Spec Ops The Line... 5 Years Later

[@MattSmith-rr2he]

I was playing this game on the recommendation of this video. I stuck a soldier with a sticky grenade. He dropped his gun and panicked and ran towards his Comrads. One of them bashed him in the face and then dove on his body to save the rest. Idk how you code something like that into your AI but it’s little stuff like that which really makes this game.

[@dr.vanilla9017]

I saved stickies for the heavies so that's probably why I never saw that.

[@carlosyanes3453]

Holy fuck...for real??? I'm gonna test that out...that's fucken brilliant game design

[@MrAwesomeAsian22]

Fuck me I threw one and they ran towards me. I blew up into smithereens the same way you can do when you get the grenade launcher. Like how tf does this game have it but nothing of the current games do?

[@acewolfgang276]

@@MrAwesomeAsian22 It's all about how much work they put into these games, these days it's all about graphics and monetization.

[@Demospammer9987]

I did that and watched the guy's teammate just put a couple in his head from behind cover before it went off.

[@somerandomguy___]

“No restrictions” must be the best rules for any developer ever and this is what happened when there are no restrictions

[@rarecomment3639]

Except for the multiplayer thing

[@elolife1375]

Sure until you get a game in development for 10 plus years aka star citizen or Squadron 42

[@dantemail123456789]

Daikatana, my friend. No restrictions for a team with a vision, not primadonna "auteurs"

[@musicalbacon2]

The better way to do this is probably “we will back your vision fully now that you’ve given a bunch of actionable goals that you’d like to achieve and we support it”. Just handing people a checkbook and telling them to do whatever can often really backfire

[@somerandomguy___]

Was the last part a half life reference?

[@onewhosaysgoose4831]

Spec Ops The Line's strongest gut punch is actually one of its mechanics: executing an enemy gives you ammo for both equipped weapons. The scar-h smg and grenade launchers are a powerful draw to use, but you will very rarely find enemies that use them or drop or ammo for them. But, any enemy you down can drop ammo for them, by melee killing them in a few second window where they are moaning in pain. This pushes players to think like Walker - an instinctive killer - by making the player listen for the siren call of a man's agony to brutally execute him in order to feed your strongest gun.

[@maxgarcia6231]

I didn't realize this until like chapter 13. I actually avoided doing this because I deemed it too cruel and felt like the game was goating me. After I realized it though I executed everyone in site if I could.

[@CyberLink70]

Anything for the sake of the mission...

[@MrDjdanieljose]

wow

[@Rise65487]

Doom-guy: "heh, they feel conflicted by the gruesome an violent-ways they're executing their enemies, pussies"

[@lukky6648]

Holy shit that's so makes sense , i always looked for them to excuete them because the animations were so cool and brutal

[@Fidozo15]

No one's gonna mention the fact that in the beginning of the game, when you enter the city is a Stop sign, and Conrad said that everything could've been avoided if he just stopped

[@lukky6648]

Now its 420

[@unclelarry8842]

@@lukky6648 OMG LMAO 420 FUNNY WEED NUMBER LOLOLOLOLOLOL 6969696969 😱😱😱😱😱😝😝😂😂😂😂😂

[@Shenaldrac]

Yeah. WW2 could have been avoided if everyone just surrendered to the Nazis. There's never an excuse to fight, you should just roll over to the first person who demands something of you. War and violence are **never** acceptable options. /s

[@Fidozo15]

@@Shenaldrac need a hug bud?

[@Shenaldrac]

@@Fidozo15 No, I just wish people would stop acting like war is literally always the most worstest thing 5evar that should always be avoided, while ignoring that sometime it really *is* the right course of action. America was right to get involved in WW2, and I'd argue should have done so sooner. not to mention, war often sees the development of technologies that are helpful to all mankind. We would not have Penicillin if not for war. We would not have the computers we're using to have this conversation _right now_ without war. tl;dr- I just really dislike blatant black and white world views. And as much as this game may be one that many people enjoy, as much as its message may be counter to what we normally encounter in war media, that doesn't mean it's not showing its own black and white world view.

[@Hubert_Cumberdale_]

"The stoic commander, black guy and smartass." Made me chuckle.

[@Selrisitai]

I do slightly disagree with the "black guy" comment, since I think Adams is a much stronger and more interesting character than "token black guy."

[@derektran9404]

@@Selrisitai Vick was only referring to how the opening and cast seem to fill those tropes, but as you see Spec Ops goes far beyond that. Just your own observation shows that Spec Ops took the trope and turned it over.

[@theirishviking9278]

@@derektran9404 yeah for once the black guy didn't die first

[@oldannyboy37]

You taste like soot and poo.

[@omensoffate]

@@Selrisitai it’s funny how stupid you are

[@mrunitforge]

The best thing is that just when you start the story it says STOP on a sign

[@saulblanco9891]

mrunitforge Do you know what? The level designer put the signal there cos the scene felt too empty without something in the top half of the screen. It wasn't meant to have any artistic interpretation.

[@mrunitforge]

Sr Gato accidental win then :D

[@cperka1017]

@@saulblanco9891 Both of these points are not contradictory

[@daedalus6433]

@@cperka1017 We. Are. One.

[@gnickthegnome1981]

@@saulblanco9891 Even if something isn't "meant" to be interpreted artistically, that doesn't mean it can't be. How many interpretations do you think somebody could glean from the lyrics to bohemian rhapsody, even though those lyrics were allegedly written as nonsense? That's the deepest value of art, the ability to attach yourself to it and broaden your perspective because of it. And as kacper said, these points are not mutually exclusive. Is it not possible that the DEV who was tasked with making the scene less empty came up with a cool, subliminal indication of the horrors to come? Such an intention behind an addition to the game certainly isn't out of the ordinary. I would say with the themes of this game, it's quite likely that the stop sign was put there for some deeper artistic reasons beyond it's surface level design purpose. Never claim something "wasn't meant to have any artistic interpretation", if someone can interpret something from a piece of art, then that's good enough. Whether the artist meant for it to happen or not, that artistic interpretation is a sign that the artist did their job well.

[@DavidJBurbridge]

The final scene with Konrad possibly references the five stages of grief. Konrad: "I'm going to count to 5, then I'm pulling the trigger." Walker: "You're not real, this is all in my head" [Denial] Konrad: "Are you sure? Maybe it's in mine. ONE." Walker: "No, everything, all of this, it was your fault!" [Anger] Konrad: "If that's what you believe, then shoot me. TWO." Walker: "I-I didn't mean to hurt anybody." [Bargaining] Konrad: "No one ever does, Walker. THREE." Walker raises his gun. [Depression] "FOUR." "Is this really what you want, Walker? ... So be it. FIVE." [by shooting himself, representing Acceptance]

[@danielschroedinger2090]

Thank you for reminding me of this.

[@blankieplays1350]

Welp im depressed THANKS MAN

[@artaum5635]

So is suicide the canon ending?

[@BluePieNinjaTV]

@@artaum5635 he was dead all along, this is basically him confronting his demons of what I'm guessing he did in Afghanistan but replaced with Dubai where he died in the helicopter crash

[@denizs.9619]

Man, you just blew my mind. *nods*

[@Indigo_Gaming]

The most compelling thing about this game wasn't the shooting, but the game questioning the morality and ethics of why you shot. That's a really interesting idea I'd like to see taken further with more branching paths and options.

[@patrickray5692]

love to see this in other games.

[@Joseph-xq5dh]

It's also very weird that this is a AAA videogame, i have also heard that la noire is a AAA mature game so i am impressed with this publishers

[@anon9579]

It reminds me of Apocalypse Now

[@lexort4204]

Anonnymouse Hacker but its STORY was good.

[@lexort4204]

Anonnymouse Hacker im not gonna deny that the gameplay was generic and nothing new, what i will stick to is the depth and intriguing direction of the narrative. When was the last time you played a game with a story this complex up til this game? Not counting games past Spec ops the line. All i ever saw was patriotic shoot em up carbon copy clones and honestly thats still a problem now a days for the military shooter games. At the end of the day though we dont have to agree and thats ok we all have our own preferences this is just me expressing mine.

[@lukebradley574]

I asked Nolan North about this game a couple of weeks ago at a panel, he said he was so proud of the work he did on it as Captain Walker and he was extremely disappointed with how poorly the game sold. He said if he could ask his for hard Uncharted fans to play one game from him other than that it would be this, he loves the message this game has. It's a shame it's sales suffered due to its generic name and high amount of competitors.

[@sergeantbigmac]

Do you know if there is a video of the panel in question? Id love to see/hear him talk about it!

[@QuinSkew]

Luke Bradley The game was utter shit and the story sucks.

[@thegondola9877]

back up your claim or it's bait

[@QuinSkew]

the gondola Hmmm gameplay sucked. It was a generic COD game. The story wasn't even all that compelling. Trying to make me feel bad whilst forcing a premise down my throat is quite annoying. Then again I'm not a sadistic developer.

[@thegondola9877]

You realize that you're currently on a video that goes into the game's strengths in easily ten times as much detail as you're lavishing its weaknesses with here, right? Unless you show some respect for my intelligence by actually expanding on your points here and refuting at least some of the points in the video, I'm going to continue to believe you're baiting for attention

[@SGT.Renegades]

Yager? "You can stop worrying about grenades now."

[@Maelifia]

Stg Renegades Jâger, you mean.

[@tuliofilho_]

Stg Renegades Is there sar-casm in this?

[@evanm320]

iiPrescribed on Xbox One! Jäger?

