Singularity Review

[@MandaloreGaming]

Singularity on GOG - gog.la/sovietbioshock So if you saw the previous upload up for a few moments this video is nearly exactly the same except for some tiny edits I made later (I run upload tests as the video is being made to make sure KZbin doesn't flag anything). Instead the wrong version went public at a weird time, so I deleted it and went to make the other one public...which I noticed was still refusing to process past 480p after being up overnight and the subtitles had vanished out of it. I'll need to restart that fun process so the timings don't break. But since it's already been out I figure it should just be public now. I ended up having to reupload the file which is a lot slower now that I'm no longer on fiber where I'm at.

[@Njuman]

WITNESSED

[@iamtheforce14]

I now know what happens when somebody deletes the video while you’re watching it haha

[@ToastyCubes]

You should eat more fiber it is good for you

[@fabioriveros991]

k, you are forgiven

[@paul.1337]

I was spamming F5 on my phone for fifteen minutes and my phone doesn't even have buttons.

[@zanethezaniest274]

Me : Hey wait a second why was this video uploaded a second time? Mandalore : All that effort to destroy the Singularity review and all I had to do was reupload it again.

[@MandaloreGaming]

Oh my god

[@zanethezaniest274]

@@MandaloreGamingwhere is the Colony Ship video Mandy? You can’t deny it from us forever!!

[@kennuimuffins2426]

When was the original posted? I feel like ive seen it before... happy to rewatch though.

[@maskettaman1488]

@@kennuimuffins2426 Very shortly before this one

[@Nictator42]

meta as hell

[@macbrown99]

According to the developers, the reason that the magazine for the minigun is so small yet seems to carry so many rounds is that it isn't actually a magazine, it's a power cell. You aren't loading more bullets into your gun, you're just powering it so that it can manipulate time in order to fire the same bullet over and over again.

[@tommykarrick9130]

That is not how I expected that sentence to end, that rocks

[@RedTail1-1]

Pretty sure that's not how time works... The whole "objects existing at the same time" thing... If you fire a bullet and then immediately change time to fire it again that first shot should be negated and the bullet shouldn't exist in time anymore. Like to the observer the bullet would only travel as far as it goes before the gun fires again. It might work if you were close enough to the target that the bullet strikes before disappearing from time when fired again. The laws of physics are pretty absolute. Energy cannot be destroyed or created, only changed. So that one bullet is all that exists. You can't sit there and fire indefinitely creating a pile of bullets, only one bullet would exist at any point in time. I guarantee that's not how the game works though. They just needed a way to explain how the gun works and likely designed it like a normal videogame firearm. Firing ammunition and reloading when it runs out. They also probably wanted it to have more ammunition but didn't want to increase the size of the magazine model and so this magazine is a power source mechanic just fell into their lap. Increasing ammo count is as simple as changing a number. Changing the size of the magazine requires a new 3D model and all the animations that go with it. Just saying "it's not a magazine and there are no bullets in it" makes it so they can have the gun fire whatever number of bullets they want without having to change anything visual at all.

[@MapleShrimp]

That is the stupidest shit I've ever heard in my life. I fucking love it!

[@KioskaraTTV]

@@RedTail1-1 It's a game that already requires suspension of disbelief.

[@squidfestMods]

@@RedTail1-1 This game has zombies and the magic time-wavy hand machine and you're stuck on quantum loop bullets?

[@Sinphanius]

Unironically "I just rebuilt it" is actually a great twist and I love it. It's like there's this massive mess of timeline conspiracy bullshit but no the simplest answer was the correct one. "Bro I still have all the schematics."

[@travislyonsgary]

It really feels like a proper engineering response.

[@omgwtfcake]

>Through the magic of buying two of them

[@lucaballarati9694]

As the Villain Manual says "one of something is none of something: always have two copies of anything important"

[@WoobooRidesAgain]

@@travislyonsgary Not just the proper engineering response, but the proper response for the literal ruler of the world. "I have the resources of the _entire planet_ at my disposal. What did you _think_ I was going to do?"

[@chee.rah.monurB]

@@travislyonsgary What was the movie clip shown at 29:99?

[@happymartin6778]

34:42 I just realized a dead giveaway. When they redo the intro for the big final cutscene, look at your squadmate's weapon. It's certainly not an American M4.

[@thetuguar]

Ooooh Also he says "comrade" which in american english means he's definitely a communist

[@tzeentch7118]

@@thetuguar And also hear callsigns like "Red Fleet" and "Hammer".

[@giovannicervantes2053]

​@@tzeentch7118plus the Huey that's flying with you has a red star on it

[@The_Faceless_No_Name_Stranger]

True. Could be the new timeline world communism has been established but nations still are at each other’s throats. So you have America but for the last 50 years were communist with varying relations with the Soviet Union.

[@Nukle0n]

@@thetuguar Strange how that word has been associated with communism so much that people assume it's a russian word, and not a word meaning a brotherhood forged in arms instead of blood.

[@Red_Oliver]

I'm not deaf, nor hard of hearing, but I always appreciate closed captioning, especially if it's an actual transcript and not an AI. So thank you very much to you for making sure this is not only closed captioned, but an accurate transcription, and many thanks to your closed captioner for putting in the effort to accurately caption sounds and mumblings, it honestly does mean a lot to me, so I imagine those that are hearing impaired, it can't be beat. Thanks again.

[@diamondmetal3062]

Shoutout to Val Grim

[@lich109]

I love that Demichev builds a new singularity after you destroy the old one. It's the most obvious solution, and I'm glad they didn't conjure up a reason for why he couldn't do that.

[@danieladamczyk4024]

Demichev have rights to rule the world with that move.

[@LordDragox412]

Soviet Russian engineering at it's finest.

[@jonatanrobledo9812]

Brother was a Fortnite player all along.

[@Certio0]

Sheev ass move.

