PixlBit

I bet this discussion could actually go somewhere if we'd all just stop acting like children.

There's been a lot of controversy just about everywhere these days regarding how women are portrayed in video games. Frankly, I'm glad to see it. Controversy has a way of exposing us to new perspectives and fresh opinions in a way few other things can. It's given many women a platform to discuss how things like this make them feel sexualized, marginalized, and mistreated. It's also given others the chance to promote the radical idea that perhaps the size of a woman's bust shouldn't dictate how we perceive them; that big boobs don't necessarily mean a shallow character with a tiny brain. It's also indirectly fed Jenn Frank's idea (which has since garnered international attention) for a BoobJam: A call for the creative souls among us whose coding Kung Fu is strong, to create games about boobs, with the caveat that the content show breasts from a more practical or biological angle as opposed to the typical straight male gaze, or sexually gratifying perspective.

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Ignore the controversy; this game deserves your attention.

They say beauty is only skin deep, but this is just not the case with the latest output from Vanillaware. Beyond the gorgeous visuals, Dragon’s Crown offers layers of complexity on top of what is typically a very simplistic genre. Side-scrolling beat-‘em-ups have largely stagnated since the days of the arcade, but George Kamitani and company have grafted on dungeon crawler attributes as well as the company’s signature deep and fluid combat systems to create something wholly unique. Quests, loot, and frequent leveling make it hard to pull yourself away from this finely crafted adventure.

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