[@riukasoulripper8252]

Stg Renegades Im glad to see im not te only one lol

[@Padlock_Steve]

Roses are red an animal is a cow incase you wondering you can stop worrying about grenades now

[@LockOfImage]

Does anybody realized that Walker's tone of voice changes, after the helo crashes? I don't mean the cutscenes or the scripted ones; when he shoots, or orders his squad, he has a much deeper and angry tone.

[@soversetile]

he sounded so mad at his squad mate when Lugo died. My buddy was barely taking orders from me..

[@distantsea]

From "That's one!" to "He's done!" to "Ugh, this is slowing me down!" it for very eerie for me.

[@captaintre44]

Yea dude I enjoyed it tbh I also like the how the squads dialogue changes the deeper you got Into the game, going from tango spotted to kill that fucker or how gruesome walkers executions get deeper into the game

[@mrjack901]

That's was actually one of the first observations that I did about the how detailed this game is. I think it was during the part were I was charging into the Radio Tower that I realize that Walker and the rest of the Squad were starting to get unnecessarily violent during the Executions and Call outs

[@NecrosAcolyte]

It's a symptom of traumatic brain injuries, and that's on top of everything that happened up to then.

[@detectivepayne3773]

when i was 10, i started playing Spec Ops, thought it was boring, closed the game, never played it again, now i realise i got the good ending.

[@R560BC]

The game would be a lot better if I could rush a lot easier I ain't playing a forced cover based shooter all day that's so boring. It's looks like one of the best mediocre games compared to so many other games but still. Strong 5 out of 10 game.

[@R560BC]

6 at best

[@AutumnOnFire]

That is such a good and bad outcome when you think about it. On the one hand, you put the game down before you committed more "attrocities" but on the other hand, it was likely because it wasn't uniquely violent enough to continue capturing your attention.

[@vale_recca]

Honestly, gameplay wise if we weren't talking about the story or narrative, then yeah you'd be right.

[@solemnsilence3650]

You dodged a bullet there. I played this around 13 and it made me stop playing video games for months because of what I did

[@julienandrus4169]

Got an ad for the us army while watching this.

[@vocey]

Those are signs from Konrad

[@Doomern]

Go welcome some people to Dubai

[@truecaliber1995]

The Damned 33rd are looking for new recruits.

[@missmichelle1290]

Like no I just saw this no no

[@J3wFro69]

3 years later and this analysis still holds great weight "This isn't my fault!" "Takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him"

[@pirilon78]

I mean, yeah? Are our morals and sense of reason meant to majorly change in 3 years? Because i see absolutely nothing about that quote that could even age

[@Icipher353]

Great analysis. Spec Ops is such a clever and criminally underrated game. Watching this makes me almost want a big budget remake with the technical polish to match the brilliance of the writing and voice acting.

[@oddluck4180]

Darkly Tranquil How the fuck is it underrated? It's not obscure and its loved by almost anyone. It's like calling Shadow of the Colossus underrated.

[@SatoshiKong]

Yeah, it was pretty unanimously praised when it first came out, and that praise has stayed pretty consistent over time. It's not that widely known, but most people that are familiar with it have a positive opinion of it. You're confusing "underrated" with "under-appreciated."

[@creepyzebra]

I guess because the game play is pretty awful. I just finished it again yesterday, and it truly is a terrible playing game. The story, themes and characters are top tier though.

[@theonewhowondersthere8965]

That truly disturbing moment that haunted me for years after it happened. Playing the multiplayer

[@nate1141]

theone whowondersthere lmaoooooo

[@enderbartnik3148]

Truly underrated comment

[@troopergames8173]

Ender Bartnik+ agreed

[@LetMeEatIt]

I thought it was going to be from the campain

[@FathersFuckingBiscuits]

theone whowondersthere 2:16 music?

[@jon-umber]

Ahh, I love the smell of longform video game analysis in the morning

[@BearOldcastle]

I'll get your surf board.

[@danielg3857]

I woke up, I saw this was out, and I watched it

[@hermaeusmora345]

An Ordinator So Crunchy

[@LieutenantAmerica]

Smells like White Phosphorus!

[@ndalum75]

And I love seeing a man with a Bastiat IM pic in the afternoon.

[@unsungsenpai4394]

Is it not okay to describe Spec ops the line a deconstruction of military shooter games? My favorite was probably some artistic reference where near end Colonel John Konrad painted the burnt mother/child of Walker using White Phosphorus results. as both Walker and Konrad looked at side by side. Walker: "You did this" Konrad "No, you did" A reference to ww2 era a german officer occupied france and strolled through a french artist art gallary and notice a particular art piece of horror of war and asked the french artist similar manner. "You did this?" "You did...." something like that.

[@alejandrosalazar8766]

The story you're telling is actually a famous encounter that Pablo Picasso had with a German officer. The officer asked Picasso if he was the one that had done The Guernica (about the destruction of the town of Guernica by the Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War). Picasso answered "No, you did".

[@Zipotricks]

Goosepumps so much

[@ToveriJuri]

Picasso is shit anyway.

[@seelenwaechter]

Congratulations Juri. Your comment is highly likely to be the most ignorant and utterly stupid on this whole section.

[@Ryan-hx6pm]

Yet he has like :(

[@jotunr]

Based on one of the best novels ever made, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

[@cravinghibiscus7901]

Yeah, I got serious chills from it, and the Kurtz vibe was very alive: "The horror! The horror!" Almost resonating through the entire game!

[@PedroElPolako]

R Jotun Józef Korzeniowski to be precise, I've read somewhere that Heart of Darkness' brilliance is putting Polish Character(nature) in British Culture *insert immigration joke*

[@cravinghibiscus7901]

I think Joseph to the contrary got an unmatched view of humanity, and his history as a writer and a person seems to underline this idea. Especially his short story Youth, which I personally prefer over heart of darkness due to the clarity of vision and the autobiographical nature of it. And I think like most other non-brits that british culture is a bit of an impossibility unless it's a culture of multiculturalism. However much they like to huff about history &c. Everything they have they owe to immigrants :)

[@owenjones7517]

Craving Hibiscus What do you mean?

[@yames3991]

Seriously. The themes of Heart of Darkness lend itself so well to modern adaptions (and just a great read).

[@Glitch-zn4qr]

The white phosphorus scene has a lot in common with the first bioshock's twist, being that we play video games believing we have choice, that's a lot of the appeal towards them, interactive media, but in reality it's just an illusion, a false sense of choice and freedom. In spec ops you killed civilians because you chose too, then if you tried not to, it's obvious there was no choice. You either did it because you didn't care or did it because you had no choice. And this parallels a lot with the hardships of war, when push comes to shove, what are you going to do, and how are you going to justify what you've done, because sometimes, there is only thing you can do.

[@DantezMaritu]

In that case, I didn't need the developers judgement. Nor care for it as well. Which I guess you will say is entirely the point.

[@skelo9033]

In reality,the reason the “haven’t we done this before” was actually a last ditch effort from the devs,because the publisher wanted to mess with the story a bit,and one of the devs was quoted saying “if anyone’s gonna screw with the story,it’s gonna be me.”

[@Raycevick]

Loved Walt's book.

[@Dorfuto]

One of the devs said as a theory that walker and his comrades died in the helicopter crash and everything after that is walkers mind fucking with him.

[@WTFisTingispingis]

That's so based.

[@StreetTaco]

Sounds like a bitch move to me. Fucking with your own story because they dared tell you to have an In Medias Res opening. He should've used that to heighten the story like a good writer. I think the scene would've worked better without it. Maybe do the implication of how far gone Walker was by the time of the helicopter sequence. Since most of the game is a flashback, it should've used the fact by pressing start, you already fucked Dubai up. It would've hit harder. If he was gonna add something to it, maybe have Walker say something "badass" in both versions. Something that sounds tough and cool in the opening, but by the time you get to that point, with the added context, he sounds unhinged and psychotic.

[@13Psycho13]

He actually did it, my man.

[@Chris-dy1cb]

Noatak Kenway the absolute mad man

[@kittyrules]

Noatak Kenway ill take credit for this I was the first to ask him to do it

[@olzhas1one755]

Noatak Kenway eat ass fuc

[@devilscorner8640]

i also love the fact that walker is practicing good trigger discipline at the start of the game and having the finger always on the trigger around the end

[@noahraab2429]

His dialogue in battle and while giving squad orders also becomes increasingly more unhinged. There around 3 stages.

[@chickencurry420]

"Target down" becomes "Kill *fucking* confirmed" and "He's DEAD!" "I'm reloading, cover me" becomes "Ugh, this is slowing me down.

[@unwritten_zephyr]

I actually didn’t know you had a choice to not mow down those civilians after Lugo’s death. It’s scary that the thought of shooting in the air never occurred to me, Christ.

[@franciscoreza8295]

feel like a hero yet? xp

[@jonathanrynjah]

I shoot at the ground. It still works

[@ryuhanja3415]

There is actually a loading screen after that scene which has the words “Lugo would have probably suffered from PTSD so maybe he is the lucky one”

[@edyslavico3761]

I remembered Lugo's words, "There's always a choice", so I tried everything I could do and I shot in the air to avoid killing anyone.

[@solid_rooster4587]

I shot the civilians and I never even thought of any other option in the moment, I did it without thinking and I felt like shit afterwards

[@VanceAsagi]

When walker says “who said I did.” I didn’t take that him actually being dead. I took that as saying who he was before died and who he is now. Is a version of himself that is broken. I don’t walker died at all in the story

[@christophersmith8848]

I've always felt people interpret that line too literally for its own good. Walker went into Dubai, but the man that walked out wasn't Walker anymore

[@matics898]

Exactly. I mean, I'm actually surprised that people actually thought he literally died.

