8 Video Games That Are Just Not That Deep
These games aren't really THAT complicated.
The great beauty of video games, like all art, is that they elicit different reactions from every single one of us.
We all interact with games within the context of our own life experiences, ensuring that people can come away with wildly divergent perspectives on why a game does or doesn't work.
And while that can result in some folk finding depth and meaning in games that others find resoundingly shallow, there sure are times where it feels like folk are reaching with what they get out of a game.
Case in point, these games are often held up by their most passionate fans as some of the most layered, complex, and thoughtful titles around, and in extreme cases the more militantly opinionated might even suggest that if you disagree, you just didn't get it.
But here's an alternative opinion - these video games, for all their brilliance otherwise, just aren't really that deep.
Yes, they're doing interesting things and above all else entertaining us, yet when it comes to assessing the extent of their themes and overall intellectual execution, it does feel like the case is often overstated...
8. Death Stranding
Hideo Kojima has proven himself to be majorly ahead of the curve in the past, considering how Metal Gear Solid 2 basically warned us all about the concerning rise of fake news, algorithms, and AI.
And so there's been a tendency for Kojima's fans to read a little too generously into just about everything he's released ever since, including his first post-Metal Gear Solid IP, Death Stranding.
While the game undeniably benefitted from releasing shortly before the pandemic, where its themes of loneliness and connection proved unexpectedly resonant, the more you think about the story, characters, and themes in either of the Death Stranding games, the wobblier and less-persuasive it all gets.
Some will keep digging for hidden profundities off the back of its creator's best work, but at its core Death Stranding is a fundamentally silly post-apocalyptic AAA delivery simulator that's awash in some of Kojima's clumsiest and most surface-level storytelling.
As ever, just because a game prattles on at great length, that doesn't mean it's saying anything of great substance. Speaking of which...