For those of you new to this series, here’s The Beginning
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...
Mandie was fully aware that Emily hid a lot. She was old friends with Diana, it was impossible not to have secrets. The fact that Moses was Emily’s son didn’t actually surprise her, he had his mother’s skill for speaking without saying anything. He was terrible at facial expressions though, especially his disappointment when he couldn’t take home food.
Her observations on her new acquaintance led to her walking into Helena’s door, presumably loud enough for a normal person to hear. She opened it to see Helena looking at her with a face she had seen to many times.
The face said, “for a sensitive, you sure are unaware of your surroundings.”
She was glad for Helena being non-verbal, it saved her the time of an instinctive lecture.
Mandie sat on the floor to face Helena.
“Did you like Emily’s son?”
She shrugged.
“Do you still dislike Emily?”
Shrug again.
“If you can't give me a straight answer then I guess it's time for bed.”
Helena gave her a critical look.
“Your bed, my work.”
Crossed arms and a pout.
“You’re eight, you have to be at least ten to be a superhero.”
Helena huffed, but moved from the floor to her bed, pulled the sheet up, waved goodnight, and flopped down, somehow managing not to hit the wall behind her. She may not like it, but Helena was good at doing what she was told--Mandie shivered at the thought of what somebody else would do with that knowledge.
She sat on the bed next to Helena, pushing the hair off the girl’s face. She was peaceful, and almost looked sweet. Mandie been around her enough to know she wasn’t sweet. Loyal to a fault, a stockpile of energy, a powerhouse, all could fit for Helena, but she wasn’t sweet. Another descriptor could be asleep.
Mandie stepped out, closing the door as quietly as possible. She listened for a beat to make sure Helena hadn’t just gotten good at pretending to sleep. Wait, what about brushing her teeth?
She opened the door again and got close enough to smell Helena’s breath. Yep, it smelled like the watermelon toothpaste she’d let Helena pick out. Mandie had to remind herself that this was part of a normal childhood, and Helena deserved that, even if it gave Mandie a headache.
...
After a few moments of reassuring herself Helena was fine, Mandie was finally in the basement, her beloved place of work.
Mandie took a second to look at the equipment, all hightech, none typical for a seamstress. She grabbed the belt off of the workbench. Taking a deep breath, she placed it on her waist and pressed the two buttons on the sides.
More white threads than any human could or should count began coming out. She focused on the threads, weaving them together into the durable cloth that made the costume.
“Dense at the chest, light on the arms, skirt and pants medium.”
She took a second to smile at her handiwork, especially at the yellow threads that made it look like the outfit had seams tonight.
She grabbed her cellphone and punched in the number she needed.
“Misty here!”
“Are you--”
“On my way!”
“Wait!”
No response, but Misty hadn’t hung up.
“She’s asleep right now, don’t wake her up.”
“Got it!” Misty hung up.
With the baby-sitter out of the way, Mandie grabbed her mask. Nightingale was ready for a fight.
Except for the part where the only shoes she could find were her heels. Her proper boots were somewhere in the house, but she had to go soon.
...
Ace of Spades was predictable. He had chosen the less likely counterclockwise pattern of warehouse movement, but predictable. The part where he still wasn’t there, though annoying, didn’t make him any less predictable.
Nightingale closed her eyes to read the room. They all had the same question on their minds as she did : “Where’s the boss?”
“Sorry to tell you this boys,” his voice bounced around the room, Nightingale wasn’t sure where it came from, “but you’re all bait.” An energy went through the room, giving her a headache and turning all the goons unconscious, which kept her from realizing a hand was pushing her on the back.
She was able to land without hurting herself, but just barely. She stood and looked up to see there was someone where she had just been.
“You really enjoy turning the tables, don’t you?”
“I like to make the beginning and the end match.” Ace of Spades jumped down and began walking towards her, cane swinging in hand.
When he got close enough, the cane swung for her head. She ducked, feeling an energy just above her. She pushed her own energy through her arm and hit him in the stomach, sending him back.
He stood up and started shortening the gap she’d made between them. She moved back.
“To be honest,” he said, “I didn’t expect the heels.”
“figured I’d give you as fair a fight as I could.” She ran towards him to kick him in the chest. The singular advantage of heels was that they could cause some serious hurt.
Pain. She was on the ground and he was unhurt. She got up just as he pointed the cane at her neck, same energy pulsing through it as before. She backed up as he moved forward, until she hit a wall.
The cane seemed important to him. She reached for it with her mind, but it was slippery somehow. Then it was sideways on her neck, pressed close.
“I was told once if you ever find yourself in a fair fight, you've done something wrong,” Ace of Spades told her, “so, Nightingale, what have you done wrong?”