[@Bluecho4]

It's rather clever to present the player with an obvious Video Game-ass objective (blow up the thing), only for Reality Ensues to kick in and be presented with "oh wait, the technology is known to Demichev, so nothing is stopping him from just building a new one". As if the game is clicking its fingers in the face of the player who was working on autopilot, and made to actually examine the situation realistically. Very cool.

[@SketchAndEtch]

Little did we know, but in an alternate timeline the Singularity was perfected with enough time and no budget cuts into an absolute classic, however some time-travel meddling robbed us of that.

[@justletmelistthese]

and all they did was replacing tape recorders with floating ghost sprites :D

[@kgbkeyboard7697]

all the faux russian makes me feel like im having a stroke because its literal gibberish. love it

[@delivererofdarknessshoguno1133]

Яight, sамe heяe.

[@Kez_DXX]

You also have the newspaper when Barisov explains what happened after you save him. The headline makes sense but the article itself is just nonsense from slapping a keyboard with enough spaces in between to make it simulate the idea of words.

[@kgbkeyboard7697]

@@Kez_DXXimagine being the guy who’s sole job is to do a cyrillic keysmash. now thats what i call a career

[@Kez_DXX]

@@kgbkeyboard7697 It's arguably even better. The random letters weren't even Cyrillic but rather English so you have gibberish Cyrillic on the surface and then you find gibberish English upon digging deeper into the game

[@Kazako83]

I love the barrels with just CCCP written on them. "Comrade what is inside these red barrels" "100% UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS COMRADE" "..." "Why is it explosive?"

[@CatsOverdrive]

36:09 - welp, just like SIngularity's story, there's a bit of an offshoot, bittersweet epilogue to this; some guys from Raven Software left the team and went indie. Created Prodeus, and currently making an overhaul patch and DLC to it.

[@torchcato4625]

THEY MADE PRODEUS ⁉️⁉️⁉️

[@CatsOverdrive]

@@torchcato4625 Yeah. And they're currently making a DLC and update for it. They also host some mapping contests for their game from time to time, since, yeah. Prodeus comes with a very good map editor(this is coming from someone who's very familiar with the likes of Doom Builder, Hammer Editor or GTKRadiant). It's a warm fuzzy feeling for me, whenever a bunch of folks from an old team, branch out and manage to strike a new small thing for themselves, even if for a brief moment; Runic Games with Torchlight 1 & 2 (Diablo 1 & 2 co-creators and lead-designers), Gas Powered Games with Supreme Commander and Dungeon Siege(Cavedog regroup), Petroglyph Studios still pushing out some strategy games(ex-Westwood devs), Black Foot Studios with Ground Branch(classic Rainbow 6 designer).

[@Brody2362]

12:30 I have this core memory of a gameinformer mag when this game got announced about how the original idea of the game wasn't you playing as Johnathan "call of" Duty and instead you were a spy plane pilot that was sent to take photos of the island when you plane gets downed like the intro in game now. I almost guarantee you're onto something with originally being more horrory.

[@DavidJCobb]

i remember it talking about planned features like reverting a corpse with the TMD to ask him questions about his death

[@hqwefg]

One neat thing in the "good" ending is that your partner is carrying the Soviet timeline E99 assault rifle from the rest of the game but in the original opening he had an American gun, which has weird implications.

[@thefallencog]

If i recall right, the E99 weapons in the ingame continuity were so far ahead, that there was simply no reason to try and advance weapons research after that. Everything you pointed the gun at and shot were turned into super mutant gib explosions. American/Soviet weapons even up to the modern day can't do that. If the "small arms" weapons have the strength to do that to the human body, i can't imagine vehicles and armor fare much better.

[@Biodeamon]

not weird implications but darker implications. the implication is that the scientist was playing for a fool all along (or worse was corrupted by power) and threw a coup demichev, and from there successfully conquered America.

[@callmeginga]

Whoever invented it sold it to America in the new timeline So, what would have happened anyway

[@Temporal94]

@@callmeginga Not quite, you can notice that the Hueys have Soviet markings on them now in that ending

[@Nolant.]

Why would the soviets be using Vietnam war era Huey’s with all the technology they have

[@Zacharygoldberg123]

The last Raven game before they got sent to the call of duty mines. So good... That guided bullet rifle is 10/10

[@some-replies]

This is the last glimpse of creativity before mundanity.

[@mr-laroque9604]

Their creativity trying to claw their way out of Call of Duty with Missle Launcher Sniper rifles and Lightening shotguns. I need them to return and give me a gun that does more than shoot bullets.

[@0uttaS1TE]

​@mr-laroque9604 I think those were more from Sledgehammer than Raven. Raven handles Warzone exclusively iirc. So maps, balancing, that sort of thing. Still it does show how much CoD devs want to be doing literally anything else

[@mastermaniac1911]

They produced so many beautiful, flawed gems.

[@toddherink4234]

except even the guided bullet isn't new or creative; it's stolen from Clive Barker's Jericho. The multiplayer they made is easily my favorite part of this game though.

[@GolemCC]

My strongest memory from playing this is that their big reveal was "wait a minute... you saved Demichev from the fire! That's why everything changed!". Something you have known since the beginning of the damn game. Something the entire premise is based on. And then at the end they pretend it's a big twist, complete with a sepia-toned flashback. I can't get over it. It'd be like if at the end of Half-Life 1 they pointed out the big disaster was from you putting the sample into the beam in the test chamber. Yes! I know! I was there!!

[@slayermate07]

they tried to do a bioshock but almost ended up with duke nukem forever.

[@cameronmcgurrin3724]

Ya, Yahtzee from Zero Punctuation (Now Second Wind) had a similar reaction to this "Twist", and its one of the funniest moments in the video.