[@vindikaktus]

Well yeah, everyone did as that's the obvious interpretation. That line hinting towards Walker being stuck in his own personal hell throughout the game is much more interesting.

[@lukky6648]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT I WAS PLAYING THE GAME AGAIN AND I JUST NOTICED ! Between many occurances Adams will shout " Walker Wake up!" , " Open your eyes Walker!!!" This means walker was hallucinating after the helicopter crash ! And adams was the only one who survived and he was trying wake walker up !

[@DeathAngel-ft8oz]

My personal theory is that this is all just Walker reliving the events in his head, this is his PTSD; We're just reliving his memories, and the choices we can make are him wondering about if he could have done things differently then how he did them, and if it would have changed anything. The answer is it wouldn't have. But he lives through it over and over again anyway, whether he wants to or not.

[@lewisdavidson571]

I was the perfect candidate for this game. 11 to 12 year old me was a COD fanboy. I played every game to completion, multiplayer, campaign and, if available, spec ops. To this day MW1 & 2 remain some of my favourite shooters. But after Blacks Ops 2, COD was crowned my favourite franchise. I then decided to go through as many shooters as I could before Ghosts came out. Battlefield came first, amazing. Rainbow 6, loved it. Bioshock, spectacular. Then I played Ghosts and was horrified at all how dull it was. I wanted more, I wanted a better shooter fix, like an addict. So I decided to move onto third person games. Gears of War, meh. Uncharted, now we’re talking. It goes on and on but around early 2015, when I was around 13 I saw Spec Ops: The Line. I thought, “never heard of this franchise before, looks pretty good.” So I bought it at a dirt cheap price expecting nothing. I went home and began to play. Helicopter opening? Seen it before. Local militia? Seen it before. Black serious side kick and wise cracking jackass recruit? Seen it before. I got to about Chapter 5 and stopped playing. I was bored. I didn’t care much for killing American Soldiers seeing as though I am not American. So I moved on. Dead Space, Splinter Cell, Mass Effect, Hitman, it goes on but I eventually decided to 100% every game I had before I sold my consoles. Amazingly, and by sheer luck, Spec Ops The Line was the last game I had on the self. Ugh, do I really wanna play this again? Might as well get my money’s worth. So I started up the game, typed in my name and heard the familiar voice of Mr Nolan North in a military shooter. Then I saw my name in the credits. My interest peaked. I was no stranger to the 4th wall but what could a military shooter do with the 4th wall? So I pushed past the early chapters. Then it happened. Chapter 8. Now, let me stress, I was now figuring out something was off. I guessed that one of my squad was the villain. I guess I was right. I didn’t even blink firing the white phosphorus, not a care in the world. I didn’t fire at the vehicle, I fired at the mass of white outlines. With intent to kill all of them. Walking through it? Nah, just enemies, red dots, the bad guys. Then I saw the mother and the child. I literally froze. Wait what? Nah, this was a trick, it isn’t real. This moment scared me more than anything in my life. If I was in that scenario, I just killed a ton of innocent people and said ‘I am the good guy.’ Then ‘This isn’t my fault.’ Then I thought it will be explained or justified later. Then the water supply. Then I blew that fuckers head off. Then the tips began to change. Then the radioman is assassinated. Then the characters got brutal. Then Lugo dies. Then civilians berate and riot against you. Then Adams blames you. Then Adams dies. Then Conrad is revealed to be dead. Then I sat, controller in hand, aiming at Conrad as he spouted off the truth. I then learned I could shoot myself instead. If you tell me you fully understood this game on a first playthrough you are flat out lying. It has a hypnotic effect on you, convincing you everything is justified up until the helicopter crash where the game reveals what it thinks of you and how everything around you, Lugo, Adams, Conrad, the game itself and even Walker, who kept claiming it wasn’t his fault, subtly blaming the player, thinks you are a murdering psychopath. And considering what happens if you dare think back on what you’ve done, you can’t help but agree. It actively discourages you to keep playing but the search for answers, the chance that it is all worth it pushes you to keep going. It even warns you that the answers you seek are not going to please you. Smashing enemies heads in, creating bloody messes as Walker screams in utter rage, unable to stop himself shoving his pistol into the mouth of another human being and blowing his head off, watching up close and savouring the brutality of it, watching Walker switch from making quick and precise orders like “Watch that gunner” to the most unnerving line I’ve ever heard in a video game due to how he expressed hatred towards another human being, one he didn’t even know, in a way that makes the soldier sound like an annoyance rather than a person “I want him dead”. The façade of Walker fades and we are shown what happens when you strip someone of their right to claim they are good, you are left with raw and primal emotions. Nothing else. Identity is irrelevant on a battlefield. And if you spend long enough on a battlefield, your identity withers and dies. Without the identity of Walker, there’s nothing left for you, the player, to protect yourself with. You can’t hide behind, it’s a video game character, anymore. It’s you. Have you ever gotten so angry that you sound inhuman in your threats? No? I’m willing to bet you have at least once lost all control and felt nothing but total rage. That is Walker by the end, that’s all that’s left. Rage and the desperate need to justify his actions. Walker is the rage. You are the desperate search for justification. And when you are told there is no justification, that you are to blame for all of this and YOU and YOU alone killed possibly thousands of innocent civilians and, at any point, could’ve just stopped by putting down the controller, accepting what you’ve done, and returning to reality, or in Walker’s case, the HQ to report back from his RECON mission. By tearing away any chance of justification, the rage is unfounded and so fades. So what’s left? Regret? No. There’s nothing left. It mixes in Walker and the player, making them distinctly different but uniting them at the end so the player fully understands that they are using the excuse that Walker is a character to deny that THEY chose their fate. The ending supports this. The player has control. It’s not Walker taking aim, it’s the player that gets to choose which is why the two Walkers have differing animations. It was your choice. It has always been your choice. The stress was unbearable. But I shot Conrad. It was over. I won, right? It’s justified because I won? Then the epilogue, the final kick to the balls, when I surrendered to the soldiers and the game ended. I survived, so I won right? No. I replayed the epilogue all the ways I could. Killing the soldiers felt wrong but it felt as if Walker had transcended my control. He was lost and survival is all that mattered, if survival is even real. Then getting killed by them felt calming, knowing that Walker escaped his hell. But then I figured out what the real ending was. There is no epilogue. The only way to end it, the only way to escape, the only way to know what is truly real, is to shoot Walker in the head. 13 year old me, no matter how naive understood that THIS was what I had been doing throughout all these shooters. Killing people because I was deemed ‘the good guy’ by myself. A realisation such as this, to a 13 year old, changes your outlook on video games. Suddenly Farcry 3 looks like very similar to this idea but The Line fully realises this idea. It was hard to replay the game, knowing how every person you kill was simply trying to protect themselves from you, specifically you. I haven’t touched a shooter since, nor will I ever do so again. The last game I ever played, my favourite game of all time, Spec Ops The Line, is one of the greatest experiences out there. Go play it. Now.

[@Anduron_Lazul]

This is the best review for the game I have ever read.

[@TheUntrainedNinja]

Nice novel

[@lewisdavidson571]

SkyOut I was only listing the games I played to show that my mind was opened up to all these different types of games with different narratives, I never intended to imply any quality or anything. But pretty much agree with you on all those you listed as like a snappy summary.

[@SuperPerry1000]

You are the most pretentious piss-stick I've ever met. Fuck off.

[@lewisdavidson571]

Perry Martin cute

[@FlyingFauxPas]

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two conflicting ideas simultaneously.

[@Fabelaz]

the more you know

[@duceawj5009]

FlyingFauxPas You are still a good person

[@zzurge1173]

"Do you like hurting people?" "They're just criminals,its okay" "But they have families too" "Nooo its fiiiine"

[@Brian2k2]

if you were a good person you wouldn't be here.

[@BobBob-yr4qo]

or also known as doublethink

[@BlueSkyBringsTears]

"It makes early access titles look like they were made by Blizzard" In light of recent events, this comparison no longer has quite the same effect.

[@proto303]

@Chayan Das even then, Refeorged had a lot of network issues on launch

[@liambrewerpowerlifting]

@Zoomer Waffen I mean kinda. Though overall they have a strong level of technical polish.

[@shadowling77777]

@Zoomer Waffen silence zoomer, you were not around for the Blizzard golden age They suck now tho ye

[@nun4464]

Oh boy

[@freindmaker4473]

@Zoomer Waffen starcraft and warcraft are both good??

[@TotalTech_]

28:00 Here's something I bet you didn't notice. Walkers scars have a very significant meaning If you look at the end of the game his scars are 1) The right side of his face. This represents his duality 2) His Temple. This is where most people shoot themselves when commiting suicide. It also represents how he lost his mind 3) Roughly the back of his neck. In ancient times it was believed when a demon took your soul they would take it through the back of your neck or head.

[@AutumnOnFire]

Bro.

[@Spartangeneral7]

There's a fanfic called Afterglow which takes place directly after the Shooting Konrad ending all the way to Falcon-1's appearance, and it merges seamlessly with the campaign's storyline. I recommend you read it just for the heck of it.

[@robertkovarna8294]

Link?

