Corrections and Retractions From My First Year at DreadXP
I’m not perfect. I may portray myself as such, but at heart, I’m just as flawed as the next absolutely perfect person. Since March 17th of 2021 I’ve been coming to you every Thursday with a new feature about things like: David Szymanski, bad video game marketing, Elden Ring, Shotguns, and finger chopsticks, to name a few. In that time, I’ve made mistakes. I’ve said things that I now need to take back, or apply a retraction. I’ve also said things that are patently false, that I need to go back and correct. So, I decided the best way to own up to my very few flaws is to highlight my corrections and retractions of this, my first year at DreadXP.
“Elden Ring Review – The Dark Souls of Open World Games”
“Elden Ring Review – The Dark Souls of Open World Games” – March 2022
Correction and retraction. In the title of this review, I referred to Elden Ring as, “The Dark Souls of Open World Games”, when in reality, that is incorrect. I’d like to issue a correction at this time. Elden Ring is actually the Megaman 9 of open world games. As I’ve spent more time with the title post-review, I’ve come to realize it’s more of a metroidvania than any kind of souls game. It was very obvious that the gameplay loop is the same as a Megaman game. You fight bosses, collect power-ups (runes) and use those to reach new areas as you get more powerful. In the future, I vow to consider whether a game is a metroidvania or a souls-like before ever sitting down to write the review. That’s my promise to you.
I’ve become a quick adherent to the delicious, sugar-free energy formula that Gfuel sells on their website and that is also available at numerous retail locations (gimme that sponsorship money Gfuel).
Gamer Chopsticks are a Beautiful Anomaly – February 2022
Retraction: I ordered the Elden Ring Crimson Tears Gfuel collector’s box on February 25th and it has still yet to ship. This has prevented me from enjoying the caffeine-infused gamer water that I need to do my best in Elden Ring. It is for this reason that I must retract my statement of being “an adherent” to Gfuel, as now I’m just a casual fan. The status of my adherence will be reexamined once they actually ship out my Elden Ring Crimson Tears Gfuel Collector’s Box. Until then, I am still open to a Gfuel sponsorship at any time.
In a world where a new Call of Duty is released every 15 minutes, a 60+ hour open world game just ain’t it anymore.
Days Gone May Have Been Too Big for This World – January 2022
Retraction: I’ll be the first to admit when I’ve made a bad generalization. At the time this was written, in the halcyon and heady days of January 2022, I genuinely believed that the era of the open world game was coming to an end. I was younger then. Naive, and a full of chutzpah. Little did I know that almost a lifetime later, in the waning days of February 2022, I’d be proven wrong by Elden Ring. Elden Ring proves that an open world game is definitely it. It approaches the concept of an open world on a completely different footing than any game that has come before it. The scenic vistas, interesting and cryptic questlines, and myriad bosses have shown me that the world isn’t tired of open world games… It may just be a bit tired of uninteresting open world games that are big for the sake of big.
This has led to a propensity for slathering on ungodly combinations of cheeses that were never meant to be on a burger. Gruyere? Get out of here.
We All Want the Cheeseburger from Resident Evil 2 – November 2021
Correction: When I wrote this, I was in a really bad place cheese-wise. I was eating Kraft singles on my burgers, occasionally branching out to a processed cheddar cheese stick. I didn’t know at the time that gruyere, or perhaps gouda, are excellent. I’m still saying you shouldn’t combine a bunch of cheeses and slop them all over a burger, no retraction or correction needed there. I’m definitely not changing my stance on that. The only thing I’m saying is that you could take a good gruyere and use it sparingly on a burger to impart some of that nutty, woodsy flavor to your burger. I’m not the cheese chief, so if you were basing your cheese-on-burger decisions on my declaration of the best cheese I’m sorry. I’ve led you astray. Please enjoy all of the cheeses.
No One Can Stop Me from Calling this a Metroidvania
In Sound Mind Review – No One Can Stop Me from Calling this a Metroidvania – October 2021
Correction: In Sound Mind is an excellent game. It tells a story about mental illness, belonging, and family without pulling any punches. It drags you into the minds of some profoundly broken people and lets you try to set things right, or at least help them understand what’s gone wrong. It is not, as I said, a metroidvania. A work of art like this defies categorization. It stands alone in it’s welcoming strangeness. A retraction just didn’t fit here. It’s pure correction. To try and pin down what it’s like, is almost a disservice. I suppose, if I were forced to give it a “-like” designation. I’d call it a souls-like. No I won’t elaborate on that.
I think that’s pretty good for a whole year of writing. My thoughts have changed a bit, but I still remain fundamentally the man you fell in like with. I hope over the past year I’ve given you a laugh or two, or maybe a suggestion that led to you finding your new favorite game. I’ll still be here every Thursday; owning up to my mistakes, and cracking jokes. I hope to see you here, even if I’m a bit wrong sometimes. Thank you.
