SINGULARITY (Zero Punctuation)

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This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Singularity.
Fast-talking Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw reviews a new game each week in this animated series that combines informed critique with cutting humor. Watch the next episode of Zero Punctuation a week early, only on The Escapist.
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[@Beastleviath]

we already have an element 99, its Einsteinium

[@ireland6403]

+Beastleviath Smartass aye? But maybe just someone in school, for nerds.

[@malevolution7041]

We already have Element 115 (Ununpentium), but that didn't stop Treyarch.

[@ireland6403]

xMalevolution I thing E 115 is being renamed this year.

[@malevolution7041]

Awesome, now it won't be generically named.

[@harlsy796]

I know I'm a year late but it's called Moscovium now

[@GolfYankeeDelta]

I just realized: "I expected the twist to be that the bad guy was me from the future." Yatzhee foretold Bioshock Infinite. HOW DOES HE KEEP DOING IT?!

[@DoratTheKiller]

He is our age's Oracle of Delphi

[@BlargenMcFace]

I mean he said right at the start that he's clairvoyant.

[@Dev-nr4dw]

It's a commone troupe in time travel fiction.

[@SchadeTree]

The dude's been putting out videos weekly for like 15 years. Laws of probability make it so that it would be basically impossible for him not to accidentally predict something.

[@techsmechs2485]

And/or The Lego Movie 2?

[@Evnyofdeath]

It's actually explained why "Deaging" does that to humans. Instead of actually deaging the person as a whole, it simply deages their body tissue to a point that they should still be in the womb.

[@icarusty6481]

This game has audio logs? YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS!!! Random documents and audio logs We find them stuck to notepads, We find them under dogs We'll put them in a file and we'll give it a review and we're getting sick of gameplay but we've nothing else to do!

[@BFedie518]

Random documents and audio logs-- we find them stuck to *noticeboards*, we find them under dogs. *We're going to put them in a file and* give it a review *when* we're bored of all the gameplay, but we've nothing else to do

[@icarusty6481]

Sorry, I was going off of memory...

[@BFedie518]

Patrick Bever-Chritton S'okay. I actually made a mistake when I first typed it up so I checked before I posted. Nothing more embarrassing than making a mistake while correcting someone.

[@lonestarlibrarian1853]

You two are both great for remembering that song and mentioning it here.

[@TheQuyman]

Patrick Bever-Chritton Plonk

[@trollin39]

If there is a game where the twist is the bad guy is really asparagus please tell me

[@shizuwolf]

tyler perkins look for a Veggie Tales game

[@genuinesaucy]

In Final Fantasy 5 the villain is revealed to be an evil sentient tree. That's about as close as you're gonna get.

[@l0stndamned]

I know this is a bit late to be commenting, but there was a joke on a weird cartoon called The Mr Hell Show involving a cop getting increasingly odd partners, including an asparagus monster.

[@jackthompson7125]

Bloodborne?

[@chistinelane]

Ksp and overly relying on asparagus staging

[@Betta66]

"More holes than Blackburn, Lancashire" Yay, a Beatles reference!

[@forbiddenwordme5167]

agreed. but still an amazing game, it manages to build an own atmosphere, and is fun, and has characters with character... just not the main character. i didn't realize that was supposed to be a plot twist. + the plot twist i thought was the plot twist comes after the credits, which is basically a nice little extra explanation...

[@CrazyRiverOtter]

Element 99? What's so special about Einsteinium?

[@CrazyRiverOtter]

***** ...You got me there.

[@ChrisChettleburgh]

This comment made me realise how clever the naming if the element was in a game to do with time

[@deadbydayinblack]

@@ChrisChettleburgh This comment is worthy of song and deserves more mention. So add a few up votes

[@robmitch4085]

Something I never got in games like this is why not just go back and fix it or walk away? "Oh going back in time and saving this guy changed things well then I will just go back and not save him." Why do we all ways have to go threw long unneeded things like that? "we need to open this door." Why? "So the bad guy can't get it." But you said there is no way at all for him to get in? "That is why we need to open it so he can not get in and only you can open it." Or I can walk off and let the villain scratch at the door like a lost puppy hopping to get inside to pee on the rug.

