Embracing Brain-Off Entertainment and Inside - a Flick Through Review

There's something important about booting up Red Dead Redemption II. I left it in the dust because going back to it after a few months and forgetting what happened in the last mission freaked me out so much. I had attached a lot of gravity to it, to how important the 'earth-shattering' narrative was going to be, and it was restricting not only how I played the game but also how often I would play it. Hopefully this is relatable...

An incredible game that always seems just a little too foreboding to continue

I find that this happens a lot when I'm going through my stacks. I've made it a mission to get through the Watchlist, topple the To-Read pile and blast through the backlog of movies, books, games and whatever else to gather up as much experience as I can. But when I approach something important, like William S Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch, I get struck with a kind of dread. What if I don't like it? What if I can't engage with it, and it's my fault? What if I'm not in the best headspace to really enjoy this? When will I ever be in the spot to give the next thing a chance?

I don't know what this urge is - probably some super advanced subconscious procrastination - but it is layered with guilt for not trawling through all the things I want to see. It sucks. Piles of 'things' surround my life waiting for me to just give them a chance, but I refuse while I wait for the impossible perfect time.

Now, what's the antidote?

Evil West is a game...

I propose Brain Off Entertainment. This occurred to me when I stopped in my final chapter of Red Dead Redemption II, which I have almost completed, and stepped into Evil West to give it a try. There are beautifully crafted pieces of art out there, that everybody should experience. Playing Evil West was not an exploration into that; the game is clunky and the story is paced weird and sometimes textures or voice lines don't line up. But underneath that, a game is more. The actual game - a heavy 3D hack-and-slash with an emphasis on dodges and flashy combo - is satisfying. That challenge is fun to master and the story is so simple that players can just zone out and fall into the game. Then we find ourselves really enjoying the game and go 'oh damn, that was unexpected'. Taking the pressure off of play, and out of entertainment as a whole as I start to watch more average movies and read books I know nothing about, makes the whole process easier.

I suppose that is why movies like Brightburn or Transformers exist. You know what you are getting and they are serviceable. Not bad, not good, just exactly what you need to turn your critical eye off. I actually thought Brightburn made a good palette cleanser in it's over-vicious but predictable plot.

Inside was a breath of fresh air

So I hit Inside with confidence. I wasn't really intimidated by it and starting it my first thoughts were of Limbo. The story is drip fed to players, with masked attackers chasing the player who takes on the role of a young boy who trips and slips and feels much too real when he sprints for his life. Everyone seems to be looking for him, and when strange alien technologies are introduced with the ability to control the masses of featureless people that are processed by the villains it seems obvious to point to group-think as a point of criticism from the game. But secret endings included, the boy is a part of something bigger, never really in charge of his own story, running back and forward on a 2D plane that leads to him becoming part of the collective and pushing back against the insidious authority just as they expect.

The story caught me by surprise. Brain-off entertainment saved me from missing out on Inside, so now I can recommend it to you wholeheartedly.

This blog is about considering stories, whether reviewing them, taking them apart or what it is that they are in the grand scheme of things. However, as I create my own stories it can be easy to build things up to become intangible and scary. So, as I write and review and keep on keeping on please let me know what is good, what's bad, what you would be interested to see and what you think. You can contact me in the comments below, over on the app previously known as Twitter or on Instagram where I am starting to post regular stuff to share my work. You can support me in the About section of the website if you like what I'm doing!

What books or films pulled you out of these kinds of ruts? What is your favourite Brain-Off Entertainment?