He was an idiot. Her hands were free, and then they were pulling the cane away from her neck. He pushed back. She added a bit of extra force.
“Aaaaahhh!”
It was painful enough to make her scream, and that was when the only points of contact were her hands.
When he let go, and the pain stopped, she opened her eyes.
Ace of Spades was unconscious on the ground. She bent down and pressed her fingers to his temple to get a surface reading on him. Not unconscious, catatonic. She racked her brain for the procedure her teacher had taught her.
…
“The only time a Psychic is harmless is in a state of catatonia.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t be here then,” Kitty said, filing down her claws.
Mandie rolled her eyes. Kitty looked the mean girl, but played the jokester.
“Catatonia has nothing to do with Kitty’s name sake,” their teacher replied, “can anyone tell me what it is?”
Mandie pushed the words “I can” into his mind.
“Mr. Peters, what is it?”
She still lost.
Carter smirked, “When someone is in an immobile stupor.”
“Ms. Piec, your answer?”
Either Carter got it wrong, or the teacher was in a mood to damage someone’s ego, or both. Mandie was taking her chance no matter what.
“The definition for a psychic catatonia is when the mind, although able to maintain basic bodily functions, stops.”
“Exactly!”
“Like what happened to the boy Mandie kissed at homecoming?” Carter asked.
“I--he--”
“How did you get him out of it professor?” Kitty asked.
“Well in the shows you shock the heart to bring it back to life. Since the mind isn’t dead with catatonia, you can shock it back to life, so to speak.”
…
“Fear and pain work best,” Nightingale muttered. Luckily, she’d just had a moment full of pain and terror that she could pull up for this very purpose.
She took a deep breath before pressing her fingers to his temple again, bringing her forehead close to his. Focusing on the pain she’d just felt, she closed her eyes, and projected that memory. For a brief moment she saw three people and felt a bit happier, but it faded when Ace of Spades gasped for air, breaking the connection.
Nightingale moved herself back up, grabbing the cane as she went.
“I’m keeping this.” She walked out through the doors of the warehouse, checked to see if he was watching, and disappeared, grateful stealth mode hadn’t been damaged by the fight.
…
If Mandie had thought, she would’ve put a bug somewhere on Ace of Spades. As it stood she was sitting in her basement with bandaged palms, waiting for Catherine to message her back.
“Where did you get this?”
Or call her. That couldn’t be good news. She made mental note to make sure she had warning on calls, even if she had to accept them.
“Fighting the most recent menace to my town.”
“Is that why I got feedback from you?”
Mandie occasionally forgot about the psychic link between she and her sister since the distance of their homes meant they only felt anything from it during intense emotional situations.
“That was either from the pain, or from the part where I had to push him out of catatonia.”
“What pain?”
“Are you watching me?”
“Of course.”
Mandie showed her bandaged hands to the camera.
“Eek, was it the cane?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you use your powers too?”
“Too?”
Mandie’s screen showed a patent she’d seen before.
“It’s dad’s design Mandie, our tech.”
“Your gloves.”
“Except designed for telekinesis instead of electric shocks.”
“This is great news.”
Catherine took a moment to respond with, “Our tech is being stolen and this is great news?”
“It means this guy is a telekinetic, which is a parameter you can search for on the database.”
“I love you Mandie, but you are way too much of an optimist.”
“Are you still running that program?”
Silence. Maybe that was too mean.
“I have to go to sleep, but I’ll look through the database for you tomorrow.” Catherine hung up
I really wanted to like this game. I really did. I love open-world survival games and I’ve watched at least two, maybe three full playthroughs of Subnautica since its full release. It looked like exactly the sort of game I’d enjoy.
...Unfortunately, despite the beauty of the environment, the complex creatures, and the strong basic plot, the actual playable experience - everything after the Sunbeam went down and before I found the last research facility - left me disappointed.
The good, the bad, and the ugly are beneath the cut. Also, spoilers.
The Good:
The Beautiful Environment
The Creatures
The Plot (when it’s present)
The Ending
The Bad:
It was excruciatingly slow
The lava slugs and stalkers
Lack of clarity and instruction
The hunger/thirst/oxygen mechanics
Resource allocation
The Ugly:
Glitches. So many Glitches.
Clipping
‘Accidental’ loss of playability
Playing behind/through the loading screen
Conclusion:
I think my expectations were too high going into this game. I expected so much to like it that I was surprised when it had some pretty serious problems and that made them seem all the more disappointing. In general, I’d recommend it for the impressively complex and beautiful world alone despite the somewhat lackluster integration of the plot.
Life is nothing but the possibility of failure not even defined on my own terms
Alternatively life is the possibility of constant success defined on a set of arbitrary and self-determined criteria depending on variables no one but i will ever know
