Ross's Game Dungeon: Culpa Innata

[@Accursed_Farms]

To any newcomers: this video has nothing to do with the stop killing games campaign. This is what I'm normally doing.

[@luszczi]

Don't explain the Freeman's Mind to them, it will be funnier like that.

[@ils4844]

Glad to see you're still able to balance this along with all the campaigning for Stopkillinggames!!!

[@MountainOMakeBelieve]

Thanks for your service 🙏

[@Rudeljaeger]

And Im grateful for it. The "stop killing games" campaign was getting a bit dominating.

[@666slateran666]

This is one for the OGs

[@Nemzal]

This game gets Ross to talk about objectivism, rising oil prices, the flaws of utopic society, and conspiracy theories. This already makes it prime Game Dungeon material before you even get to the crippling graphical problems.

[@OdaSwifteye]

Well I like Butterflies so I guess it's okay.

[@WhoisTheOtherVindAzz]

Yes. I want him to make multiple videos on this game! 😂

[@danielsurvivor1372]

Are there ANY more games like this? I want more 😭 We need this lore esque games more

[@Blurns]

All it really did was show just how little Ross understands objectivism. And possibly the same for the writers of the game.

[@Nemzal]

He has the basics, which is all anyone should entertain when it comes to objectivism

[@michaelmccarty1327]

Fashion designers aren't controlling society, Gordon. You're just being paranoid.

[@Noname-e9k7k]

Exactly. It's the male models you've gotta worry about. One wrong move and you'll be dead before the first verse of Relax is over.

[@quillclock]

wasn't there a movie about this?

[@treyturner9707]

A true Utopia has every house facing the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid

[@unfa00]

I wonder how technically this is achieved. These are the parameters very tall and all the buildings are on the same level and space enough so no building includes another building to view of the pyramid. Or the entire city is built on a conical cavity. Another option is that residential buildings are very close to the pyramid and the rest doesn't need a clear shot to do it. Or the landscape is what it is and you'd only build residential structures where they can have a clear view at the pyramid. But then nobody can build anything in between you and the pyramid because that would obstruct the view. Based on whatbRoss said, looks like the pyramid is really a temple of consumerism.

[@XanthinZarda]

@@unfa00 Maybe their holographic windows are forced to display the pyramid, no matter what?

[@djdjukic]

This Bass Pro Shop must be a powerful NGO

[@Rorschach003]

Sorry but the only pro shop is at Pod 6.

[@bluedistortions]

The bass pro shop in Memphis is balls to the walls. Better than visiting the zoo. I remember as a kid when they first built the pyramid, and we were all like.. why? Well, now we know why. Fishing.

[@Toanon]

"Thanksgiving exists. Football exists. So of course people are going to try to kill each other."

[@Reivanhist]

I'm sure Gordon Freeman could have said something like that.

[@ellebarron7112]

My new favorite Ross quote

[@monkmonkdabes]

looked at the comments just for this, thank you

[@chimerschang]

"Yeah I have ZERO reservations about feeding Play-Doh to this kid."

[@sponge1234ify]

"Thanksgiving exists" _laughs in Non-American_

[@ahuras238]

Ross acting all high and mighty because he doesn't eat pizza on the floor

[@JackWse]

For one, it depends on which way it lands.. for two it depends on what you land in.. for three that's why God invented the sink.. if it's got too much cigarette Ash on it, you rinse it off and you eat that pizza! Price of food nowadays, Costco pizza is the only affordable sustenance in North America, along with the Costco chicken.. and that's a slap in the face to Costco if you just throw it in the trash like they do if it gets older than 40 minutes on the shelf lol.

[@RepriseYT]

Who hasn't been there at least once, right?

[@FumblsTheSniper]

I had an apartment with most of it having 20 foot ceilings, but no furniture. When I got a desk it felt like I was a king.

[@thefool8224]

as long as it falls on the crust and the floor isnt too dirty. honestly, its like i fear hunger from a past life or something if im willing to go that far

[@garyshymkiw5085]

I bet his Freeman would

[@WalcomS7]

Game Dungeon? Weird Adventure Game? Video Over 90 minutes long? It's a good day.

[@rafatormo3325]

Tonight we eat well fellas

[@masterSageHarpuia]

Indeed it is a good day Cameron.

[@mopeybloke]

I prefer when he does RPGs and shooters tbh. Most RPG episodes are so good.

[@Bleilock1]

​@@mopeybloke most of his stuff are adventure games and i wouldnt have it any other way

[@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799]

I've yet to see something that can top armed and delirious.

[@Scarwing]

I think your questions about the poor and those who cannot work can be answered by the Score System. The lowest tier is the "Excommunicated". So if you're poor or unable to work, they just deport you. Nobody poor. Nobody unemployed. :)

[@Leushenko]

under the Roman Republic murder was a civil dispute, if the victim had nobody willing to sue you for damages there was nothing for the court to do

[@RAFMnBgaming]

@@Leushenko All it takes is one ides of march and all of a sudden it's against the law to bump off unpopular politicians, huh?

[@ihavenoson3384]

There is a real equivalent. A lot of Americans do not show as 'unemployed' because they do not bother to report their unemployment after the unemployment benefits run out. Other systems try to shuffle the unemps into the "in trianing / education" bracket because it looks better politically to have lower unemployment numbers. High unemployment = economy is crap = the government is going to get ousted. That is why they do it - to maintain the grip of the political power. Every system tries to hide the unemployment stats usually by removing the unemployed one way or the other. For example, work camps, unavoidable conscription and the various "removal" procedures.

[@JackPhoenixCz]

@@ihavenoson3384 During the communist rule here, when we still were Czechoslovakia, we had exactly that: officially 0% unemployment, because the regime either assigned a work to you (usually manual labor), or you were considered a "parasite" and jailed.

[@squirtleawesome1064]

Apparently if your HDI goes below 70 you are "delocated" to a Rogue State.

[@squirtleawesome1064]

For those interested in the setting, Culpa Innata seems to have it's own official website with more writing and visuals. None of it was really mindblowing but I found it interested that your follower-to-following ratio on social media was apparently REALLY important, mental illness and bad emotions are considered to be contagious diseases, and the people of Denmark being considered akin to "pack animals"

[@MistaHoward]

So it's just exactly like current society

[@SecuR0M]

TwiX metastasizes to real life.

[@danielsurvivor1372]

Did they ever make a sequel to this game? Or have plans for sequel?? Or plans for mote games like this??? 😢

[@squirtleawesome1064]

@@danielsurvivor1372 There was plans for a sequel as can be seen, as well as a more "actiony" prequel set during the "Russian Bloodshed" before the game start (some sort of megawar or mega-riot? I dunno). However, I've heard that the author passed away so it might be vaporware at this point.

[@CosmicOdeum]

Wait, why Denmark specifically?

[@TheMaabusAdmiral]

Ah, a new game dungeon. Its been too long, and we've missed it. We can hope to see more later

[@KingLich451]

You've spend too much time away on vacation. Time to return to work, Admiral!

[@jackburton1455]

Now everything is starting to make sense.

[@RathaShadar]

It's good to see you back Admiral. I hope you got to spend enough time with your family.

[@metalhero117]

We've even got the Admiral in the comments just like old times

[@Suchomimus65]

You never fail to make me smile, Admiral. Thank you for your service.

[@rayanderson5797]

A thinly-veiled authoritarian government calling itself a utopia while being exceedingly hypocritical. That's pretty easily believable, actually.

[@TheOnlyToblin]

I mean, that's just the US, objectively.

