Two Falls (Nishu Takuatshina)

**Major spoilers for the entire game.** Two Falls has a genuinely interesting premise, and up to a certain point the story was actually quite engaging. But the last two chapters make it feel as though the ending was written by someone else, rushed out before release, or finished after the writers themselves had lost track of where they were taking the story. The finale basically undermines almost everything the game had been building up to that point. One of Maikan's main storylines throughout the entire game revolves around the Winter Spirit. We keep hearing about it, Maikan tries to understand what is happening, and he searches for both the stolen pelt and the person responsible. But in the end, the Winter Spirit barely plays any role at all. We never really learn what it is, what it can do, or what it wants. Maikan eventually finds both the pelt and the hunter, reaches the end of the game and... does absolutely nothing with that information . By the final chapters, it almost feels as though he has simply forgotten why he went on this journey in the first place. The final meeting between the two protagonists also feels strange. Jeanne and Maikan talk to each other as if they have known one another for years, even though they have effectively just met. But all of that is minor compared with what happens in Chapter Six. Throughout the game, we are constantly given choices that supposedly shape Jeanne and Maikan's personalities. We see Jeanne become more headstrong, Maikan's attitude toward others changes, and his relationship with Pierre develops. Naturally, you expect at least some of this to matter when the story reaches its climax. Almost none of it does. My Jeanne was as liberated and headstrong as the game allowed her to be. Then Capitaine, the only living being she is truly close to and essentially her only family, is killed in front of her. And she does nothing. More importantly, nobody around her does anything either. At the same time, Maikan and Pierre spend much of the chapter making their way toward the camp, and the story very clearly creates the expectation that they will arrive in time for the conflict. Maikan's relationship with Pierre also looks like obvious setup for something meaningful: if they have built mutual respect, you would expect Pierre to change his position at the crucial moment and side with the Indigenous people. Nothing like that happens. They arrive too late. Pierre runs off to help the hunters. Maikan has almost no meaningful impact on what happens. Earlier, the game also specifically establishes that Maikan knows how to treat injuries. That naturally creates another expectation: perhaps this knowledge will matter when Capitaine is injured. But no. His healing skills are never meaningfully used. The dog dies, and the story simply moves on. So why establish this ability in the first place? By the end of the game, I honestly felt as though Maikan could have been removed from the story entirely. Keep Pierre, give him a few internal voices or monologues, and the final outcome would barely change. That is how little one of the game's two protagonists ultimately affects his own storyline. What frustrates me most, though, is the morality of the ending, because I genuinely do not understand what the writers were trying to say. Jeanne loses practically everything. The one creature she considers family is taken from her. Albert kills him. And yet Albert does not truly regret what he has done, does not meaningfully change, and even afterward continues snapping at Jeanne and behaving exactly as he did before. Nothing suggests that he understands the consequences of his actions or that he would never do something similar again. I would have been completely fine with a bad ending for choosing revenge. Let Jeanne die. Let it lead to terrible consequences. Let the game tell me, "This is the price of your decision." But let me make that decision. If cruel characters are allowed to do…

Война миров, но не та, что вы подумали… Въедливая нарративная штука про столкновение двух миров: французской колонистки Жанны и инуитского парня Маканa Майкана(?). Ты попеременно смотришь на дикую Канаду XVII века глазами обоих. По большей части, мне понравилось, только вот расстроило, что некоторые персонажи «злые» только потому что, да и вот эта эко-повестка меня слегка утомляет, но да ладно. Графика стилизованная, цветастая, как акварель, пропитанная холодом. Геймплей - типичная бродилка с простенькими выборами, но написано и сыграно так, что чувство интереса появляется быстрее, чем ты успеваешь сказать «колониализм - это пuздeц». Хотя, конечно, если говорить про тему колониализма, я бы тоже поспорил. Если и чему я научился за все эти годы, так это тому, что ничто в этом мире не может быть однозначным плохим или хорошим. Но вернемся к игре. Местные духи, видения и животные-проводники поданы без розовой мистики, а как суровая реальность чужой культуры, в которую ты либо вникаешь, либо идёшь дальше. Из минусов - анимации напоминают деревянных кукол, но тебе на это плевать, потому что диалоги тут самое интересное. Озвучка на «индейском»(?) и французском добавляет аутентичности. Просто еще со времен первой Assasin's Creed обожаю слушать иностранную речь, да и в целом, приобщаться к разным культурам мира. Короче, Two Falls - это прикольная игра на вечер под чипсы. Не люблю оценивать проекты в каких-то метриках, вроде циферок, но по ощущениям это прям твёрдая 7/10, и я рад, что эти парни потом сделали «Оленью тропу» - видно, чуваки растут над собой, но корни у них были правильные с самого начала.

10/10 "Adapting doesn't have to mean sacrificing the things that define us." "You wouldn't be ready to face the future the way you are now."