What does Cruelty Squad Believe In?

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The music in this video is from the Cruelty Squad OST by Consumer Softproducts

[@Leadhead]

Since a lot of people are asking, and commenting about this, just want to put it out there that I'm not depressed by any means. I've gone through messed up phases like anyone else, and I was channeling them for this video, but generally, I've been feeling really great lately. On another topic, I won't get too into specifics. If you know, you know. Basically, this video, like all of mine, is just me projecting my own experiences and feelings onto the art in question. By no means do I want to come across like I'm saying "this is what the author intended." That's the boring, English-teacher kind of art analysis, and if you ask me, it betrays the function of art as a whole. Art is whatever you need it to be. Someone might write about one problem, and a hundred years later to them, I relate my totally different problem to it, and get a chance to learn something, and grow. I'm gonna start putting a disclaimer to that affect in the start of my videos.

[@Jalezen]

good thoughts

[@NoiseFlippin]

I think anyone who has seen your essay on _The Beginner's Guide_ will understand that.

[@NoiseFlippin]

@Yeetus debeetus Do you have sources? I can't find anything about it

[@DavidZucky]

@Yeetus debeetus Really?

[@ZannyAisling]

@@NoiseFlippin ignore them, they’ve got himmler’s black sun as their icon and are spouting pejoratives elsewhere in this comments section. this game has sadly attracted hateful irony-poisoned sorts to its fanbase. hope the artist behind it ain’t like that but these days have been rough 😔

[@krisfahrenheit3303]

Surprisingly deep analysis of a game where one of the assasination targets has a house made of funko pops

[@freindmaker4473]

thats personallt why i love the game, its so silly, absurd and trashy but has a legitimately super interesting world and message

[@vintheguy]

As is deserving of all who own such atrocities

[@elliottchiasson]

With all due respect assassinating someone whose house is made of funko pops is a much deeper concept than you think

[@tp4bunghole108]

You clearly haven’t seen the Postal 2 analysis video

[@coltonc7832]

The game ends with a quote from Bataille. The FunkoHouse™ is significant.

[@crudedev]

I don't think I've ever been personally attacked by the plot to a video game before.

[@aaronroberts7047]

That... that feels like it sums up the point of Cruelty Squad pretty perfectly. Unrelenting attack.

[@istoleyunomilesbigmac]

i did, now

[@NeostormXLMAX]

i think this is the true message to cruelty squad and not the "capitalist" bad thing. its the matter of dwindling choices

[@qoph1988]

@@NeostormXLMAX Yeah the amount of themes and memes you find in the game that you'd only find otherwise on poast or telegram kind of deflate the whole "ooho critique of capitalism" bullshit. There's a certain kind of midwit who can't analyze literally anything without it being a critique of capitalism.

[@BJ-zd2or]

2001 Metal Gear Solid 2 comes to mind?

[@Q269]

I like the "the resolution was given to us by the devine gods" being a hint on changing your screen resolution

[@clownhunter]

It's also a reference to Terry Davis (TempleOS). He was a programmer who believed God was instructing him to build the Third Temple, but the temple was to be an operating system that needed to run at 640x480: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnWTi6JqZrqtjqc

[@electrolyteblend]

Also in the archon grid level an npc says "I heard the 640 x 480 resolution was passed down to us by God. It allows us to see the Unseen, huh?"

[@Q269]

@@electrolyteblend yeah! That's the one! 😃

[@Q269]

@@clownhunter aww he¢k... Now I'm going Down the Rabbit Hole with TempleOS... Thanks for the reminder XD

[@electrolyteblend]

@@Q269 I like someordinarygamers video on it

[@mayuzanevideos]

Huh, can’t help but a feel a bit weird because my life is going in reverse. When I was a kid I thought I knew what I was going to be and I felt trapped. 34 years later, I feel a freedom I’ve never felt before and I’m learning to do things I thought I would hate doing, like sewing, cooking, building furniture. For me, as I got older I cared less and less about failure and decided to just go for whatever I wanted to learn.

[@fkndjfbcnofkk4706]

You have Benjamin buttons disease my man (but seriously respect for pursuing your interests)

[@zombieplasticclock]

Good on ya, man. Here's hoping I can find my own version of that one day

[@vintheguy]

@@fkndjfbcnofkk4706 No you dummy He's got ligma

[@bernadettebread]

Shout out to you for living your life, I’m trying through therapy and more discipline to get to that point myself 👏 👏 👏

[@NageMcPollo]

You should make a first person shooter lmao (but really, your perpective its very interesting)

[@0supermoose804]

I love the unexpected thematic ambiguity of this game. The fact is that one person interprets this game as a mediation on the regret of life, another looks at it as an entirely economic satire, and yet another can look at it as some sort of religious statement, and neither is entirely right or wrong.

[@SauloA333]

THAT'S what I call mastering art

[@btf_flotsam478]

If you load up a sufficiently abstract environment with enough cynicism, people will try to view it as a perspective of real life. This one has further developed its ambiguity by referring a large number of concepts about real-world subjects, which can each be taken as the basis for interpreting the game. This game could well have a deeper meaning, but it's also very similar to how someone would make a faux-philosophical piece of media.

[@quadrax608]

Dev said this analysis is one of the worst things he had ever seen, so yeah, "unexpected ambiguity"

[@NoiseFlippin]

@@quadrax608 When did they say that?

[@SauloA333]

@@quadrax608 Really?