[@suprtroopr1028]

you did finish the game right? the plot gets to that, and clearly just telling you not to save him didn't do shit. I imagine, just like on my first playthrough, you didn't even notice another man at the end of a burning hallway with an orange glowing wrist shouting at you to not save the asshole you're carrying. plus, due to the random nature of the time fluctuations around the island (while not actively using the singularity itself as a conduit) just going back and not doing it isn't much of an available option. not only that, the advent is a part of history at that point, thats why there is a journey to the singularity itself. Barisoft's intentions may have been less than worth humanitiy's freedom, but his science in the context of the game was sound. the only way at that point to fix the anomaly would be to re rewrite history to set everything in order.

[@robmitch4085]

suprtroopr1028 but how long did it come to the point of them telling you not to? And telling yourself not to do it will not work. you would have to stop yourself from doing it even if it means KOing yourself.

[@DrVonHugenstein]

Element 99 is einsteinium that makes me happy

[@kerianhalcyon2769]

Warning, this has spoilers...just saying in case if you were interested in trying the game out. Probably the only thing wrong I had with Singularity is that you don't get the opportunity to be rid of the real bad guy. Even though the big plot twist is available depending on what you choose to do at the end can bring about three different endings; one ending allows you to 'fix' your mistake, however upon doing so somehow something else you did when you screwed up the past allowed one of the protagonist characters to rule the world as a replacement dictator (although slightly less of an asshole and with a bigger god complex than the previous one). The second one lets you start back at the beginning whereby you side with the bad guy but somehow manage to convince Russia that you're the better deal, while the Russian bad guy goes to America to convince them that he is...which is weird. The third one is slightly better but still edgy in that you don't actually resolve anything; you just kill both the bad guy and the good guy and walk away with godlike powers with the ability to potentially rule the world while the USSR you left behind crumbles and the secret society that used to be your friends plots for your demise. I would have liked an ending where the main character manages to go back and somehow fix everything by killing both the 'antagonists' back in time at the beginning so that the device you use to go back in time is essentially destroyed and therefore null. This in turn would allow for the game to subsequently start over back to where you were, except that everything you've done has become null and void and nobody remembers what actually happened. That would have been a better ending; and one that would have made sense for a time-travel plot that doesn't involve destroying the world completely because of breaking the space-time continuum.

[@angeldeb82]

So very funny, especially with the statue of the imp as "Our King and God", Yahtzee shooting the crap out of imps, and blowing off an imp's head to find a Mars bar in its body. Also, the end credits part when the imp goes back in time to cripple a young Yahtzee so it can play on the trampoline is sure funny! :D

[@gamerdude730]

Got out my translator, and this is what I got: "Err correct me if I'm wrong, won't that element radiate you?" Thank me later, I have more incomprehensible messages to decipher!

[@aquatictoaster]

That wasn't a twist... they were just saying oh fuck you saving that guy is the issue we need to fix not try and fix all the shit that comes after, they were trying to fix things in order of them happening more or less plugging leaks as they sprung as opposed to dealing with the root cause.

[@hlauren2001]

It's got leaden controls, but it is surprisingly a good bit of fun sci-fi nonsense. Bargain bin candy this game is.

[@Zelousmarineinspace]

In game is criminally under-rated. I don't think I've EVER HAD SOO MUCH FUCKING FUN with a modern shooter

[@MrHornyboy2000]

yeah the games ending left much to desire. gameplay wise it was alright but the TMD was next to useless until you got the final upgrade which gave you infinite energy. however once you reached that point the weapons you had spent the game upgrading became useless since all you had to do was just blast all the enemies with the TMD till they were dust with the added advantage of not needing to reload and it was an instant kill regardless of the enemy.