[@user-ow1bc4sx2r]

It also undercuts that opening scene that was a perfect way of establishing that exact thing. Main character should have seen the changed statue, said “whoops” then murdered on his happy way

[@slayermate07]

@@cameronmcgurrin3724 uhmmm akkktually... The series is called "fully ramblomatic" and thats how yahtzee got his start actually 15 years ago before being harpooned by the Escapist magazine (of whom he explained he has been ousted). The channel is called Second Wind but while he is the main star there just like the aforementioned video journalist website, yahtzee shares content with multiple other guys, like a group horizontal swimming session on the bed of his local ymca of which he seems very reminiscent about. (Yes i am a yahtzee fan too and also seen this review, but was also here for his darkness and fable review, so a much bigger fan than you certainly...and as the man himself reminds us: "Fans Are Whining Complaining Dipshits Who Will Never, Ever Be Grateful For Anything You Do"

[@maskettaman1488]

Soma-tier twist. Only the main character is surprised by the reveal because they're the only one dumb enough to not understand it

[@Higth115]

Seeing 2 tiny snippets from Resistance: Fall of Man in as many videos is giving me way too much hope in that game being covered on this channel one day.

[@diamondmetal3062]

That game was weird. It was the killer app of the PS3, effectively Sony’s Gears of War, then it just died and no one talked about it anymore.

[@weareharbinger914]

"As far as evil endings go, this one rules." Honestly, its nice that happens, usually you get 'and everything was shit, because you were evil.' Or its left ambiguous, like Armored Core 4 where you become the greatest mass murderer in history, then defeat the people trying to assassinate you.

[@Noname-e9k7k]

How is that ambiguous?

[@Br-Al-De]

I feel like someone has to mention the possibly even eviler ending. If you take too long to shoot either guy, Demichev pulls out a second gun and kills CoD and Barry, then rules the world with an iron fist. I'm not sure if it counts as a proper ending since it's just the player getting killed, but why not, we are time travelling.

[@vaclav4435]

So there's an old article on Kotaku where one of the devs at Raven talks about this game. As you can imagine, there were a lot of ambitious ideas for the game, including more creative time manipulation puzzles. However, development ran into both technical problems and directives from Activision, so after two or so years the project was cancelled...only to be brought back to life and given a year-and-change deadline to get a game out. The one point the dev emphasized is that they wholly agreed with all the criticisms that the game was ripping off HL2/Bioshock and leaned too hard on audio logs; they simply didn't have the time to do anything else. IIRC the Singularity Let's Play on the LP Archive has a bunch of concept art of things that never made it into the final product, and the earliest teaser trailers you can find on KZbin show that something different was going to be happening with the story. (EDIT: November 1, 2024) I misremembered a few things. The article in question was on Polygon, not Kotaku, and the game was cancelled for only a day before Raven was given a ten month deadline to get something out the door, a deadline that was met by a truly miraculous effort on the part of the Raven devs. (Incidentally, the dev who described their experience on _Singularity_ for the article has found a new line of work as a consultant specializing in teaching studios how to better manage themselves to avoid crunch and burnout.)

[@GamerGuysReviews]

I remember reading a Game Informer way back when and one of the devs said they originally considered 12 different endings, each more bats*it than the one before it.

[@Kez_DXX]

A youtube channel called "your evil twin" did a lets play of the game but also went into the quantum physics concepts and the development of the game as well. Even added in the subtitles that the devs never had time to implement.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

Yeah but Kotaku said that so it’s not true

[@giovannicervantes2053]

​@@jakespacepiratee3740ain't gotta read Kotaku to know the raven devs were given the short end of the stick when it came to time how ironic the game about time manipulation didn't have enough to work with

[@phantomtr1]

why cant activision do something good for once?

[@user-ow1bc4sx2r]

I’ve always loved the comedic timing of the “thanks for saving me “ (time bubble wipe to statues of the guy). It’s such an efficient way to establish the stakes and story.

[@MaxDrawsStuff]

35:45 - As a native Russian speaker, Mandalore sounds more like a Polish person here, so that timeline was really funky.

[@SomeKindaSpy]

The subtitles straight up say "in Russian but with a Polish accent"

[@FluidExtractor]

As a native Polish speaker I agree.

[@furfixer]

I couldn't understand him at all so I thought that it was just polish

[@InternetHydra]

Underrated comment.

[@StrikeWarlock]

​@@SomeKindaSpyconsidering Valgrim (who's Russian)consults with him before the transcripts go live, and the amount of Eastern Europeans he interacted with for some of his projects, it's safe to say the Polish accent is also intentional.

[@ValentineGrimCC]

One thing I find funny about voice acting in this game is that they clearly had one guy who spoke good Russian, without accent, and they put him on voicing the majority of soldier callouts. Then, to mask the fact that it's the same person over and over, they have monkeyed with the pitch and maybe added other effects, so some of the soldiers sound like normal humans, and others - like they're recording a death metal album. Then, I guess, for the sake of variety, they made a non-native speaker read a few lines as well, and so, from time to time, you hear some linguistic abominations along the lines of "Zanmyat peredovitse pozitsya!", which... you ki-inda get the idea, but it's not really any proper language. And then, of course, every "Russian" character they expected you to actually understand speaks English with thick Russian accent, even just amongst themselves. Plus some of the writing in Cyrillic, where TECHNICALLY it's permissible grammar, but you can't help but think "Who would ever phrase it like that?" The usual joys of having zoo-tier Russians in media.

[@simplyspenser887]

Holy hell, parody on ВИD telecompany logo at the start catch me off guard:) Thank you for video, i am so missed you reviews.

[@Noname-e9k7k]

Mandy knows Sseth, and Sseth went out of his way to learn like 20 different Slavic memes that were all onscreen in the Highfleet review for a combined total of maybe 10 seconds, so that might be where he got this from.

[@simplyspenser887]

@@Noname-e9k7k Oh, that's true, Sseth did his research at Stalker and HoM&M review as well. Altho, Mandy walking encyclopedia himself, wouldn't be surprised if hi the one who teaching his friends about random stuff hi read:)

[@owldiamond2108]

Can't believe Demichev deleted this review off KZbin, forcing Mandalore to go through a timeloop just to reupload it back. A true comrade. Glory to General Secretary Barisov!

