when i think about this game, i find myself saying, "oh yeah, this is definitely one of the best QD titles." but then i rewatch it ... and it's just like ... what the hell made me say that??

this game is awful. awful in the same way all of cage's games are -- perhaps to a greater degree than normal. the sexism, racism, ableism, cop apologism, etc. are off the charts here ( what with its "unique" "soundtracks" for its black & female protagonists, or the "meta" racist chinese man who runs the library, or the zombified "patients" at the "mental hospital" ) & the typical poor plot planning & utterly absent telegraphing for basic plot beats & twists is more apparent than ever. gameplay is a mess, quick-time events take five minutes on a perfect run just to get through, but god help you if you fail & have to sit through their pointlessly drawn out trials over & over. it's as incompetent & well funded as always, & as always, i am left with woeful disbelief at the fact that such a thing was allowed to be made.

but ... indigo prophecy has a unique leg up that the other QD titles don't seem to have. and that's its bizarreness. it is entirely because of the aforementioned failure to properly set up its plot that indigo prophecy manages to catch me by surprise every time & leave a lasting impression, one that somehow manages to always override all the crushing negativity that surrounds it. the sudden shift from a quiet occult mystery to a completely off the rails insane magical disaster that this game's plot attempts to present as a cohesive story is nothing less than breathtaking.

i think this game gets a pass because the era that it was released in was one where video games were still trying to get their footing regarding prestige storytelling, & thus, narrative creativity & storytelling prowess were still being given more leeway than they maybe deserved. moreso, though, is the emergence of QD's signature gameplay style -- ie. playing as multiple characters, whose lives intertwine with each other & whose goals are in direct conflict -- which impressed & wowed gamers, who were used to a more traditional, single-protag hero-vs-villain type adventure. and to give it credit, this is a cool idea, even today. but it isn't a cool enough idea to elevate this convoluted piece of fiction beyond its greater well of shortcomings, especially when the payoff in this game is to essentially just dump the other deuteragonists you play as in the garbage to make way for the main protagonist's super special hero boy story's finale.

and i just have to point out -- unrelated to anything so far -- that in this game, cage has had his team 3D model him, to put him in the video game, so he can do a sexy dance with the single female playable character in her underwear in the unlockable extras section. there's also various references to cage's genius, like a poster in the protag's appartment for "citizen cage", or a news article online about the oustanding, jawdropping, genius success of "omikron: the movie", directed, in text, by david cage. all very normal, level-headed stuff!

anyway ... i don't have much else to say. i hate david cage, he's an arrogant talentless shit for brains; he has a crazy talented art & technical crew who work themselves to death to get cage's jackoff material out to the public; this pretentious story sucks complete ass; i love to hate it.