[@karry299]

The Union is the garden, and outside the Union borders there is nothing but jungle. As proclaimed by Josep Borrell, the EU chief "diplomat".

[@josephgoldstein7784]

@@karry299 It's always the same map, isn't it?

[@StalkTheHype]

​@@karry299And the HDI backs up his claim. Nowhere on the planet gets close to the richer European states QoL.

[@Web720]

All utopia requires an authoritarian government. One person's utopia is another person's dystopia.

[@Telemarathon]

The stylish midriff outfit actually is immersive and makes sense in setting if there's been "no murder for 50 years". Her job is probably just meant to be makework fluff until something actually happens.

[@EvilDoresh]

Reminds me of those cops from Demolition Man who had no idea how to handle _any_ sort of delinquency

[@RipOffProductionsLLC]

It's also a psudo-Brave-New-World sort of scenario if the conversations about polygamous relationships abd promiscuity are any indication, so more sexualized clothing might also make sense from that angle too.

[@SusCalvin]

I think it's 90's and millennial futuristic fashion. Everyone looks a little weird without being too spaced out.

[@namebrandmason]

The only wardrobe problem I saw in this game was that the detective couldn't expense her club outfit.

[@WhoisTheOtherVindAzz]

Also, her own wardrobe had outfit similar to her work outfit (modulo color); one could easily imagine her workplace allowing each employee a small number of choices and that she simply prefers the one we see.

[@PPunktAlex]

"Feeding a kid playdoh-covered candy" is Detecitve Halligan levels of "doing whatever you need to do to get the job done".

[@jesseteixeira6284]

LOL, +1

[@tassadarc8069]

The society in this game would not survive contact with Detective Halligan.

[@bilateralrope8643]

The strange part is that the playdoh fooled her taste buds.

[@marley7868]

@@tassadarc8069 hey here have some of my personal appe shnapps as a peace offering noone needs to know about a bending of the rules here and there

[@thehoodedteddy1335]

Nah, he would have drugged it

[@knate44]

Ok so chemically helium is incredibly stable (as in it has a very stable electron configuration), but when we start talking about stars that introduces nuclear reactions where gravity has smooshed the gases so close together they undergo nucleo synthesis. The funny thing is that adding more hydrogen wouldn't actually solve the problem, apparently people who have investigated this say removing excess helium or hydrogen is preferable since that would slow the rate at which the remaining hydrogen was consumed, the extra mass makes the pressure from gravity higher, which increases the rate of consumption, making it go red giant sooner.

[@Gelatinocyte2]

Tl;dr - Helium being a noble gas has nothing to do with nuclear fusion, it will still "burn" as fuel in a star.

[@TheBathrobeWizard]

Helium, The Nobel Gas: Don't worry, I'm incredibly fun when I'm inhaled in small quantities as well.

[@T3sl4]

Helium also compounds things, as, being a rather stable nucleus itself (yes, not just in electronic / chemical terms!), it's fiendishly difficult to fuse together. As hydrogen runs out, H-H fusion yields less power output, the core shrinks, density (and temperature!) go up, and eventually 3 x 4He --> 12C occurs. No other isotopes inbetween are more stable (Li, Be and B under these conditions all decay into He, n and p), so the density and temperature have to go way up before this complicated reaction kicks off and its energy output can balance gravitational pressure. The result is a much smaller, hotter core, whose intense radiation puffs up the outer layers of the star. This is why red giants are so, well... red, and giant! (The currently predicted lifetime of the Sun is about 3 billion years, quite a margin before we have to do anything to save the Earth. Granted, nothing is for certain, and there is still a scant possibility the estimate gets revised heavily downward in the next 28 years.)

[@Uberpanik]

So basically - top of the top shadow illuminati, who stifle the large society with forced, detached from reality ideology to maintain their exclusive club, all in the name of saving humanity with a plan that doomed to fail in the first place? Reminds me of the tech bros/AI enthusiasts

[@JimPlaysGames]

This is why peeing on the sun won't put it out. Because you're adding hydrogen (and oxygen)

[@BadAnimeGroup]

“You can go rogue, but only if you’re really good” is how Star Trek’s Federation generally works!

[@crazyinsane500]

"Yeah, I have zero reservations about feeding Playdough to *this* kid." This is why I'm subscribed to the Game Dungeon.

[@glitchedoom]

You have no idea how badly I needed a new Game Dungeon to ease this stressful time for me. Thank you, Ross.

[@MoldRoss]

@@glitchedoom this year has been hell for me this is keeping me sane!

[@luciusdebeers6176]

It will probably get much much worse tbh

[@666slateran666]

@@glitchedoom I was fiending for one, AND it's movie length?!

[@taroturtle]

FRRR

[@severin7764]

Amen to that 🙏

[@GNOMESARECOMINGFORYOu]

So one of the things that really breaks my mind over the ideology of this dystopia is simply this: If greed and selfishness are good and beneficial, and that's the root of the ideology, that would be one thing. But they are trying to push greed and selfishness onto everyone, which is where it breaks down in making sense. Because if greed and selfishness are beneficial, then encouraging people to be greedy and selfish is... altruistic. You are trying to help people by making them selfish, which is not a very selfish thing to do. If anything, trying to convince other people to be selfLESS would be the selfish thing to do, since then they are benefiting you rather than benefiting themselves. Thinking that greed and selfishness are good things might make sense as an individual person's ideology... but as soon as you try to make that ideology apply on a societal level it just... doesn't make sense. Because encouraging others to be selfish actually undermines your own self-interest, and therefore it is against your own selfish interests to encourage people other than you towards a life of selfishness. So to have a society dedicated to promoting selfishness as a value just inherently contradicts itself, as promoting selfishness on a societal level is an anti-selfish act.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

That's why the fashion designer dude was promoting NGOs on behalf of the owners. They've figured out what you said, which is that the most selfish thing to do is to convince others to be selfless. In our society, this is why the rich don't pay taxes, but you go to jail if you don't pay yours.

[@GNOMESARECOMINGFORYOu]

@cupriferouscatalyst3708 That doesn't seem to fully track. Fashion designer dude was trying to convince the wealthy to donate to NGOs as a kind of obligation debt to society. Meanwhile the rhetoric pushed on the majority of society promotes selfishness, not selflessness, to the point where the common man has self help pamphlets to teach them to be less altruistic. It's... almost like a society based around Noblesse Oblige to the extreme? The elites give to NGOs that encourage the poor to hoard their own money... Or, you know, the worldbuilding is just not thought out too much.

[@AngryB4ker]

That's the thing, though: the ultra-wealthy SEE themselves as altruists, and on top of that I would speculate that is why the Russian guy was murdered in the first place: he immigrated to The Union with outside knowledge, specifically with life experience and with an entrepreneurial attitude. He immediately shows up and starts The Thing Store, where he markets useless things as must-have trophies for your home, and the naive citizens who have been purpose-bred to be consumers just gobble it up. He exploits their nativity and becomes filthy rich over night, which instantly puts him at the top of the pecking order and directly threatens the sensitive nature of the mega-elite, who are altruistic at their core. He isn't, but he's single handedly exposing them by taking full advantage of being greedy, while they are trying to collectively save the world. Fortunately for the elite, the citizens of The Union have been educated to be blind to the obvious, which you see directly through Phoenix' eyes when she is talking to the fashion designer the whole world to this game is so fascinating, it's a blessing that Ross has exposed it to us

[@hfactor66]

I'm glad to not be the only person whose mind was destroyed trying to understand this society. Honestly, some of the character portrayals in this game are so spot-on to people I know today that it's frightening. This game saw the future.