[@necktiefox2917]

Privyet? Milisia? I have a Barisovist to report! Glory to General Secretary Mandalore!

[@kendozero1861]

I thought i seen this review before as well.

[@iunary]

Yeah in my timeline this review was made by CV11 I think, or was it SSeth? O_o or I am just missremembering? Oh god my head hurts....

[@SpecShadow]

@@iunary Civvie11 of course, Sseth don't cover FPS genre

[@USELESSDCK]

​@@SpecShadow What are you talking about? Everyone knows Sseth only plays Halo-clones!

[@mariomcp]

I am not sure if it is covered in the video (yet) but there is an audio log that is just a straight up screamer. It zooms in on a skeleton and just screams and it made me jump about 100 feet into the air when I was playing through the game at 1 or 2 AM. Thanks, Singularity!

[@MandaloreGaming]

I cracked up when I saw it again, but decided that'd be one of those fun things left for people playing the game. A lot of people miss the camera jumpscare already but that one's a little easier to find.

[@fietehermans9903]

There’s also a jumpscare during the underwater sections. Plus when you find your first enemy. Designated horror sections a la Bioshock was just another idea they threw onto the pile. I kind of love it

[@JetBalrog]

@@MandaloreGaming I think the most memorable one for me was the ONE time the vent actually had a scare. Every time I'm worried it'll happen, I keep crawling into them and waiting and expecting it, and it never comes... right up until near the end of the game. Freakin' hell they managed to get me good with that one somehow.

[@blendernoob64]

As someone who hates jumpscares, I actually like jumpscare spoilers lol. Saved me from waking the neighbors

[@fietehermans9903]

@@blendernoob64 Me too. That’s why I immediately liked Paratopic. I saw the video, and thought “A horror walking sim that relies solely on creepy atmosphere? Sounds like my jam!”

[@cameronmcgurrin3724]

"All that effort to destroy the singularly, when all I had to do is rebuild it" "He just built a new one..." The OG Star Wars trilogy in a nutshell

[@Guymanbot97]

And Sequels too

[@justletmelistthese]

Somhoew teh Singularity retuernd

[@arkgaharandan5881]

"somehow palpatine has returned" is worse.

[@justintaylor8701]

I love the ugh I don't feel good gonna lie down recordings in video games. Because bro really either had the whole recording device on him and pulled it out or made his way over to one and thought to hit record.

[@theotv5522]

Mandy being sick on the merry-go-round is just him catching a glimpse of Jumbo Josh in the corner of his eyes

[@uroboros2066]

For April's Fools he should review BanBan in a completely serious tone.

[@theotv5522]

@@uroboros2066 He semi did that when he played it, when he was outside the racist alien bar in the latest chapter. Something about nostalgia and Banban having discrimination but was ignored by everyone.

[@Peptuck]

Gotta appreciate that when you do the whole "go back in time to blow up the villains super doom tower that gives him all his power" plot, and then you go back to the future and... he just fucking built another one to keep giving him infinite energy. The thing gave him infinite power, of course he's going to build a replacement.

[@giovannicervantes2053]

And when he's the guy in charge of course he's gonna send laborers into a bombed out tower to rebuild it he's got world domination plans to get on

[@adrianoippolito1999]

Samuel hayden should have learned from this guy, then he wouldn't have had to worry about doomguy destroying the argent filters in DOOM 2016

[@giovannicervantes2053]

@@adrianoippolito1999 "If YoU DeStRoY tah LenSEs iT'll TaKe dEcAdes To reBuiLd" as he says to the brick shithouse that only breaks stuff

[@CameronWilliams-g1l]

one day Prey from 2017 will be old enough for Mandalore to make a video about; and when I watch that Video, I will be happy.

[@sewerentropy5217]

god i can't wait. if there's one thing i love, it's people absolutely adoring Prey (2017) as much as i do

[@InternetHydra]

I'm glad you enjoyed that game that should have had a different name... but as implied I'm too filled with resentment over said name to ever try it.

[@dylansepper]

Love that game, but hate the bait and switch over the name. If they would have named it anything else it would have been perfect.

[@sewerentropy5217]

@@dylansepper apparently Bethesda pushed Arkane to name it Prey because they had the rights to it. Prey (2017) is almost perfect to me and i'm not going to blame the devs for something they had no control over

[@gimok2k5]

@@sewerentropy5217 It's also not an unfitting name for the game, but they could have given it a subtitle at least. Even if it would have just been "Prey: Typhons"

[@Readysetheal]

35:44 For those struggling to get the joke in it's fullness, Mandalore says: "Фух, вернулся. Вроде как ничего не поменяло. Ох, блять!" "Phew, I'm back. Seems nothing has changed. Oh, fuck!" In russian, obviously. I must say, I really appreaciate all the jokes in this video, "private Suka" is now a part of my vocabulary

[@vladislavivanov2334]

As a russian, I thought that was spanish lmao

[@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799]

@@vladislavivanov2334 nothing beats Nico Belic.

[@МаксимГригорьев-ъ7ф]

I physically recoiled in my chair when ВИD reference happened. So glad that Mandy is embracing the vibes.

[@ahtu7000]

As a russian, I thought he was speaking chinese.

[@Kez_DXX]

Is Private Suka in the same unit as Private Conscriptovich?

[@CoAndCoLaptopAccount]

I loved this game as a kid and am so excited to see you review this! I had to double check you were actually reviewing the one I remembered from my childhood on google.

[@ih8people]

The faux ВИД logo in the beginning is just icing on the cake. Well done mate

[@Viruxous1]

I can't wait for Mandalore to reveal that all of these time travel games are somehow connected to Marathon. All of these heroes were one and the same. Happy Halloween! 🎃

[@niall_sanderson]

That Marathon rabbit hole had me looking around every corner for Marathon connections for months

[@Lowkeh]

It's funny cuz, starting the video, I immediately thought the parabolic flash bulb dish-thing on the camera would turn out to be a hidden Marathon logo... (at 0:01 lol)

[@burgertanker7970]

No-one gonna point out that while its copied some parts from the original BioShock, later Infinite would have the whole plot point of "fix the timeline by killing yourself"? Ironically it comes full circle

[@TheSoulHarvester]

This was the same upshot as Donnie Darko AND The Butterfly Effect, experimental time travel films from before those games came out. Pretty neat way to wrap up all the mess time travellers inevitably create.

