Postbit's Worldview Review - Playdead's "Inside"

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We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams. Alright, what's up guys, this is

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Austin, and Joy the Girl, with HostBit, and we are right now doing a tribute to Gene Wilder with that song, a nice little remix.

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So, today we're going to be talking about a game called Inside, that Joy and I just finished.

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Yep. How'd you feel about it, Joy? I loved the game. You loved it? Yep. I thought it was pretty decent.

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Pretty decent. It definitely seemed allegorical. Great. And let's really emphasize gore -rical.

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Wow, I'm guessing you didn't just think of that. I did. I did. I said allegorical, and I went, hmm, gore.

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This morning you were like, I'm gonna lay this joke down today. That's not what happened.

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Let's be honest, I woke up like ten minutes ago. I didn't have that much time to think through something like that. I actually do know that, because you were sleeping in the studio.

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I don't know that I wanted you to share that. So anyway. We can cut it. We can cut it.

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We're in charge. We're gonna cut that. So anyways, we are going to take a few minutes to review the game as far as worldview goes and see where it may or may not have stolen from the

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Christian worldview. Right, you guys probably thought that we forgot, because we were so into the story, and Austin was screaming like a little girl when the dogs chased him, that we didn't forget, so I'll give you that one.

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This is our little worldview review. Worldview review. That's what's up.

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We need to have big letters that come down when I say that. That's what we need. Worldview review.

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Because this is the first worldview review that we're doing. Did we just trademark that?

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We are. Okay. That's a thing now. Worldview review. You're welcome. On post -bit, go joy.

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It's not your birthday. It's not. So anyways, there were a couple little themes that we could find in this game, and I would say the biggest one was sovereignty.

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What would you say? Oasis. I agree with that.

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Sovereignty. I think we can find it. Right. And we'll start with why. So sovereignty and God's sovereignty, and what happens when people try to be sovereign.

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Right. Exactly. When we think of sovereignty, we often think of controlling robots.

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Most people do anyways. I mean, not a good Calvinist. Right? Right. I mean, we know.

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Right. So you start out, the premise of the game is that there really isn't a premise of the game.

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Right. Right. You just kind of start out as this kid and you're like running through the woods and all of a sudden people are gunning you down.

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Which is pretty wrong because you're a kid. So there's your total depravity because only a totally depraved person would just gun down a child.

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Right. And I think the society overall is very depraved as you find out.

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As you go through it, you recognize, wow, these people have completely fallen. Oh yeah. Right.

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They're gone. And they only act upon their sin. True. Right. Or the sin of the people that are mind controlling them.

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Right. They're mind controlling people. If that's not trying to steal from God's sovereignty, I don't know what is.

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So we have a kid running through a forest and you get to a point in the game where you can start controlling these zombified people.

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Right. You plug into the little helmet thingy and you can make the zombies do what you want.

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All of a sudden you're making the zombies dance the thriller dance. Right. Because that's the only logical thing to do.

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Because you can do that. Because you can. And I recommend it. Absolutely. Undoubtedly make those zombies dance thriller for at least three minutes and then carry on with your game.

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A little glimpse of happiness. Yes. In such a dark game. Exactly. So you get to this point where you essentially jump into this blob of,

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I don't even know what it was. It was like a blob of people put together.

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Yeah. Some people call it the blob. I've heard meatball. Which I kind of like.

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Meatball. That sounds kind of cute. Because by the end of it I thought it was kind of cute the way it sort of like gallops around. Anyway.

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That's exactly what it was. And it just rampages through this, this like, what was it?

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It wasn't an office. It was like. It's like a factory science building. Controlling people's brains.

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Right. So essentially what the theory behind this is, is that this boy that you are is being controlled by this blob.

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Right. That's one of the theories. Right. One of the theories. That's my favorite theory. I don't know.

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Is that he, the blob, the whole game is luring you through mind control to set it free.

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Right. Because it's become like self -aware. Yes. So you have this self -aware blob controlling your mind.

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Yes. Right. Right. And so you get to the end and then all of a sudden you like jump into this blob and now it has like its own free will kind of thing, like where it's just rampaging through this factory.

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Because before you jump into the blob you sort of disconnect it from these like synapse -y looking things. Right. Which makes you think that the blob is sort of like a, like a life source organ for all of the mind controlled people out there.

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Right. And so you just start running through and then finally you get to this point at the very end where you land from this giant fall in a spot of sunlight.

