CoopDojo says enough with insane body counts in games

Two nights ago we wrapped up the final series in the Uncharted series.  At the risk of mild spoilers, it was bittersweet to witness the conclusion of Nathan Drake’s arc that ends, as all good stories do, with the beginning of a new one.  While the game tries to conclude on an uplifting note, we had this nagging sensation in the back of our minds.  Checking the stats screen as the credits ran, we realized something horrific: we had killed 547 people during the course of the campaign.  Nathan Drake is a talented treasure hunter and adventurer who just so happens to also be one of the most prolific serial murderers to ever walk the earth (details he’ll likely leave out of those copious journals of his).

If you’re staring down the sights at Nathan Drake you better just GTFO of there. He likes killing a little too much.

It’s disappointing as NaughtyDog seemed to be changing course after the fabulous but more subdued Last of Us.  Sure, you’ll still wind up killing hundreds upon hundreds, but much that are infected and the humans you face at least make you earn the kill instead of being fodder for a handy rocket launcher or nearby magnum.  Unless you’re in a game that relishes high body counts like Bulletstorm or Painkiller, it cheapens the narrative and waters down the action to resort to killing armies of people.

Recently we’ve been seeing a push towards pacifist-style gaming in titles like Undertale or even some of the later Metal Gear games that reward you for avoiding kills.  No-kill playthroughs is an entire subgenre of popular gaming that enjoys the challenge of circumventing games designed the other way.  We remember playing through many Splinter Cells trying our best to avoid kills simply because that made each level much more rewarding to complete instead of simply mowing down everyone with our OP assault rifle.  It’s simply more compelling to not kill everything in your way.

One of the best games in the past year provided an entire different experience if you pursued the pacifist route

Don’t get us wrong, we’re not advocating for the end of killing in games. It’s just time we move past the excessive. Games today shouldn’t feel like Schwarzeneggar films of the 80s by default, especially when they go for the emotional punch like Uncharted 4 does.  Consider Michael Mann’s excellent LA police story, Heat.  The movie has some tremendous acting and memorable scenes, but arguably the highlight of the film is the bank robbery gone awry that leads to a massive and long-winded shootout in populated LA streets.  Dozens violently die and it’s traumatic because it’s unique from the rest of the film.

As Nathan Drake tells the story of his adventures to those who surround him, we can only imagine the abject horror he’ll see in those faces as they realize just how many thousands of people he has killed in his life.  It’s time for games to evolve past this.

Drake thinking back about all of the people he’s killed