I‘ve been trying to form a write-up explaining why Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color‘s ending is so insane, but words really can’t do it justice. Mono’s groans getting cut off by Marshall‘s laughing. The sound effects when Marshall gets hit with the lightning. THE GROWN MAN SHOOTING A 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL WITH A REAL PISTOL IN A FANTASY GAME ABOUT COLORS. Mono’s yell after Zoe is shot, the final boss constantly saying how he “doesn't believe in feelings,” the astoundingly gorgeous music that genuinely gets me invested in all of this nonsense, and an incredibly beautiful hand-animated finale from Studio Ghibli……… After 15 hours of the most repetitive RPG I've ever played, Magic Pengel throws you through this stimulus overload that is at once unbearably cheesy and unapologetically honest that has to be seen to be believed.
@CreekgrinOOPS! Sounds like muting the TV was a mistake… And yes please share all ending thoughts and feelings. I feel like there‘s one I was thinking about recently but now I don’t remember!
There has already been plenty of writing on the stories of “indie” darling Supergiant, but I have to talk about the ending of Pyre. Being the only multiplayer game they‘ve made so far, essentially NBA Jam with wizards, you might not expect anything more heavy-hitting than the ending of Air Bud, but it creeps up on you over time. As you’re bringing your misfits through constellation-themed Sorceror Basketball to get them un-banished, it slowly becomes apparent that || you can‘t save everyone on your team when you win.
I love this, even when it presented me with anxiety in the moment. It’s such an anti-completionist idea. There is no “best” ending, and not everyone gets to move on completely fulfilled and satisfied. Sometimes you have to be happy that someone else made it out okay, and like Metal Gear Solid 3, Pyre MAKES you choose who gets left behind. It‘s the only time I can remember that I’ve cried during a credits sequence. Which I would attribute to my own hand in the state of this world when those credits were rolling. Of course, this being Supergiant, they have to rub it in with a song.
The fact that the song changes to reflect your choices completely blew me away. || I think a lot of people bounced off of the gameplay (which I also think is really good) and missed out on some of the most unique narrative choices in games. That's just a shame.