[@polomarco7053]

have you seen how freemasons recruit peoples on facebook and others? "power and wealth is for the braves" of course it's just a bait for a religion of rape, it's the case here too.

[@TheHogfatherInvades]

When hes not busy saving all of gaming:

[@person749]

He's busy saving us.

[@Koters9]

​@person749 Hell yea brother

[@cybergodkek6618]

*dooming

[@TyrantWesker]

@@cybergodkek6618 Found the corpo shill.

[@SprDrumio64]

​@@cybergodkek6618 thoroid detected

[@Wannabe_Baby]

I'm only 15 minutes in and this already has everything I love about the Game Dungeon; an obscure point-and-click adventure game I've never heard of and enough detail about its fictional world for Ross to go on tangents about the economy, politics and the game's worldbuilding. AND a mention of the Hookability score from Captain Zzap! This show rewards you for watching all the episodes.

[@KingLich451]

Always love the Hookability rating.

[@HC-qc5rp]

Ssecurittyy

[@Phakax]

and struggles with antialiasing!

[@tsartomato]

it's not obscure

[@iug5672]

@@tsartomato every point and click adventure game is obscure considering the genre is always being revived and killed

[@alexhussinger3550]

Whats weird about this game is that unlike the usual way this sort of SciFi stories work, I don't think the game creators were intending this as a takedown of objectivism and related ideologies. The central murder has little to do with the sort-of utopian society, and if anything the victim kind of deserved it, or at least brought it on himself in a way that isn't reflective of some kind of fundamental flaw of the system. The system is totally intact by the end of the story and doesn't seem particularly damaged. I was expecting a 3rd-act breakdown that lets us peer behind the curtain to find something horrible, like a cutaway to a HL2-esque slum or something but we didn't seem to get that beyond finding out the fashion industry has to push trends to prop up the system. I don't think the creaters liked the world they created here but more thought went into this game than the usual SciFi fake utopia stories, and it has left me with more questions than answers.

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

On this note, we also don't really see much in the way of people explicitly suffering or being stifled by this society, or that the system isn't working. A lot of like, dystopia fiction tends to make the downtrodden's plight very clear and show the system failing in all its detail, but here it's mostly all left to implication and reading between the lines. There are probably people out there who played this game and took it as unironic objectivist propaganda.

[@XanthinZarda]

@@LonelySpaceDetective It's implied that people who don't fit in are kicked out and/or mindwiped, so take that as you might.

[@fbmb1337]

I wish I had something similar to Ross' dedication/obsession with fixing anti aliasing problems with old games, let alone his capacity to make people join him in such a crusade. You could get a lot done in many fields just because you care this much.

[@buck_swope]

Impossible mode challenge: fix GTA IV's anti-aliasing.

[@XenoSpyro]

@@buck_swope Is disabling that game's AA and using driver AA an option?

[@redchief94]

@XenoSpyro Only in the tool-assisted category.

[@r0de]

The worst part is that a lot of the fixes for the aliasing in old-games are becoming lost to time as the years pass on Pieces of software that are little more than dead links that supposedly once fixed it in specific games These days I mostly just wish/hope that games give me an option to internally render at twice the resolution, so that I can simply brute-force good aliasing

[@Zack_Wester]

@@r0de the problem is that so many older AA do not use the standard system that we use today (AA not the AAGTXY just regular AAx16 or AAx4 or what have you). the problem was many old game used Anti aliance that was more or less bound by the graphic card at the time meaning newer cards the AA fails and do nothing becaues the instruction are writen for each induvidual graphic card. Like rember a game that had Semi Dynamic Real time Light(lots of trickery going on) worked only on AMD cards Nvidea had to use another setting. today 99% of the time AMD or Nvideo or Intel does not matter any tech works on any card the same way (as long as they are relative the same spec).

[@tipulsar85]

So funny story, Encyclopedia Galactica is older than Hitchhiker's Guide. In fact it dates back to 1940 alongside another name that's cropped up recently, Hari Seldon. Yes, far enough back in this chain you find Foundation, which also gave us tech priests and the falls of galactic civilizations.

[@bc-cu4on]

@@tipulsar85 As well as psychohistory, which is very relevant in the information age.

[@Accursed_Farms]

I've read Foundation, so you'd think I'd remember that. It still doesn't shed the Poe's Law feeling.

[@JamesTobiasStewart]

Oddly enough this whole society and the secret Butterfly group quietly trying to save the world, feels a lot like something the Foundation would do. So much of the Foundation's operations (especially when Seldon's plan is in motion) are built on large scale misdirection, designed to keep society looking one way while they get on with the real work behind the scenes. The fashion designer may be one of their assets, tasked with steering the elites of this society in the right direction for the plan. It'd even explain why this society collapses soon after, since Foundation fronts tend to get dropped once they've served their purpose (like how they abandoned the whole machine faith once people start getting wise to it being used as a means of cultural control).

[@KingKlear]

I only got around to reading the Foundation novels this year and my mind was blown when I realised Hitchhiker's Guide is a pretty direct parody.

[@SuperFranzs]

@@KingKlear :O

[@josephgoldstein7784]

There's a lovely bit of poetry in that the fashion consultant- deeply entwined with the study of materials and the material- provides the most direct materialist analysis.

[@smergthedargon8974]

I wonder if that was intentional - wouldn't put it past them.

[@SolaireIntensifies]

This is what makes Ross on a completely other level. Actually going out of your way to fix and enhance the game and then to provide a download link? That's next level dedication.

[@JesusChristDenton]

widescreen is a downgrade

[@awsomebot1]

Yeah I hope there's an easy way to remove the widescreen other than literally hanging shirts on the sides of my monitor. Ross has talked about how much pop-in bothers him before, so I don't understand how he's not crazy-bothered by the widescreen glitches.

[@KopperNeoman]

@@awsomebot1 Because the pop-in is coming from a widescreen patch that's in pre-alpha, not a finished product. If you find where the game is doing its frustum culling, you might be able to make it dynamic based on resolution.

[@rexviperfan]

@@KopperNeoman my assumption is the frustum culling is happening all over the place and not in a single function, which since this game is so old is probably the case tbh. They all have to be found and hunted down for. I'd just disable the culling entirely tbh.

[@dopaminecloud]

@@JesusChristDenton Options, however, never are.

[@4hodmt]

The butterflies are a chaos theory reference. A chaotic system is one that's extremely sensitive to starting conditions, so a tiny change can cause completely different outcomes. The weather is chaotic, which in theory means a butterfly flapping its wings can ultimately cause a tornado (the "butterfly effect"). We can tell the game intended this because it sometimes shows graphs of Lorenz systems, e.g. there's one at 20:24. Edward Norton Lorenz was the mathematician who pioneered chaos theory and coined the term "butterfly effect". This makes me think the widely varying outcomes of the interrogations are deliberate, and the deeper plot is about some organization somehow manipulating chaos to achieve their goals.

[@KingKlear]

The game apparently also has a super intricate logic engine behind it making sure every playthrough it different. Some of the problems Ross had were caused by loading saves/consulting walkthroughs, while the idea was that the story just plays out differently every time. Having a numerical score at the end was probably the actual bad design decision, as that represents a motivation to find the "one best path" rather than accepting how it plays out.

[@GeorgeOfTheRainbow]

theres also the Anti-Chaos Society poster having secret codes you can enter that subverts the anti-chaos message

[@Scyther532]

Huh. Makes me wonder if this game would qualify as slavjank (or "Turkjank" I suppose) under Civvie11's rules. Maybe "Kabus 22" as well. From Civvie's "Cryostasis" review: 1. It needs to be low-budget and have weird technical issues. 2. It needs to be way too ambitious, be it with technology or story, regardless of the game's actual quality. 3. Nearly impenetrable philosophical discussions that probably don't belong in a B-Tier video game. (Ties into the over-ambition)

[@Nemzal]

Ironically enough butterflies were also a heavily-utilised theme representing collectivism in Bioshock 2, which specifically was about objectivism having failed.