[@Antibot01]

@@burgertanker7970 will the circle be unbroken?

[@montypython5521]

Which doesn't make any sense if you think about it.

[@Tinfoiltomcat]

I remember getting halfway through Bioshock Infinite and it hit me "This is somehow just a worse version of Singularity"

[@GodOfOrphans]

SIngularity is unironically a better and less fusterclucked time travel story than Infinite too as at least it owns how silly it is instead of trying to badly pretend otherwise.

[@Kasaaz]

There's nothing more innocuous sounding, and yet ominous, than when Mandalore says, "More on that later."

[@eclipserepeater2466]

Finally, things are starting to make sense! More on that later.

[@admiraltonydawning3847]

I feel like i've seen this comment somewhere already. I feel like that a lot recently, must be gamer dementia.

[@Kasaaz]

@@admiraltonydawning3847 As someone in their 40s now, Gamer Dementia is real!

[@diehard6953]

​@@admiraltonydawning3847 Ross's game dungeon on one of the best ganes ever

[@admiraltonydawning3847]

@@diehard6953 I used to do timestamps (before "Transcript" feature arrived), i know.

[@soren86x]

Adding the Halo CE Flood music for the tick-pit part gave me a good laugh.

[@CorwinWolf]

You pointing out Russian Steve Blum is already my favorite part of the video. Thank you for all the work you do for these videos. Keep up the great work!

[@chastermief839]

I was grinning ear to ear throughout this review. Singularity is one of my favorite "underrated gem" games from this era, and you peppered the script with all kinds of little jokes and references to stuff like the denver airport, "big and round", and my personal favorite line: "instead of glowing libertarian sea world, it's rusting, communist action park". You've really honed your script writing skills to the point where the jokes don't even stand out as jokes anymore, it all just flows so naturally. It entertaining and delivered in your trademark style without being distracting at all. I also really like how seamlessly you moved from point to point about the visuals. Springing off that Action Park joke to talk about "wet & wild" shaders and rain effects, to then talk about the effective decrepit "ugly" aesthetics, to then move on to the actually ugly low-res textures. That's really good stuff, man.

[@jrsdef]

Seems like the Barisov statue would imply a "better" or at least similar but slightly more advanced future, namely because of the way he's depicted and posed, it communicates less "Grand Imperious Leader" and more "In memorium of the visionary that brought the world into a new age and the site at which he did it" since his face is more one of wonder and contemplation, putting the tech on his arm front and center with realistic if smoothed proportions, more the hand of someone else idolizing him than him idolizing himself, a commemorative statue more than a place of near religious reverence to a cult of personality

[@Noname-e9k7k]

That's one way to see it ig, but the clips of him saying he wants the USSR to defeat the West would imply that the future he wanted was just the Khrushchev to Demichev's Stalin-instead of overtly brutal and genocidal tyranny("the people must be subservient to us!"), a more comparatively restrained(meaning show trials that only lead to decades in prison instead of mass executions) and convinced-of-its-own-benevolence tyranny("we're doing this for the people's own good.")

[@Hesstig]

​@@Noname-e9k7k With the re-do of the helicopter scene having the helicopters' callsigns be "Hammer", reporting to Red Fleet, and your buddy holding an AK and calling you "comrade", it seems the Berisov timeline has fully indoctrinated America into the Soviet system.

[@StrikeWarlock]

He basically realized his dream to convert the entire world to Communism under the dominance of E99. The way your partner talks about his monument with reverence implies that he was at least a benevolent Russian leader.

[@sergeitokarev2467]

00:17 ВИД moment is outstanding!!!

[@UshankaMaster]

absolute ВИД material

[@XDemonR]

МандалорВИД!

[@deadzoneresident]

I was wondering if anyone saw that. Glad to see this is one of the top comments :)

[@hargos4060]

For anyone wondering: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKTcfJedorqth6c

[@XDemonR]

​@@hargos4060 I watched it as a kid. He's not scary 🙂

[@tommykarrick9130]

Something about the delivery of “will someone go back to the 50s and warn Khrushchev that corn isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? We will see~” SLAYS me every time I hear it.

[@fancyultrafresh3264]

Ok so the fact you’re back AND you used your best intro theme brought me more joy than it rightly should. A like for you good sir. Welcome back.

[@clan741]

I love how Dimechev surviving plothole could of easily been solved if it was just a random soviet officer you shot when doing the time jump, there was no reason Dimechev had to be there in person, but nah Dimechev survived several bullets to the cranium and falling several stories. What a madlad.

[@BierBart12]

The cooler way to resolve it would be if he then was a crazy soviet tech cyborg in the future

[@addoweird]

I know it’s not the same, but Raven was lead dev for the Black Ops: Cold War campaign, which, while hurt by the pandemic, was really interesting, with a semi-branching narrative and some really creative missions. They’re also lead devs for the upcoming Black Ops 6 campaign, so the singleplayer Raven that once was is still somewhat alive, though still trapped in the CoD mines.

[@Esitaro3670]

They are alive still doing great Single Players Campaigns but at what cost...

[@jimijenkins2548]

@@Esitaro3670 The cost of thirty dollar skins.

[@agimb2381]

A cost at having one of the most stable development jobs ever, they are also not in California they are in Wisconsin, and frankly they near main development status on cod. But nooooo they need to make yet another single player flop that’s a hidden gem. Their Quake 4 killed Quake, Their Wolfenstein reboot killed Wolfenstein for a bit too

[@TheSoulHarvester]

@@agimb2381 enjoy your slop

[@kenshy10]

Mandalor *posts new video* Me "LETS GO!" Mandalor *takes video down before I can click the notification* Me "NO!" Mandalor *posts the video again* Me "we are so back!"

