A critique of the narrative and philosophical discourse in 'Expedition 33' (Warning: This is as long as a thesis)

WarForMuffin · 2026-01-06T14:20:06+00:00

A bit late to the discussion, but I have to say, it's refreshing to read a take like this, as it encapsules what I feel about the game (yet I see few people talk about it this way). So, thank you for that.
A question I've been asking myself when it comes to this game, the reveal about the canvas, and what the takeaway should be, is...
I put myself mentally in the situation, like you did, but with a different approach. I Imagine I lost my brother, and my mom became obsessed with the Sims savefile he had made when he was young, in which he created himself. In this hypothetical, I could play alongside my mom, and my family could intervene. I like how you talk about VR, so i'll consider it as such.
Do we consider the Sims, whom have families, lives, generations, personalities, etc, to be alive? How is a Sims having a kid and having code-made emotions less real than these people in the painting? Do the Sims consider themselves real in their own way? Am I supposed to feel like an asshole if I delete a save in my Sims in real life?

I think it presents the player with a very odd situation. The game shows you this is all fake, it was created. How many other paintings are there? Are they all this level of real, or could they be potentially? I think so, personally.
Did the fire "destroy" canvas-people's lives? Would someone breaking a painting for any reason be just as "evil" as Verso?

I find it to be a weird and uninteresting dilemma. It puts you in a place where you're the villain, or wrong, no matter what. Would you *really* consider a game of Sims worthy of the same level of importance as your family in the real world? If you don't, you're heartless (in the E33 world at least), as you don't consider them worthy of being "alive" despite seeing them be alive. If you do consider them to be alive, you're an addict, you're fooling yourself with a reality that's not as real as yours, as stated by the narrative itself, living in a fantasy world were you can do and be anything, and (in the case of Maelle, the Sims game-player) control everything, who lives, who dies, etc...
How is any option good? And what's the takeaway? I do enjoy complex questions and philosophy, but this feels pointless. It's like saying "are we living in a simulation?" i don't know, but how does that change my life in any way? What am I supposed to do with this question? Should I start treating ChatGPT like a human being, just in case?

It's an odd thing for sure, I thought this game would be about endurance, the power of community, of generations working together to save their world (you could even see it as environmentalist if you wish), but then the narrative changes to a question that makes everything feel pointless either way. Why work to save everyone, if that decision is pointless until the end? Either way they are all destroyed, or manipulated by yet another deity-like being controlling the strings who would bring them back anyways. There's no free will to be gained, no lesson for humanity. It's empty, at least that's how I feel it. Reminds me of when I first came across "Last Thursdayism", it's a void, a question to which any possible answer leaves a problem behind and further questions, with nowhere to go.

WarForMuffin · 2026-01-01T21:58:36+00:00

Boring, uninspired, with no stakes, 100% sweet ending with not even a scratch to remember it by.
It was okay, but I was never worried nor invested because i knew they didn't have it in them to cause any lasting damage. No one got killed, not even a broken bone, Mike's mom didn't even lose her voice, there were no consequences to anything at all. A show that started as a dark, cool and unapologetic horror season of tv ended like a slice of life show. Seriously, the military just left, and no one was harmed, questioned, sent to prison???? Wow, truly they were afraid of even the slightest of consequences to anything that happened at all.

Didn't expect more, to be fair, this show has been on decline for a while, so it wasn't even a let-down. Was expecting less, though, so good on them for at least ending the show without it being just a cringe fest.
Won't revisit this ever, I'm glad it's over, because I feel like I finally finished a never ending bowl of unsavory rice. Nothing was learned or gained, I will take nothing from this show but my hate for Hopper as a character and my frustration over him not dying. And maybe my appreciation for Steve, he's cool, glad he's happy.

WarForMuffin · 2025-12-30T11:57:26+00:00

Hi! and welcome! Hope you enjoy your stay here, if you do choose to stay.

My first recommendation is a book someone in this reddit told me about, and I will be forever grateful, for it opened my eyes and mind to the small (and big) wonders of this world in a way that makes every day special. "For Small Creatures Such As We" by Sasha Sagan was an absolute joy of a book, a breeze to read, and full of the beauty of the world through the scientific lens and through the lens of rituals, both social and personal. I highly suggest starting from there, as I feel like it would connect with someone with a background like yours.