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Right. A little patch of sunlight on a beach. And then no longer can you control the blob. Right. Right.

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So the other theory is that the blob is controlling the player of the game, i .e.

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myself and Joy. Right. It gets a little meta in here. Way meta. And so now

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I have to think about this game is controlling me.

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Right. I don't think so. Not me. Not Austin, because Austin is in control of the thumbsticks and the

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X button. Right. The X button means to jump. I jumped a lot.

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You did. I did. So here I am thinking to myself, I'm controlling this game, but in a sense the game is controlling me to get to a certain point.

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Like. Well even just to consider that the graphics of the game, like the foreground and the background and everything are all, they're well animated, but you can only go, you can't really explore them.

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Like you really can only go, like you're very limited even in what you can do. So the game controls you from the very beginning.

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Right. Because you can only go, you can only side scroll. Yup. And you can like do a few interactive things.

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Right. That it wants you to do. And I can't like turn around and like punch one of these guys in the face or anything like that.

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Like I only get so much that I can do. Exactly. So the game is in control, I'm just, you know, running my way through it.

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Yes. So I have here a video game with a fully developed timeline, essentially.

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Yeah. Like world. Right. Where the world is just completely, I can only work within those bounds.

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Right. Sounds interesting to me. Sounds like some type of game developer sovereignty.

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Right? Right. And I think, honestly probably for the developer, it's more of a commentary on, like it's more of like a political, socio -economic commentary.

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But we know that that kind of commentary is really just, like, foundationally that commentary is, you know.

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Right. You get into like communism, socialism, things like that. Right. But foundationally, anything that is critiquing socialism or communism, for example, is essentially saying those are, you know, those are institutions in which government is

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God and they decide everything for you to the point of mind control. Right.

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All the way there. So government sovereignty, God's sovereignty, you know, if someone proclaims to be an atheist, they're going to say that, they're not going to claim to have a problem with God's sovereignty, they're going to say government sovereignty because the government is their

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God. Right. And they get that worldview based off of what we understand about God.

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Exactly. So it's just, it's the same commentary but because they're choosing to reject

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God, you know, they call it something different. Right. They say, oh no, we're being controlled by, it's like Mr.

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Robot where we're just being controlled by the society. Right. Kind of thing. Exactly. Right.

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So I would say that's the first part for worldview as far as that game goes is essentially they're stealing from what we know to be true from the scriptures about God as far as sovereignty goes.

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Exactly. Right. And then the second part was, it's very dark.

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The game's really dark. It is dark. It is dark. So this isn't so much the worldview of the game review.

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Can we take that one too? All right. Worldview of the game review. No, that's way too long.

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We're just going to go with worldview review pertaining to the game. This one is more of a, can we play this game?

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Right. It's dark. It's visually, there's nothing like, oh my gosh, my mind.

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It's definitely animated. It's not like when you see blood, it doesn't look like real blood.

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Right. Nothing looks like, it's not animated in such a way that it's supposed to look real.

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And it's not like to the Mortal Kombat extent where it's like you're ripping somebody's spinal cord out of their.

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Someone in half. Right. Above your head. Yeah. It's nothing like that. Like Bane dropping

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Batman over his knee. Right. But I mean like, okay.

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The part that got me the most, the part that really irked me. Okay. I really want to hear this actually. Was when

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I'm running through the factory in that line and that camera thing is on me.

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Right. And I mess up and it shoots like a spear through me and drags me across the ground.

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Yeah. I was like, whoa. It's like a weird taser slash spear. Yes. That just grabs you.

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It's a taser that kills you. Right. And then drags you across the floor. Yeah. I mean, that was like a, that was like a picture that's not going to leave my head for a little bit because that was like, that's why

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I enjoyed the game so much because they don't tell you anything. So everything like that that happens is a surprise.

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Right. And that's why I think it actually like got under my skin inside my skin.

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Oh, I don't know. Nailed that one. Yeah. So, I mean, visually it's not like, okay, this is just, you know, completely reprehensible.

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Like, this is just evil and wicked and whatever. It's just like, whoa, okay, hang on. Like, that's not something

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I'm going to forget about for probably a week. Right. So, I guess my question is, can we still play a video game that is dark and grim and gritty and difficult to find a worldview in?

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Right. Because it's hard to find redemption. Something that's so open to interpretation. Right. It's very open to interpretation.

