Psycholonials Review
I have a lot to say about this game. I owned 5 homestuck hoodies, and proudly had my class and aspect on my Tumblr in high school. I think I've earned this.
I have an opening pitch for the game:
It's if the movie Joker was about revolutionaries that end up toppling the world order with a clown-based socialist, fascist theocracy.
Is it very good? idk, not really. It filled the Homestuck shaped hole in my heart at the very beginning, but it just waned on me over time. It felt like Hussie has been on Twitter way too much and ended up writing this. I don't think it's especially good or interesting political commentary. It left me deeply uncomfortable at moments, but also that was almost certainly on purpose.
I think the most interesting part, the namesake aspect of psychological colonialism, is not explored far enough at all. I found it to be the most interesting part of the story, and while it is certainly an important part of it, it felt so in the background, and that's a huge bummer.
I give Hussie big points for at the very least trying to grow up with his Homestuck audience. This is pretty squarely meant for 20 somethings that spent their teenage years in grey face paint.
Should you play it? That's up to you, I guess. If it was free like Hussie's other works, I would say give it a shot. $10 is pretty affordable, and I feel like I at least got my money's worth. It isn't super long, I read all of it in like 6 hours (I read it weekly as it was coming out) and it feels like a pretty adequate length. The ending was pretty good at least. Also, it isn't a story where your choices have consequences. This is a pretty straightforward MS Paint adventure wrapped up with an EXE and constant background music.
I thought Abby may have been trans at first and was kinda bummed when she wasn't, but hey, that's life.