[@fnhatic6694]

Holy hell THAT'S WHY I RECOGNIZED IT. A few weeks ago I was looking into Chaos Theory and the image of the Lorenz Attractor is shaped like a butterfly, and also matches the image on the disc. Something in my brain recognized it but I couldn't figure out why.

[@ootdega]

Fun fact: Ross alluded to the crazy janitor in this game OVER A YEAR AGO in the Kyrandia 2 video, specifically at 16:42 in that video. Game Jesus does NOT mess around.

[@ReachTea]

🙏

[@Tumoxa89]

The whole "stinky immigrant" compilation was pretty funny. You know "The rule of three" in writing? Amongst other things, it says that you should establish a character trait by hinting at it three times. Looks like the writers of this game preferred "the rule of fifteen"

[@rapchee]

tbf i think ross stitched together multiple playthroughs (notice the costume changes)

[@hannahbriarly4192]

​@@rapchee I thought it was just the friend wearing different outfits on different days

[@kordlesskure]

She clearly has very strong feelings on the matter

[@Ladle66]

"corporations can sue the government and also there is no government' consistency.

[@bc-cu4on]

@@Ladle66 "Whose roads are these anyway?"

[@caav56]

The government's just not called government anymore, so it doesn't have the responsibilities of old, while retaining all the power

[@millerrepin4452]

@@caav56 You can't have power without responsibility. In political theory there is a concept called keys of power who are necessary to keeping power. Keys of power are defined by people that have skills you deliberate to and you are responsible for insuring their loyalty.

[@CatBitchNami]

@@millerrepin4452 Violence is the determining factor of all political power.

[@violenceisfun]

​@@millerrepin4452your just basing your politics off a Spiderman quote holy Reddit

[@willliam658]

I did some digging and apparently the novel this game claims to be based on is "Schrodinger's Cat" by Alev Alatlı, a Turkish writer who passed away just a couple of months ago. Its worth noting this game was also made in Turkey, which kind of caught me by surprise (some of the accents, plus all the talk about the Russian border and immigrants made me think it was another German game). There is basically no information about the novel online, at least not in English - apparently its a duology of two separate stories called 'Kabus' (no relation to Kabus 22, another Turkish game featured on this channel) and 'Ruya'. From what little I could glean through Google Translate, apparently its a sci-fi novel set in the near future about an evil theocratic government taking over the world and a group of rebels fighting back with the power of magical super-physics. I didn't see anything about cop drama or libertarianism or the sun going red giant in a few thousand years so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the game took some liberties with its source material.

[@smergthedargon8974]

Yeah, I got massive German game vibes from this as well, though perhaps it's just general "non-Slav Europe-and-nearby point and click" vibes.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

Do you really think a game can made in Germany where they talk about immigrants negatively? BTW at least 1.3 million Turkish lives in Germany. This game was made in 2007 which means in that time the Turkish have more problem with immigrants than the Germans. I have to remind you migrant crysis in Europe originate from the USA War for Terror thingy what started around 2003. First Turkey stopped the migrants just like Libya did it in Africa but since the 2010's they let them go to Europe.

[@juvenoiachild7675]

It walks and talks like a government but doesnt identity as a government, so its immune to the old rules. Same with the jails, its not a jail - its called a "rehab center". The same way China calls their "reeducation centers". I love how the game just keeps dropping these sinister concepts, where other game would be the main focus, but this is just the background.

[@caav56]

>It walks and talks like a government but doesnt identity as a government, so its immune to the old rules. Likely same thing with "First murder in years" - a whole lot of other killings were reclassified so they're no longer murder!

[@anthroposmetron4475]

I think you'd have insult to injury on everything in the Culpa Innata world. Not only would the secret police take you away in a van for violating the 'no alcohol' rule, but they'd also be wearing neon spandex and tell you that they're not the secret police because there's no government to authorise one.

[@vincegalila7211]

​@@anthroposmetron4475 Unless you physically can't buy alcohol because of the same mind control method that prevents murder.

[@PaganPilot]

And/Or like bunch of corps, ngos and concern acting as defacto governing body(ies) despite not wanting to be called that, with everyone out for them selves but all covered under justification, obfuscation and/or delusion of hr department approved speak. Game tries to be satire of objecitvist libertarianism, but wavers into being satire of itself at times.

[@vincegalila7211]

@@anthroposmetron4475 I'd think the same mind control that prevents murder prevents other crimes.

[@Demalochis]

19:06 I think the doppelganger was there FOR the cutscene, it was her starting position.

[@chemcukh]

Wow didn’t expect to see so many Turkish names on the credits. A quick research on Alev Alatlı shows that this game might be based on her books called Kabus (The Nightmare) and Rüya (The Dream) published in 1999 and 2000 respectively. I don’t think I’ll be going down this rabbit hole but wanted to share with you if anyone is interested. Thanks Ross!

[@silentdrew7636]

Wasn't there a game dungeon on a game called Kabus?

[@akikoyoshizawa8445]

@@silentdrew7636 Yes, Kabus 22. Makes me wonder if they're the same setting, or just identically named

[@Doctor_Pazuzu]

The fact that you're still working on your other projects while still working on the StopKillingGames campaign is genuinly so inspiring to me, Ross. I hope you're taking rests when you can.

[@VaSoapman]

Well at this phase of the SKG movement its mostly a lot of waiting.

[@VengeanceLN]

And don't forget about the MOVIE!

[@genuinesaucy]

"Yeah, I have NO reservations about feeding Play-Doh to this kid." Well that's a sentence I didn't expect to hear today.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

Classic Ross.

[@spongerobert]

I'm not very smart but even as a kid I'm sure it'll only take me 2 seconds to realise someone tried to con me with playdoh.

[@TheAlixour]

Play-Doh as a teaching device is one of my core memories. It *can* smell good but taste horrible!

[@SwammyCDN]

So happy you play these weird adventure games. I would've quit the moment I would've figured out how janky time passing in this game is

[@judgeprime3730]

You and me both. This looks painful

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

Seems a lot like the Persona games, but I haven't played any of them myself. I think similar systems are more common in different Japanese sim/visual novel type games, except without the part where you can exploit it by walking around manually of course.

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

The Y2K aesthetic was strong with this game. Wacky fashion, check. Bizarre architecture, check. Ethereal and EDM music, check. All that was missing was clear plastic casings for electronics and it would have been perfect.

[@caav56]

Things Store had clear plastic casings for some of their wares

[@chimerschang]

Don't forget the midriffs. Midriffs ruled the earth back then.

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

You probably meant IDM, EDM is 2010s

[@TheAlixour]

​@@chimerschang Britney had a global sway on fashion politics.¹

[@Elfcheg]

I think commander Shepard borrowed some dance moves from here.

[@peppers515]

95 minutes long with no wasted time, weird ass faces in the thumbnail. Yup, this is the Game Dungeon. I’m home. Thank you Ross! You are the hero we needed.

[@stevejakab274]

Encyclopedia Galactica is from Asimov's Foundation series. It's mentioned in Hitchhiker's to point out that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book has sold more copies (because of it's more relaxed attitude, and the fact that it has the words "Don't Panic" written in large, friendly letters on the cover).