[@Ellohir]

I absolutely love this period in gaming with relatively short, experimental FPS games.

[@moth7579]

THAT'S NOT HOW THE CYRILLIC WORKS, MANDO

[@nikoslav]

>SiGULARITY >ЯЕЦIЕШ I'm gonna be honest with ya chief wtf is YAYETZEEYESH

[@Lobosatirico]

It means "you eat" in bielorussian

[@ivanselesnev4139]

@@Lobosatiricokek, it does not

[@sergeitokarev2467]

It's Review in Russian Reversal

[@haroldshea3282]

it means EAT BALLS!

[@happybean9135]

Ревью - review.

[@Rehteal]

I was really hoping the second helicopter ride would include "WAIT, THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" "Well it's too late now!" "No, I mean we've done this already!"

[@fus132]

It's the same voice actor too if my ears don't deceive me.

[@DSFARGEG00]

I was expecting that, lol.

[@empty2892]

Where is this quote from? I am sure I heard it, but can't remember. Is it Spec Ops?

[@DrableVideos]

@@empty2892 Spec Ops: The Line. Nolan North plays both Walker and Call of Duty's partner.

[@0uttaS1TE]

"Konrad did this. All of it."

[@kapu1492]

The smashcon joke was so quick and unexpected I had to rewatch to make sure I heard it right. Great video as always Mandy.

[@WordoftheElderGods]

Best one yet, I'd say.

[@EnviedShadow]

I don't know what it's referencing, but from context I assume pedophilia?

[@argetlam05]

Smashcon taking strays from 1950s Russia is crazy

[@enriquejocson8117]

​@@EnviedShadowYep. You can age them forwards, but not backwards...

[@chrislee5268]

​Just generalizing an entire community as pedophiles. ​@@EnviedShadow

[@Afrafasti]

Caught the Gardens of Kadesh reference. Oh shit! I didn't even remember this game until The Splash screen you showed with the Ticks theme.

[@Tyr-qz2lo]

Mandalore has completed the “Mostly forgotten time travel games” trilogy.

[@redstonemonster5769]

Playing as the ticks in the multyplayer was the best, climbing on the sealing, longjumping on a soldier on the other team to take over there body, and pretending that you where a friendly teammate, just to shoot them in the back. a realy unique mechanic

[@UltraGreatsword]

I'll always remember playing as the puker and healing a Tick teammate next to me by throwing up on them.

[@darkmasterm193]

@@UltraGreatsword Ah, the Natural Selection 2 Experience™

[@jameslatham1110]

"Call of duty and his freinds" got me good

[@ObiJohnKenobi67]

I love how unlike Bioshock there is no good ending, just a difference on who runs the world. In all of them the characters are too selfish to give up the power E-99 offers them.

[@tsegorah]

in the video mandalore didn't explain why those scientists are bad, so 2 of 3 endings are not obviously good or bad

[@thefallencog]

@@tsegorah I think he explained it good enough near the end. The scientist is a morally (debatable) good person, but is just extremely patriotic towards the soviet union. And unless you were actually paying any sort of attention, his level of patriotism whizzed by your head outside of that one sepia filter film. I believe what the scientists ending implies is that the scientist is effectively the greatest hero/new age tsar of the soviet union, but because he was grateful to the player for actually trying to fix things, he perhaps ensured that other countries were allowed to continue existing (almost like in the new Wolfenstein games) but under their own autonomy. At least thats my headcannon anyways. Whats more likely, is the scientist basically tipped the balance of world power in the soviets favor, Russia became the new dominant global superpower, and history continues largely the same way as before. Only the marine thats in the helicopter is pulling your leg with the comrade joke to drill in the "make of it what you will" style open ending. The fact this game never got a continuation is still criminal honestly. And hopefully when the call of duty mine collapses outside of the black ops franchise, hopefully someone will convince raven to pick this up again. because im pretty sure raven staff before have said they were interested in picking this franchise back up if they were ever done with cod

[@Antibot01]

@@thefallencog I suppose the scientist's ending is morally good and implies the whole world accepted communism as its ideology but the nations remain (the MC's companion carries a Soviet assault rifle but still has American decorations and speaks English).

[@dimas3829]

@@thefallencog cleptocracies pretending to be democracies good, unapologetic authoritarianism which is great for the people bad, I got you.

[@maallos334mi8]

I find it more railroady, if only because killing Demichev only resets the scene. It shows they either didn’t think about the possibility or have time to implement a secret 4th ending that closes the loop.

[@itslullas]

I'm so happy you're covering this game! 🎉

[@coldrunhershel604]

That intro studio VID style is just such a nice cultural touch 🤯

[@mercy9487]

22:07 "THERE IS NO WITHDRAWAL FROM THE GARDEN OF THE TICK"

[@genhald6964]

I went looking for this comment

[@PatientRefuge]

People of taste

[@svenneumann2816]

Nice.

[@Themeir]

YAY IT'S BACK AGAIN, I LOVE YOU ARMOUR MAN

[@CriticalNobody]

It’s kinda funny that the player might believe Nolan North is yelling at them not to save bad man from the fire, but in reality it’s Troy Baker. There’s something poetic about that given what big names both are

[@thestickystudio6331]

holy shit it's splinter cell guy

[@admiraltonydawning3847]

@@thestickystudio6331 These days more known as NFT guy.

[@anafalina4221]

U commented that 5 years ago

[@Noname-e9k7k]

Huh, Troy Baker voiced Call of Duty(the protagonist)? I guess you could say that him trying to shoot Demichev in the end instead of his past self was him getting too Greedy.

[@saltyshishkebab9447]

God damn that "Вид" parody at the start almost killed me with childhood trauma. Awesome as always, Mandalore!