[@k.constantine]

I disagree with the interpretation of divine light as another cynical element. My perception is that divine light represents an authentic connection to life and the world around you, awareness of it. Dying to the world means becoming "of it" and blinds you to the truth of it, losing your divine light because you failed to combat the world and partaking in its cycles instead of overcoming them. Regaining divine light can be seen as achieving inspiration, even if it took a fictional construct for it to happen.

[@swaggercompany6752]

Damn thats a good one

[@ipeefriely3034]

MT Foxtrot actually finding inapiration from Gorbino's Quest and having a positive dream about it is honestly beautiful as an interpretation.

[@k.constantine]

@@swaggercompany6752 it's just assuming a literal meaning for the phrase in context since you start with it and are only a flesh automaton once you lose it.

[@a_blind_sniper]

Hmm. It's possible that since you take half damage when your divine light is severed, it could be that you're senses are being "dulled" enough to withstand more bullets and pain, but you lose the visceral, authentic connection to the world.

[@k.constantine]

@@a_blind_sniper That's the idea. In a world so controlled by corporate interests and engineered top-down for its inhabitants, nothing is more fragile than an authentic, honest perception of it. When you lose your Divine Light, you basically become the gray wojak NPC meme.

[@soapdictator1735]

As one smart man once said, "Cruely Squad is the logical conclusion of videogames".

[@zacharywelter8737]

Oh my god

[@strelokand7306]

Pretty much. A peak of 21st century philosophy, however funny that sounds.

[@callmeishmael5742]

How so?

[@jakekaywell5972]

So it's Malevich's "Black Square" of video games? Makes sense.

[@GimOA]

@@callmeishmael5742 by playing videogames, you're essentially wasting your time just for the sake of an imminent burst of entertainment. While you can do something to gain opportunities. In other words, ending 3 are (interpreted by another youtube commenter) : well, that was a huge waste of time.

[@aplix747]

Ending 1: dying and then being reborn to live practically the same life - wagie ending Ending 2: sigma grindset Ending 3: that was a huge waste of time

[@NoiseFlippin]

I don't believe grindsets but that's a pretty funny comment

[@pieofchart]

@@NoiseFlippin kekma cringeset

[@NoiseFlippin]

@@pieofchart Yeah

[@testname4464]

@@NoiseFlippin That's the joke, "grindsets" are in reality allowing your personality to become nothing more than a wage slave. That's why "sigma grindset" is made fun of so heavily, plus "sigma male" is too funny.

[@NoConsequenc3]

@@testname4464 sigma males are literally NPCs lmao

[@EZOnTheEyes]

"Shoemaker General Materials Handling" - *DEFINETLY* a good idea to leave that one out 0_0

[@dr.animegirlseksgivermd.9659]

W h a t

[@Yingyanglord1]

I don't get it

[@EZOnTheEyes]

If you're confused, there was a failed attack involving an ordinance hidden in a Shoe on an airplane in 2001

[@imma5269]

Also one of the houses in “Paradise” is a replica of Osama Bin Laden’s compound lmao

[@somerandomname3124]

You missed something very important about Ending 3: 1. You are not just dying, everyone is. That's what "Golden Age" means. Death did not exist in Cruelty Squads world. It's cyberpunk because of not just augmentations and corporatocracy, but because death was literally solved before you were born so that people could work forever. Death is not important, and you kill people not to kill them, but as punishment for corporate reasons. Cruelty Squad does not tell you the world that you inhabit is terrible, simply that you cannot find your place in the world. No one can because all meaning has been removed. That's why people commit suicide throughout the game, or mention mass sacrifices in a vain attempt to try and rediscover actual death, not the inability to die because you are not alive, but the release from this realm, that no one has been able to achieve. 2. The Bataille quote was referring to this society as a whole because you and everyone else was forced into this hell world by capitalism. Bataille's quote comes from a book where he points out capitalism and humanity in general has created too much surplus, and the wealth instead of being used to say help the homeless, is used to fund war. "A system can either use spare energy to feed itself, or exert the energy as waste." Because of this the world of Cruelty Squad has developed an inability to discern from waste or refeeding because they have become the same, it simply continues. Everyone is obsessed with filling your life with as much energy as possible to try and feel something, anything. You got the basic idea right, yes, life is full of opportunities but is ultimately just a terrible experience made to extract your energy, the way capitalism does, the way archons do. You have become a god like being by ending 3, and have been able to literally attack the essence of the world. You were able to rewrite existence however you wanted. This means you either made existence a better place with your power, or more likely because "Golden Age" implies a cyclical nature. Meaning you might have restarted the universe back to the big bang, to a time where death still existed and life had meaning. Maybe this time people will find a better way to live than last time and break the cycle, maybe they won't and you will replay the game again in another cycle. Cruelty Squad is a game that looks at the statement "Capitalism works." and points out that capitalism might be a good system of creating as much surplus as possible at the cost of 90% of humanity, and points out however successful it is, it's a bad system because it's inherently inhumane at it's ideological core as opposed to it's actions like others. It's a prediction of how no matter how successful capitalist society becomes and "Wealth trickles down." to the point that everyone becomes immortal it will still be a terrible existence because they will be forced to work forever, until the end of time unless you force it to stop.

[@DancerVeiled]

To expand on this, your divine light is your soul. When you die and are reanimated by the game's cruel machinery, you lose it, and thus you lose the ability to see beyond the narrow concept of what "LIFE" is. Many paths are closed to you. You become a soulless husk, a flesh automaton animated by chemicals in your brain, devoid of purpose, full of "LIFE" but not alive. This is intentional, and why your divine light is lost until the end of the game where, having seen the cycle, you strive to see past it once more.

