ISSUE FIFTEEN EXPLOITS JUNE 2019 an UN WINNABLE publication

Violet Shulman on WORLD of TOMORROW

The PROBLEM • ASTROBALL • HABITUS in GAMES • TUCA & BERTIE • HORIZON SOUNDTRACKS Editor in Chief | Stu Horvath

EXPLOITS A Magazine Dedicated to the Reasons We Love Things

Managing Editor | Melissa King

Music Editor | Ed Coleman

Books Editor | Gavin Craig

Movies Editor | Amanda Hudgins

Television Editor | Sara Clemens

Games Editor | Alyse Stanley

Copyright © 2019 by Unwinnable LLC Unwinnable 820 Chestnut Street All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may Kearny, NJ 07032 not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher www.unwinnable.com except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For more information, email: Unwinnable LLC does not claim copyright of the [email protected] screenshots and promotional imagery herein. Copyright of all screenshots within this publication are owned by Subscribe | Store | Submissions their respective companies This machine kills fascists. THE METACRITIC PROBLEM by Jeremy Signor

have a strange relationship with Metacritic. My mind operates algorithmically I most of the time, especially when it comes to what games to play, so I must con- fess I use Metacritic to give my gaming habit focus by letting me prioritize what games to play. I usually start with the New and Notable games section, then work my way down the Games list, going in descending order of Metascore. Sometimes I’ll focus on one game at a time until it’s completed and sometimes I’ll switch when something new or rated higher comes out in order to be part of the zeitgeist. Now, I’m not going to pretend this is a particularly good practice. Review scores are bullshit and publishers use Metascores to deny development studios’ bonuses. Yet there’s something about attaching a number to games that turns on the math- ematical part of my mind. When there’s a consensus on what’s good, it makes discovering those games easier. Metacritic also aids in discoverability of games that might be off the beaten path, but have critical consensus behind them. I was clued into playing Celeste last year, for example, and it ended up being my game of 2018. Though I certainly could have been keyed to the game’s existence through other means, like word of mouth over Twitter, seeing a concrete monument to its good reputation is a strong pull. And yet there remains the elephant in the room that critical consensus under- mines diversity of opinion. The truth is, whether we choose to directly engage with Metacritic or not, it still bleeds through into the general discourse to some degree. Metascores aren’t explicitly discussed, but rather take the temperature for how much a game might be discussed online, or how much post-launch hype it can generate. It’s why get disproportionate gushing over most AAA game releases like Redemption 2, which earned “universal acclaim” despite having major issues that are discussed in post-mortems that aren’t technically reviews or scored. This is true for the overall games discourse happening online, but I’ve learned you can counter-program your own personal timeline of discourse to suit your tastes better. Pathologic 2, a game that never got featured on the front page of Metacritic and currently sits at a middling 70 Metascore, is getting talked up in more alternative games circles simply because it’s such an interesting design. And Metacritic also has a particularly nasty blind spot for artier games or stuff you’d find on itch.io. You’d never find something as daring and experimental as Para- topic widely reviewed enough to even qualify for a Metascore, and indeed, it was only given a score by three games outlets, one short of qualifying. Another thing I’ve observed from watching Metacritic is the differences in how Metascores are applied to other media, particularly music. I rarely see music releases dipping to the dreaded yellow range of scores, and that probably says something about how young games media is, how music appreciation is rightfully treated as subjective with a multitude of definitions of “good”. I certainly wouldn’t apply my Metacritic algorithm to my music listening habits, or else I’d have a bunch of genre statements that I wouldn’t know what to do with because they’re so outside my range of tastes. All of this is just my messy way of saying that we all have our channels for dis- covering what media we like, and what ones we choose to engage with color our overall experiences. Metacritic is a useful tool for me to keep up with what’s cur- rently coming out and let me prioritize so that I don’t leave a bunch of unfinished games in my wake. But that’s beginning to happen anyways with how fast games are coming out, so I suppose now’s as good a time as any to refine my discourse intake. U MUSIC