[@XShaneX19]

The consistency about implementing the Cyrillic alphabet in every possible wrong way is astonishing.

[@MegaHellstrike]

My favorite thing about the endings is the *secret* ending: if you wait too long and kill neither of them Demichev reaches for his gun and shoots you. They could have just let you have the awkward pause while you ponder which side to choose but no, they punish you for it and I love it.

[@tzeentch7118]

Like in Wolfenstein: TNO, if you stall too much during the sadistic choice at the end of prologue, everyone including you gets killed.

[@skyefox]

Every time I wonder "damn, I wonder when Mandalore's gonna have a new video" within a day he drops one. What a blessed time.

[@Helios8170]

Do us all a favor and think that a little more 😂

[@DEDManGamingWins]

Dude, I just wanna say how refreshing your channel is. You aren't trying to boost the algorithm or trying to cover every new thing that comes out. You just (presumably) make whatever you want out of passion, and I dig that. I've been a fan of yours for years and have tried out new games I probably wouldn't have if it weren't for your reviews. Keep on doing your fantastic work dude!

[@mothwings8795]

"[sounds of a box coming to you]" is probably the best caption I've seen on KZbin. Great work, Val

[@ЭдвардИванов-ю9ч]

"There is no withdrawal from the tick pit" - killed me

[@MrViscious]

I called it quits on that one. No ammo no shotty. I raged on that part.

[@bruhSaintJohn]

The Garten lives on

[@toaster9922]

Big fan of Mandalore’s time travel phase rn.

[@arctik2928]

Funny thing I noticed after playing this game time and time again before, Kathryn gives you a radio saying it's a "two-way communicator," except that this functionality is completely wasted on you as your character never speaks to her or Barisov throughout the game.

[@DrunkenCoward1]

Wow, this story is fascinating. I have listened to this review three times and I still have new theories coming to my mind every time. For the ending I like to think that Barisov survived AND became a Soviet Leader, but *nothing* about the future changed, except that the word "comrade" became part of the casual vernacular.

[@squeethemog213]

Had a great time with this one. Good memories in a rough place. Thank you for covering it 🙏😃

[@ucipitalmapilary]

"Мандалорфильм" in the intro put a huge smile on my face) looks cool! Love your channel

[@cereskerrigan]

Find yourself, starting back.

[@KingThrillgore]

We are on the fifth timeline.

[@EnterpriseKnight]

We don't have time for that

[@nitrobw1]

The waves.

[@KingThrillgore]

@@nitrobw1 This is MIDA country!

[@BeefMeisterSupreme]

The earth defense force 7 starts now

[@elnacho657]

Karen S´Jet: "Hey, can i borrow that TMD for a second?" Renko: "Uh, sure." Meanwhile Imogen S´Jet: *Starts fading into nothingness* "OH MY GOD WHAT IS GOING O-" *Cue post credit cutscene where the Statue from the intro is depicting Haze Stratos heroically holding a blender*

[@gleibeffrime2528]

Smoothie time...line

[@Mahrooby]

giant statue of lowry using e99 to levitate

[@elnacho657]

@@gleibeffrime2528 This is the timeline that Durandal wanted to eradicate: The Smoothie Timeline.

[@Bloodlyshiva]

So what would Karan want with the TMD?

[@CameronKilgore]

Meanwhile in Randy Pitchford's goon cave: "WHY AM I DISAPPEARING!?!?!"

[@lwshpak]

That wild ВИД reference at the beginning was awesome, thanks mandalore

[@Xevios]

OHHH МАНДАЛОРФИЛЬМ ПРОСТО ШИКАРЕН! Респект MandalorFilm Forever in my heart and my personal best for now. Gz!

[@DwarfioHax]

1:21 All the years I've spent avoiding saying "'swooce right in" during casual conversation because absolutely no one would get the reference, and this man just pulls it out like it's an everyday saying for him. Amazing.

[@swempytimes]

Me too, I can't believe he said it 🤣

[@Artersa]

Ayyy I just commented too. Big up the skooks crew.

[@exodus9001]

Pfft me and my one buddy were always on that. My fave one to break out as a non sequitur is 'what iii wanna know is wheeeeeeeres the caveman?' or 'stroNg mAN?'

[@swempytimes]

@@exodus9001 "I'm glad that he's frozen in there and that we're out and that we're frozen in there and that HE'S THE SHERIFF and I JUST REMEMBERED, we're out here"

[@SuicidalChocolateSK]

fuckin same.

[@awesomehpt8938]

In Soviet Russia you don’t travel through time, time travel through you!

[@karry299]

It's more of a USian Russia, though. There's almost no Soviet anything in it.

[@Lamadon_Pyreus]

DOSH DOSH DOSH "YOU DON'T COME TO RUSSIA ; RUSSIA COME TO YOU ; WHEN RUSSIAN MAN SAYS FOLLOW ME, DO AS RUSSIAN DO!" lmao ... I get it

[@DarkPotatoRus]

мандалорфильм joke was amazing xD

[@Robert399]

I enjoy weapon limits in FPSs but I think a lot of them would benefit from 3 instead of 2 slots. I find you often have 1 reliable weapon for chaff and 1 power weapon you're saving so you don't really have space to try out more niche and interesting weapons. Using Halo as an example, too often you end up with a DMR/BR/pistol and a rocket launcher/fuel rod/spartan laser, which all feel great but it's a shame to keep walking past needlers, plasma guns, energy swords, snipers, brute shots, etc. because it never makes sense to drop one of my weapons.

[@senecauk8363]

Yeah, that's why I always liked Gears' 3 weapon and grenade setup (even though the pistols weren't super interesting).

[@Hesstig]

Metro 2033 in its original release had a nice balance between obligatory revolver (which could be found with stock, scope, and long/silenced barrel), obligatory automatic (ranging from post-war SMG to pre-war prototype AR) and the 3rd slot was for shotguns, pneumatic weapons, or the volt driver. So the 3rd slot was really nice for flexing between the more interesting stuff while you still had *two* ol' reliables. Then in Metro Last Light (and the Redux of both games) you get 3 free weapon slots, great! Unless playing on the highest difficulty which limits you to 2...