[@theblobconsumes4859]

I like this comment, but I have only one correction. It is biopunk, not cyberpunk.

[@DBArtsCreators]

Part of the curse is that capitalism is inherent to any exchange, and with that is tied into humanity as a whole. Whenever one person has something another wants, and exchange of any sort is made, it's capitalism. In its way, capitalism is good. In it's way as well, capitalism is evil. To separate humanity from capitalism - from wanting & bartering - is a challenge none have truly approached. Not sure how you'd even start; but I don't think we'd have humans at the end of it.

[@neo-filthyfrank1347]

I assume you agree with the notion that capitalism is "evil" or at least flawed. What do you propose as an alternative? Resources are inherently scare. The natural state of man is to work and fight just to stay alive, it is an inherent property of being a living thing. You won't have an answer for this.

[@Rebcap05]

God, this is very pretentious.

[@perplexxing]

"This video will probably give you a seizure." Well, at least she's upfront about it. I respect that.

[@PANDORAZTOYBOKZ]

Just a quick heads up, Lead actually uses She/Her pronouns now (but has also said she is very understanding of people who aren't aware since her transition started fairly recently and she rarely does any facecam content aside from her coming out vid) :)

[@perplexxing]

OH GOD SORRY, I USED THE WRONG PRONOUNS

[@perplexxing]

@@PANDORAZTOYBOKZ Thanks for reminding me, I fixed the comment, hope it's alright now. (This is actually kinda embarassing as I actually watched the vid of her coming out so I probably should've known tbh.)

[@napalmkitty6686]

Oh jesus one of those

[@joechimpzeecom]

@@napalmkitty6686 one of what?

[@Nurr0]

Small error at 8:53, you lose Divine Light the first time you die and become a Flesh Automaton. Dying multiple times as a Flesh Automaton puts you into Power in Misery, where you are a horrible regenerating monster that can eat corpses.

[@undecidedmajor1664]

The beat never drops on that level iirc

[@NoiseFlippin]

That's a good thing, right?

[@majura3743]

Kinda like how many people may be suicidal, but never follow through. Like being trapped in limbo. You hate your life but you can’t bring yourself to end it, as much as you might want to sometimes.

[@rogerphone481]

@@majura3743 "Mom would be sad."

[@Survivalist_Redo]

@@NoiseFlippin For who's perspective are you asking?

[@DeadpoolX9]

@@majura3743 You ever try and then end up living? I've long since concluded that life is going to other people's funerals. In this singular perspective I as an observer cannot die but you can. That is the ultimate tragedy of life. We can fantasize about our funerals and escape all we want but the truth is there is no escape. We simply just keep existing.

[@Driver-qt9jh]

I've always considered the game as a examination of ownership as a concept. You sacrifice your self through the game, and then end is you owning so much you cant physically comprehend it. Its kind of a satire of internet "Grind" culture. People are willing to give so much just to claim another object is theirs. Then again this might just me my self refection of someone with 1.5k hours in warthunder.

[@bearandwolfbros5422]

I think ownership is definitely a sub theme. When you really thinking about, human ownership is incredibly loose and silly. Like the stocks you can buy in game are only profitable if manipulated. Literally gambling is sometimes a better investment strategy. You kill people to delay them, disrupt their corporate plans and make them spend 500 bucks or get a surgery. You do this so you raid these places and get paid. Buts 90% of your actual cash goes into surgeries to make yourself better at the job. Similar how we spend time and money on real world jobs, to then earn money and reputation. And so we can all buy houses or something. And then you buy the house, fill it was Gambino quest and a car you will maybe use once. And you just go right back to your job.

[@realhumanbean7915]

I mean there are clear references to hustle culture

[@bearandwolfbros5422]

@@realhumanbean7915 in order to play and understand cruelty squad you have to be on that octillionaire grindset. This was clear to all true hustlers who made there crypto pump and dump scheme at 12.

[@realhumanbean7915]

@@bearandwolfbros5422 Excuse me? Octillionaire? Garloidtard alert, don’t talk to me PMO scrub, how much liquid crypto have you injected into your veins, normie? These kids with no market power telling me how I should enjoy my gorbino's quest shm 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️💯💯

[@Rifky809]

​@@bearandwolfbros5422CEO mindset

[@zombieplasticclock]

I gotta be honest, this video kinda messed me up. I didn't play Cruelty Squad despite hearing how good it apparently is due to a mix of disinterest and thinking I "got" the game when I saw Civvie's video on it. I wasn't ready for the themes to hit so close to home. Turning 30 and realizing life is nothing but a unfeeling cycle of mandatory work then mandatory rest to serve society until I die was something I've been struggling with for a long while. It's a "problem" that's difficult to define and has no clear "solution", if any even exists. It's pure existential dread, and is truly numbing. So what a perfect chaser, then, for a story like this. And if this was intended by the devs and writers, I goddamn applaud them. I feel awful, I want to cry. I wonder why I even keep on living, and if continuing to do so has any real merit. And that dreadful feeling is WAY more feeling than any game has given me to date. Complete surreal madness is the perfect way to adapt how uncertain and nightmarish life becomes as we trudge alongside it. The fact it's disturbing, depressing, and with no clear message at the end adds a lot to it I think. It's just like life, it makes no sense and you go through the motions until it's all over.

