On the planet Carcosa, mangled, blackened trees and crimson flowers take root next to the ruins of some ancient alien civilisation, flanked by statues contorted in pain, tearing at their marble skin.
As I grew into a pretentious young adult in the early 00s, I started to want more from games, and I wasn't finding it. So many of them were mindless, or juvenile, or needlessly violent. So few seemed to have anything to say.
Machoke's sleeping animation is crazy. My guy is posted up like one of your French girls and lets it all hang out. The grippers are out and if he lays on the right side of a king-sized bed, the player can lay down right next to him like they're engaged in some post-Day Care pillow talk.
Its overarching mystery of a seemingly post-apocalyptic Kanto region in which humanity has disappeared is the sort of gripping, dark, almost visual novel-esque premise Pokémon fans haven't gotten before. It makes me willing to build a house in hopes that I'll find extra lore drops everywhere, even in the art that's hanging on the walls.
