay attention to what he's says or be like 'wtf are you saying'

The game is intended to be silly

...No you don't.

Good post

@rottenb said:

I find it strange that the guy who is getting married in a Taco Bell, and legitimately enjoys (and spends thousands of dollars on) wrestling is turned off by this game.

That game looks terrible, but geez, Dan. That trigger warning gif was for you. : p

It's like.... it's like someone made Powerthirst into a video game in 2017. WHO IS THIS FOR. WHO GREENLIT THIS GAME??

@renegadedoppelganger: Jaffe has created and lead development on some of Sony's biggest franchises. The guy has clout in the industry, and has some legitimately great ideas (some that you can see in Drawn to Death if you give it a whirl), so I'm sure it was easy to get this project rolling.

Also, this is a much smaller game in scope compared God of War or Twisted Metal. I'm sure that translates into (at least) a smaller financial risk.

Edit: Seems like you edited your original "how did this game get greenlit" comment, so this reply might seem out of place.

I can't speak for Dan, but I think the reason humor like this bothers me so much is because I'm damn near 100% certain that if I were to ever meet someone who thinks this sort of thing is unironically funny, that person would almost certainly be a piece of human garbage.

Wait.

Is one of your criticisms of this game that it doesn't go far enough? That's its too tame.

In honor of Drawn to Death:

Lel Jebaited, these Newbz got so triggered. The salt is real. Topkek.

What's up with all the armchair psychs knowing what Dan was like as a 13-yo? That book must be selling real good that even people that dislike Dan are still reading it!

@glots said:

Oh god, Internet Dan is just Eric Cartman.

Powerthirst: The Video Game would actually be much funnier than this game.

If there was ever one single word to sum up this entire game, once and for all, it would be:

Untenable.

Hahaha, I wish I could be a fly on the wall when Dan runs into Jaffe at the next E3. Going to be hard to politely and obliquely say, "look... I'm a big fan and I understand that games are hard to make, but &%&$ me if you didn't dredge up the bottom of the barrel of adolescent Internet tripe, smear it on 90s attitude-era doodles, and then use that as the sole defining quality of an otherwise run of the mill, cookie cutter multiplayer deathmatch game. I've seldom hated anything with so much passion. You chafed my soul, but I still respect you as a professional and look forward to your next work, which hopefully won't also aggravate me into a seething frenzy of disdain and contempt."

Good luck with that. :-D Truthfully though, I kind of understand where you're coming from. The narrator and game tone kind of remind me of Mister Torque from Borderlands, only constantly there. Hours upon hours of that kind of "edgy 90s attitude" probably isn't easy to take. I had enough after 32 minutes and 16 seconds. *drum roll*

I can't help but think that this game would have gotten more mileage out of its thematic choice if it hadn't belabored the edginess. It just tries too hard to be sassy and troll you. That training session called the player a $#$$ing idiot enough times for the joke to very quickly wear out its welcome... and then it kept going. Everything just keeps going for too long.

But if I was 13 again... I'd probably love this. "This baby shits better than you play this game" GIF is just bad enough that it's veering into good territory, and the lusty convict GIF is a fittingly disturbing taunt thanks to the artfully placed rose. There's a lot of love and attention to detail in the artwork. At the very least, they went for it.

Giant Bomb....best gaming website on the internets.....one of the best quick looks in a long time...Dan is awesome.

ah yes so even dan has caught the gb hate for anything that smacks of 90s yeah lets blow things up and be cool culture. Hate to tell ya dan but this for a lot of people is what made Duke Nukum cool. I enjoy the crudeness actually myself though sure for long stretches of time it would get annoying. I mean open up voice chat in any FPS like call of duty and this is what you would find. This just puts the voice chat in the game. 13 year olds are going to eat this up. Congratulations Dan you can now see the coming death of American culture :). *hands Dan a get off my lawn sign*

I love how much Dan hates this

I really can't tell whether this game is a brutal condemnation of meme culture or a pathetic attempt at pandering to it. The former implies the developers are in a really hateful and weird place in their lives, the latter implies they peaked hard in the mid aughts, and I'm genuinely not sure which bums me out more.

and who was one of Dan's favorite wrestlers...Stone Cold Steve Austin..this would be right up 13 year old Dan's ally and anyone who liked 90's attitude era wrestling (a LOT of people) would love this. You can decide if that makes you sad or not.

Dan hates this game cause he knows this is the type of thing he would of reveled in as a child.

People watch soap opera's, wrestling, reality TV, The Avengers Movies, yet this particular silly brainless entertainment is an affront to video game art.

News flash, games more often then not have terrible writing, bad pacing, poorly thought out mechanics, and in general aren't that thought provoking. This ever building trend of academic analysis, or high art snobbery in games is hilarious.

Watching people jerk off their own ego's regarding how this game is an affront to the great artistic endeavors of Green Tunic Puzzle Dungeons and Indiana Jones 4 the game is hilarious.

David Jaffe wanted to make a game that paid homage to the the 13 yearold David Jaffe. He got off his butt and made something stupid that I probably would of adored as a 13yearold.

I bet there will be kids out there who will love the crap out of this game, and will be spending all recess talking about those Shark Boobs. Or are Diva Wrestler boobs a more pure artistic expression, only rivaled by the immense story depth of Hunting Robot Dinosaurs to make numbers go up.

Best quote of 2017

Isn't this wrestling ? - Vinny

Ah thank you for the example of Ted - which did quite well at the box office and is another example of yup this is what the teens are into!

@zefpunk: took the words out of my mouth