[@zombieplasticclock]

@@magnenoalex2 Probably "helps" as much as hard drugs, and probably causes as much lasting harm. It doesn't give meaning but the lie of purpose to protect from life's harshness.

[@freindmaker4473]

You should get cruelty squad, its a damn fun shooter

[@zombieplasticclock]

@@magnenoalex2 Hey man you can live delusional if it gives you purpose and make you happy. I'm just calling it as I see it. You have God or whatever, I have anime. Agree to disagree

[@crudedev]

Same.

[@ValiumSadfemmeMcGirlBoss]

Anarchism.

[@eltiolavara9]

WARNING: THIS COMMENT'S FUCKING DUMB BECAUSE ITS JUST WHAT HAPPENS IN THE GAME AND I PHRASED IT AS MY INTERPRETATION wow thats a much more depressing interpretation of the 3rd ending than mine my interpretation was that you were finally restoring meaning to the world (GOLDEN AGE) by breaking the circle of undeath, thus making people finally able to die again, as a life without end ends up being empty and meaningless EDIT: also my interpretation of the 1st ending is that the protagonist experiences a world without death or pain and realizes it is hollow more or less

[@eltiolavara9]

holy shit i feel like a philosophist

[@eltiolavara9]

@MrTophat you know

[@R0bertRodriguez]

dude i've seen u everywhere through the years

[@eltiolavara9]

@@R0bertRodriguez yeah i do that :)

[@W3Rn1ckz]

man why didn’t they just try playing cross-country football

[@AnInnocuousBlueCube]

I was not aware that the psychology of Cruelty Squad paralleled goddamn Zardoz of all things, but given how it looks and feels I don't know why I was even surprised.

[@Q269]

This is what you get when you start the game: Ad Break

[@binbows2258]

I disagree with this video. Cruelty Squad is not about a limited life with an excess of opportunity. It's about an excess of life with limited opportunity.

[@guardianoftheledge4966]

I like how there is a lot of disagreement in the comments on interpretation of this game. Art is subjective, and Cruelty Squad leaves its victims to contemplate its meaning with details vague enough to inspire a variety of conclusions that can be wildly different from person to person. Anyone who has contemplated the game will have an equally valid experience to the rest because not everyone needs to hear the same message. I felt my heart sink as I listened to your interpretation as I felt it too. The feeling of living on a set path is an absolutely terrifying and and crushing experience that I can sympathize with. I'm in my 5th year of a computer science degree and when the basement target in paradise began vomiting techo-jargon I felt physically ill. I had to take a break from the game. The game made me feel awful at times, and it helped me to contemplate my existence during a recent low point. Currently my takeaway is a cautionary tale of just how corrosive the CEO mindset is. The whole time you feel like you are different, and you will make a breakthrough if you keep going. That is how being the protagonist generally works in a video game. But then you die. You spent your whole life working toward something that you never achieved. You cannot forget about the future, but if all you do is prepare for it, then you will never see what it could be. Along with that, I also felt that it had a lot to say about the cynicism and irony of postmodernism as I understand the topic. These things are important tools to understand why it is ok and natural to be sad or worried, or to completely feel nothing. But often, and especially on the internet, they are taken much too far. People do not allow themselves and others to like things for reasons they likely believe to be altruistic. But if you are never allowed to enjoy something, how are you supposed to enjoy anything? It sounds obvious when I say it like that, but I have been stuck like that before. Cruelty Squad plays on irony poisoning and cynicism by presenting itself as a shitpost game. The veneer of a shitpost is an invitation to lower your defenses. 'It is ok to play this because it doesn't mean anything.' And then when it actually has a lot to say about the horrific cynical world which it depicts, the player may be forced to confront their own cynicism and ask, "What does this actually do for me?" I shed my irony poisoning and most of my excess cynicism long ago, so I can still listen to and enjoy the likes of gangnam style and party rock regularly. But I still found the message to be powerful. It reinforced my understanding that if I don't make the effort to enjoy things, nobody will do it for me. I think that might make sense. I'm still processing what this game means to me. EDIT: I don't know what postmodern actually means and I want to make it clear that if I accidentally chudposted then that wasn't what I meant to do. I thought it was just a movement with a lot of cynical art. However, I stand by my discomfort over how saturated with detached cynicism pop culture is. Cruelty Squad is not detached. It is saturated with political and existential anxiety with a deep disgust for consumerism culture. The game is cynical and sarcastic, but also deeply honest. It almost feels intimate. Cruelty Squad is powerful art. I struggle to put to words the effect of the game. On one hand, it is a fun game, and on the other, a prompt for a long overdue breakdown that would ultimately empower me to take action and heal long unrecognized trauma.

[@Tourettes-syndrome-gaming]

Yes

[@fiendish9474]

I like that you called people who played Cruelty Squad its victims, because just looking at this game for more than 10 minutes is an assault on my eyesight and the only way I can experience this game is through video essays/reviews

[@nothanks5531]

If divine link is a driving force of the CEO mindset then why is the cruelty squad CEO behind a Hope Eradicated door?

[@Mroziukz]

Yeah I disagree with his interpretation of Divine Light

[@giserson2]

Ah yes, once again I am confronted with the big question: "what the fuck do I do?" A question that sometimes pops up in my mind that I keep pushing back, not wanting to truly answer, because no answer is satisfactory, so I simply push it away and keep following the plan. I know the plan is flawed, I know I'm unhappy, but I genuinely don't know what to do about it. At this point I'm practically locked in, I have a certain standard of living that I don't want to compromise on, but am I truly living when I can hardly enjoy anything during the short time I have to do so? Even so I'm resistant to change and generally pretty anxious, the idea of becoming homeless scares the shit out of me, yet I know that my entire existance hangs on the thin thread that is my failing mental health. The only way to live is to have a job, yet to have a job is to sell your life away. What the fuck do I do?