[@Spartangeneral7]

@@robertkovarna8294 m.fanfiction.net/s/12236790/1/Afterglow and archiveofourown.org/works/6983116/chapters/15912142

[@dadevi]

Thanks!

[@radarcore2125]

Which website is it on?

[@RezRector]

@@radarcore2125 Archive of Our Own

[@darknephilim3248]

I have to say, with the parts that didn't play out until the ending, like Lugo and Adams questioning why Walker stopped at the two hanging men. It could be explained as Walker blocking out some things. I feel like this is shown after the choice is made when Adams says "don't do this." He knows Walker is losing it, but they're barely surviving with the three of them. Seperating would not be viable as it would be a death sentence for all of them. After all, they have a mission, and they know PTSD is a thing. They may think it's Walker trying to cope. Just my personal take on it.

[@BrawlyDaStar]

Adams def knew walker was losing it... Lugo was losing it to lowkey

[@space3817]

@@BrawlyDaStar yeah, Lugo didnt put up with any of walkers shit and called him out on it multiple times, going to main mission points to just get them home, adams (until the end when all of them lost it) tried to stay with walker as again like you said, knows PTSD is a thing and it seems that he was closer with walker then lugo was

[@T4nkcommander]

Yeah, that was the obvious interpretation in my opinion. Walker was too busy taking to Konrad, so he didn't here them talking to themselves about him. It is pretty clear in the actual scene that they think he's bonkers for sticking around there

[@memememe609]

The first chapters are all filled with fades to white and hallucinations of Konrad on billboards. This game becomes truly interesting once you realize that there is no evidence that ANYTHING that happens is real. Not even the most "established" scene, the helicopter fight, is even demonstrably real, as Walker outright mentions how "This happened before!" So, as far as we know, maybe those scenes were not real. Maybe Walker never even found a radio. Maybe Dubai never happened, and this is Walker's own PTSD after Kabul. Or maybe the entire game is just his mind coming up with a twisted thought experiment where he is forced to understand what being unstable would cause to others. Point is: there is no proof that ANYTHING in the game is real, and the mass amount of fades to white mean that at least 50% of Walker's journey was dreamt up.

[@rubbers3]

I've heard about this game quite a lot. Never played it, it seemed like a typical 3rd person shooter, and thought that all the praising of it's story meant it was on a similar level as CoD4:MW. Then I was looking for something easy, quick and fun to play, and I didn't want to do another run in the CoD franchise or BF:BC2. So I thought - why not give it a shot. Now, I've finished it half an hour ago. Now I feel like a piece of shit.

[@DrewFr33m4nn]

I hear you man... “Do you feel like a hero yet?”

[@ArrKayCee]

We all do buddy...we all do.

[@spirz4557]

Don't be too hard ourselves. After all we've done, we can still go home. Lucky us.

[@Kuro_2712]

I also just finished it half an hour ago, I streamed it as well for my friend.

[@Peckh]

how many Americans have you killed today

[@callumjohn6622]

Did you ever notice how the level design rarely makes you go up? Each major chapter ends with dropping down a ledge or across a zip line. So there's a literal aspect to walker's descent as well.

[@JaxTheFound]

You forgot something!! When you look at the plaques and memorial, Lugo and Adam's name are on it

[@soldatdaniels8738]

What??!

[@almost_friday9745]

@@soldatdaniels8738 there is a theory that you, lugo, and adams were dead the whole time, and I think that it's actually true

[@soldatdaniels8738]

@@almost_friday9745 Hmm. Given everything, you might be right. But if we were dead, we wouldn't have been able to interact with the people or Ghould or Daniels. We wouldn't have experienced what we did after I launched the white phosphorus. And if we were, Konrad would've told me. You can't hallucinate if already dead. But then again.....your theory....just might be correct.

[@archer201977]

@@soldatdaniels8738 It probably was just a scenario plot otherwise the story ending reveal wouldn't be much interesting.

[@Wolvy114]

You know, with all the twists and turns in this game, and the theory that this is all Walker's "Personal Hell", I could honestly see this game falling somewhere within the Silent Hill universe.

[@SnipahTV]

Sits on the toilet, goes on phone, finds Raycevick video. FeelsGoodMan

[@LightTrack-]

You're gonna sit on that toilet for a 40 minutes then.

[@yudela1]

SnipahTV You spent 43 minutes on the toilet? Feelsgoodman

[@froggy937]

SnipahTV aawww man that's disgusting shit particles all over and inside your phone yuck

[@acetrigger1337]

Spec Ops: The Line did it's job, it made us Discuss, Question and Disagree. that is a bit more satisfying than another "Mission Complete". not to mention that it gave us this video.

[@eli4677]

First reply.

[@CarBleeder]

@@eli4677 fuck off

[@yokuutsu9097]

Third reply :D

[@cyceryx]

Fourth reply

[@acetrigger1337]

Final Reply. >:D

[@OverwatchSniper]

I personally have always seen Walker saying "Who said I did" not as him being dead, but as his mind having been damaged with all of his experiences and personal tortures. He feels he hasn't made it out despite having done so. He is still feeling tortured by all of the events leading up to leaving Dubai. The man who entered Dubai is not the man who left it, that man "died" in the metaphorical sense, not the literal. This is my personal opinion however, I very much enjoyed this game and this video as well. Keep up the good work!

[@Rainbowhawk1993]

OverwatchSniper First time I played, I went with the go home option not in the “I get to live,” sense, but as a “I need to go and face the music for my crimes against my brothers and the world we were meant to protect.” Basically something similar to what Michael Zelazny said in Deus Ex Human Revolution.

[@RazorIsEpic]

That scene fades to black. The scene didn't happen my dude.

[@brano13177]

Razor ツ In Spec Op's the line: things and events that happen in reality or are accepted by Walker as being the truth: Fade To Black. Hallucinations and Fantasies that Walker experiences: fade to white. When Falcon One takes the AA12 out of Walkers hands and Walker say's, tired, but hopeful.... that he can finally go home and gets into the HUMVEE, the scene fades to white (Fantasy/Hallucination)..... yet when inside the same HUMVEE driving out of Dubai and talking to the driver, who asks him how how he survived and responding: "who say's I did": the scene inside the HUMVEE fades to black (Truth/Reality). Basically what this scene means is that while Walker has laid down his weapon and is taking the HUMVEE to go home and saying that everything is over and he's ready to go home; that is some secret hope and fantasy he tries to hope for; that this is a fantasy of Walker himself and every soldier: the idea of a soldier coming home from war. However in reality, when asked how he survived Dubai .... his response is his true feelings even despite his small, haggered, desperate hope and fantasy he tries one last time to hold desperately to, that in reality, while his body has survived and is going home; the man he once was and the mind he once had: did not survive Dubai. The reality is that he is going home now a changed, broken, haunted man; a shadow, a specter of what he once was; uncertain but unlikely to be the same and haunted and burdened with the horrors and atrocities he has seen, experienced and even committed. His mind and soul isn't really coming home from Dubai even if his body is going home; as battered and exhausted as it is. The man he once was, the former Captain Walker: died and was left in Dubai. All that survived and is going home is a PTSD raddled shell of what Captain Walker had become. In another ending Conrad said that the their is no such thing as "going home" for a soldier, especially for soldiers of Conrad and Walker's caliber: those are just fantasies that soldiers have, tell themselves and hold on to; and becomes increasingly fleeting and harder to reach out and hold onto the longer a campaign and the more horrors a soldier experiences or even commits. In reality all those soldiers can ever hope to find: is peace. And while some part of Walker tried to hold on to the one last, ragged hope of the idea he once had of "going home"..... in truth at this point, and even he realizes as he's being carried out of the sand filled, hellish landscape of Dubai: is that he can't ever really go home.... only hope he can find peace; somehow... somewhere... and that the man he once was: is dead.

[@andreionx7396]

brano13177 wow. Ok

[@-_-5470]

Didnt thought that there was another way to think about it ^^

[@HetkiPieni]

Thank you for saying something against the white phosporus part. I very well remember seeing that the people were civilians and decided not to shoot at them, but then died because the game forced me to do it and then wanted to make me feel bad about it.

[@tomstonemale]

Yeah, it works more when the player isnt thinking about what they are doing.

[@Toadcop98]

I tried three times to not use the white phosphorus. I tried to move from the roof, kill the enemy combatants that keep respawning and throwing grenades down on the apcs. But noooooo you HAVE to horribly murder. So much for "adapt and overcome".

[@TheHaaaaaay]

andre brito obviously what the above comment said. At the time, those ac-130 sequences were the epitome of badassery, taking out baddies whether they be alone, trying to escape, or even if they were foolishly grouped up attempting to retaliate. It was the boot to an ant. Many players did not understand or very much care about how much power the game was bestowing upon them; it was simply a bigger gun. So when a story uses this mechanic and demonstrates its faults and costs, its very powerful. This was a stroke of genius on the writer's part in that the moment was experienced instead of observed. The player pulled the trigger, even if they didnt want to, just to progress the story. It really posed the question, is this really alright? Its a very powerful moment in the game.

[@ristier31]

Well you get plenty of praise from other games for doing things without options as well. So I feel that this is another way to parody other games. Did I get an option to not kill that dragon? Why am I getting praised for 'making the right choice' when I had no choice to not kill that dragon? Oh wait thats what The Line is parodying.

[@o5pr3y]

It worked on me because I was mindlessly killing soldiers, like I'd done so many times before, not thinking about it. The way I look at it now though: Walker blames Konrad for forcing his hand > Lugo and Adams blame Walker for forcing their hands > Players blame developer for forcing their hands. The game was never about choice anyways, so to act mad that suddenly you don't have a choice made no sense to me.