[@versebuchanan512]

You can always spot a counterfeit Guide by whether or not it has Don't Panic on the cover.

[@crazyinsane500]

What if the reason there are no murders is because when a productive, high-value member of society kills someone, regardless of reason (barring if it unduly burdens the system), it is not *legally* murder? In this society I can totally see it as being seen as a minor crime *against the person's employer* because they lost an employee!

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

I could actually see it, the society in this game is just _completely_ nuts. Its ideology and values are really bizarre, and at times very contradictory, like how greed is overtly enshrined and altruism is outlawed, yet the state seems to (somehow) provide EVERYONE with a free job, regardless of their ability to adequately perform it, which is charity as provided by some sort of global super power, which is somehow at the mercy of corporations, who wield incredible legal powers. Oh yeah, and the caste-like system.

[@AlanSmithee-r3t]

Yeah it'd probably just be destruction of property or something

[@zacharysimmons4115]

They use that in another game, The Outer Worlds. There's a quest in an early location that involves you looking into a guy who committed suicide, and you learn that suicide is considered a crime because it constitutes irreparable damage of company property and is therefore vandalism.

[@samgreenblatt7074]

So in other words they accidentally reinvented kirisute-gomen

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

@@samgreenblatt7074 nah, kirisute-gomen didn't afford productive and wealthy people the right to kill It was for samurai, not traders, and even then it existed within submitting to the local authorities - you needed to hand yourself in as soon as possible, willingly forfeit your weapons for a time, and even if you had struck "rightly" you still had to submit to arrest. It then needed to be proved by a corroborating witness that someone of lower class to you had insulted you in that moment. You couldn't attack someone for something they said ten minutes ago or yesterday, and those who did got slapped with fines or even the removal of their status as samurai It existed to uphold the violent culture and masculine pride of samurai families. Wealthy merchants (like in this game) were not afforded the right of kirisute-gomen. A separate warrior class permitted to barbarism to spare it from everyone else, that doesn't exist in this game, maybe a futuristic "utopia" that utilizes a warrior class would be a really cool piece of fiction!

[@tranquil3727]

i always love when Ross finds a way (or contacts somebody who finds a way) to fix up the graphics for these old games. its like restoring lost, forgotten paintings.

[@LSBlaga]

Definitely one of my favorite Game Dungeon episodes. An absolute masterpiece, thank you!

[@CannedLizard]

A new Ross’s Game Dungeon…now things are beginning to make sense. More later.

[@alienfish8521]

Was reading the comments expecting someone to say this lmao.

[@kricku]

​@@alienfish8521 It's not a game dungeon without it

[@piggosalternateaccount4917]

thank you for saying it

[@TheMaabusAdmiral]

You've made me proud, boy

[@Stefan-jo1sz]

it's aliens, it's always aliens!

[@cwookdev]

"The pyramid is just a giant shopping plaza" So it's just like the pyramid in Memphis TN

[@fuzzytransmissionman]

Constructed as the tomb of the great king Bass Pro.

[@Ramonatho]

​@@fuzzytransmissionman "this 'Bass Pro' must have been a very powerful man"

[@pleasegoawaydude]

@@fuzzytransmissionman It was a basketball stadium! Fuck! They took our god damned history and culture and gentrified the hell out of it, just in a country-gentrification way.

[@goldengolem4670]

@@Ramonatho Almost as good as Ozymandias

[@ignatiusmagnus6200]

I can't believe I actually played this back in my youth. I was really hard up for new adventure games then.

[@OdaSwifteye]

It was slim pickings back then. At the time I considered Sam and Max to be fine art.

[@cheeryPsycho]

Weird obscure adventure game? Dys- and/or utopia? The fabric of reality fraying? Socieconomical commentary? Ross ranting about all of the above? This video somehow contains literally everything I love and had so sorely missed about the Game Dungeon. The plot-relevant Fashion™ was simply the cherry on top.

[@dalazo]

I just love the way Ross makes his videos. Just casually starting off by trying to get the game to run better for everyone involved! True superhero traits you got going on Ross.

[@gabe135]

Ross, I've been enjoying game dungeon since 2017. Thanks so much for all the years of entertainment!

[@baabaawhitegoat4675]

This game's writing seems to be a unique specimen. I started off watching this thinking that the whole "greed is good" and "think scientifically" thing felt heavy-handed, like you'd expect from games that just need a clear villain figure. Now most games would have stayed the course on a dystopia being cartoonishly evil and tie the whole murder case back to the dystopia. This usually kills the immersion because I start hearing the writer's approval and disapproval in everything that's going on. I was afraid this would be one of those "satires" which turn out to be a smug rant with character dialogue, but from what I've seen it managed to avoid that and keep my attention even before the big reveal. I think it's because of two things that it shares with Deus Ex: 1. The characters are generally serious and don't turn themselves one-dimensional. Even if they might seem like poster-children for how unhealthy the society is, they're not there to be poster-children. They have personalities, their own ambitions, lives, personal matters, all coloured by the society in which they live. Finding out about the world you live in is the side story to a mission where you have to figure out a murder. Even the player character reflects being a part of the society that she's in (like JC in Deus Ex) and doesn't get a sudden freedom fighter attitude at the writer's convenience. (Also, I was pleasantly surprised by how the stereotypical flamboyant fashion designer turned out to be a serious character and very aware of the society he lives in. I've seen more than a few games that would reduce him into a stereotype.) 2. The world is fleshed out, and we see what it's like to not just live, but grow up in a society like this. Nothing is ad hoc for the satire, from the whole regulations you have to obey or the history of the world as told by the world union. They even went the extra mile and put subtle implications inside what seems like one-off decorations like how the NGOs at 49:15 make constant references to all these bad things happening in the Rogue States, suggesting that they're pretexts for achieving foreign policy goals, like diplomatic pressure or influence, maybe even intervention. What kind of relationship do the Rogue States have to the World Union? Why is it that we only see weirdos coming in from the Rogue States? Why is it the weirdos who are trying to come into the Union? After the revelation further down the story, this subtlety sprouts intrigue like a seed. Even the bizarre interior design, the products in the "thing store" says a lot about the kind of society where such a business isn't just afloat, but profitable. I think the best game dungeon to compare this to is Fahrenheit, especially with the whole "secret society controlling everything" angle that it's taking. The potential there was overshadowed by how bizarre things got. Culpa Innata could have so easily ended up the same way. Something like this game's story is a specimen that should be preserved for study by game writers. It might not be a masterpiece, but it has vision, and all of its apparent flaws are so interesting that you wonder if it's a charm you could never get from a perfect, polished, coherent story.

[@Neuromancerism]

They are correct, too. Altruism is quite bad. And greed ultimately good, not by virtue of being greedy itself but because obviously the only way to be profitable is to do good. Why else would someone pay you? Thats why its called goods.

[@XanthinZarda]

@@Neuromancerism Explain that again, but slower. Why do we need profit? Why do we need pay? Is it not called goods because it's an ancient twist on the word wares; as in warehouse?

[@Neuromancerism]

@@XanthinZarda Because we need to survive? The only reason any human ever does anything is for profit. I provide poor people with food because i profit in the knowledge theyll not be starving. I dont think your question there was very well formed. A better question would be: Why do we need *prices*. Which is also fairly obvious if you think about it for a few seconds. On the end consumer side of things, free market prices ensure anyone who actually needs something can actually get it. Thats why when there are shortages due to policies you will find "scalpers" rendering the valuable service of ensuring this. WHereas on the manufacturing side of things - and also the consumer side to some extend as you can have multiple options - you could produce the same good in a few different ways. How do you know whats best for the people, what of the potential resources you could use to achieve it is most urgently needed elsewhere? If you have prices, you simply go with the cheapest option which will also be the one best for everyone, leaving more of the most urgently needed resources.

