OPINION
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
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Bug Not a Feature: ‘Hades’ was robbed “The Last of Us Part II” does not deserve Game of the Year over “Hades”
ISABELLE VILLEGAS | MERCURY STAFF
Stability through civility Who bears responsibility for riot at Capitol Hill? JIMMY TEELING ASTRID HERNANDEZ | MERCURY STAFF
BEN NGUYEN Opinion Editor
“Hades” should have been 2020’s game of the year, not “The Last of Us Part II.” “Hades” is a unique take on the rogue-lite genre with a lot of heart and addicting gameplay, while “The Last of Us Part II” is yet another third-person action shooter that tries to question violence while keeping it as the main gameplay loop. At the Game Awards of 2020, “The Last of Us Part II” swept up awards including Best Voice Acting, Best Sound Design, Best Game Direction and Game of the Year. This was decided by a jury of 90% gaming journalism critics and 10% popular vote. The Game of the Year award is granted to the game that is the “absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields,” while the Best Game Direction award is given to the game with “outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design”. “The Last of Us Part II” painfully lacks all of these characteristics. “The Last of Us Part II” is a Naughty Dog action-adventure, thus having the same gameplay as basically any other game Naughty Dog has ever developed: a third-person shooter collectathon. As a sequel, it plays the same as the previous installment in the series, doing little to differentiate the gameplay in any meaningful way. In comparison, “Hades” weaves in the quintes-
sential play-die-repeat gameplay loop inherent to rogue-lites directly into the story, making it necessary to progress the plot. “The Last of Us Part II” explores the idea that violence is immoral and tries to make players feel bad about all of the killing they do, but the idea rings hollow in the face of the main gameplay loop: killing zombies and people. “Spec Ops: The Line” also followed this thread, but it confronted players even more by tricking them into making horrible decisions before facing the consequences of their own actions. “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater” has a segment that forces players to literally confront the ghosts of the enemies that were unnecessarily killed. So, this narrative concept has already been explored at length, and “The Last of Us Part II” doesn’t seem to provide any new take on it. Rather, players are forced to kill people and bosses before saying “oh wait, they’re humans just like you!” “Hades” puts the player in the shoes of the fictional son of Hades, Zagreus, who is attempting to escape the Underworld. Every death puts the player back at the House of Hades, where they can verbally spar with Hades, talk to a variety of other characters and progress relationships with the other gods ala dating sim style. Supergiant Games provides a touching, fully voiced story about family relationship issues that progresses
SEE GOTY, PAGE 15
Mercury Staff
The Democratic Party, not just former President Donald Trump, bears much of the responsibility for the Capitol riot. Many politicians and the mainstream media may tell you otherwise, but that is not the case. It would be foolish to walk away from one of the most impactful events in recent history without pausing to consider what lessons we should learn from it. What led to thousands of Trump supporters protesting in D.C. and a small fraction of those supporters breaching the Capitol building? Four years of what conservatives believe to be baseless and unprecedented attacks from members of the Democratic Party on Trump and his supporters, as well as distrust in our government’s integrity, set the stage for the Capitol protest and riot. The violence that occurred at our Capitol on Jan. 6 was a tragedy. Any form of violence and riots, especially when it leads to the deaths of other participants and law enforcement, is unacceptable. This is why many conservatives across the nation, including myself, condemn the violent Capitol rioters. However, it is important to differentiate between those who breached the Capitol building and those protesting peacefully. We must recognize that most Trump supporters in D.C. were not violent that day. Even before Trump’s inauguration, Democrat politicians and the mainstream media had al-
ready begun the process of overturning Trump’s presidency. This was done through manufactured conspiracies and drawn-out investigations such as the Mueller investigation and partisan impeachment hearings, which failed to find Trump guilty of wrongdoing. These attempts to pin crimes on the former president led to major mistrust in the government among conservatives. Additionally, the effort spent on these prolonged investigations far outweighs the effort put into any election fraud investigation, displaying many politicians’ apathy towards the concerns of well over a third of the country. Another issue that set the stage for the Capitol riot was the riots that occurred at the Black Lives Matter protests last summer. These set a recent precedent that political violence is acceptable in America, as some democratic politicians encouraged the violent actions BLM and Antifa rioters displayed in the streets. Even the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, an anarchist insurrection that ended up being deadly, was applauded by some democrat councilmembers in Seattle upon its creation. This new precedent is likely a major reason why a few Trump supporters resorted to breaching the Capitol. Concern over election fraud was the final straw that drew protesters and rioters to the Capitol. Democrats, establishment politicians and the Courts dismissed the claims from Trump and his supporters without any investigation equal to the numerous investigations democrats pressed
SEE RIOTS, PAGE 15