[@drexcarratala5290]

haha late stage capitalism go brrrrrrrrrrr

[@vi0let831]

Goddammit I relate to this so much

[@DianaTaffie]

Yeah, i approve of this interpretation. It works incredibly well with what i consider to be the less abstract and general and more in-universe intepretation, about the excess of wealth/life literally making life basically cancerous, nobody being able to die, and you first becoming another destructive and cancerous CEO figure yourself in LIFE ending, and then doing the right thing and finally go to destroy The Cradle of Life, sending yourself and other CEOs to your deaths, finally freeing the world from its cancerous existence and remaking it anew, into a better world, and world with enough life, not an overexcess, and enough death to counteract, and thus, making the world not as mundane, boring and cancerous... something like that.

[@Je3perscre3pers]

Im almost 30. Dont chase your dreams. ACHIEVE/FIND your GOALs. I thought i was gunn be a career soldier, 4 years later I was wrong. Im permanently disabled now. I feel exactly how you described the main character

[@uiopisreal9966]

Once a great person said to me, after laying down a few hundred thousand kilometers of train tracks and organizing them into an unorganized system: Only boring people ever get bored.

[@seeknprotect6179]

Is this some art joke?

[@GimOA]

@@seeknprotect6179 it can implies that boredom are subjective since it heavily relies on "feelings".

[@SchnitzelRoyal]

This game looks and sounds like it took a hard right on seratoga

[@Whoopsie_woggzy]

"being scared of the unknown isn't as existentially-crisis-ing as i suspected it to be" :me after this video

[@marcantoinelab12321]

So the game is about alienation under capitalism ? Alienation from others Alienation from our emotions Alienation from society Alienation from ourselves Nothing remains except whatever quest you took on. Whatever goal for profit you have. Grinding you down to nothing but a machine. A grinding machine. Where nothing is important but the empty promise of your goal being fulfilled.

[@gamesdeen3768]

I am a sad sack of shit. I huff, and I puff, and I suffer. I am number two. I am number three. I pulsate. I laugh.

[@JEMA333]

This game can barely run on my laptop, but i love whatever gameplay i do get out of it. It brings me pure joy to know you also played it and are talking about it.

[@lucavalente6620]

"Look what you see when you boot up the game." *tik tok ad* Ah yes, we live in a society.

[@QuixEnd]

Game dev: "heh, this'll be kinda funny" Critique channel: "the mannerisms in which our psyche curtail such inevitable doom simply cannot articulate a conundrum as deeply imposing on us as this singular line of dialog"

[@NoiseFlippin]

I'm gonna have to correct you on one point: Leadhead is an essay channel, not critic

[@Kobathedread191]

You really don't think his frustrated screams of living in a capitalist hellscape don't bleed through in every aspect of this game? Look up the creator, he's an artist who has made some angry and real critiques of capitalism.

[@jungkinoid8706]

@@Kobathedread191 you're right but also holy shit you sound pretentious lmao nerd

[@stinkystink9830]

@@NoiseFlippin do you feel less empty having corrected an anonymous stranger on an anonymous video through the anonymous electron stream I feel better

[@NoiseFlippin]

@@stinkystink9830 Yeah

[@ShadowLibrarian]

Deciding on what to do on a day-to-day basis is hard enough, deciding on what to do for rest of your life is near impossible or at least it has been for me. There's not really a single thing I'm truly passionate about in this world so I've never been able to decide what way I should point myself at I never liked the idea of working for a large company that scares the living hell out of me. Being an independent creator of some kind really is confusing for me because what I want to do in the first place that would make me money and not make me want to kill myself. Life is best lived like an animal to be honest they don't think on these itty bitty little things that we focus on they seem large to us but in the grand scheme of things they're worthless.

[@fenrir6200]

All you people who are so unable and unwilling to do anything for yourself because you have no motivation or desire to be anything greater, shifting this blame outwards on everyone and everything around you in this grandiose, overdramatic "statement about corporations and society11!1!!" is what Cruelty Squad, what you people are truly about. Everyone cries and bitches and moans when through the forfeiture of your emotion and humanity is what lets you rise to the top, and bask in the rewards for doing it. Make it to the winning team. Be corporate, be successful, or wallow in your overdramatic misery.

[@docdocadocdoc]

Thank you, Mrs. Head!

[@mrrazfromnz]

I don't think she's married

[@levvicasey]

Constantly rewatching this video while waiting for pyro to upload his video on the game.

[@UncleDizzno]

I think the wonderful thing about Cruelty Squad is that it's so abstract and bizarre that it can be read almost any way you want, and so it's likely to speak very deeply to anyone who plays it. What I gleaned from the game seems to vary pretty widely from the interpretation presented here, but I don't think either reading of it is the "correct" one. I think in essence, Cruelty Squad believes in whatever YOU believe in while you're experiencing it, and I absolutely love that.

[@klovvin]

To me, crazy frog is just a normal frog.