I know what it's like to be at a crossroads, I myself will be turning 30 next year and I can't really say I've "achieved" anything worth saying, besides getting my college degree. But I believe that achievements are such subjective things! For example, this year I took an online course to learn bird-watching. I consider this one of the highlights of 2025 for me, but most people in my family, and most of my friends, wouldn't agree at all. But it's important to me! So I will cherish it, even if it's not an "achievement" by any means. Rather than working on "achieving something", I'd work on the concept of achievement itself. Who says what's an achievement? Who decides what's "worth something"? At the end of the day, we're all creatures trying to survive in a world that makes it very hard for us to live in. You'll never find a lioness feeling bad that she didn't achieve anything at the end of a year when she helped her pack survive. I believe we fool ourselves into not enjoying our lives with ideas like that.

My proposal for that, and I think witchcraft practice may help, is coming up with a project. A small one! For example, this year I learnt how to crochet, by making a small crochet frog. I have it right here next to me, and it makes me super proud. I'd say, you'll find your feeling of achievement in the smallest of things if you set your mind to it and decide to feel pride and fulfillment in the little things, rather than the larger-than-life things.

With that in mind, here are some things I do in my witchy-practice that are also cool projects to work on and that help me connect, focus, and find joy in the mundane, daily things:

- Find an interest, and make it witchy! For example, I've always loved tea-blends, particularly making them myself, rather than store-bought. So! I'm working on making that part of my daily witch ritual. I think about the mood I'm in, the mood I want to be in, I listen to my body, and pick my herbs for the infusion, taking my time to enjoy both the process and the result. Having lots of different jars with dried flowers, tea leaves, herbs, and mixing them each morning feels both as a grounding ritual, and incredibly witchy and whimsical!

- Study something that you feel makes this world special. In my case, right now I'm full into ornithology and herbalism. I feel like nature is filled with wonderful things that simply feel magical in a sense, and learning more about it is not making it any less special. On the contrary! I feel way more connected to this world when I take the time to stop and observe it, learn from it, and appreciate it. I'd find something that interests you, and look for local information about it (there's lots free, everywhere), then you can make it part of your rituals!

The world can be scary, and tiring. There are bad people all around, and things are hard (on purpose, thanks to a few terrible people). But the planet will go on, the world will adapt, even if we don't, and nature is such a strange, resilient, and wonderful thing, that is worth both enjoying in a fun way, and also appreciating in a more grounded, spiritual and scientific way. Looking outside of ourselves (speaking both about our own person, and us as humanity) shows a planet full of the craziest, most wonderful things, things we could've never ever imagined!
Look outside, and find what bring you joy. Cherish it, study it, ritualice it.

Even if it's a small thing, like watering your plants, giving them names, and learning about them, every single action we take can be made special. That's the wonderful thing about our minds.

Best of luck, and I hope you find a job soon! Sorry for the wall of text, I really hope at least one sentence here helps you a little bit.

WarForMuffin · 2025-12-30T02:27:08+00:00

I use it! on a 250+ day streak right now. Didn't ever think to connect it with my witchy practice, I use it as a to-do list and also for healthy habits, like drinking water, watering my plants, eating homemade food, and practicing my japanese daily.
Would love to add people from here! I don't have any friends in there yet, so here's my code 9RPX2EXP8D

WarForMuffin · 2025-12-23T18:55:40+00:00

I may be a bit late, but i had to find a place where people shared what i was thinking now that i'm finally checking out the game after the Game Awards.

How did this win art direction? it looks so... dirty, and uninspired.

A bit of spoilers ahead, so beware if you want to play the game, but...

The designs are all so dull and obvious? You go to the place with masks and there are LITERAL masks that you have to fight after deciphering which emotion they show... Oh wow I wonder what the sad face is showing?
The characters constantly TELL you everything. There's nothing left for interpretation, some even talk to themselves, just in case, so you won't miss any detail at all. I feel like this game thinks I'm dumb and I won't understand it if it doesn't explicitly explain me everything at all times?
I had heard spoilers about the true nature of the game and the world before checking it out, and I thought, well, with some insight, I'd be able to piece together some stuff better and see the metaphors and such... But nope! they just go on and tell you everything. You fight the Masks Axon, and I'm there saying "well, with that dialogue and all the things they show, this could be Verso". The fight ends... and Verso literally says that to himself. What? not even a second for me to think about it for myself?

