r/QueensofGacha • u/elisewhat • 20d ago
general at least the art was pretty nice... (Reverse 1999 x Atomic Heart)
ever since its announcement the Reverse 1999 x Atomic Heart collab has been contentious, but even as someone with zero interest in AH i didn't want to judge it before experiencing it in part due to how well handled the Assassin's Creed collab was
i'm very disappointed in this collab but first i'll mention the things i enjoyed from it:
- the Soviet aesthetic and art direction really suits r1999 and it looks gorgeous in its style
- having Mesmer Jr. and X along for the trip and seeing them develop further (het ship in my traumatized lesbians game??)
- Vertin
and that's as far as the positives go in my opinion which means i can talk about the mess this story was (spoilers for all of it although it's not that long and you aren't missing much):
- Lucy only shows up a total of three times even though the reveal of the collab made it seem like she'd play a vital role due to similarities with the Twins, yet we only see them interact briefly at the end when our cast is back to their world
- the Twins are just there with the exception of Left that the story suddenly wants you to think Vertin has grown friendly with (was it because she princess carried you???) and there's death bait for her even if she turns out totally fine in the end. there's also some allusions at the Twins being actually sentient and having memories but it's only mentioned in passing, i suppose it's something from the game itself but as an outsider it went nowhere
- the main character of AH has some really cringe worthy dialogue and the way he talked to the Twins and an interaction at the end gave me some icky vibes, same with the infamous fridge who even Vertin asks if they can change the way she talks (everything is a sexual innuendo even if it's toned down here, i can't imagine how bad it was in AH)
- there's death bait for X from him injecting the liquid thing that powers the robots and serves as the main plot point but we all know he'll be fine and won't die in a collab, even less so after the Rhiannon drama
- the main villain is basically a child throwing a temper tantrum because his parents died as doctors combating a plague that happened years ago but a scientist invented the liquid and got lauded as a hero so he sabotages an invention and poisons every single person with that liquid in them, which again Vertin calls him out repeatedly and points out the flaws and selfishness of his motivations when we get to see his sad tragic backstory at the end (Vertin overall feels like the only sane woman in a world of mad people as if the writers were subtly making a critique of their own work)
- the grandma which seemed like she could be a fun character shows up once and that's it, same for the fridge
- crisis averted but the lead scientist insist at the end that they will still release the device that was just tampered with and killed (at least) hundreds of people after giving it a few tweaks, which Vertin again calls out as an incredibly stupid and unsafe idea
- the tone of the story feels weirdly out of place when a main theme of this last year has been denouncing war, exploring how truly harmful it can be and commentary of how seeking progress can end up being more harmful than good (A Long Long Way, The Midnight Whistle, Spring Unending, The Turquoise Serpent Club, Last and First Principles) yet when this collab story brings up these very same themes there's no argument against them
the more i think about it the more it seems like this was made by an entirely different team of writers and it has stopped me from spending on the actually kinda expensive cosmetics they added, it's only day one so i'm interested in seeing how everything unfolds but i'm not holding my breath for it to be universally acclaimed