[@suhanshubhattacharya9450]

In a world full of Call of Duties, dare to be a Spec Ops: The Line.

[@929Finn]

Honestly I take the "who said i did" line as more of him being physically and mentally dead after all he has been through, though the theory you brought up is an interesting take but feels like a bit of a cop out.

[@User71956]

Yeah I interpreted it the same. Walker finally gets out of Dubai but is forever haunted by his atrocities he's committed there. Basically him being in a living hell for the rest of his life.

[@TheFuryLz]

But how that explains the dialogue in the chopper scene ?

[@929Finn]

I feel like it was the game being self aware regarding the little preview from the prologue

[@naughtydog201]

finn .mov I reckon quite simply it is the most severe form of PTSD. Some soldiers come back from war relatively okay but still have their troubles while others come back completely ruined over what they saw or did. So in this game, by the end of everything, Walker is dead inside

[@sethvalentine254]

The "years later..." Reviews are easily the best reviews on this site. Your exquisite script writing and damn near flawless editing make every second of the video engaging. You deserve so much higher praise and recognition on this platform. Keep up the amazing work and thank you for the gift that these videos are.

[@Maelifia]

Dominic Monteverde Not to mention, *THAT VOICE*.

[@dhil918]

Dominic Monteverde Joseph Anderson is pretty good as well.

[@TheSonicfanx1]

Spec Ops the Line Multiplayer is bad ... Spec Ops had multiplayer...?

[@trbd]

It is so bad that you need to ask this question

[@sergeantpepper42]

If anyone actually played spec ops multiplayer I'd be disgusted with them. It would mean they didn't play the story or worse they were very detached from the horrors that not only Walker goes through but themselves too.

[@leatherjackets92]

I heard they were forced to add it to the game

[@MerlautJones]

Yager was against the idea, but 2K insisted so they hired Darkside Game Studios to develop the multiplayer.

[@DanielGomez-xo1sh]

Discuss about the traumatic events and the failed moral choices online wasn't the multiplayer?

[@KenmoreChalfant]

33:55 I cringed at this part where he says any shooter needs to have multiplayer. You can almost tell he's guilty about saying it; like even he doesn't believe it but he has to drink the company kool-aid. Sadly, shitty multiplayer modes were forced on so many games that didn't need them, including Bioshock 2. The fact that they didn't learn their lesson after Bioshock 2 proves just how disillusioned the people calling the shots were. The same company, hiring the same studio, to add the same half-assed multiplayer onto a game that didn't need it. Hopefully the worst of this is past us. Single player games can be single player. Online can be online. We don't need to force both in one package every time.

[@Armymedic1975]

This is precisely why the multiplayer in Spec Ops wasnt good. Yeager did NOT want a multiplayer included but the powers that be insisted upon it so they just shoehorned a functional multiplayer

[@barateza16]

Fallout 76 says hello

[@mariofan1ish]

"Let's all laugh at an industry, That never learns anything, Tee hee hee!" -Yahtzee, The Escapist

[@pupinator98]

true, but bioshock 2 had great multiplayer

[@Minefield666]

EA Games, are you reading this? Cause you really should!!!

[@thecountbassy_]

Wow I never even noticed the "Special Guest" credit. That's so cool, and really enforces the idea that you're not even really controlling Walker.

[@jimthar17]

I noticed it when the game started but truly didn't know what the point of it was. I just thought it was a cool nod to the player, like, "hey you're here! Thanks for playing!". But that was well before i got into the story.

[@b2crazyeye]

Joe the main screen sniper guy is the one observering and when the game ends he dies

[@TheDegradingSeeker]

This video gave me the chills. Spec Ops The Line is one of my 10 favorite games ever, and though I replay it every year this analysis still pointed out things I've missed, like the hanging soldier during the rappel. Thanks so much for this amazing video, and for reminding me yet again what makes this game so special, flaws and all.

[@blus17]

The lines that got me when i first played this was "do you feel like a hero yet?" and "you came here to be something you're not, a hero"

[@blus17]

Xenomorph Captain Vex Ghost of the brony community military games i play to escape my world and be a hero other games i play for fun if you dont do that thats you im not everyone and everyone is not me we all have our reasons for playing games

[@veikka4456]

You can also notice walker getting more mad and bloodthirsty against the 33rd when commanding your squad members to attack an enemy. In the beginning of the game it's just normal commands to take out an enemy, but more towards the later parts and ending of the game walker might say stuff like "I want him dead" or just straight up "Kill him!" along with more normal commands, when ordering lugo and adams to attack.

[@DeMomcalypseLive]

If the initial trailers for this game were to sell this game as a horror game and not a third person shooter, i think it would have more appeal. Like Yahtzee said in his Zero Punctuation videos, games are meant to be fun but they aren't always like that. Games that are meant to give the player a sense of dread and misery, much like horror games. And he saud Spec Ops could be identified as a horror game, not because it's scary but because it makes the player uncomfortable and uneasy

[@SatoshiKong]

Yeah, it's the same portrayal of horror that Kurtz talks about at the end of Apocalypse Now. There's really nothing more horrifying than human cruelty.

[@samuelraji8343]

All the stupid ass screaming and put noises made me so uneasy. Also I played on Suicide with a controller so it was hard too. So I was super uncomfortable.

[@tylersimmons7105]

21:14 I always thought it was a nice touch that Walker's eyes almost look like shattered glass in this scene, just like how his reality is shattered right in front of his eyes.

[@princepeachfuzz]

Yo! Scary warning might be needed on this one

[@usagentgaming3079]

They are like that the entire game actually.

[@ayyylmao101]

@@usagentgaming3079 Maybe Walker's been staring out a broken window the whole game, reliving his wholly cursed experiences like the broken man he is...

[@T4nkcommander]

@@usagentgaming3079 Not really. They start out pretty normal. Following the white phosphorus they shatter tho, in tandem with his dissociation

[@TirOrah]

Wow, I never noticed the reflection of a hanging soldier where Lugo is supposed to be. Very clever! I believe the plot holes stemming from the great reveal are actually caused by the very nature of the narrative you describe, in that it's intentional. I know this requires a lot of faith in the author but here's why I think this. Walker--the person--is stuck in his own personal purgatory. The events in Dubai broke him. In an effort to deny what he saw, he constructed his own reality where those he meets, the story of the game and even the world itself is constantly judging him. The entire game is his conscience, and that conscience is torturing him for the crimes he committed. I especially liked the way the hallucinations are terrifying not just to the player, but to Walker as well. As the game progresses they freak him out more and more, and some apparitions actually seem to charge him or box him in. The change in lighting when white phosphorus is used eventually transitions to a inky black darkness contrasted by hellfire. Even subtler things, like the Konrad billboards, the inexplicably withered tree, the change in loading screens and the main menu, and especially the way you keep descending into darker and darker surroundings, push this theme of confrontation and self-torture. And finally, there are the times where the screen fades to white. It's a sign that something you saw, or are seeing, isn't real. This is of course what ties the entire thing together. The more you play, the more the game sets up Walker as something you don't see often in any kind of media: the unreliable narrator. That's why I think the plot holes, while unfortunate, were more or less deliberate. In the end, we don't know 100% what happened. Neither does Walker. ...This turned out longer than I wanted it to be. Anyway, thanks for the thought-provoking video! You definitely pointed out a few things I hadn't noticed.

[@akerravala]

I wish I could save comments

[@SianaGearz]

@Anne Isopod What if it's not one easily missed thing but dozens of such things peppered over different places and they work more on a subconscious level, or as a bonus for people who're playing for the second time and thus are more receptive towards subtle clues to the later story chapters? I don't know for certain how far the game goes with this and how much might have been missed in this review, but such touches can be pretty neat, and denying that they're clever is a bit disingenuous. Certainly a lot more clever than when foreshadowing is laid on so thick, it essentially gives away the whole story. It can't ever be quite right, because audience can't be uniform in background and expectations, but understated certainly beats overstated.

[@carlosdgutierrez6570]

@Anne Isopod actually it is, it judges the ability of the "player" to be aware of its surroundings, to don't be just a mindless happy trigger drone just following orders without the capacity to drawn it's own conclusions without the narrator telling him or she the history.

[@twodo]

as much as i love this game and this video, i think that's just a texture to show the reflection of lugo rapelling and lowpoly makes it look like he's hanging

[@AzureRoxe]

Even in the final conversation with "Konrad" implies so much more when we start to dissect it.

[@soldaatjhu]

So many people slept on this game, such a shame. I was 17 when it came out, and when I told people it had one of the best stories ever, for a video game, they just laughed and continued to play CoD of BF.

[@imp4ktth]

sadge

[@kieran1505]

This game surprised the shit outta me when I played it, I think it was a breath of fresh air during a time where miltary shooters followed the same formula. It's a shame that it sold poorly because if it sold well we might have seen a few more games try to tackle this theme. The only other game that distanced me from the person I was playing was when I finished the last of us. It had the same I don't wanna do this feeling, people hate on linear games but if done right taking that choice away from the player can be more impactful then giving us a save the universe button.

[@killerspinach8256]

people hate on linear games because they think walking for ten mins between objectives is content.

[@samsonite789]

Linear narratives in games have their place when the lack of choice emphasizes the point the game is trying to make more so than an abundance of choice would. Spec Ops benefits wildly from that notion, but I'm not so sure about The Last of Us...I could be wrong, though...

