🎮The Historic 40th Issue of Load Save

Breaking the Cycle: How Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Imagines a New Masculinity for Force Users

This is a really cool connection between The Clone Wars series and The Force Unleashed, which is still one of my favorite Star Wars games.

We all know that Star Wars has been stuck in its ways for the past few years, opting to stick to its familiar tropes rather than try something new and adventurous. However, this article points out the different direction that the storyline of Anakin and Starkiller took (even though it's not obvious at first glance).

My favorite thing about the prequel-era storyline is the complexity of the Jedi's relationship with the Force. The prequels' underlying theme is that the Jedi have lost their path, but by the time they realize it, it's too late. The author of this article explore the even more complex character of Anakin, who was fleshed out in the recently ended Clone Wars.

As someone who's been playing Battlefront II and making his way through the Clone Wars, this article hit the spot.

Image credit: LucasArts

Sony's Jim Ryan: “It's time to give fans something that can only be enjoyed on PlayStation 5”

In anticipation of PlayStation's PS5 games reveal scheduled for June 4th, let's take a look at what Jim Ryan (SIE President and CEO) has to say about the new system and the upcoming Holiday release.

Last week, we had an article about the slim chance that next-gen consoles had of launching in China; however, Jim Ryan says that the PS5 will launch globally. Maybe Sony is in the midst of cutting a deal with China that will allow the system to be released their this Holiday, only time will tell. Until then, here's a helpful Twitter thread about the intricacies of China's console market.

I never thought about the hard work that current-gen teams had to put in towards the end of today's consoles life cycles. I understand everyone is working harder because of the pandemic, but Ryan explains that the PS4 team has had to work incredibly hard to provide for its customers during this challenging time. Plus, the PS4 saw a huge spike in sales during quarantine (as most other gaming systems did), so the current-gen team that expected a quieter 2020 had everything flipped on their heads.

If, like me, you need to read more about the reveal event on June 4th, you can check out what some smart industry folks think will happen on Thursday.

Image credit: PlayStation (it's so slick)

Historic Issue #40

Welcome to another week of Load Save. If I'm being honest, it was hard to put the final touches on this week's issue in light of everything going down in the U.S. It's a terrible situation that drains hope that I have in humanity.

If you ever need someone to talk to, you can always send me a message. The link to my socials and email are below.

This week, there are a ton of great articles about the gaming world. Oh, and a PS5 games reveal event is happening on June 4th, so next week will be a lot of fun! This week, we take a look at

Developers talk how Studio Ghibli impacted their games
The Wholesome Direct, a video focused on wholesome games
The case of the Metroid series and its fandom

Thanks for checking out this issue. It's pretty crazy that we're already on Issue 40. Thanks for sticking with me all this time!

As always, stay safe and enjoy the read!

Let's Talk!

Each issue of Load Save is filled with articles that encourage discussion. If you have any comments on this week’s issue or just want to say hey, shoot me an email!

Development

How does a hit like Katana Zero change things for a creator?

Katana Zero is a game that's been on my wish list for a long time, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet. But my excitement about the game is always high because its so beautiful to watch and the music is great.

This article makes me want to play it even more. I may just have to bump it up on my backlog list!

Image credit: Askiisoft

The games directly inspired by Studio Ghibli movies, according to devs

This week was Polygon's Studio Ghibli week. In celebration of Studio Ghibli movies hitting more streaming services (most of them being on the newly launched HBO Max), the Polygon crew decided to spend a week taking a deep dive into the studio itself and its effect on broader media. You can read more about this week's background as well as a table of contents for all of the week's articles here.

The article that stood out to me was how Ghibli movies have affected recent Indie games. It's incredible to see the impact of these films on great titles like Ori and the Blind Forest and Mutazione, with the developers drawing direct relationships between a game mechanic or world piece with a Ghibli film. This article put so many new games on my backlog and more Ghibli films to watch as well.