I was actually waiting for this 😂 knew you would play and make a video about it... I wish I could play this game but sadly my pc broke :(

[@Hyperio606]

sorry for the broken PC :(

[@Tourettes-syndrome-gaming]

Oh no sorry mate

@@Tourettes-syndrome-gaming thanks still don't have one because I don't want to sell my organs for a graphic card

[@justfrankjustdank2538]

reminds me of the amazing world of gumball quote "MY LIFE IS FLASHING BEFORE MY EYES, AND ITS BORING"

[@acethurman71]

I'm glad you are covering this game it's such a wonderful clusterfuck

[@ktp2004]

i admire at how much of reaching and making shit up is necessary to get to this sort of interpretation. i unironically love how cruelty squad inspires this sort of response in people. it shows people a grotesque world and it is seen as a mirror.

[@Mate_Antal_Zoltan]

too bad the developer doesn't like how it inspires this sort of response he said he hates this video specifically because Leadhead is reaching and making shit up for all the viewers to digest, without them having to get to their own conclusions

[@yeetusdeletus8565]

Sadly, civilians draw the line at seeing a man made of writhing flesh trying to talk to them.

[@albertnonymous9759]

The resolution 640x480 is told to you by an NPC in Archon Grid, it's a reference to TempleOS, God's third temple... With the demoness CEO and how Paradise has the street layout of a pentagram... That says something.

[@boxthememeguy]

from the creator responding to a quote saying "it's a warning, not an instruction manual": "it was supposed to be a video game… it’s over… we failed"

[@hooty7179]

cruelty squad is like deus ex and cyberpunk had a baby but the baby got addicted to fucking lsd

[@randoooooooooooo4676]

This entire game looks like a PilotRedSun video in 3D

[@bendovernaugh8171]

That final song is super fucking enjoyable ngl

[@obo_ooz]

this game is literally the embodiment of 'sigma grindset'

[@obo_ooz]

@Stellvia Hoenheim yee ligma guts

[@absoluteschmuck]

@Stellvia Hoenheim sugma grindset

[@mistermalignant]

Actually true.

[@R77ification]

Reminds me how the Sigma male was usually represented as John Wick. In a way, he was in the grind until he finally became the most feared hitman in the world. But he also became the most feared hitman in the world. Everyone respects John out of fear and those that do like him either die or worse.

[@NoiseFlippin]

Grindsets are a dumb concept

[@evangelinemartell3366]

cruelty squad is the greatest critique of capitalism ive seen to date

[@antipsychotic451]

@Yeetus debeetus Can you explain what your profile picture means?

[@liviasilva3333]

@Yeetus debeetus bruh is that a black sun?

[@a..27stephenson]

This is one of the most dark and depressing things I’ve ever heard. 10/10

[@Player-10]

I've gotten Divine Light by checking the Punishment box and beating the level. The NPCs literally make you wonder what it is by asking: "Punishment? What's that?"

[@dasmowilkins]

cruelty squad and milliondollarextreme are both incredible pieces of work that take a hatchet into capitailsm, nihilism and modernity.

[@thatyoutubechannel9953]

I can say with absolute certainty - being just under 20, having started HRT just over a month ago, being days or maybe weeks at the maximum from being homeless and being away from home for the first time... No, my world is not fading or narrowing. My life is not boring. My world finally feels like it's open and my life finally interesting. I have absolutely no idea what my life will look like in a month. I have absolutely no idea what my life will look like in a year. There are millions of maybes, but I only know two things: I'm going to be somewhere else, and I'm going to be who I am.

[@THExRISER]

Good luck. I'm gonna be 24 in a few months and get my degree, so I'm starting my life a bit late, and while I do have things I want to do and put time and effort into, I'll always be open to new opportunities, may we both find happiness out there. our comment made me feel a bit better after the video, thank you.

[@SurrogateActivities]

walking naivety. just a bit of meddling with your body's inherent nature, a bit of surgery and suddenly there no identity crisis, no trauma, no sickness

[@thatyoutubechannel9953]

@@SurrogateActivities I'll always have trauma, I'll always be trans, I'll always have dysphoria, you're totally right. But you know what else? I'll also always be a woman, I'll also always be stronger for it, I'll also always be stronger and smarter than any little cishet transphobic loser too insecure in his own masculinity to admit that trans women are women and trans men are men.

[@thatyoutubechannel9953]

@@SurrogateActivities Also stop liking your own comments, it SCREAMS desperate

[@SurrogateActivities]

@@thatyoutubechannel9953 i can never outscream your desperation

[@aryanadiazcakasana4414]

7:42 i am sure that npc is a temple os enjoyer

[@atoaster9854]

this game is the best shitpost

[@MintyLime703]

and people are looking way too far into it

[@xghrawtime]

I identify with you deeply! I love your insight into art. And I love how personally you write and express yourself! You don't have to apologize for talking about yourself. It makes your videos more intimate and honest. I really love your stuff.

[@eldonhill4840]

What an amazing video that articulates so many of the feelings I get from this game and so many things I didn't even think about. Critical writing about "postmodern" media (or whatever the fuck cruelty squad is. Who cares) is really difficult to do and not sound like an asshole, and you nailed it. Never came across your channel before, but I'll be catching myself up on it now ❤️

[@noahgray1962]

the reprise of “when the beat drops, i’m going to fucking kill myself” gave me actual chills

[@ThatGuy-B48]

I wanted to thank you Leadhead for making this video, it introduced me to this game and it’s been borderline life changing. I stopped buying chunko- pops, now I have a 10 year plan and have a ceo mindset.