[@TheFacelessStoryMaker]

I get why this is called 'The Line'. In war soldiers often cross a line in committing brutal acts either following orders or on their own accord. And in this game, it's clear characters cross a moral line and it's up to you to decide where you fall on this line. I have to disagree with you about the choice of the white phosphorous thing. It is absolutely your choice to use it. Yes you have to do it to progress but nobody is forcing you to buy the game to do it in the 1st place.

[@deathwish-mm1vc]

@@wunderpuma4453 gramer Nazi

[@chaosof99]

I personally think that "The Line" also strongly refers to the very linear design of the story. There are small choices but they don't have any impact. The player simply follows the path laid before, regardless of whether they should or not but simply because they think it is necessary. The name "Walker" also plays into similar themes.

[@LeadHerring]

I think it plays on a lot of similar phrases to do with "Crossing the line" and "drawing a line in the sand" (note the amount of sand imagery in the game). The Line has a lot to do with morality and forbidden actions in these phrases. Also the player character is Captain Walker because he "walks the line", I guess having connotations of being dangerously close to crossing it.

[@chancemadeit]

chaosof99 this makes considering actual military servants have to follow orders from their commanders. Basically falling in-line and operating as a machine with very little personal input on decisions. Game has a compelling story for sure.

[@ayyylmao101]

You walk the line until you look down and realise that there is no line drawn in the sand beneath your feet. You look behind you and all you see are dunes and dust for miles. You've been telling yourself that no matter what happens, it'll be alright as long as you follow the path ahead. But... Was there ever a line?

[@TheBearJew1309]

I disagree with the perspective that Walker is dead. My personal interpretation is that there were two versions of the story. One was not shown up until the helicopter sequence at the start, when it is indeed in media res. The rest of the game, up until the helicopter scene replays, is a twisted, warped flashback by Walker. Then, the two versions of the story merge, and you are forced to confront what Walker has done. In the first timeline, Walker commits the atrocities, and in the seconds, he attempts to justify his actions.

[@vfxninja5503]

Rusty Shackleford Oh damn that kinda works, not bad

[@GhostCell47]

No. He is dead and he's in hell. Pay attention to the helicopter gameplay when he freaked out that they've done the same thing all over again. That let's you know that they are dead and they don't even know it.

[@Loxu69]

I don't think he means dead in the literal sense more like deep depression "dead". Walker even years past this relives these memories because of PTSD in his perspective he's not living he's in his own personal hell.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

I think this is the ticket - the "HE WERE DED THE WHOLE TIM!" cliche is too hackneyed for this game.

[@Thore2k24]

I know im late, but ive read somewhere, that the devs didnt want to include the helicopter scene at the beginning. They were pushed to make it the start of the game though, because they got told by the publisher that "every military shooter needs to start with a bang" or some such. Pretty cool, that they still managed to implement that in a way, that its open to discussion and interpretation... in my book walker isnt dead as well btw.

[@HalvedStudios]

Weirdly enough I absolutely loved the multiplayer of spec Ops the Line. When I finished my Let's Play of the game on my channel I actually kept it installed for several months afterwards taking up precious space on my disk just so I could play it. Yeah it absolutely had problems with netcode, and if you tried to play it like cod you were going to have a bad time, but the things I absolutely loved about it came in conjunction with the short time to kill and the cover system those two things together, at least among the hardcore players that were still around when I was playing, created these wonderful and amazing moments of multiplayer gameplay. The moment I'll always remember from my time playing Spec Ops multiplayer was the time when it was just me and one other person on the map one kill left, I was on one side of the map he was on the other side of the map and it was just this long drawn-out firefight throwing grenades to push each other out of cover, peeking up, blind firing, and throwing rocks it was amazing

[@Calvin_Coolage]

HalvedStudios Yeah, it was surprisingly ok.

[@HalvedStudios]

and the 3 objective game mode was a lot of fun i almost considered making a few multiplayer videos for my channel but i decided against it because the core players that where still around kicked my ass :)

[@SNGHammiam]

As one of the people who was lucky enough to join Raycevick for the "testing" of the multiplayer for this video (the guy who screams "FUCK!" at 32:21 in the video), it was surprisingly fun. Broken to holy fuck, but fun. Never was there a moment when I actually felt like I wasn't enjoying playing (aside from the bullshit pistol shot, and the literal hundred crashes the group had in the first hour of trying to play). Though agreed with him in saying that the "Blood thirst" perk is the most broken piece of shit I've ever seen, when he put that on for the two matches he played with it, we couldn't stop him. I think he only died five times total between those two matches.

[@theanarchyspud]

Hahahaha that's it, runaway coward!!!! Ah shit....

[@monthafterdecember]

Raycevick’s Spec Ops The Line… 5 Years Later, 5 years later

[@jamesfratner3190]

Thank you for this Raycevick, fucking thank you

[@qbmac2306]

One thing you forgot to mention about multiplayer was that Yager included no trophies or achievements based on it where nearly every other game has as an incentive for people to try it. Seeing as how conflicted the development of multiplayer was, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a very deliberate action.

[@marialuke2116]

Of course, after all why reward you for acting like a "hero" It's a very good choice imo

[@mjc0961]

QB Mac Forgot to mention? More like isn't worth mentioning.

[@artaum5635]

Games like this prove that Videogames are art

[@tangent.arc38618]

Bf 2042 rearing its ugly head in the corner

[@UnstoppableAW]

This video is so good!!! I cannot get enough Spec Ops discussion, and it's really nice to see people still talking about the game. Plus, I never knew the history of the game before this, so thanks for that. You've given me a fresh perspective on the meta narrative and important scenes (like I never noticed the parallels between Walker's fiery nightmare and Konrad's final monologue.) I have a lot to think about, and I might just have to play through it again. Obligatory Spec Ops quote: "Your eyes are opening for the first time. It hurts, doesn't it?"

[@technomunk]

That feeling when you watch a 40 minute review and find it short... I'm late to the party, but HUGE respect for not just playing through the game, dissecting it and its components and researching it's development history!

[@Dabadi4834]

You also missed the fact that after Conrad says "welcome to hell Walker" he's says "we've been waiting for you" meaning Conrad (or in this case Walker) knows no matter how much good does he will still end up in hell instead of the usual "we've been expecting you" which expresses doubt

[@backtoklondike]

I've heard one theory about why Adams and Lugo keeps obeying you and never asks any questions is because they are supposed to be Walkers consciousness like they are the angel and devil on your shoulders. Adams always enables your actions while Lugo questions you at every turn. And it's why Lugo is the first to die because now there is nothing that holds Walker back and he goes even more animalistic and brutal. But even Adams has a breaking point before he dies and that's when Walker is forced to face the truth of his actions.

[@shitpostingstevebecauseall6279]

On your point about the game not giving you a choice to kill the civilians, I think that's the point. The game routinely presents choices or moral conflicts that ultimately don't mean anything or are unavoidable because the thesis of the game is you should never have played it in the first place. There's a moment where you have to either kill someone who stole water, or someone who killed five family members of the man who stole the water (or not kill either and end up killing many more), except, at the end, you find out they were corpses all along, and you'd imagined the whole thing. At the very beginning of the game, right around the tutorial, there's a Stop sign, asking you to turn away. The "choice" was to play the game. The strongest evidence for this is the way Walker talks about choice. He consistently frames himself as having no choice, and, as the player, you're meant to think the same. "I had to bomb civilians with white phosphorus to complete the game." The reason there's no in-game choice is because the choice isn't framed as an action within the game, it's framed as you choosing to continue playing. You can debate the efficacy of that, some may argue it's akin to blaming the actions in a book on the person turning the page, but, whether or not you think this "choice" was presented in a meaningful manner, whether there's any point to making the player complicit for moving forward in the game, I do think that was the point the game was making.

[@maxxpower3d6]

This game came out in June 2012. Player agency as a narrative concept had barely been explored in video games, with Braid and Bioshock being notable exceptions. Telltale Games had just released The Walking Dead, Undertale was still over three years away, and while the controversy about Mass Effect 3's ending was starting to boil over, that debacle had come from developer misjudgment, not intentional subversion. Spec Ops: The Line is one of the most miraculously timely games to ever exist. It was released in the exact year when its message would be the most relevant and the least expected, the last year before players would start learning to keep their guard up about what a video game asks them to do.

[@superunknown2812]

Wish this game would get a remaster it was soo good

[@zafranorbian757]

it would not even be hard, the game still looks great.

[@princepeachfuzz]

I hope they don't screw up his eyes lmao

[@jamainegardner4193]

Just cut out the multiplayer.

[@FreshTillDeath56]

Still looks great and plays well on PC

[@deadruins]

@@FreshTillDeath56 seems recent Windows 11 PCs are getting issues to run (although mine works fine) Also I wanna VR support tbh this must be so immersive

[@superjew837]

I assumed there wouldn't be any more videos about people analyzing Spec Ops, and then comes this video. Probably my second favorite analysis behind the Errant Signal video, but luckily they both touch on different aspects of the game's story so they don't step on each other's feet too much. Subbed.

[@derk3996]

"Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai." "Yup. Still dead."

[@irusan_san]

with these dialogues, you already know that this isn't the reality.

[@Levatos]

@@irusan_san After killing the rescue soldiers, the screen fades to black, indicating it was real, as the fade to white is used to indicate hallucinations experienced by Captain Walker. This, to me, at least, indicates that Walker was in fact alive, had gone fully insane, and had finally accepted that he is the villain, and there is no saving him.