THE MUSIC of – Racing fight with every other car on the road,Hori - games often have good soundtracks; this state- zon instead went with a balance of music that ment of fact seems weird at first, but when was energetic enough to make you want to you test it across games such as Gran Turismo go fast, such as “The Power” by DJ Fresh, but and , it holds up. As it should, relaxed enough to take things easy and just since like all other titles, racing games depend enjoy driving around Colorado, like Encore’s on good music to create tone, flesh out their “Digitalism.” This tone is perfectly encapsu- setting, and perhaps more than any other lated in the first song you hear when you start game genre, music is vital to making a player the game up: Porter Robinson’s “Language”. feel like they’re in a race. When you’re going The first Horizon has aged gracefully because over a hundred miles an hour against a field its music wants to do just one thing: make you of machines, you want a sound so energetic feel happy. that it keeps your head in the game. And few , on the other hand, didn’t other racing games have collections of great keep the same tone going. While I wouldn’t licensed music on par with the soundtracks call it outright bad, Horizon 2’s soundtrack found in the Forza Horizon series. somehow ended up being too relaxed and, The originalForza Horizon from 2012 is a along with other gameplay and design detrac- time capsule of a because of its tors, the game hasn’t aged as well as its prede- weird tone – it’s a remarkably unaggressive cessor. Replaying it a month ago, I just wasn’t racing game. Rather than actively fighting “feeling it.” There’s good music in there like cops or other racing drivers on a closed cir- Jungle’s “Busy Earnin,” but Horizon 2 overall cuit, the first Horizon wants you to enjoy the just has too many songs with a slower tempo scenery and its titular music festival; this tone and production that sounds anemic at times, extends to its actual music. While Horizon’s which is alright if you’re leisurely cruising contemporaries had soundtracks that usually along, but it isn’t the kind of music you want had an attitude that made you want to start a to hear when you’re racing. However, it isn’t MUSIC a complete loss. Replaying the first showcase PLAYLIST event, the game finally felt like it came alive, “Run for Cover,” by The Killers thanks entirely to “Astral” by Pyramid. A Fer- “Boys,” by Lizzo rari vs. fighter jet time trial demanded some- “Hurry On Home,” by Sleater-Kinney thing heavy and quick, and this song was exactly that. This didn’t change the course for “Satellite,” by The Get Up Kids the rest of the experience, but this event did “Red Side of the Moon,” by Trixie Mattel prove that even the feel of a single race can “Path,” by Club Night be decided on something as minor as what’s “Need You Tonight,” by INXS playing on the radio. “A Woman in Love (It’s Not Me),” by Tom Petty and and 4 have kept things on the Heartbreakers track, with both games carving out distinct “Our Love,” by Rhett Miller identities for themselves: Horizon 3 has an “stereo future,” by BiSH entire radio station dedicated to Australian “Jose & Mark,” by The Unauthorized Bash Brothers musical groups (Future Classic radio, which Experience, The Lonely Island includes my personal favorite “Sleepless,” by “Just Like Ringing a Bell,” by Titus Andronicus Flume), and Horizon 4 has an entire original “ - Diplo Remix,” by Lil Nas X, Billy soundtrack created just for one of its radio Ray Cyrus, Diplo stations (Hospital Records radio, which is “ME,” by CLC highlighted by Fred V & Grafix’s “Sunrise”). “Nothing for Free,” by Paul McCartney Like a good grand touring car, Forza Hori- “Whales” by Hail Mary Mallon zon’s soundtracks are energetic enough to keep you focused, but not so hardcore that “Black Heksen Rise,” by Integrity you get tired; rather, they’re soundtracks you “Citadel,” by Inter Arma want to keep playing for mile after mile. “Now the Screaming Starts,” by Bloody Hammers – Evan Dennis “Templo do Caos,” by Deafkids “Shotta,” by Young Nudy, Pi’erre Bourne, Megan Thee Stallion “Creative Industries,” by USA Nails “Hello, Anxiety,” by Phum Viphurit “Coasting,” by Darren Korb “Freesm,” by Hashtag “RHODONITE AND GRIEF,” by La Dispute “Willow Weep For Me,” by Frank Sinatra “Norman And Norma,” by The Divine Comedy “Existing Closer or Deeper in Space,” by Earthen Sea

