infamous second son paper trail worth it

Speaking of “not particularly subtle,” the game’s antagonist, DUP head Brooke Augustine, is almost cartoonishly evil. The game is literally about a Native American anarchist you would think Second Son would do a little more with this concept. It’s not particularly subtle, but it’s also not quite crazy enough. There are cameras, drones, and checkpoints everywhere. The DUP is a branch of law enforcement designed to deal with Conduits, and they’ve completely taken over Seattle. In the seven years since inFamous 2, the government has set up the Department of Unified Protection (called the DUP in-game, or ‘doop’, which really sucks the menace out of the main threat if you’re a Futurama enthusiast). Unfortunately, the anti-government themes aren’t handled quite as well. It’s great stuff, and helps set Second Son apart from the scads of sci-fi-concept-as-metaphor-for-discrimination stories out there. The duo’s relationship with their parents could stand to be expanded upon, but the subtle touches are simultaneously compelling. Conversely, as Reggie is drawn into the world of Conduits, he begins to change his behavior. As Delsin becomes more and more comfortable with his new identity as a Conduit, he pushes back against Reggie’s anti-Conduit slurs. The studio has always excelled in writing dialogue, and Second Son’s personable and flavorful exchanges are perhaps the company’s zenith. The relationship between Delsin and his brother Reggie is the game’s emotional core, and it’s genuinely some of the best character interaction Sucker Punch has delivered in a while. His growth is fairly close to the usual ‘superhero’s journey’, but the way he grows is worth seeing. It also helps that Delsin is a great character. Using superpowers as a metaphor for homosexuality (someone literally says “you were born this way” at one point) and giving this metaphor to a member of an already marginalized group is a surprisingly effective tactic. The game primarily deals with discrimination and the government as a nanny state, to varying degrees of success. Delsin’s only choice is to pursue everyone involved in the whole affair to Seattle, where he can acquire the powers he needs to save everyone. However, the anti-Conduit authorities mortally wound a sizable amount of his tribe in their search for the escapees and any other Conduits.

Almost immediately, he discovers he can absorb the powers of other Conduits. Native American protagonist Delsin Rowe is just a regular ninety-nine percenter, tagging billboards on his tribe’s reservation and ranting about the man, but everything changes when a transport carrying some dangerous Conduits crashes right in front of him. It’s hard to not draw parallels to X-Men, right down to the superpowered main antagonist and thinly veiled parallels to modern-day prejudice. The world is now aware of the existence of superhumans known as Conduits (reclassified as “bio-terrorists”), and a government agency has sprung up to combat this new threat. Second Son takes place after the tear-inducing Good ending of inFamous 2. So it is with a somewhat heavy soul that I bring you this news: inFamous: Second Son isn’t quite the improvement we all hoped for. It’s still a great action game, but get ready for a bit of disappointment. Franchise developers Sucker Punch managed to improve almost every aspect, right down to the color palette. Those “better things” came in the form of inFamous 2 perhaps one of my favorite games of the past generation. inFamous had some tonal issues, but was mechanically sound and held the promise of better things.

Infamous second son paper trail worth it