Was thinking about the tweet thats being dunked on a lot lately about super heroes and American mythology and heroes.
Dumb start but got me thinking about some cooler games in a new way and wanted more
My immediate thought was the strategy role playing game Code Name Steam which is reasonably solid
https://youtu.be/6SezVDf66YA
Kind of Kingdom Hearts with American myths Abraham Lincoln, Tom Sawyer, Wizard of Oz characters, and Peter Pan all make appearances.
A lot of the picks are obscure and meaningfully thought out to some degree but Wizard of Oz feels like Final Fantasy in this having multiple characters where most others only have one
Ihatovo Monogatari
https://youtu.be/WBEKIHYzaeQ
Taken from the romhacking page for it
""In this adventure game for the Super Famicom, the protagonist (controlled by the player) walks around and talks to the people and animals that he meets while collecting items and journals in an attempt to meet the elusive Kenji Miyazawa.
The game centers around several short stories written by Kenji Miyazawa himself. Each chapter of the game focuses on one story.""
Its more this one old author's fairy tales and short stories but very in line with what I'm looking for
I love the general vibe of crossing over public domain figures. Feels like the super smash bros of literature which is never bad
I am about 100 hours deep into Nioh. And while I am not sure it is in anyway accurate of Japanese folklore, I have never played a game that made me feel so much like I was in the folklore of another culture. This red lantern, fox spirit, graveyard I played through tonight is maybe one of the most evocative locations I've visited in a video game in a long time.
Had a class about a project called Never Alone that was inspired by Alaskan Native art and folklore. For the Digital Archaeology side, the community involvement of native peoples was lauded, and deservedly so. The game is no AAA title, of course, but it is made with care and a loving embrace of Artic environmentalism. I did find it to be a magical experience to play through. It is a shame that the project blog was unable to be supported past 2016 and the learning materials were scarce at best. But I bet it could inspire some people to learn more about the Northern Mythologies, I know I certainly did.
@robinhoodie#10757 nioh is a fantastic pick, Yokai Watch too for the same reason!
I havent played Nioh, but I got Nioh 2 a while ago and, its a really compelling hard Japanese dark souls like with some incredible Monster Hunter feeling weapons. Had a bigger emphasis on the Yokai and online too which is cool
@yeso#10761 Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is exactly my thinking about American mythology. I feel Kentucky Route Zero fills a similar niche of fantastical Americana?
@siebold_magnolia#10765 Never Alone is great and I'm really just trying to think of any game that has any amount of real life indigenous people besides like Prey, Turok and Tell Me Why
One of the things I like about Nioh is what a lonely game it is. I don‘t really play online, and there are no NPCs. Just you in a forest or snowy shrine. Exactly the kind of thing I would want to engage in if I ever visited Japan. Shoot, even just here in Queens I am most excited to stroll through a quiet graveyard. And while I don’t ever think I am learning anything about history, there is something about the locations that feels fresh after years of Western Fantasy via the Souls series. Now you got me pumped about Nioh 2.
Thank you for the Yokai website @Syzygy#10789 I feel like as I lean more into an interest in supernatural fiction, I need to branch out a bit more.
Kinda cheating but I think a lot of Final Fantasy and Persona summons/monsters count right? I always forget that that was kind of the initial draw for a lot of the creature designs but uh those kinda take a back seat to flair and series lore at this point