[@Smrda1312]

I agree but the protagonist seems too naive for my taste. Her jaw drops whenever something goes against the status quo. Despite herself seeing people get brain tortured or whatever. I mean some people really are that naive you see it in old people that got i doctrinated in communist dictatorship propaganda. But i would hate my protagonist that is supposedly a very analytic detective being so dumb.

[@MistaHoward]

@@Neuromancerism If the only way to be profitable was to do good then planned obsolescence wouldn't exist.

[@throwawaydetective9080]

Ross, okay, I’m telling you with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY you would really love an adventure game called “The Silver Case.” It got a great faithful remaster a few years ago on Steam. It’s similarly a mystery game in the front and alternate society in the back, but written from a Japanese perspective with Y2K theming as well as some surreal qualities. It’s great stuff. Quick edit: The main concerns I could see with playing it are that there’s no voice acting, and the story can be a bit confusing if you’re playing out of order/not paying attention. For that former concern, just turn it down in the settings, and for the latter concern just keep your eyes open and make sure you play chapters from both of the game’s storylines in simultaneous number order (play chapter 1 of transmitter, then 1 of placebo, then transmitter 2 and so on)

[@zenonewicz]

Turn down what in the settings? The 'no voice acting'?

[@throwawaydetective9080]

@@zenonewicz oops. Forgot to mention instead of voice acting there’s a typewriter sound. And from what I’ve seen talking to others who play the game, you either LOVE this or REALLY HATE this sound. I like it. But if you hate it, you can turn it off.

[@SamCyanide]

This sounds dope I might check it out

[@judgeprime3730]

Oo that sounds like something for a Game Dungeon for sure

[@gabby3036]

14:14 I dunno if Ross eventually circles back to it but when he points out the "7th consecutive year of 0% unemployment", if you look to the right you'll see "The Genetic Revolution" - I think that answers his question "what about all the disabled people?" They did a eugenics.

[@caav56]

Thing is, freak accidents happen. What's done to those, who were mangled due to, let's say, lightning strike or small meteorite impact?

[@gabby3036]

@@caav56 Ooh, that's a good point.

[@XanthinZarda]

@@gabby3036 Maybe it's the recycling tanks for them. Or maybe they're deposited outside in "Unexploitable" areas and left for dead. Not their problem, that's outside the jurisdiction of the World Union!

[@KroltanMG]

The murder interview also notes that we don't know why there is no capital crimes, so it wouldn't be surprising there is some extreme reclassification. Disabled isn't unemployed, either because there uhhh, are no disabled people, or because unexploitables (as per the HDI chart) get some sort of pension or internment.

[@iggystoneman2933]

23:09 Columbo would absolutely hate it here if he'd be bound by these regulations. His entire investigation strategy would be impossible to do.

[@bc-cu4on]

Actually I think it would work in his favour. See, he can just show up every day and claim to have forgotten something. He'd just need another method to put the suspects under pressure for the final push toward a confession.

[@iggystoneman2933]

@@bc-cu4on Oh true. You know, I actually think I mentally had it opposite in my head for whatever reason. Yeah he’d thrive here actually.

[@notfreeman1776]

@@iggystoneman2933 cant contain the columbo

[@ToastyMozart]

​@@bc-cu4onHe'd probably still get stonewalled by that rule about interrogating high-HDI citizens though. Most of the crooks Columbo goes after are some combination of wealthy, influential, and famous.

[@caav56]

@@ToastyMozart He might still be able to work something out - interrogating their lower-HDI servants, coworkers, maybe doing a talk that's not technically an interrogation...

[@JinxorskiiMontalgo]

32:18 This looks like it's based on the Big 5 personality traits, I'm no expert but here's a quick rundown. Openness - Not open emotionally, but more like how receptible you are to new ideas and how creative you are. Extraversion - Self-explanatory. Conscientiousness - Basically how hard you work, how reliable of a person you are. Agreeableness - Like a combination of how empathic you are but also how assertive you are too. Being super agreeable is effectively resigning yourself to being a human doormat. Neuroticism - Self-explanatory, how emotionally stable are you.

[@axr6327]

I was thinking of the exact same thing!

[@xenopsychologist4943]

the trust the experts thing isnt actually all that complicated. the experts are just regular people. they arent even usually extra smart. they are willing and capable of being wrong or straight up lying or being bought just like anyone else. giving them perfect, unwavering trust just because of which job they picked is a mistake. they should be earning trust like everyone else, and because of the influence they hold, they should never stop being scrutinized.

[@SecuR0M]

This is why I didn't get vaxxed. Had COVID twice and nothing happened. 🫡

[@HashSl1ng1ngSlasher]

Their opinions also aren't usually uniform. I'm an economist and I've never even heard of the endless growth thing; the job of a science is to explain what's happening, not try to become an oracle, and I think economics forgets that because theres fortunes to be made. That said, "trust the experts" still isnt a bad thing. The 'expert' isnt infallible but they still presumably know more about their area of expertise than a bystander would.

[@kaykek7174]

​@@HashSl1ng1ngSlasher There seems to be a misunderstanding in the public that the academies cooperatively research something and release a consensus which couldn't be further from the truth. It's more like a bunch of positions on a subject based on prior knowledge competing for the position of "fact". Ideally people would trust that academics have the knowledge to base their arguments on but scrutinize the arguments and standpoints (for example climate change exists but how do we go about changing it etc.).

[@xenopsychologist4943]

and then they lie because they also happened to be more willing to be bought out than a bystander would.

[@uruloki2758]

You WILL trust the experts. You WILL take the vax and use the mask. You WILL comply with the government.

[@oddgod8005]

Glad we're the first to see this in wide screen, no noise filter, and with better anti aliasing, thanks ross

[@whimbo]

Hey Ross, thank you for covering these weird and obscure games! Your channel is a breath of fresh air!

[@roolaing]

Sooo happy to see ‘normal’ Ross back! That means he must have the time to play old games and make videos about them. Which means he must have time to have fun. Which means he must be alright. Great stuff 😊

[@RougeMephilesClone]

The last half-year has been important work for the game industry, but there's nothing like a good ol' Game Dungeon. Best wishes on all of your projects, Ross.

[@ComTruiseFanGirl]

My understanding with the dress thing is that sex is something to be engaged with for its own sake, displays self interested behavior, self confidence and extroversion (according to this world). Modesty would be something that would be antithetical to the hyper self interested world. You should be hypersexual, hedonistic and dress the part. Sort of like your friend Cassandra. I recall Brave New World goes into detail about this sort of practice

[@dopaminecloud]

Yeah I dislike this logic leap where somehow you end up with a collectivist society imposing standards on its individuals all the while pretending there is individualism going on. It's not useful to depict the actual flaws of a hyper self interested world, which is much better achieved in something like Zenozoik.

[@RAFMnBgaming]

@@dopaminecloud Isn't that itself part of the criticism? The fashion guy certainly says that in order to keep society running people like him need to try and make the ultra-rich conform to some societal expectations, there's "no government" but still a police force enforcing the laws, and no taxes but still peer pressured generous donations from those who can afford it into keeping society running. "someone has to put multivitamins in your kool aid so you don't die of malnurition" seems to be a recurring motif in the game's critique of how feasible "the objectivist utopia" is. It's kinda like the episodes focusing on Section 31 in Star Trek. What ideological sacrifices does a society need to deal with the practical problems of staying afloat? y'know, that kind of thing.