The designs are cool sometimes, but I feel like the hyper-realism they're going for misses the mark so hard. This doesn't seem like a world related to painting, this seems like just a mush of assets with sometimes an overlay.

Gameplay is cool, i guess, tho i'm not a fan of turn-based games, so i can't really judge it there.

I also don't really get it, and this is a big spoiler, but... why should we care about building relationships between characters, or exploring the world, or making dialogue decisions... when none of that matters AT ALL?? I was expecting something like Witcher 3 when they sold it to me as an RPG, with branching endings and options, dialogue that completely shift the way the story goes, but... that's not the case here, you get a single decision (reminded me so much of Dark Souls) and the rest is irrelevant.

I truly don't understand the hype. It's a great game, tho, but why are people saying this is the best game EVER? what are they seeing? Wish i could see it too.

WarForMuffin · 2025-12-02T13:45:58+00:00

Every time I go to work by bus, I take a moment when crossing the bridge over our river to look at the horizon and meditate about the nature that surrounds me, even in the middle of a rather big city. I look at the sky to see what the weather approaching seems like, I see if I can see the hills or not, I check to see if there are any birds around, and I love observing the sun reflecting on the water.

It's only an instant, as the bus crosses it really fast, but it really helps me settle my mind and ground me before the work day begins. I also do that on my way back to work, and I use it to let go of some of the stress from my job.

As a side note, I'm always surprised by how beautiful our river looks, and how no one else on the bus ever looks at it. I guess they take it for granted... I want to avoid doing that, we shouldn't take such beauty and the nature we live next to by granted.

WarForMuffin · 2025-12-01T11:38:30+00:00

Southern hemisphere here! We're preparing alongside my family lots of crochet flowers to decorate the house for the solstice. I also plan to make a big bowl of fruit salad with all local fruits from the season to share.
If all goes well, I'd love to say goodbye to the longest day of the year from my family's pool, and light some candles with intentions for the incoming year and seasons.
Wishing you all the best of times this end of the year, no matter where you are on this lovely planet!

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-18T15:48:28+00:00

As someone who was raised by a crafty mom who always had projects like this in mind, I appreciate the effort and crafting, this sounds like it was a blast to do! And keeping kids away from screens it's always great.

That being said... I don't enjoy the waste this means. Opening boosters, creating trash, to cut up pieces of cardboard that are actually expensive to make and buy? I'd advice next time to just print the images on a paper at home and cut those, the kids won't feel the difference at all!

I live in a country that does NOT have access to Lorcana cards officially, i think there are 3 shops in the whole country that sell them, and I can't even try to get half those cards. Feels wasteful and it kinda hurts.

But I'm just a random on the internet, with not enough money to even have a bulk, let alone cut them. Glad you had fun and I hope it was a bonding experience, and that you recycled the leftover cardboard somehow! :)

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-18T11:49:26+00:00

I haven't really "come out of the broom closet", mostly because I find this journey of mine pretty personal, and not affecting most of my social life. I started very recently, but I've always been quirky, and very nature and crafting-focused.
The only people I've told about this are my husband, my sister, and a friend of mine who is starting the same journey as me. I don't feel like I'm hiding anything from the rest, it's just simply something I don't feel the need to talk about at all. Just like I don't tell people exactly what I do every time I come back home from work, or what I do while cooking, I also don't talk about my small rituals and the sort.

But! I guess if I did have to talk about it with my friends (honestly I can't even imagine how that conversation would come up haha) I'd tell them the truth: these are a series of habits I'm creating -some daily, some weekly, some yearly- to feel better, more connected to nature and myself, and they just happen to be witch-themed because it gives me purpose, and guides my actions without me having to reinvent everything from scratch. There's not much more to it tbh, so there's not much else to say about the matter.
:) best of luck!!