[@adrianoippolito1999]

while they have their place I much prefer when you have your own dedicated arsenal. I couldn't imaging playing Doom or wolfenstien with only 2 or 3 weapons. I suppose a compromise which I do really like is if you are given a resident evil style item grid where you have to be strategic on what you can carry

[@Robert399]

@@adrianoippolito1999 Sure, the best system depends on the game. I'm certainly not saying weapon limits is strictly better but it has its place and people who say giant arsenals are strictly better (like Yahtzee) are wrong.

[@adrianoippolito1999]

@@Robert399 I feel the game F.E.A.R. did the limited arsenal in a very good way. you had 3 weapon slots and an excellent weapon variety that had me thinking strategically about which weapons to keep, which was something I didn't feel in games like halo, where I generally would simply pick up the strongest weapon when I came across it

[@thecosmic8248]

I was just wondering when a new review would come out like an hour before this came out lol. Great video!

[@Malrottian]

I do love that there is canonically at least one more loop that we never get to see because a few of the messages don't line up with any of the established ones. That air of mystery helps sell me on the generally bland paint by numbers shooter. Also, shame on you Mandalore for not covering the ship.

[@AndroidPhoenix]

Hopefully this was recorded in THE HALL OF HORSE

[@MandaloreGaming]

Not yet.

[@isiffrin]

@@MandaloreGaming Access to the HALL OF HORSE is denied, administrating horse punishment tone.

[@Thebearabides]

Only by escaping the cycles of guilt can one enter the hall of horse. Shatter the seals, break the wheel, and let us neigh forever.

[@fietehermans9903]

@@AndroidPhoenix Is that a reference to his weird house? I know he used to love with people that would do strange witch chants

[@Mahrooby]

@@fietehermans9903 he did a marketing video for hooded horse

[@anondescriptbullet]

"This was the golden age of blind enemy tunnel. I'm not showing Colonial Marines footage." The amount of shame I felt when my mind _immediately_ went to that specific game is indescribable.

[@sindri.]

When the Goosebumps intro hits, I know I'm in for some classic Mandy goodness Also referring to the lead guy as Call of Duty the whole time hahaha

[@tylerb3733]

Never in a million years could i have anticipated a Flatland reference from you, Im impressed.

[@MachineMindDesigns]

Katorga and Einsteinium: [exists] Andrew Ryan: "...............Pathetic, look at how they try to match my power."

[@imarobobot8795]

I love how you find beauty in obscure games. Since I've started watching your channel years ago, I've started to appreciate older, more obscure games. I've found some gems I'd have never touched before thanks to you. Keep up the great work 👍

[@kanabis134]

In no way is this game obscure

[@awsomebot1]

Check out Accursed Farms. He mostly does obscure games, sometimes so much so that by seeking out the game in the first place he ends up saving it from extinction (Helious 2, BipBop 3).

[@blob22201]

@@kanabis134 I've never heard of it.

[@mishuggah_33]

@@blob22201 You have a narrow outlook on games then. This game is well known and has been reviewed on youtube 100 times, is published by Activision, made by Raven, has a wikipedia article in 17 languages. Not even close to being obscure. Mandy did review some obscure stuff and Singularity isn't even close to being among it.

[@tabaccotantony]

We are so back, October Mandy vids are always the best

[@ДмитрийГусев-е9ф]

How cometh we deserve such an awesome channel which is mandaloregaming

[@ryngak]

7:55 To be fair I'm pretty sure the reason they went with "symbol on a human body" as their mascot is a reference to WW2 propaganda out of Britain where there was Dr Carrot who told you to eat carrots and the mascot was just a carrot in a lab coat.

[@salamander4668]

00:17 Браво! Это было гениально.

[@pajamapantsjack5874]

The blessed childhood I had growing up with this and metro as a kid.

[@supersarge24]

Singularity Yaetsiesh (Я = ya, Ц = ts, Ш = sh) It is always funny to see russian letters used as English ones tbh. And I'm not even Russian.

[@scrooglemcdoogle]

It hurts my soul, I see an ammo brand sometimes called "Red Army Standard" with random letters replaced with Cyrillic and it short circuits my bilingual potato brain.

[@Obamalover88]

​@@scrooglemcdoogle my favorite is when the R's are replaced with Я's, especially when flanked by two other vowels.

[@Kutikyla]

@@Obamalover88 Seeegylyaitu best game ever

[@thephilifluffy1838]

agreed, im bulgarian and it hurts every time i see it

[@LordDragox412]

@@scrooglemcdoogle Why is that even an ammo brand? Do they just send you an empty box of ammo?

[@gojiradestructor]

Always love the touches you put on these videos. Also, bro really pulled a Second Death Star. "I built a new one!"

[@solarowl88]

That one ВИД reference immidietly triggered my childhood trauma memories. Well played, bucket-head.

[@AceStrife]

9:00 One of the best things about games around this era is Steve Blum. I literally played games I wouldn't have otherwise simply because he was voicing a character. Absolute god tier voice.

[@tzeentch7118]

You must have loved Quake 4 then.

[@sparklive]

Damn, that VID reference. Nice one, comrade!

[@seeinred]

I still have this game. On disk. In a box. Glad to see you're back, Mandalore. Thank you for this, and have a great day!

[@jamesrule1338]

"Tony Stark was able to play this game in a cave, with a box of disks!"

[@seeinred]

@@jamesrule1338 I'm missing the reference D:

[@jamesrule1338]

​@@seeinred line from the first Iron Man movie, adapted.

[@Rymeths]

... He was never gone?

[@1woozy]

@@Rymeths didn't upload for a while

[@Skriak]

I must have dreamed that you'd already reviewed this! Hooray!

[@roxashenry8315]

Mr. President a second singularity has hit the pentagon