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ASTROBALL – There are two big issues worth tackling after reading Ben Reiter’sAstro - ball (and ostensibly after reading Michael Lewis’s , the book to which Astro- ball frames itself as , even though it really isn’t). The first of these issues is that while innovative data gathering and statistical analysis are presented in both of these books as a path for scrappy, low-reve- nue teams to compete with large markets like New York and Los Angeles, and the General Managers who recognize underpaid talent are celebrated as heroes, the act being celebrated is the exploitation of labor to the greatest pos- sible degree by management. There’s a great deal of resistance to think- ing about professional athletes as labor, much less under-compensated labor. This might even be understandable in a year in which Bryce Harper signed a 13-year, $330 million underpaying the wrong players. Astroball is, at contract with the Philadelphia Phillies and best, a reasonably interesting anecdote about Mike Trout received a $12-year, $425 million how another GM on another team has better- extension to his contract with the Los Angeles than-average results doing basically the same Angels. (And the off-season free agent mar- thing. (There’s some noise about howJeff Luh- ket was largely considered to be a weak one!) now’s Astros incorporate their “gut” into their But it’s worth remembering that even while statistical analysis. Ignore it. It’s bullshit.) the Major League minimum salary The second issue, touched briefly in the is $550,000 (which places every MLB player book but then undermined entirely by the firmly in the 1%), Class AA minor league remainder of the narrative, is that the playoffs players earn closer to $1500 per month and, are a terrible measure of success in baseball. in a lawsuit from players seeking minimum Astros Analyst Sig Mejdal’s distaste for the wage, “contends that as essentially “a coin toss com- is not a career and play- petition” on page 197 is entirely correct. And ers need not be treated as hourly workers.” yet the only reason we have this book to read The point ofMoneyball and Sabermetrics at all is that the Huston Astros, riding wildly is not to correct the market, it’s to find the improbable (and thus temporary) statistical undervalued players and continue to under- over-performances from a number of players, pay them. ’s genius isn’t that he’s won the 2017 World Series. Good for them. fixed a broken market, it’s that he figures out It’s a fine story. Flukes often are. how to underpays the right players instead of – Gavin Craig BOOKS

THEY CAN’T KILL US UNTIL THEY KILL US – Hanif Abdurraqib’s essay collection, a pre- quel to his NYT Bestselling letter to/medita- tion on A Tribe Called Quest, is a forklift of emotional lifting. Abdurraqib’s ear is singular and voracious, open to pop, hip hop, Warped Tour emo and everything in between, and through his understanding of music and poetry and struggle he is able to expound on the vagaries of life while avoiding any whiff of platitude or insincerity. Unafraid to scour his personal experiences and relationships to better understand the inherent power in all these cultural forces, Abdurraqib speaks The CITY in the MIDDLE of the NIGHT on dense ideas with a relatable grace, chan- – While Charlie Jane Anders debut All the neling the multitudes of Whitman with the Birds in the Sky was a whimsical, charming, impeccable control of Prince playing in the cosy tale of two old friends coming together rain. to save the world, her next novel is much the – LEVI RUBECK opposite, a culture-heavy science fiction epic on January, a harsh tidally-locked world. In place of its predecessor’s charm, The City in the Middle of the Night grounds its complexity in the cities of January, in their conflicting and contrasting customs, and the changing friendships between four girls as their paths lead them towards exile, rebel- lion, and the strange creatures that dwell in the ancient city on the perpetually dark side of their planet. – Rob Haines

OUR DREAMS at DUSK, vol 1 – Heart- felt, stylistically gorgeous manga about queer people from a queer author; something mainstream discourse about Japanese art would have you think can’t possibly exist. – Astrid Budgor MOVIES