[@tverdyznaqs]

Okay, 2 points of contention: 1. 'When the beat drops I'm going to fucking kill myself' isn't void of emotion, people don't get motivated to commit suicide out of boredom, there is always more going on under the hood. I'm sensing that the NPC is meant to be angry, otherwise he wouldn't have snuck that 'fucking' in there for emphasis 2. The straight and narrow path in life is a bit of a myth, our faith don't get decided in a few key moments early on and follow a pre-determined trajectory, the universe is too chaotic and unpredictable to allow that to ever happen and shit never goes as planned, even for those who want it to. Like, you mentioned having highschool friends who seemed to have their paths figured out, who's to say their ability to predict their individual futures is any good at all? To me, this kind of thinking always seemed like a bit of a coping mechanism that helps those who use it not get overwhelmed with the infinite and unknowable possibility space in front of them

[@xiopia3940]

Loser

[@Wrigley953]

On one level I agree with your second point having changed majors 3 or 4 times in the span of a year but once stuff (what you’re gonna do to make sure you don’t starve) is sorted, the most convenient option for the majority of people is to continue in that field until you die

[@MxArgent]

Crus walks the walk AND talks the talk - and it remains consistently entertaining throughout. A real rarity in game design, even among the System Shock style open-ended affairs it harkens back to. It raises questions, and it keeps them open. Glad to have played it -- it makes fun of me and my own powerlessness, and I love it more for it. I kinda interpreted Foxtrot as both anti-hero *and* anti-villain for being the one to break the trauma loop - the one to let the world and the loop of suffering it was stuck in end, and let whatever emerges in the void left behind emerge. Someone so in tune with divine suffering that they can see it for what it is, and break it. It's refreshing to hear all these different takes.

[@JL-uq6qe]

While I'm early and hyped for the video I just wanted to beg you to play/make a video on The Talos Principal Easily the most profound game I ever have played and honestly made me rethink my existence no cap

[@n1lla]

I really enjoyed that game as well. Would love to know any real good first person puzzle games, Portal and the Witness are the only ones i played that come to mind.

[@JL-uq6qe]

@@n1lla I enjoyed Portal 2 but I personally don't play puzzle games very often at all The Talos Principal just has writing that has ascended any other game, and a big part of that is how well the puzzle mechanics/level layout mesh with the story. The puzzles are very enjoyable but I would have to say the world concept, atmosphere, and the execution of this are, for me, what pushes the game to a peak of gaming. To be honest, I couldn't see another puzzle game living up to the thematic element of Talos Principal, but it definitely showed me the puzzle genre is a good place for thematic games

[@aaronsound]

should i play the dlc?

[@JL-uq6qe]

@@aaronsound I started it and stopped, I'll have to come back at a time when I need it. It was immediately much more confusing. Storywise it didn't immediately intrigue me but that's my opinion.

[@mutedknght]

"I want to feel things I've never felt before" I have found a reviewer for me.

[@GenericInternetter]

The cure for boredom is just a little bit of meditation. It's like a reset button, everything becomes interesting again. It's tragic that most people don't know this and live their whole lives in an eternal downward slide, never resetting their mindset back to the start.

[@ThatGezaDude]

You know what's another thing that resets the brain to a state where suddenly everything can be interesting again? Alcohol. No wonder society is so enamored with it.

[@FelonyArson]

I don't know if it's my ADHD, but I experience this every day, oscillation between absolute enthusiasm and interst and absolute boredom. Whish I could stay interested in one thing for longer

[@sillylittlemonkey7130]

@@ThatGezaDude boozepilled

[@TheWirdo01]

It's great it helped you but treating it as a cure all for boredom is frankly stupid. I've been meditating, or rather had been, daily for years and it was of no help in the long run. I have some severe personal issues which I'm aware may be partially culpable for that but everything save a few things in life still bore me to fucking tears, often times to the point of very real very intense suicidal ideation. It may sound bleak but for some people boredom does not go away with simple meditation, rather it's something you forcefully have to subject yourself to to keep yourself from going broke, day in, day out. To this date I still do it a few times a week mainly to help me avoid going into full blown manic episodes but it's in no way an instant fix. Some people really just have no way out and it's fucking bleak to think about.

[@miguelangelcifuentescruz9465]

@@TheWirdo01 Meditation without philosophy is like a band aid rather than a cure

[@TK-sg8qq]

Cruelty squad: What is life? Also cruelty squad: Anyway your target is a funko pop collector who lives on an island. If you ever get low on health just shoot some random people and eat them Haha. Oh and you can go fishing and invest in stocks to buy a gun that takes up some room in your brain. Anyway have fun

[@ZigealFaust]

I love that feeling of going into a game blind and feeling like it was created just for me. Not since Shadow Man and maybe Death Jr did I have the vibe CS gave me 10 mins in.

[@FloodclawKupo]

It's so fascinating how people can have such varied opinions and interpretations on what anything in the game. You chose a more allegorical metaphor to life itself and its meaning, and I chose to apply it to my interpretation of the in-game lore, more a warning of what the world could become rather than what it is.

[@splitlipceo6864]

There's an infinite amount of dimensional planes. They all contain the same amount of suffering.

[@s4n714g000]

there's a lot of edge lord teenagers in the comments

[@cerebralcloud92]

Sometimes, you just go "Fuck it", and do something completely different.