[@SecuR0M]

​@@dopaminecloudThat's the point. It's a bit like how consumerist capitalism promises individuality from an assembly line. The irony is the critique and what you might call an "internal contradiction".

[@dopaminecloud]

@@SecuR0M I know, I just find it uninteresting compared to depictions of the actual thing, a far rarer kind of society in fiction. We've all seen the prisons of community.

[@SecuR0M]

@@dopaminecloud But the actual thing can't exist? Ayn Rand was just wrong but with a bit of a 50 Shades of Grey bent.

[@ToasterVision]

We did explode in 2022 - Quebec has been in a singularity ever since.

[@PijiPlays]

Ross regarding the rule to not take too much time of citizens during investigations. That is actually a rule in police stops, you aren’t allowed to hold someone longer than it takes to validate their information, and or finish writing a citation. Unless you have probable cause. If you do take longer the stop can be ruled unreasonable and any subsequent finds thrown out. Example: I stop you in your vehicle, get your info and question you, go back to my cruiser. But I have a suspicion you have drugs. So I call for a K9. I run your info and K9 arrives. While I’m talking to you they walk around the vehicle and the K9 signals. We now have probable cause and search then find drugs. But because the stop was unreasonable it’s all thrown out. So seeing this codified for a consensual encounter isn’t too far fetched. You can end consensual encounters at any time. It’s different for different types of stops and there is a list of exceptions regarding search and seizures but that’s the basic idea.

[@dereknyberg9540]

David Cage could never reach this level

[@TheOnlyToblin]

That's because David Cage got stuck in high school fanfic writing. I've never seen such a highly praised schlock of a writer. I can't even begin to fathom why people find his stuff good, or deep. It's painfully cliché, misses the core point by miles and is oftentimes completely at odds with its own writing.

[@AngryB4ker]

Omikron tried. It came close... came close as in you understood the entirety of the game world by watching the opening cinematic, leaving little to nothing to the imagination

[@RipOffProductionsLLC]

​@AngryB4ker I love how David Cage accidentally confessed to being the devil(or at least his agent in thus world) as part of Omikron's lore. Because canonically the game itself is a trap created directly by the deamons to steal our souls...

[@NickJerrison]

@@TheOnlyToblin I don't think I've ever seen anyone praise David Cage for his actual writing. Most of the time it's been about the non-linearity aspect of his writing, but the way his writing actually handles the topic at hand has been ridiculed to hell and back.

[@planescaped]

Detroit Become Human had some interesting ideas, scenes, characters and premises, though the execution left something to be desired, and the messaging was way too on the nose. Overall though, I would confidently say it is his best work. Endings suck, but the journey is pretty good. Though it still had that gratuitous misery from Beyond Two Souls, it worked a bit better here. Omikron had an intriguing setting and world... and a plot that was a hot mess. Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain were both kinda schlock, playable B-movies. Heavy Rain benefited greatly by being an experience that was pretty new and fresh at the time of its release, but hasn't aged well. Indigo Prophecy was really good... until you got to the halfway point and it became a garbage Matrix and X-Files fanfiction.

[@Sonik644]

I can appreciate the "too bad" comment with the widescreen pop in, sometimes games just aren't built with it in mind

[@EvilDoresh]

It literally wasn't. Though it's interesting from a dev perspective, as you can kinda get to see behind the curtain.

[@WoganMay]

40:28 "Shallow, sleeps around, xenophobic" - that's character dialogue lifted straight out of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World! Edit: The society is basically Brave New World without the cloning. The fixation on consumerism, the rigid hierarchies, I wouldn't be surprised if the writer was a huge Huxley fan.

[@HashSl1ng1ngSlasher]

I got that vibe too! It had the same sort of "don't look up, don't question anything, it makes sense because we say so" mentality being pushed, and the same sort-of "dark whimsey" surrounding hpw everyting supposedly just kinda works, somehow.

[@WoganMay]

@@HashSl1ng1ngSlasher Yeah and that's straight Brave New World - everyone's conditioned from inception to birth to just believe things axiomatically, so that society functions.

[@unnamedenemy9]

though it's a lot less well-constructed than Brave New World and makes a lot less internal sense

[@SusCalvin]

In BNW, places like Madagascar are also outlets for those who can't adapt. It's implied they put people in exile there.

[@wrongthinker843]

@@WoganMay Things like democracy being good?

[@suetyhercules7717]

I'm so glad Ross decided to wait until the end to show us the intro, holy crap

[@amoawesomeart6074]

what a gem of a story, it's almost miraculous that ive never seen anybody else make a video about it. thanks AC for putting hours in completing the game and presenting it to all of us.

[@Fsynergy]

The first and last game dungeon of the year, love you ross

[@weeningproductions945]

I was at work today randomly thinking "He's probably focusing too much on the campaign to make more dungeons at the moment" and pleasantly surprised by this now, thank you Ross!

[@HoseAKM]

27:20 Ross: "Thanksgiving exists. Football exists. So of course people are gonna try to kill each other." I don't know why this quote stands out so much to me 😆

[@phoenixtomlinson7254]

this is what I love about the game dungeon. games id never hear of. plots and worlds id never know, all compressed in a much smaller experience than actually playing them.

[@Duker_Dude]

14:36 I'm not saying I'm disappointed, but I was definitely promised "exploded quebec" just a minute ago

[@notfreeman1776]

the legal jurisdiction and shoreline not changing dosent mean a place wasnt exploded, Hiroshima wouldn't have really changed the political map either

[@lsb2623]

This has been the best episode in a while... it felt light, hit all the notes... AWESOME EPISODE! I think your good is even better lately.

[@thepbg8453]

Its good to see that while your saving games, your also keeping up the game Dungeon. I respect both, I love both. But I doubly respect you for doing both at the same time. You are the man Ross

[@TreyaTheKobold]

50:50 So, I understand this scene I think. They're trying to show the character that the protagonist's talking to is privileged and exceedingly naive. Remember how neurotic that little girl was? It wouldn't be surprising to me for there to be huge and shocking gaps in people's education in this society. There's a good chance most people in this world know what a firearm is. But it doesn't surprise me it has turned out such broken minds that don't.

[@MikkoKuusirati]

"Oooooooh, you mean that's what those things on the Marine NGO posters are? Ohmygawd that's _barbaric,_ I'll never donate to _them_ again!" :D

[@IAmMadMattDog]

the expressiveness they get out of these character models is so good

[@gabetronson7546]

Cant believe boy is still pumping out game dungeons while protecting the concept of ownership. Bravo Ross

[@philbecker6837]

Ahh that feeling when you are rewatching the entire game dungeon playlist and you think you got to the end and then suddenly...

[@DoveAlexa]

And then you hear the choir of angels sing? Yeah me too ;)

[@diegowushu]

Just when I start to think "Ross MUST have run out of weird but interesting old games to go through in a humorous fashion" he goes and does it again. This channel is in the top 5 on KZbin for real.

[@scatered1]

I'm just coming in here to say LETS GOOOOOO ANOTHER GAME DUNGEON!!!! which I'm going to savor bit by bit. Ross is a legend among legends for still making this while dealing with saving video games!

[@Krndancedance]

"So there's no government? Well, what the hell is this then? A global security organization determining who gets in or not? That sounds like government to me." Ross exposes libertarianism in one sentence.

[@zoeyuwu5531]

It's simple, libertarians reinvent the government but pretend like it isn't. Because that's what happens every time if you implement any of their policies. But they also just make it worse for everyone in the process.