[@volcryndarkstar]

I've finally done it. I've watched a ZP video I haven't seen before with the volume off. Don't know wtf I saw, but I'm gonna watch it again now with sound.

[@volcryndarkstar]

Well that clarifies things

[@MrVulcanator]

One would expect a game called Singularity to be about AI becoming sentient.

[@fede6811]

+Mr. Vulcanator Or falling into the edge of a black hole, but whatever right? Gaming needs to take a time off, a deep breath, and go back to making fun games, Singularity could've been awesome, but some parts of it let it down, particularly the ending-tron 9000 aspect, changing the ending based on the last choice (aka the ONLY choice you can make in the game) is bull-fucking-shit!

[@LuxAeterna22878]

Yeah, the AGONIZINGLY LINEAR aspect of the game bothered me too. It kind of felt like a dumb-downed action game when it could have been very interesting and philosophical.

[@chiffmonkey]

There is actually another twist in Singularity. The notes left throughout the game on the walls, are a future version of yourself.

[@reservedhogs4735]

1:57 very nice Beatles reference

[@KillerOrca]

Sequels are Behemoth and Goliath, with an art book coming out in August. I've also cosplayed as an original character when the author came to my home town. Still, thanks for letting others know.

[@Onychoprion27]

I had thought the plot twist was that you couldn't fix it. All through the game you're trying to put things right, and at the end, no matter which path you take, you can't.

[@cunt5413]

Onychoprion27 yeah, I think you're right. And the fact that the only way you can actually fix it *SPOILER* is by painting a wall in the past with your own brain matter so you can't save the damned scientist.

[@Guru_1092]

But... Paradoxes!

[@FUNKOfilms]

Cu nt But that doesn't actually fix it since the other scientist finds the TMD on your body and proceeds to rule the world anyway.

[@ijirving]

Was a fun game - nothing world changing (no pun intended) but it had some fun mechanics "borrowed" from other games. If a game is going to peel mechanics off of other games, at least it picked good games to copy. The atmosphere of STALKER, the gameplay of Bioshock and the weapons/object manipulation of Half Life.

[@suprtroopr1028]

this is not meant to come off as rude, but everyone is copying everything at this point. It's the only way to achieve as close to a near perfect project as possible. Learning from other people's efforts is just nature. seeing what works and what doesn't just allows us to focus on improving somthing as much as possible via building off of what has worked while leaving behind what doesn't in an effort to fill it with something that will. perfection is unachievable. at some point, somthing better can be made for one reason or another. but, we can achieve that better sooner by noting the shortcommings and focusing on the positives.

[@retrogamelover2012]

I guess he's talking more about the shit portion of using previous elements. The lazy copy-paste, conveyor belt, shovelware approach that every bastard child (to name a few) seems to be doing, and one of the sole reasons why the indie market seems to be booming.

[@archangel1214]

thank you Escapist Magazine for sending this to me, this is the one on youtube I hadn't seen yet.

[@MrAcuriteOf1337]

Holy shit, at 4:26 he nails a spoiler to Bioshock Infinite... two years before its release

[@GREATGAIWAIN]

The first time I watched this review I didn't get the whole twist thing but rewatching it now... The twist WAS the scientist. I thought that was just common sense... Damn... I can't believe that just my passive acknowledgement of the twist was me actually overthinking it and missing the joke. GG devs...

[@NoiseMarines]

And yet nobody pointed it out when Bioshock Infinite copied this game.

[@StevieGG08]

NoiseMarines How the hell does Infinite copy this game?Infiinte was already in development and its plot is nothing like Singularity.