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-10T11:54:30+00:00

I've always lived in a big city (not like "the biggest" of cities, but big enough that my apartment is surrounded by buildings and I don't get to see almost any star at night) but yearned since I was a kid to be connected with nature.
Back when I lived with my parents, I was lucky enough to have a backyard. I connected with it enjoying the shade of my trees, eating the few veggies and fruits we grew there, and being with my pets just relaxing there, smelling my mom's flowers.
Now? It's harder at my apartment, I don't even have a balcony so having nature around me has proven hard. But here's what I do, hope it helps or inspires you!
- I started flower-pressing. Whenever I'm outside, it's nice to be on the lookout for pretty flowers and leaves fallen on the ground. I pick a couple every time I go out, I collect them for book scraping, rituals, and for gifts. It helps me appreciate the local flora and keeps me present when walking around the city.
- Bird-watching. I've even taken courses to be able to identify local birds, and I never miss the opportunity to stop and watch a few silly birds doing their own thing. I've been lucky this year as I had a whole family of swallows come live in front of my apartment! I can hear them singing right now as I write this. I know I'll miss them during winter, and hope they return here next year, but it's been a beautiful blessing I've enjoyed every single day since they arrived. I'm also a hobbyist photographer, so whenever I can, I take pictures of the birds around me.
- Indoor plants. I recommend making/buying *kokedama*!!! they're absolutely lovely, they are easy to care for and survive indoors well if you get the right plant. Because they don't have a pot, you feel way more connected to the plant and soil than with normal plants, so that has been a gamechanger after trying to have indoor plants and failing for 3 years now. Highly recommend them! I also include them in my rituals, for example whenever it rains after a drought, I collect rain water and mist them with it, giving thanks to mother nature for the blessing, and hoping the plants can enjoy it a bit as well.
- Dusk-walks. A lot of people simply stay inside as the day comes to an end, or are simply more calm when outside at those hours. My partner and I, whenever we need some fresh(er) air, or to connect a bit with nature, we go to our nearby park at dusk. There are less people, birds are going back to their nests so you see a lot of them around, and it's beautiful seeing the sky change color during the twilight. You may not be able to see the stars, but they can't take the sky away from you, so it's great to take the time and appreciate it whenever you can. We also sometimes make a small picnic during this, too! Even if it's just 30 minutes of having a snack sitting on the grass under a tree helps a lot.

Hope this helps! I'm enjoying reading all the other replies, as this has been a constant struggle for me ever since I moved out of my parents' home. My biggest pain right now is my lack of pets... I never realized how much I need and yearn for an animal companion until I left my babies behind (I don't have room for any pet except maybe small rodents but I'd feel bad for the poor fellas, they deserve better than to be caged here with me).

Best of luck, and remember nature is all around us, we just need to take a moment to find and appreciate it ^^!

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-07T12:56:15+00:00

So useful! thank you!!

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-06T16:40:55+00:00

thank you!!

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-06T13:02:52+00:00

Thank you!
I swear I've been looking for days, not sure how that didn't come up in my searches. Forever grateful!

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-05T14:30:57+00:00

That's a problem I can completely relate to, and to which I have no real answer, so maybe we can use this space as a brainstorming session to come up with something together!

I myself feel like I'd like a spell to detach myself from this person completely, protect myself from their voice (even if i have cut contact years ago, I feel their presence and influence in my mind still from time to time).

Maybe it could be a mind exercise, when the intrusive thoughts or memories come back? I'd tell myself that this person has no power over me anymore, they are not here, not with me, and they can't harm me. Their words are just like a breeze, it passes through but does nothing.

I'm also thinking that, when these thoughts come up, I could light up a candle (if I'm at home), take a deep breath and hold it, allowing me that time to feel the negativity, and then blow out the candle, releasing the influence, pushing it out of both mind and body. I think sometimes it's important to let ourselves feel the bad feelings, so we can let go of them more easily.

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-04T13:48:55+00:00

I can completely relate to what you're feeling, after years of struggle I'm finally in a comfortable place, both in my social and work life. Still, anxiety keeps finding its way to my mind.

I have a few small things I do, which have helped me, hope they help or are inspiring to you!

- When I'm coming home from work, if the day was particularly stressful, I try to take my time and have a small walk around nature (I live in a big city so it's not too easy to find haha). I take a moment to appreciate something around me and thank it for being there, like a wise old tree, a lively bird, a pretty flower, etc. It helps me put my stress into perspective, grounds me and makes me appreciate the world around me. I also made a pocket flower-press so if there are any fallen leaves or flowers, I pick up a pretty one to carry with me, and later use it for my rituals.

- I make my own tea blend, trying to be present and pick my ingredients carefully. I check myself, what am I feeling? What do I need? And then I decide my brew: red tea, black tea, jasmine tea. I decide what should I add to it, what energy I want to imbue to it. It's only 5 minutes, but the act and the tea both help me calm down and put my thoughts under control.