[@tannerhill9648]

The year is 2019. I've never played this game. People thought MW3 was a mature compelling story that really highlights the horrors of war through its characters. I thought MW3 was a dogshit story and the original Call of Duty 4 and BO1 could never be topped. I always had that game as my bar. Had so much respect for it despite how its been lately. Then I decided finally to give this game a chance. I heard about it in highschool from my friend who was one of the people that believed MW3s story was amazing. On my 360 I watched the trailer and thought it as a generic third person shooter with a samd mechanic. Such a generic boring looking "here's another one" game. I skipped it. Now almost 5 years later I am 20 years old and I watched a game movie of Spec Ops the Line (its like a movie about a games story mainly the cutscenes with some gameplay in between for context) It was immediately boring but I gave it a chance. I kind of predicted the twist when he used the White Phosperous but when I got to that part I still couldn't believe it. It wasn't the burned corpses of civilians. It was that soldier missing his face. All of its features black and charred but his eyes. Wide open looked and this soldier that looked no different from the others that were killing you just a few minutes ago. Says in a raspy pathetic whimper. "Why...?" "We...We were helping" As the soldiers toss him aside like trash to witness the main event. That moment I paused. I didn't cry but as fast as I could I looked up if there was a way to prevent it. I called it it felt forced but it left an impression. So bad. I didn't even play it. But I still wanted to see if that could've been avoided. It can't. I was hooked the whole way through. And after the ending. I looked up the others. Then suddenly it all clicked. The soldiers weren't fighting for a cause. They weren't lunatics running at you with a knife to send some crazy message. They were desperate. To survive. This wasn't a military shooter with message like CoD. This was a critique. It was a psychological survival horror game. And you were the monster. You weren't fighting soldiers. You were fighting people who just wanted to survive. All those actions found in every other shooter game that were such a slog to watch became so much more real the second time I watched it. This was longer than I thought it would be but if you made it this You can buy it on Steam for the price of a pepperoni pizza and a diet coke. But this game will leave a taste in your mouth that never goes away. Play. This. Game.

[@juanojeda6559]

NOW i get it when people says that Walker was the villian.Thanks man

[@quangduongang6230]

@@juanojeda6559 No, get it when you play it. Don't read spoiler, man.

[@juanojeda6559]

@@quangduongang6230 i've already played it

[@quangduongang6230]

@@juanojeda6559 ah cool. I thought you read the spoiler to get the story like some people. Weird how that's a thing tho

[@juanojeda6559]

@@quangduongang6230 nah i saw this video after playing the game

[@maxducks2001]

What I love about Nolan North's voice acting in this is that it has three stages that it goes through as the game progresses. Stage 1 is at the beginning of the game, it's very professional and precise. Stage 2 is after the horrific stuff starts to pile on, where he gets a lot more aggressive, throws more curses into his lines, and even starts to yell at enemies. And then once everything falls apart, Walker just breaks down and is bloodthirsty, and it shows in his lines in stage 3. One part that really hit me when I played was after SPOILERS NECK ROPE GUY, and when I revive Adams, he yells "We have to fucking move now!!!" and his voice cracks. And there's no doubt in my mind the devs left that voice crack in there on purpose. Here's a video covering it, it's a fascinating watch. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHqpgq2DnL6GZqs

[@afatcatfromsweden]

Irl shotguns have the range of smgs

[@BiggestRedditor]

Wat?

[@Chopstorm.]

Nick Martin Sure if you're using bird shot, slugs are another ball game.

[@Excludos]

Genuinly not the case. They have much longer range than in video games sure, but so does every single weapon that's ever been depicted in one. In video games you're sniping at 100 meters, in real life that's the short end of engagements. Shotguns (pellets) will have a range of about at most 50m. Sludges go a bit further, but doesn't have a whole load of accuracy if you do. Meanwhile assault rifles are meant to be effective up to 400m. SMGs fall somewhere in the middle (mp5 is said to be effective up to 200m).

[@Chopstorm.]

Excludos You're absolutely correct. I think I missed him specifically mentioning pellets, hence why I brought up slugs.

[@reeve2222]

Um.....maybe if you're shooting deer slugs. A 00-Buck pellet might edge out a .45 acp round in terms of sheer velocity, but that same pellet is going to lose energy MUCH faster and doesn't have the benefit of stabilization from rifling. This is just comparing a pellet to an already pretty low velocity pistol round, and we haven't even begun to talk about spread, which is entirely dependent on the type of choke you're using. True, the real range of shotguns is greatly reduced in video games for the sake of gameplay balance, but so is the range of sub-machine guns. The effective range of a sub-machine gun is really no different than that of a pistol caliber carbine.

[@arthurwild6563]

I remember people saying that the Metal Gear Franchise was anti-war. Then Spec Ops: The Line came out to show them what a real anti-war game looks like.

[@Stevey2578]

And is less preachy about it. And this is Spec Ops we're talking about.

[@tombrearley-smith5777]

Arthur Wild Aren't you forgetting Metal Gear Solid 3? During the boss fight against The Sorrow, passing through a river, while ghosts of the dead soldiers you've killed in the game up to this point come at you. The more soldiers you've killed, the more ghosts you encounter. It's a thought provoking idea that really makes you think about the Soviets you've shot in the game thus far.

[@VagueLuminary]

Spec Ops: The Line is great but it is not even comparable to the quality and depth of Metal Gear Solid's themes and story.

[@ectofrost]

Metal Gear is filled to the brim with anti war sentiment. Sometimes going as far as having a codec frequency dedicated to talking about these things.

[@Tamacat388]

Metal Gear has said a lot more about war and life than Spec Ops The Line. Though The Line is one game it still doesnt have the depth and complexity of MGS1-3, PW, and V as flawed as V is.

[@roshanpaul1184]

Seeing the aftermath of the white phosphorus gave me such a visceral feeling of "how could anyone live with this on their conscience?" Upto that point, I had identified with Walker. But soon afterwards, he becomes someone who tries his best to cope with it by becoming more and more evil as the story went on. By the end, I had made Walker the most evil, revolting bastard ever and I did it because that's all I believed he could be. There was no redemption for him. Or for me. This game forced me into killing a bunch of innocent people but it also made me think about how I would feel about myself if I ever did something that horrendous IRL. What a wonderful and unique work of art.

[@Catslug]

I remember the white phosphorus scene mainly because no one ever spoiled it for me. The closest to it was "captain walker unwittingly does a bad thing". Waiting for that bad thing, i was completely shocked still by expecting something like a murder and getting 100 times that. Bless this game

[@FurderikuSama]

In my opinion the best singleplayer i've ever played. The mindfuck was unreal

[@finnish_hunter]

Spec Ops the Line, 10 years later.

[@CallForGrandPappy]

The music that plays when Konrad shows Walker the painting he has been working on still gets me everytime, just reinforces the shitty feeling you have at the end.

[@johnalbers6153]

I played this when it came out...with my buddies who JUST returned from their deployment to Iraq. The Three of us played the entire game in one sitting and I will never forget their reaction to it.

[@pabloe.acosta8943]

YEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!! Finally a Spec Ops The Line video, this game is criminally underrated!

[@singami465]

Overrated.*

[@uniquehandleohsocool]

Yagi you spelt underrated wrong, wtf

[@singami465]

Sir Musty I think a massive amount of praise for something that's ultimately simplistic and pretentious is pretty close to the definition of "overrated".

[@jinkisaragi874]

Yagi I think the Problem is that almost every modern Tps/Fps games are forgettable and boring , they mainly exist because of Multiplayer. So people praise this game because it is atleast a bit different.

[@singami465]

Literally dozens of games deal in "decisions & consequences" every year, the only way Spec Ops was different was omitting the "decisions" part and being extremely obnoxious with its messaging.

[@neil_breen42]

Revisiting this for the bazilionth time, because it's such a banger of a video; but also feels so different, after the game was just pulled from all digital storefronts due to the licensing. SO glad I got it years ago, thanks to your recommendation, Ray!

[@Empyrean55]

5 years? What, it's been that long!?

[@Fabelaz]

Skyrim is almost 6 years old.

[@KingAwesome8218]

Personally, in regards to the moment at 28:19, I don't think is a reference to the fact Walker died, but that he is so totally broken as a man that he is simply mentally scarred forever. Walker before and Walker now are so fundamentally different, so changed, that they, philosophically, are not the same person any more. What people knew as Walker, the memories of who Walker was, are gone, it is now just an empty husk of a man who goes by Walker. Walker died in that he is no longer Walker, much like, for example, how an old man is no longer like his toddler self. The memories have died, the changes radical, and in that sense the toddler version of that person is dead. This is how I interpret that scene. Walker, as the person, the memory, of what that soldier recalls of Walker from his debriefings, is dead, trapped in Dubai.

[@blazingwaters7469]

I think that's more-or-less what Raycevick meant, but he just worded it weirdly. I mean, the term "die" does have different meanings if used in certain contexts. Either that or I'm just grasping at straws here.