WORLD OF TOMORROW – Don Hertzfeldt’s Underground, stories with trans narrators World of Tomorrow is an animated short about just aren’t published very often. two instances of a woman named Emily. Films might show the image of the trans- Emily Prime – the original Emily – is a femme as a terrifying narcissist, a la Silence of child, maybe three years old. She laughs and the Lambs. Or they might make us funny, as smiles and talks a lot. She lives somewhere in Rocky Horror. More recently, we might be at some time. For this essay, we’ll say Emily treated as palatable, as in Dallas Buyers Club Prime exists “now.” Emily Prime lives in a (Jared Leto’s involvement notwithstanding). world where, instead of having children, The problem with these stories is that people pass their memories on to clones of they’re built for a cis audience. They glaze themselves, in a bid for immortality. their trans characters over with Otherness, The other Emily – let’s call her Emily 3 – until the character who remains isn’t quite a is an adult woman. She’s a third generation person. clone of Emily Prime, a copy of a copy of a World of Tomorrow’s Emilies aren’t quite copy, degraded like a VHS tape. She speaks people, either. They’re one person split in in a British-accented monotone and slurs the two, and this blurs the line between Self and occasional word. Other into nonexistence. In a sense, to be Emily 3 lives 227 years from now. A mete- trans is also to be pulled in half, like Emily. In orite is due to impact the Earth 60 days later. my transness, I’m a Self, and I’m an Other – a She will die horribly, along with everyone else person, and a monster, stuffed into one body. in the world. Faced with this (and compelled It’s a point where the West’s idea of identity by a centuries-old memory of a visit from her- breaks down. self), Emily 3 reaches back in time and drags As far as I know, World of Tomorrow is one Emily Prime into her doomed, memory- of the only films to cross that line with its obsessed future. That’s basically the movie. story. And I think that’s what makes it so pow- American media is rarely made with trans erful as a trans narrative – it puts language to people in mind. With a few, possibly dubious the indescribable pain of dysphoria. exceptions, like “Candy Says,” by the Velvet – Violet Shulman MOVIES

GODZILLA vs. MOTHRA – There’s a lot of good energy in this film. Mothra, who is soft and sweet and literally a creator of plumes of glitter, and Godzilla who just is mad enough to fight an actual egg. – AMANDA HUDGINS

The WIZARD of OZ – While blissfully stranded in a North Dakotan valley for a few hours, with no internet access and my book left to rest a foolish hundred miles away, I scrounged a few DVDs and decided The Wizard of Oz was probably the most pal- atable. I don’t really make a habit of revisiting previously seen films, my nostalgia is mostly fine in the yellowing cells of my brain. So it was particularly disorienting to not only realize how much of this movie I didn’t re- member, but to have it displayed with all the clarity that many decades of improved televi- sion technology, and individual age and ex- perience, can bring. What was a generation’s grand escapade through a fantastic world felt like a well-budgeted stage production caught POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU – My on tape, which, to be fair, was most movies wildest childhood dream has materialized in at that time. But now with thousands more the form of Detective Pikachu, a film about pixels of clarity to consume, the hot glue and these critters having a ball of a time featuring canvas backdrops feel that much more obvi- a smattering of humans. I can’t imagine how ous. I can still appreciate the big swings and this is made for anyone else other than fans bonkers young adult parable, but there were of the series and young ‘uns, due to the sheer more songs than I cared to endure, and per- amount of adorable Pokémon appearances haps this was the start of that particular dis- and a narrative that doesn’t quite captivate. taste of mine. Like a game of Where’s Waldo, part of the fun – Levi Rubeck is identifying and squealing at creatures that made appearances in the film. Best of all is the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of the icon- ic Squirtle Squad at the end – a reference that reveals the film’s true nature: a two-hour fan service for Pokémaniacs. – Khee Hoon Chan TELEVISION