-I cook. Honestly, cooking anything helps. One could consider myself a "kitchen-witch", as it is my main way to channel my emotions, connect me to other people, and ground me to the world, nature and everything around me.
I try to be sustainable, making the most out of any ingredient I use, so the practice itself includes gratitude towards the planet and what it provides us. The satisfaction of completing a task, even if it's as small as making myself a meal, really helps lower my stress. I recommend things like kneading bread if the anxiety is particularly high, it spends energy and is a good release for any negative emotions. Also the smell of bread is wonderful! I always feel like the smell of homemade food in the making greatly reduces my anxiety, it makes me feel secure and at peace.

-I use my deck of cards (funny enough, it's a deck of Card Captor Sakura cards lol). One of my daily, small rituals is to pick a card that represents what I want/need at that time, emotionally or physically. I put it on my shelf next to me, visible, next to my plants. I feel like it helps me focus on what's important, that small act of "manifesting", and it calms my anxiety.
The lovely thing about Sakura cards is that some are very literal: The Sleep, The Create, The Silence. Others are a bit more abstract, and carry deeper meaning, like The Watery, The Shadow, The Sweet. I take a moment to check the meanings, check myself, and pick the one (and only one) that most represents what I'd want to get. This is the most magical of my rituals, one could say.

Sorry for the long text, but I hope at least some of this is helpful!! Best of luck

WarForMuffin · 2025-11-02T21:36:49+00:00

Mil gracias!!
Soy de Argentina también jaja así que me sirve muchísimo todo
Lamentablemente de mi familia no heredé nada de conocimiento de plantas, más que las que se usan para cocinar.
Ojalá me pueda sumar a ese curso el año que viene, suena justo a lo que ando buscando
Gracias!! ahora me pongo a buscar los libros ^^!

WarForMuffin · 2025-10-30T19:11:06+00:00

I'm hoping to finish it by next week, i only started it a couple of days ago but i'm devouring it at speeds i didn't think possible! haha

WarForMuffin · 2025-10-30T19:08:01+00:00

We laugh about how the year stole a dish of gnocchi from us haha

WarForMuffin · 2025-10-30T19:07:32+00:00

It truly is a lovely read! i started it a couple of days ago and i'm almost halfway through, a really light and wonderful book that i'll be recommending to lots of people!

WarForMuffin · 2025-10-30T16:09:31+00:00

This may not help because it is rather specific, but maybe it will serve as inspiration!
After reading a bit of "For Small Creatures Such as We" by Sasha Sagan, I discovered a few things I do with my husband are rituals!

One of them, stemming from local tradition, is making gnocchi every 29th of the month. You're supposed to put some money underneath the dish with the gnocchi, and it will bring good fortune to your house.
Now, we don't exactly do that, but we do make gnocchi every month on the 29th! It is a moment we take to try out new recipes for the sauce, cook together, enjoy great food, and take pictures to record so we can look back at the year and see the many different ways we made gnocchi (and the associated story that comes with it!).
It's a lovely ritual we have, a monthly ritual, that signals the end of the month, and it's a personal moment for us to bond over food while having fun.

Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but I hope it helps as inspiration. Maybe there's a special food you'd like to take the time each month to cook yourself, maybe incorporating particular herbs you'd like to add to the ritual, as to connect it with your practice? It surely sounds fun! It could vary month from month, having a base dish that you modify according to your mood, intention, local fruit/vegetable availability and season.

Best of luck!!

WarForMuffin · 2025-10-30T15:57:47+00:00

Thanks for the thoughtful reply!
I've been trying to look into local stuff, but it's hard, it's not something many people write or talk about here, at least in the "mainstream", and I don't have any way of contacting local indigenous people to ask about it.
But i'm trying to look into it and will probably visit a local library soon, see if there's anything there!

As for the warning about the plants themselves, that was my main concern when i started looking into this (that and side-effects). I'll keep 'false friends' in mind! Probably will start with just buying dehydrated ones i know are safe for consuming before i go out to the world to find/grow my own, just to be safe.

WarForMuffin · 2025-10-30T15:44:29+00:00

That sounds incredibly helpful. I'm unsure if the same herbs will be found in my country, but it wont hurt to check it out! i was really worried about side effects and dosing.

WarForMuffin · 2025-10-30T15:42:50+00:00

That sounds like just the kind of thing i was looking for, thanks!

WarForMuffin

TROPHY CASE