[@StevieGG08]

NoiseMarines Uhm okay so Singularity's plot is just a basic Back to the Future-esque story whereas BioShock Infinite is based on the many worlds theory so there is simply no connection between the two. In Singularity you kill your old self which following time travel logic it's a massive logical inconsistency(grandfather paradox?) while in BioShock Infinite you collapse into your past self and get drowned by your omniscient daughter which creates an infinite paradoxical loop ending all timelines that had to do anything with the Lutece tear technology. The way I see it Singularity is the one with gaping plot holes, not Infinite. It's a nice game but has nothing original about it. The plot twist is extremely predictable from the moment you save demichev and see his face all over the place. When you think about it why is Devin still around after you save demichev?Doesn't saving demichev alter time in such a way that you guys shouldn't even be there in the first place?There are so many Back to the future-esque plot holes in that game it hurts. It's a combination of Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Timeshift with a back to the future plot.

[@NoiseMarines]

"Why are their only two Booker DeWitts as opposed to an infinite amount?" "Constants and variables." "That doesn't answer the question." "Nonsense. Constants and variables. All purpose plot spackle."

[@StevieGG08]

NoiseMarines How did you come to the conclusion that there are only two bookers?Seriously, you should use your head before posing questions like these. The baptism is a binary choice that results in a booker that accepts and a booker that does not accept but the game never ever suggests that there are only two bookers or that this is the only choice or event that branches. Elizabeth herself says that there are millions upon millions of comstocks, infinite in fact.

[@LLToons]

StevieGG08 that implies the only variable in booker's life was the baptism

[@wolf92193]

Well, KZbin decided not to load the sound in this video, but I decided to watch it anyway. Context sorely needed.

[@DannyK1992]

1:53 ummm Buddy Holly died in a plane crash in 1959 UNLESS you're saying that we could kill him in 1955...

[@excalibur183]

There was a surprisingly competent book series written about that scenario.

[@PotentiallyToast]

Lol that back to the future reference made me laugh XD

[@arcadedomination8006]

3:28 Mini-yahtzee

[@keithadams7619]

Vietcong with laser guns, and Taliban with robot snakes sounds fucking rad! Fuck the Cold War alternate history, let's go all in on this shit!

[@sebastianlacroix5871]

Always been curious if I'm the only person watching this from Blackburn, Lancashire.

[@camwyn256]

Random Documents and Audio Logs; We find them stuck to notice boards, we find them under dogs; We're going to put them in a file and give it a review; And we're bored of all the gameplay, but we've nothing else to do.

[@123legosandletsplays]

A quick glance at my periodic table and I will tell you that element 99 is Einsteinium.

[@Schwallex]

A quick glance at this very page and I will tell you that 99 people have said that before you.

[@123legosandletsplays]

+Schwallex yeah but fuck those guys.

[@123legosandletsplays]

Raistlin Majere;D

[@Zelousmarineinspace]

I can see your trolling from a mile away, because I HAVE NEVER HAD SO MUCH FUCKING FUN in a modern game before. Seriously, Yahtzee is just trolling, this game is so much fun

[@squidden]

Or are you pulling a double twist and trolling us? Hmm?Hmmmmm? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM? I'm onto you buddy...

[@Zelousmarineinspace]

GigaKyte No. This game is really fun.

[@AkichiDaikashima]

Zelousmarineinspace And it's okay that you find it fun but not everyone is you of course there will be people who don't like it...? That doesn't mean they're trolls, it just means they're not you.

[@123doomdoom]

Seeker Cornelius Hes just trolling...he should be fired from ESpst

[@AkichiDaikashima]

123doomdoom sure buddy, whatever (nonsense) you say

[@Bouserthebun]

you know, unobtainium, questionite, macguffinium alloy. all the good elements!

[@ZacKariahSheridan]

Tell me, is there actually any reason for the people being turned younger becoming slavering beasts in this game, rather than what Yahtzee said?

[@blackwaltz463]

+mrROFLstudios you fight rotten zombie-like monsters in the game.

[@fede6811]

+mrROFLstudios As sweet as Yahtzee's idea is, the game "theory" is that reverse aging using the element 99 on humans causes their brains to rot and them to turn feral as their cells turn cancer-like and that hurts like shit... So yeah... Bullshit

[@ShinigamiPriest18]

Right now I really want there to be a game where the main antagonist is made out of asparagus and is voiced by Brian Blessed

[@FattyZee]

oh god help me, ive watched like 20 videos back to back, I CANT STOP!!!