[@mrhappyface4181]

The first time I played this game was in 2013. I had some downtime from my new factory job, but was missing some army themed stuff as that was my old job. Never did anything special, just liked the structure of the place. It was home, and it had rules I understood. So when I got to the WP scene... well I beat the game on a philosophical level. I flat out refused to deploy the WP, because I knew what it would do, and did not believe it would ever be justified. I was angry that I bought a game that sought to bottleneck me, and I uninstalled. Cut to 2015, my internet is limited, and I need something to occupy the time. Desperate to kill the boredom, knowing full well what the game would ask of me, I played it through anyway. Back to the WP scene. The absolute second the WP spread from the humvee, I knew. I fucking knew and I fucking hated it. I knew I chose to be there, and there was no "you could have avoided this". I did avoid it, and came back anyway out of boredom, of all things. I still made a point of completely restarting a chapter if I killed a civilian both before and after that point, and I refused to subscribe to the mechanic of executions for ammunition... but the game had tarnished me already. By the time it got to the end... it didn't matter. There was no redemption to be had, and it wasn't worth seeking. There was madness, an AA12, and a radio with a working battery. "Gentlemen. Welcome to Dubai."

[@plaguedoctorjamespainshe6009]

I think the point is that no matter how good we think we are, given the certain scenario and the lack of tought, we all can become a monster in war, or in war-like scenarios

[@linhza501]

Even in normal life situations we can be pushed and coerced into doing things we don't like, not to mention in war where is either you or them, live or die situations. The human brain is weird like that. Sometimes one can just follow orders without a thought and do horrible things when told.

[@Acrysalis]

Every single person on the planet has the capacity for the most depraved evil imaginable, all it takes is the right circumstance

[@T29hotrod]

Never forget *Joe the main menu Sniper*

[@Michaelthegrape7680]

The reason why this game resonated with me so much was that I played the campaign on a Saturday in the summer, all in one sitting and at first I was calm, I was happy. But as it drew on I began getting bored but when the narrative picked up I didn’t feel engaged. I did feel entertained but I also felt quite irritable, and when the white phosphorus scene hit I was practically shell-shocked but after that no atrocity or death felt meaningful. I had quite literally did not express any other emotion other than stoically playing the game or raging at the screen for dying due to inaccurate button prompts. When I was playing Chapter 13-14 I was fairly quiet, not because it was easy but it was because whenever I died or took a huge chunk of damage Conrad said exactly what I was thinking at that moment. I had become angry and I had become devoid of all other emotion and then the ending came. I took one good look at what I had done in the game and I let Conrad shoot me. No game has ever made me emotionally resonate with its message and no character has ever reflected my emotions and reactions quite like Walker did.

[@grizzy_6611]

I dont remember many campaigns but jesus this. THIS one stuck with me. Everytime I thought I had the plot and everything down it just flipped it on its head. After I finished the game I sat there for like an hour doing nothing but just trying to process it. Goddamn I dont choose favorites but now I can positively say this is my #1 favorite game I've played

[@GlenTropile]

I loved Global Operations. As for The Line, I loved the story and setting and how your decisions were made in game play rather than a choice menu/wheel. There was a lot of me thinking "what should I do..." or "what did I just do" hahaha.

[@5000cz]

i miss this game. I wish I can erase my memory and play through it again. I remember after finishing the last few levels in a single sitting and I kinda just sat there, contemplating what I just experienced. Any game that does that is legendary in my eyes. I just wish I knew how to advertise this game to other people without actually spoiling it. I can see why the marketing team had such a tough time. But yea, fuck the multiplayer.

[@brandonallen9922]

I really like how you've kept the tone of your older videos, but lightened up a bit and don't seem over the top serious. 10/10 definitely subscribed

[@RightCorrections]

This is one of the greatest games I have ever played. The story is mind blowing. It convinced me to read "Heart Of Darkness"

[@impendingdoom8706]

Great. Watch the movie 'Apocalypse Now' as well.

[@Awgez24]

Was the character Konrad a nod to the author? I believe so.

[@nathanboomershine4888]

This was my first M rated game ever. What a way to start....

[@Comkill117]

You really got thrown into the deep end there, lol.

[@AST_RA]

In my opinion , your strongest video yet. Great work and shoutout to the fans who helped make the multiplayer segment possible :>

[@epikmanthe3rd]

At 2:08 the song that plays is "You think I ain't worth a dollar but I feel like a millionare" by queens of the Stone age. You may think I'm crazy for knowing that, but it's a pretty unique song.

[@carlosyanes3453]

Noticed the shit out of that! Mostly bc the song was used for the Jak X Combat Racing trailer.

[@endornaut]

4 years ago, this video made me start the game that was rotting in my library after a quick and uninterested peek into it sometime before than that. I didn't watch the video entirely back then to not spoil it but I was rather interested in it because the man himself had made such a long video on it...Though I couldn't finish it. The college teen that is almost exclusively playing fast paced multiplayer shooters and completely quit playing single-players, I couldn't bear to sit and watch and I quit almost right after the W. Phos. scene, not appreciating the slight trauma I had tasted in that scene. After all these years, this video dropped in my inbox back again, to a new me who is struggling to go back to single-player games after the exhausting 5-6 years of constant, intoxicating multiplayer chaos. I couldn't let this game go either so I just went back and started it again, with this video in my mind. And oh boy did I hated the gameplay...It's clunkier than clunky, especially when you compare it to the repeatedly refined shooter mechanics we have today. But I made it, and almost hated it, it didn't really land as well as I expected it to. Then I came back to this video and watched it. I have to say that the thorough analysis and the general praise with the added bonus of the explanation of the deeper and well hidden (imo) sub narrative of Walker being probably dead and the whole thing being his hell just made me see the game through different lenses and appreciate it a lot more. I don't know if anyone would read this but still, The thing I'm trying to give across is, Thank you Raycevick, you once again restored my interest, passion, hope, and many more things that I can't even name right now, in video games.

[@strikerecho2592]

Back here now that the game has been delisted from stores. 😔

[@st.archer1496]

I absolutely adore these ...X Years Later videos. Such great scripts and analysis along with generally good production. Have you ever thought about doing this on the Batman Arkham series?

[@Raycevick]

Thank you! Though I haven't really played the Arkham series, so a video on them likely wouldn't be a Years Later breakdown.

[@TheNetherlandDwarf]

19:05 I can dispute it. I feel the main theme of the game was that you had no reason to continue except because you wanted to. You are to blame because you wanted to see what would happen next. If anything it works better in subsequent playthroughs, because you know what is going to happen, but you choose to keep going because you want to play the game. When I first played I tried to avoid using it, I assumed the 'no, there's always a choice' Luco says was a challenge to the player. And I think it still is, but not in the way I assumed. I tried to gun my way through instead of using the phosphorus, and died. Then I replayed it because I wanted to continue, because I wanted to be a hero, just as Konrad points out later. Looking at what he points out at the finale, the unspoken third choice in every presented choice in the game is to stop playing. The ending even lampshades this IMO: you can keep shooting the soldiers who come to pick you up, and remain in the game's system of gratification through violence, or acknowledge Konrad's words and stop. Subsequent playthroughs draw my mind to that one reading of the game as being the protagonist's purgatory. The game tries hard to blur the protagonist with the player. If you come back to the game you are yourself returnnig to that purgatory, reliving the events until you learn that same lesson, stop trying to play a hero through the violent heterotopia of the setting and put the game down.

[@dontpreorder2783]

While I do agree with that statement I also wanna add a second perspective I learned from the bioshock games that I think, albeit loosely, applies here. In the game you have no choice as walker or the player to prevent, minimize or avoid these tragedies, which is a good thing in regards to the theme but what does that tell you about walker or even you? Yeah you can “choose” to stop, turn the game off and go do whatever but eventually you’ll come back, maybe not to spec ops, maybe not to call of duty, halo, battlefield or whatever fits your fancy but you will return to this conundrum of comprising something, or everything, you know to be “right” or “good” for the sake of your own fulfillment, it may not be a human life, or a life at all or anything of value outside of your own head but you’d be willing to completely forsake and even bastardize something that, if questioned on, would immediately have you regarding it as something absolutely pivotal to your existence, All for the sake of maintaining the restrictive, redundant but relaxing thing you call “comfort”. “A man chooses, a slave obeys” but what are men except slaves to the boundless feelings, thoughts, perspectives and *urges* that make us human? Shit is deep, yo

[@elcawyo9629]

Another great game which explores the ideia of "you could just end all this carnage by closing the game" is Hotline Miami, Hotline Miami actually is very simillar to Spec Ops: The Line now that i think about it, they both confront the player about violence in the media in a way that really marks the player. Sadly both games are also not talked about very much.

[@qwefhj3011]

Nah that statement is bullshit and making player as faulty because player does his job and plays the game. It isn't player's fault. Each game made to be published and played like how each book published for to be read or how each film published for to be watched. If game doesn't wanted to be played, well that game was better not to be published.

[@blankieplays1350]

@@qwefhj3011 you don't get it actually have you even play the game

[@qwefhj3011]

@@blankieplays1350 yes i did "I made a linear story with fake decisions for make the player to actually believe these things are their fault." That's the whole point of the game. For example White phosphorus part didn't had any secondary way to complete. Even you kill the snipers, they'll respawn and you can not play the game without advancing that LINEAR PATH that game tries to manipulate you. Water trucks have to be stolen for advancing that SAME MANIPULATIE PATH that tries to make you feel every single thing is your fault. This game doesn't teach you anything. This game tries to manipulate you.

[@hogrideeeeer]

Raycevick is like the Nat Geo of video games. I love it.

[@no1nedoesstuffonyoutube]

18:00 I think another way to look at it is that most people wouldn’t really notice that there were civilians and just shot anyway. So once they had realized what they’d done (and eventually gone through the game again), they’d try and go back to fix it. But they can’t, and it ultimately harkens back to Konrad’s speech. “You’re here to feel like something you’re not. A hero.”