[@gardares]

TBH, it's still in the borders of minarchy logic. (Typical minarchist: *IT'S NOT GOVERNMENT, IF IT'S LAISSEZ-FAIRE* )

[@Neuromancerism]

@@gardares Charicature. Im not against government, it should just be entirely private.

[@patchwurk6652]

@@Neuromancerism Sounds like outright feudalism to me. If the government is private, then it's effectively running by doing whatever the hell it likes with zero checks and balances, more akin to a King than any sort of democratic system, with no one outside the government entity in question having any voice in how it operates "Because it's Private." Also, how is leadership in this government decided? By who just has the most power to enforce itself on the rest?

[@TheJillers]

​@@Neuromancerismwhat does that even mean?

[@zalseon4746]

Apparently the founders were Turkish Electrical Engineers. Half of them have patents, taught at ivy league US universities and major Turkish schools. Burak Barmanbek Mehmet K. Özkan A. Tanju Erdem Çiğdem Eroğlu-Erdem If you wanna read up on their other, non-game works

[@BumboLooks]

Which means absolutely nothing in Turkey. It's like being a doctor In India.

[@PointMan8000]

Crazy to think this is the first Game Dungeon in 2024. Oh well, Halloween is just around the corner, Ross is coming to life and carving pumpkins as we speak

[@Texelion]

Ooooh Culpa Innata, I always wanted to try this game. Now I don't have to. Ross' commentary is just gold.

[@Supertails224]

Can I say how hilarious it is that the guy who runs through the fence drops a CD that says RATIO? Bro LITERALLY ratioed us and dipped.

[@Jak132619]

It feels like all the legal documents Ross has forced himself to read for stopkillinggames has had practical use in helping him understand the laws of Culpa Innata 😅

[@Aimbok]

Keep fighting the good fight Ross.

[@MetalXaldy]

This is an amazing episode of Game Dungeon. Thank you for everything you do, Ross.

[@drewrussell8531]

Halfway through the video, and I'm starting to realize that the World Union is kinda like if the Ferenghi decided to masquerade as the Federation.

[@AngryB4ker]

This is so apt, but at the same time Ferengi had strict laws and rules, whereas this society has arbitrary things like a corporation acting as a police force, except the police force isn't even allowed to do anything to people with a high social credit score. How is there little to no crime if specific people are literally above the law? It's almost like they don't even care about utopia at all and don't even interfere with the life of the lemmings. It's almost as if the wealthy have already found a way off of the planet and do not care at all about the people they've abandoned, and the social credit score is there specifically to keep the common masses away from the elite. the whole world is fascinating to speculate on. but farengar is a much cooler planet

[@drewrussell8531]

@@AngryB4ker That's a good point - the Ferengi honestly do make way more sense. I almost feel like the whole "no murder" thing could just be a case of "the elites legally cannot be charges with murder, therefore none of these things that totally don't happen are murders." But that's not what the game seems to be saying, so I have no idea. Interestingly, I did find a website and wiki for the game ... or at least for a version of the setting, a lot of details are different. According to that, people with an hdi below a certain number basically get deported, which I guess in theory might mean that only people with the "right" personality exist in the World Union, and that's how they filter out murderers? Still seems far-fetched. Also according to that wiki (which, again, seems to be for a different version of the setting) each citizen is considered a corporation, and thus has corporate rights. They cannot be imprisoned, only sued. Which is wild.

[@raymiller1753]

I don't know why, but watching your videos greatly reduces my constant anxiety. As soon as I hear the intro music, I feel it melting away and I can breathe again. Thank you, man.

[@fonesrphunny7242]

It's the introduction to "I'm not the only crazy person" I can relate

[@EvilDoresh]

1:30:25 - The issue is not the helium itself, but that the fusion process in the sun's core _will_ run out of helium eventually, just like it ran out of hydrogen before. Though unlike what the game tells you, it doesn't stop with helium. It just keeps moving on to the even _heavier_ elements created by the helium fusion. This process will keep repeating over and over, moving on to ever heavier, less efficient elements until there's nothing left it can fuse anymore. _Then_ the sun will at first start collapsing in on itself because without (efficient) fusion, it has no force countering its own gravity. The _compression_ then moves a bunch of lighter elements from the outer layers into the core, restarting the fusion process with enough force to cause the sun to expand into a red giant. Technically, if you can _somehow_ transport fresh hydrogen _into_ the sun's core you could prevent this from happening in the first place. I dare say if you can pull this off the universe has officially become your sandbox. And saying this happened earlier than expected is putting it mildly. It'd actually take _5 billion years_ for the sun to "die".

[@LordDrstein]

For some reason, I get the feeling that this is the prequel to Cruelty Squad, weird hypercapitalist society, emphasis on greed, people buy a bunch of useless crap. Just throw in some immortality tech and make the aesthetics 500% more vomit-like and you're set.

[@Neuromancerism]

Cruelty Squad? Capitalist? Dude, they literally have corporations in that game, and they are very powerful. Clearly extreme socialism.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

It's the sequel to today

[@SecuR0M]

It's the present.

[@AngryB4ker]

it's not "crap," butthole. They're called THINGS, and they are ALL the rage!

[@blondesummer7980]

This is a real fun one. Weird game, crazy plot, and really good review by you. Good job as usual and good luck with SKG, Ross.

[@Wikloe]

Ross continutes to surprise me with games I've never heard of before. And such a lengthy video too! This is going to be gooooood.

[@stormcommando1640]

To Ross' probably rhetorical question on whether the surrender of Russian resources in Siberia would start a war, I think the answer is on the same panel: it mentions a Tibet Oil War ending in 2028, with Russia, India, China signing the "Seattle Accord". Reading between the lines it seems to me that this was a major conflict That resulted in the World Union defeating said nations and subsequently extracting further treaties (aforementioned siberia, 99 yr lease on Hong Kong, etc) Note: Havent finished the video yet so idk if he answers these questions himself.

[@FraudDepartmentYT]

After doing a bit of research this is what I've found out. The novel referred to is Schrodinger's Cat by Alev Aalatli and has nothing to do with the game. However, the writer/producer of the game did make a novelization of Culpa Innata. This was supposed to be followed up by a novel version of the cancelled Chaos Rising, but it appears in 2016 at around 70% completion the writer got cold feet. Simultaneously in 2016 a prequel was supposedly in development in the form of a third person shooter. Its currently been 8 years since these things have been talked about and neither have materialized in any way, BUT if you check the Culpa Innata website its recently been updated. Like in the past few months recent. So it appears hes gearing up for something, for what I don't know but the complexity of the website seems to point to more than just a book release.

[@alphadog6970]

51:10 you are mistaken. I had 20 something guy look my garden and say, what a weird looking apples while pointing at tomato plant with green unripe tomatoes. Its over Ross people are already there.

[@stan-bi3hl]

You sure it wasn't a pomme d'ore joke?

[@alexhussinger3550]

"All we have to do is build a cosmic wormhole to alpha centauri" was not something I was expecting to see in the into to a game like this.

[@RichardLofty]

ANY action can be qualified as "selfish" or "altruistic" at the same time. Because only the one who "did it" decides. Its a fundamental unsolvable question.

[@zorro_zorro]

Some actions are harder to frame as "altruistic" than others, though.

[@THATGuy5654]

I think these people saying they don't have a government is the same kind of thing where at least some people from every religion will claim that their religion isn't actually a religion; it's a philosophy, it's a way of life, basically anything that prevents their thing from being classified alongside all the other heathens.

[@Dante-tf2et]

Oh my gosh! A 95 minutes long game dungeon! I think it's a new record on awesomness (and lenght) Thanks Ross for founding a time to cheer us up while your hands still apparently full. ❤