[@JordanOfGaia]

love the fact my hometown is mentioned in this vid!

[@chcc12]

The mining special crystels on an island, it's also takin from Timesplitters.

[@donniedewitt9878]

I really hope Yahtzee review the original fallouts one dau

[@MelBer97]

Wait it did have a timeslow element. The deadlock slowed time within the area to a crawl making you fuck about with the guys in it or using it for dodging the very slow bullets.

[@Zeranzo]

And he forgot about the game-breaking ability to block every single enemy in a certain area (except bosses)...

[@Marquis-Sade]

The "turn in to a monster"-part has nothing todo with turning them younger.

[@glossblack2045]

I instantly heard the 1 up jingle from mario at 1:35

[@KatieMaddalena]

My most favorite outro line of all. :p

[@SakaNaomi]

The bad guy being the player from the future WOULD be pretty cool. I like that plot twist waaaay more.

[@Rajyrr]

Eating einsteinium will clearly give one the power to manipulate time.

[@KowOneOhTwo]

I loved that reference to "A Day In The Life"

[@coconuthead1361]

3:32 Hold on... Bioshock combat was unforgiving? When?

[@Lawsondgage]

there is a book series like that, first book is called Leviathon. It is WW1 when the British and their allies have genetically engineered animals and the germans and their allies have gigantic steampunk robots. The main character is the son of Archduke Ferdinand, and the secondary main character/seperate POV is a RAF person, flying around in a genetically mutated whale. Yeah.

[@zhazha23]

"I was expecting the bad guy to be the good guy or me from the future..." inFamous?

[@rollz3]

I figured it out ( I think) "Err correct me if I'm incorrect wouldn't that element irradiate you?"

[@jaz11154]

I think that the plot twist at the end (spoilers but who cares) wasn't that, but the fact that it was you from the future that died in the fire in the first scene when you were saving the scientist. I remember as I was playing through in the beginning hearing him say wait stop and pounding on the wall, but as you approach he gets crushed by some flaming debris. I'm pretty sure that is what the big shocker was meant to be, though I suppose depending on what ending you got you didn't learn that.

[@LoudSodaCaleb]

1:59 ...... you are a wonderful human.

[@DaemonPrimarch]

"Erm, correct me if I'm wrong but won't that element irradiate you?" Is the only translation I can come up with.

[@TheTLProductions12]

I can not tell you how many times it took me to catch the beatles reference at 1:57 - 1:59:

[@AlbinoFlareon]

I'm with you man, 3:17 on the dot... Now that I've seen them all, 'tis safe to rest.

[@DrFilch]

Try not to make eye contact. Back away slowly until you've placed around 10 meters between you and it, turn around and start running.

[@MrSmith2100]

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't that element irradiate you?"

[@--ACCEPT--]

Was ever explained why that note in the section where you have to escort the girl tells you not to trust her?

[@JohnnyC133]

@JamesGarfieldDavis It says don't trust the girl, because she created MIR-12 after being left behind in the 1950s alternate timeline. That, and the Russian scientist guy wants to use the time device to leave the Soviet Union dominant but with himself at the helm. He can't do that if the girl returns to the present. I don't quite understand the second question, but I think it it's because of how temporal mechanics work.

[@DarthShark99]

Einsteinium can bend the rules of time can it Singularity? Must have missed that particular chemistry lesson.

[@PoliceAlarm]

Well check again! Many answers lie within this codeline! We need to crack it fully!

[@sparkie1j]

sombody needs to go through all these videos and get all the ideas hes come up with and combine them into a single game like the flying cat the dispenses harps

[@MegaDoom89]

i find it funny that in his review he doesn't like the game much but in one of his "lets drown out" videos, yahtzee talks about how much he actually like the story and characters.

[@Mistashiba]

+MegaDoom89 what video was that???

