2026 February Media Post

Featuring Iron Lung (Movie) and 2XKO
 
 

Iron Lung (Movie)

 
I was worried going into this that I wouldn't be able to take a movie starring Markiplier seriously, but thankfully I was able to enjoy it on a non-ironic level. I didn't enjoy the heavier emphasis on narrative compared to the original game, although none of it left me with a bad taste. My favorite part was definitely around the middle, when Simon (the main character) was just alone for like 20 minutes, there was a great monologue in there, but I mostly appreciated the quiet atmosphere. I think the quiet help build tension. I also appreciate pretty much the entire movie taking place within the submarine, you can tell that thing was dreadful for Simon, but it also kept the movie feeling very focused.


2XKO

 
I've already talked about this much more extensively back when I played the Alpha Labs. In that previous post I expressed concern over the game potentially changing to a point at which I didn't like it anymore, but I think something different happened, I changed. Over time I came to the conclusion that the core gameplay just ain't quite something I love. Definitely undercutting my hype though was the game's wack release, the Closed Beta and Early Access made the game available perpetually for months before the proper release, yet those weren't available on PlayStation, so I couldn't play it while a huge mass of the fanbase could. At one point I actually tried getting the game to run on my Steam Deck, but I can't be bothered to download a Windows virtual machine so that didn't amount to much. The pre-release advertising really didn't have to rub it in.

Here's an official blog post from around the same time that implied the game hadn't launched yet.
 
Probably the most disappointing aspect of the game's launch to me is its live service model. Characters take days to unlock, or can be purchased for $10 each as the standard asking price, which is pretty much the same thing people complained about in MultIVersus. Despite the similarities, people say it's not as bad as MultiVersus, and my guess as to why (other than people simply being stupid) is due to 2XKO presenting its currency in a more appealing way. Instead of the free character currency being primarily obtained through continual events that you'd just have to hope continued to give out currency, Credits are simply obtained from Daily and Weekly missions. Admittetly though, I don't think 2XKO marks up its most recent characters. I could go on with the comparisons, but point is I'm just disappointed with the character unlock systems, even if I consider them tolerable.
 
The biggest turn-away to me is that this is one of those free to play games that distinctly restricts what you're allowed to unlock for free. Most cosmetics from what I can tell are unlocked through character level-ups, but I've found those to feel really grindy.
 
The most baffling thing to me about this game's launch is the lack of online couch co-op. You can sort of play online duos with someone locally since the game does allow you to connect multiple controllers regardless of if you're playing online or local matches, but both controllers get full control over both characters, so it's more comparable to handing a single controller back and forth than actual co-op.
 
With all that said though, I still enjoy the game. I'm just not hooked on it like I once expected to be.
 

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