If you're looking for some reading music, check out the Studio Ghibli Experience playlist on Spotify.

Image credit: This article / Studio Ghibli / Moon Studios

Arkane Studios at 20: searching for the balance between accessibility and complexity

Arkane Studios has made some incredibly memorable games, like the Dishonored series. I remember the feeling of dying after taking one approach with a mission and finding a completely new approach that worked best for me. This article mentions the apprehensive feeling of some gamers who feel like Dishonored isn't clear about how it wants to be played. I'm normally one of those gamers, but Dishonored did such a great job of making every way feel like the "right" way. The ability to change approaches so quickly perfectly matched the tone of the game and the main character, so it just clicked in my mind.

Reading this article reminded me of two things: Arkane is super smart and is fueled by making everything explorable, and Deathloop looks badass.

Arkane Studios made the media rounds this past week, offering a lot of interesting insight into their studio. I can't link just one collection of the articles, but an "Arkane Studios Article" search should suffice.

Image credit: Arkane Studios

The Assassin's Creed series has failed its best idea

Since the beginning of the Assassin's Creed series, I've never been interested in the story. Altair was a okay enough character, but Desmond was so boring that I couldn't get involved. Fast forward to today with a dozen or more AC games out, and I've completely given up on the overarching story of Templars and Assassins. This article does a great job of pointing out the failure of this story template.

Now that Ubisoft has taken some time to develop Valhalla, maybe we can finally see a breathing, fluent story.

Image credit: Ubisoft

Respawn on storytelling, lore, and Season 11 of Apex Legends

Respawn Entertainment is no stranger to building incredible stories. Titanfall 2 and Jedi: Fallen Order have amazing stories that stand as some of my all-time favorites. Recently, Respawn has been intertwining its Battle Royale and its story creation experience in Apex: Legends.

It's really cool that Respawn is weaving this story through so many different platforms, like in-game, social platforms, and trailers. I love following the stories of players finding a new easter egg in the world or connecting a seemingly random piece in-game with a gameplay trailer. I can't wait to see how Apex grows and what effect it will have on the Battle Royale genre as a whole.

Image credit: Respawn Entertainment

Community

Fans Make E3-Style Showcase Featuring A Ton Of Games That Aren’t Super Grim

A lot of the upcoming, highly anticipated games are violent or focus on pretty heavy stuff. That's why the Wholesome Direct is here to give a healthy dose of wholesome games.

There's a lot of beautiful looking games coming out in the next year or two and I can't wait to play them!

Image credit: Wholesome Games

Metroid Prime Trilogy and the Myopia of Fandom

The Metroid series seems to be stuck in purgatory in the world of Nintendo, with no recent game entry and frequent rumors about a Remake Trilogy and the status of Metroid Prime 4. If you're plugged in at all to any Nintendo fan circles, you've heard these rumors, but they always culminate to nothing.

I wholly agree with the opinion of this article - Nintendo needs to release a Trilogy Remake soon to get gamers playing Metroid again and introduce the new generation to this series. I need to have a reason to revisit Metroid, because right now, it's my most un-anticipated Nintendo series.

This "Myopia of Fandom," can be applied to most fandoms across the world. It's so easy to have our heads so far stuck in the sand that we don't know what's going on around us. Half of my video game wishes are a result of this head in the sand mentality and they would never be commercially successful.... I might be talking about The Legend of Dragoon.

Image credit: Nintendo

Before You Go

PlayStation hype for next week

I'm so excited for Thursday. I have so many games I want to be announced, but if we can just get something about Batman, I'll be happy! You can bet I'll give my thoughts about it next week's issue.

What do you want to be announced at the PS5 event? Shoot me a tweet or an email at the link at the top of this newsletter and let me know!

I'll see you next time!

If you love something, share it around

Maybe love is a little bit strong, but if you like Load Save, share the website around with your gaming friends! Every bit of support you give to Load Save means the world to me, thank you!