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So, is there redemption in the game that we can find? I would argue yes, because in a sense it, one, because of the depravity in the game.

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Right. We see how much we need Christ. Right.

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Because we can be just like those people. Yeah. Right. Like, I know that my heart is full of wickedness.

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And every day is a struggle not to get to that point. Right. Right. And then two, the end of the game where we kind of finally make it to the end and it's just like, oh, there's sunlight.

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And we're on a beach. And the water is like coming up to us. And it's like a really nice, beautiful idea while, you know, directly behind that water and that sunlight there's like darkness and gloom and gray.

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Right. Gray. But do you think that, okay, so here's a question for you. Do you think it's a happy ending?

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Hmm. I don't know. I mean, I would say. And you have to keep in mind it's a really, like.

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Really open -ended. Another question would be, would it be a good game if at the end the little boy jumped out of the blob and did like a breakfast club punch and was like, oh, would it fit the game?

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Yeah. And then gives you a thumbs up like Mario or something like that. It's like, oh. He eats a toadstool and becomes big.

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Right. Yeah. You know, because it's open -ended, you do have to take that into consideration.

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Like, okay, what could they have done better or something like that? Yeah. But I think for what the game was,

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I mean, I think the ending pretty well suited the game. Right.

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I wouldn't have expected much better. I was a little frustrated when I first played it because I was just like, why? Why did this happen?

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And then after thinking about it for a little bit, I'm like, okay, well. That's the perfect ending for that kind of game.

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Like, it's so dark. It can't be too. There can't be a big cake at the end. Right. It's kind of like Inception.

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Like, spoiler alert, the end of Inception. There's so many spoilers in this review. We're going to make sure that there's a tag that says spoilers.

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Right. All the spoilers. All of the spoilers. For everything. Everything from inside to Inception.

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Right. Very similar. With the I -N sound. So, like Inception, though, you know, you get like the top and it just like keeps spinning and then it seems like it's going to fall over and you don't really know, does it fall over?

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Right. Or does it continue to spin? I don't know. Right. So, the ending is open -ended.

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Right. End, end, end, end, end, end, end, end. So, you kind of have to decide that for yourself and you have to find redemption throughout the game, perhaps not just in the ending, and just be like, okay, so where does this point to Christ?

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Right. Does the sin point to Christ? Because in a sense, I mean, like the second use of the law is does it point to Christ?

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You know, it's not necessarily like, okay, this is redemptive right there. No, you have to kind of look at it.

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Well, because it is a story. Like, you know, it's not the type of game you can play and like instantly have all the information about something.

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Right. So, like the redemptive point I don't think really like happens at a specific moment.

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But I do think the end is like a redemptive type of thing. I like the ending.

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I think it's a happy ending. I think it was fitting. Right. I didn't love the ending, but I thought it was fitting. Yeah. Personally.

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There's an alternate ending too. That's true. Which would probably summarize our theory a little bit better, but we'll let you look into that on your own.

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Right. They're all over YouTube. All. If you want to know it, the ending just, it's there.

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So I would say those are like our two main points for the game. Interesting side note, they used a actual human skull to make some of the music in the game.

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Wow. Yeah. Super weird. Hmm. I don't know how they acquired said human skull.

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They're really into this game. I mean like they were really into like that dark and creepy vibe. Yeah. Even in their sound and music.

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I don't know really how I feel about the human skull thing actually now that I'm thinking about it. Right. That's a little off. I didn't know how I felt about it the second

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I read it. Well, isn't there like a human skull on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland? I can't speak to that.

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I'm pretty sure there's a real one like in the headboard or something. Oh dear. That's pretty creepy.

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I don't know. I don't know. I guess like we're just, you know, reusing the bodies for God's glory in some sense.

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Right. Except for maybe not in that game. Anyhow. We don't know how the skull was obtained, so we can't officially comment on it.

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Yeah. Right. That's our stance. They might have gotten it from, you know, a very reputable seller on the black market.

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Thank you for listening to Post Post Bit and hearing our first worldview review.

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Tag that. We're so clever. We are so clever. We're going to come up with so many more clever things for you guys to hear.

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We are. So, we are in the Apologia Studios where you can like and subscribe to that page to hear more video game worldview reviews.

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TM. It'll do. Okay. Sweet. What is

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TM? I don't know. I just decided to trademark it. That's amazing.

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Oh, no. What? What? No. This game is brutal.

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Told you. How do I? Just try again.