TUCA & BERTIE – Comedy and animation One plot follows Bertie’s apprenticeship have, for a long time, been dominated by white with Pastry Pete. Pete’s mentoring is aggres- male voices. While parts of that have changed sive and militaristic to the point of harass- in recent years, adult animation has remained ment, something Bertie doesn’t notice due dominated by shows with white male leads to her infatuation with the baker. In a later and creatives in charge. This hegemony can be episode, “The New Bird,” a new apprentice violently enforced, like when female writers of joins – a young girl from the country. Their Rick and Morty were harassed and doxxed on relationship is initially combative, but Bertie’s social media by sexist fans. jealousy of the new girl shifts into friendship. Lisa Hanawalt’s Tuca & Bertie is a defiant The viewer anticipates a moment this rela- statement in the face of this. Diversely cast tionship will go south, but the typical story and staffed, the show takes the foundations beats are eschewed. When Pastry Pete gets of millennial feminist comedy Broad City and aggressive, the new bird storms off, outraged Hanawalt-illustrated Bojack Horseman to ask at the establishment and Bertie’s complicity in a question: what if the world of animation Pete’s behavior. The onus is on Bertie, and the wasn’t like this? viewer, to acknowledge the gravity of this. Diversity seems central to Tuca & Bertie’s Tuca and Bertie is an optimistic show in an approach. The central location of Birdtown is imperfect world. Both its leads suffer from a deeply colorful city. While mostly inhabited trauma, Tuca from her mother’s early death by a variety of bird species, it also contains and Bertie from an implied assault when she humanoid plants, mammals, insects and even was young, but neither are defined by them. humans, with a diverse cast lending them their Bertie’s plot and the stop-motion sequence voices. Crowd shots intermix LGBT couples symbolizing the assault is considered and seamlessly. There’s a surprising gender parity thoughtful, and happens in an episode that is in credited writers and directors. All of it is also funny. It’s something that no other show clearly intentional. However, its multicultural in its genre could do. A lot of that is thanks to society is not a utopia; it’s one where sexism representation. has real institutional power. – Matthew Koester TELEVISION

CHERNOBYL – When HBO’s Chernobyl isn’t laboriously linking the 1986 meltdown to some kind of innate sickness in socialism itself it is very good. A strained first episode, heavy on the melodrama and gore effects, DEAD to ME – Dead To Me’s “traumedic” gives way to looser hours that have the space tone sets the backdrop to a high-concept to conjure grim, austere images and stage and suspenseful new series. The show shines tense set pieces. The musique concrete score most brightly through Christina Applegate from Hildur Guðnadóttir is tremendous; the and Linda Cardellini’s charming relation- (non-Russian) cast is solid. Shame about all ship, offering the most compelling heteros- the talk, though talker relationship since Single White Female. – ASTRID BUDGOR While sometimes predictable and not nearly as funny as I anticipated going in, the Will Ferrell and Adam McKay backed project is nonetheless a compelling study of grief and trauma, and the role of friendship in over- coming tragedy – Noah Springer

HOARDING: BURIED ALIVE – When I lived very briefly with my sister, she would put on this and it’s twin show Hoarders whenever she felt that I had let the cleaning lapse a bit. The show is formulaic – we are introduced to STRANGER THINGS – Ever late to the party, our hoarders in question, they bring a trusted I only started checking out Stranger Things a friend or family member into their space, few weeks ago. I binged straight through Sea- and then a pair of specialists – one a cleaner son One in a couple of days and have been and the other a psychiatrist – to break down steadily making my way through Season Two the failures in their ability to manage. It’s ever since. Both because I don’t want there good television, of course. There’s something to be a huge gap of time having to wait for utterly compelling about watching people Season Three (in July, I think?) and because I who are unable to cope finally come to terms have to watch it on my own because it’s a bit with their issues and watching the cathartic too spooky and bleak to share with anyone cleaning that follows. else in the apartment right now. – Noah Springer Anyway, the show looks great, sounds particularly great (that 80s synth, MMMM- MMM!) and is pretty much constant tension and unease from start to finish. – ROb Rich GAMES