[@MegaDoom89]

one of his lets drown out videos, wish i could tell you more but he's got so many of them. He and gabe were talking about stories in games in one of them.

[@dwarfie24]

+MegaDoom89 Also he has has referenced to it a lot in his other zp videos. Two eyars after first watching this all his currrent references made come back in hope of finding out if he really liked it our not. And now thanks to your comment I know. Thanks.

[@camwyn256]

einsteinium (Es), synthetic chemical element of the actinoid series of the periodic table, atomic number 99. This element doesn't occur naturally, so how did the Russians find it?

[@EscheresquePolygons]

I'd guess the default Paint program, I can't see why it would take anything more complex than that.

[@steve1234522]

it might have been done there as well but infamous is just a game that came to mind for me.

[@SeraStaplz]

Wait, did this video inspire Bioshock Infinite when he said, " I expected the bad guy to be me from the future."?

[@TechUnadept]

By my translation: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't that element irradiate you?".

[@Momentousmario]

4:36 Has anyone seen my portable time machine? I have history to UN-Fuckup

[@MrJamesGtv]

I've already gone over my bandwidth threefold.

[@JonSqu]

Allow me to translate. He asked "Erm, correct me if I'm wrong, but won't that element irradiate you?"

[@zacbeaver123]

LETS YELL AT IT TILL IT FEELS AKWARD AND GOES AWAY!

[@BrainyGamin]

1:58 well the holes weren't that small here. Were they?

[@CorpoPsycho]

The 50's?!? MUST GET.

[@danielnelson560]

3:28 does anyone else remember him saying in his Bioshock review that the combat was unchallenging? Because I do. He is not always consistent with these things apparently.

[@danielnelson560]

He's even inconsistent about being inconsistent!

[@t850terminator]

He will compliment another game to drive a stake deeper into his current target.

[@Nygaard2]

Just in case you're curious - here's the wikipedia on element 99: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsteinium

[@robbiepaterson9130]

Hello fine sir. As a graduate of modern languages from the university of smartarse I can translate. I believe that it is trying to say. "Err, correct me if I'm incorrect, but won't that element irradiate you?" You are welcome Ladies and Mentalgen.

[@sparkie1j]

all hail big hank

[@RampantParts]

You heard the man, people - Robot Snake Jihad. Let's make it happen.

[@5H0CKW4V3able]

I believe I could understand it's language, what I think it meant was "Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that element radioactive?"

[@TheZickoPuppets]

Journal Entry #10 It's day 63 and supplies are running low, I've finished alot of his videos... But i can't stop. *sob*

[@kevinsullivan309]

I love Leviathan. They should make a game based around that general theme. Not the whole book series though. That would probably suck.

[@VanguardFencer]

Assassin's Creed is perhaps trying to do ALL alternate histories. Although it really isn't alternate. They just throw some guy in a white hood in it.

[@TheMrthor78]

ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

[@derps6201]

Worst thing i can say about this game is when the devs thought it was a good idea to add a completely random jumpscare when you interacted with one of the several audio logs.

[@sirfragalot92]

I have a translation for you, officer. "Er, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Einsteinium radioactive?"

[@fightinirish273]

...and that's why you always leave a note.

[@bkdarkness]

The part about the kid with crutches killed me.

[@starofcctv94]

@SeCONdagenda1 Or a Napolionic war game! where you walk slowly in formation until you get in range then each sides trade shot killing about a 3rd of the people on each volley until one side has significatly soldiers.

[@ghostofgeek]

I was born in Blackburn Lancashire- yay! :D

[@Flabulo]

Just sitting here watching Zero Punctuation, when all of the sudden Gamera reference sparking a MST3K-a-thon.

[@JudgmentBoy]

we should capture it and give it to science!

[@5H0CKW4V3able]

reminds me of that one likealaugh post where this guy was in omegle or something and he was chatting to some kid who thought he was a female named steve

[@mrchuck1595]

why are these and Unskippable so addicting?