[@smith101.9]

Aw hell yea, been wondering what your thoughts on this game would be

[@Fireclaws10]

Your analysis of this game is absoutely spot on, but there's a gaping whole in that it lacks a discussion of Capitalist Realism. Cruelty Squad depicts a horrific vision of end stage capitalism, humans consumed and grotesquely transformed, alienated mentally, physically and spiritually from ourselves to the point where the world is a mundane version of hell.

[@iamacdr9998]

based

[@WheresMyInhaler]

So really , Cruelty Squad is politically on the right if anything

[@jazz8000]

It believes that, what doesn't kill you makes you....stranger.

[@PotionOfProof]

"This is what you get when you boot up the game." *Krazy Glue Commercial plays*

[@RycoreXIII]

Considering how this game is at it's core a criticism of capitalism and commercialism, fitting.

[@KicksPregnantWomen]

@@RycoreXIII yea cuz work doesnt exist outside of capitalism

[@RycoreXIII]

@@KicksPregnantWomen I mean yeah that doesn't change the messaging of the game. Also we're talking about a commercial here neither comments ever once mentioned work.

[@Znewts]

sir thats not boredom that's depression

[@vandarkholme8548]

LMAO that was literally his last pre-transition video. This is what too much cruelty squad can do to an MF

[@Forcoy]

This is what too much 4chan and "the left is a group of pedophile billionares who control the world and are raping every child who uses tiktok" does to a mf

[@itsdord]

That's an incredibly unique perspective on the game that I hadn't considered, it puts a lot on the table to think about. Great work on this video!

[@Maxx__________]

Novelty - the #1 reason people play video games.

[@zestyorangez]

I just entered grad school and i feel so much dread. The fact that I've lived so much of my life on one track is upsetting. At some point you just have to wonder what's the point of all this grind when success never feels as good as you expect. A lot of the things you said here really vibed with me and it was really cathartic to have someone echo a lot of the same feelings as me. Thanks

[@harrietr.5073]

Very depressive take on Cruelty Squad. That whole "mutilated my body" sentence at the analysis of ending 2 really crawled up my skin. I've hoped to never hear that really. Made me think about my emo phase. Spooked me hard. Really got deep into me. Reminds me of how I thought of life. Or, my life. Very uncomfortable. Good vid. Made it seem like life's, pretty worthless in a Capitalist society. I'd thought that Cruelty Squad was a simple Anti-Capitalist game when I brought it on Steam, but it's an experience.

[@tzimiscelord8483]

Hey man at 6:10, that's not a cartel leader, that's the chief of police. Excuse me the chief of the Cult of order police

[@LSK2K]

0:47 yep, this game indeed gets it.

[@loowee2627]

2:22 I am nearly finishing secondary school and you just described my situation

[@ViolentVista]

Really? I thought this was criticism of the concept of immortality.

[@qoph1988]

"You are a flesh automaton animated by neurotransmitters-so basically, a human?" Bro... that's how you see yourself? You don't get the divine light. No wonder you're so bored with life. You have a soul but you need to listen to it

[@melochin8237]

"divine light severed.you're a flesh automaton , animated by neurotransmiters" - meaning you've lost your soul, whatever that means to you

[@RaeIsGaee]

Considering the heavy inspiration from Bataille and The Accursed Share, the main core of Cruelty Squad is the evils of overproduction under Capitalism and the loss of meaning as such a system forgoes the most basic limit on production - death.

[@TheTollFace]

Amazing video dude! Keep it up!

[@DangOldRegularOld]

"When the beat drops I'm going to fucking kill myself" Absolute gold

[@kakadu2004]

The capitalist dream has no endpoint. It's an omnipotent obsession for growth. Once you reach a certain point, you'll either see the shallowness of it all and realize there's nothing else and that life has been reduced to a slow death (proven by the amount of depressed/suicidal celebrities, etc.), or keep on living in delusion, growing and spending even more so you're constantly distracted from the void inside of you. That's why I fucking hate how we are. It was always the struggle that kept us alive but it's never been as empty and pointless as it is now. Comfort has destroyed us.

[@NeoZeroZero]

This video is seriously making me rethink my life.

[@addisonkennedy7111]

This immediately made me think of theatre of cruelty

[@RycoreXIII]

Basically, "Capitalism bad" Based

[@sss1029]

Sure, because you dont have to go to a mundane job under communism and dont get the same bread and circuses.

[@RycoreXIII]

@@sss1029 Jesus Christ dude I can't even make one sarcastic comment without someone having pop in a go "oh communism bad," also I'm pretty sure the creator of this game is a known socialist.

[@sss1029]

@@RycoreXIII cope, we both know what you were implying

[@RycoreXIII]

@@sss1029 yes of course we do, except I wasn't making a serious political statement, this is a shitpost, your critiques are unnecessarily and I'm tired of arguing about politics over my meme comments.

[@sss1029]

@@RycoreXIII stop writing paragraphs

[@zaneplayx3176]

it's 4:30 in the morning. i'm going down a youtube hole. this is what i needed. thank you.

[@FoxesInBoots]

Deeplead would be the one to go into this and come out saying "ya know, this is kinda like life"

[@FoxesInBoots]

Oh fuck it is life

[@Specious_Seraphim]

I was waiting to see your take on this

[@TheImpureOne]

I feel like the 3rd and final ending is a rather hopeful ending. When you connect to the beam, you achieve what has been lost; death. No one could die, but now, people maybe finally able to leave to the afterlife, for good.

[@Agderi93]

Pretty sure this game is also parodies deus ex with its "augmentations" and "gadgets". even menus are very similar.

[@purplepeak8575]

8:30 thanks for showing that.