NOBLE PEASANTS – There’s something other words indicates a person’s social status. strange about the peasants which you’ll come This explains why peasants and nobles have across in The Witcher .3 It’s not how they talk, always walked in slightly different ways. The though – it’s how they walk. Take a look at the former stumble. The latter strut. These two way peasants move and then do the same for groups of people walk the same walk in The nobles. You’ll notice absolutely no difference. Witcher 3, though. With their shabby clothes and coarse The developer behind The Witcher ,3 CD accents, you can easily identify peasants in Projekt, made peasants and nobles move in the game based on how they look and sound, exactly the same way. This reuse of animation but separating them from nobles based on weakens the class distinctions which appear how they move isn’t quite so straightforward. in the game’s art and audio by failing to con- Since their movements are exactly the same, vey a strong sense of habitus on the part of these two groups of people seem remarkably either group. There’s more to this than first similar even despite various indications to the meets the eye. contrary. There’s a pretty good reason for this. Animation is one of the most under appre- The fact is that how you hold your body com- ciated aspects of game development, but it municates a lot about who you are and where really shouldn’t be. The way characters move you’re from. This idea is contained within the actually communicates a lot about who they concept of habitus. are and where they’re from. Peasants have to Coined by a sociologist called Pierre Bour- stumble. Nobles need to strut. While this may dieu, the term habitus refers to the habits and seem superficial, animation is every bit as dispositions which determine how a person important in the process of world building as perceives, interprets and interacts with the art and audio. Characters quite simply aren’t world around them. Common to people from convincing if they don’t move in the right the same cultural background, these habits ways. They should convey a strong sense of and dispositions are primarily given expres- habitus. sion through bodily comportment. Posture in – Justin Reeve GAMES

ISLANDERS – Islanders is Sim City without the complexity, Cities: Skylines without the learning curve, Anno without the stress. It succeeds in whittling down the city builder to its beating heart: pick one of two options to add to your city, then place the random assortment of parks, houses, warehouses and sawmills as best you can. The game ties your progression to score, but Islanders’ blocky modernism cries out for an aesthetic touch, points be damned. Soon you’re figuring out how to compromise the A PLAGUE TALE: INNOCENCE – A fiction- two, balancing huts on cliff-faces, and float- alized version of the Black Death that devas- ing temples precariously above the mansions tated Europe centuries ago, Innocence is, at of the faithful. And then it’s time to let go of its core, a tale of two young siblings trying your creation, to view it one last time before to survive impossible odds. The strength of the next island calls. their relationship is what carried the game, – Rob Haines although the presence of ridiculously evil vil- lains - who would probably murder a litter of pups if that will give them unending power – almost threatened to derail the game’s appeal. And then there’s the infestation of rats that’re quivering and clawing from the shadows, waiting for an unwitting victim to step into the darkness so they can devour the poor soul to the bone. It’s as horrifying as it’s brilliant. – Khee Hoon Chan

CHAOS LEGION (2003) – Neo-Gothic beat-em-up with yards of pastel hair and absurd English . – ASTRID BUDGOR INTERROGATIVE

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m weish – I sing, write and perform for .gif and sub:shaman, and I do a solo thing as well with live looping. When I’m not composing music for my own bands I like to work on music for film, theatre, ads . . . anywhere I can be useful, really!

Why do you do what you do?

Because music gives me life. Heh. Well, being able to compose and perform music for a living is quite the dream, lah. To me.

What is the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done?

Quite a lot of dubious things in my youth that probably aren’t kosher for publish- ing . . .

What is a creative work that has changed you and how did it do so?

Haiyoh, too many to name. Musically, Nai Palm was a game changer for me. Her wild and visceral and unbridled approach to melody/harmony/everything in between makes me cry every time. I don’t think my own music has ever suc- cessfully been “influenced” by her work, but I deeply wish it did. Of course there are also innumerable songs, poems, plays, films, novels that have changed me in fundamental ways through my life. I could go on forever.

What is your least favorite thing?

People who talk about things they don’t know about as if they know everything about them.

Eat the rich?

Yes! Cook Trump and his fellow morons and grill them till well done and serve with ketchup. Or, as McDonald’s nuggets. Rousseau would be proud.

Interrogation conducted by Khee Hoon Chan