Square Enix deserves all the spoiled tomatoes fans and critics have thrown at them in recent years. Fantastic games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake and PowerWash Simulator keep them in the good graces of most casual consumers, but it continues to release excellent gems and refuses to market them, only to complain when none of us get invested. It’s also one of the industry’s biggest supporters of cryptocurrency, and seems determined to exterminate all good will by taking us along for the ride. I say this from the heart: please go f*** yourself.

Symbiogenesis is an upcoming ‘Digital Collectible Art Experience for Web3 Fans’ that aims to make use of familiar gameplay mechanics and ideas JRPG fans have grown accustomed to over the years. The official website places emphasis over the ownership of unique art and characters than the actual act of playing the game, drawing foolish players in with potential value rather than artistic integrity or creative vision. It’s ugly, soulless, and rotten with bleak jargon that resembles a mobile phone application intended for buying stocks instead of going on a grand adventure. I scanned through the website prior to writing this piece and the whole thing is a mess of tables and spreadsheets with terminology geared towards crypto bros.

Related: The Last Of Us Season 2 Better Not Be Filled With Joel Flashbacks

This game has been bubbling away in the background for months now, and recent days saw Square Enix reveal the floating island setting in which it takes place. Myriad factions and lore have been revealed on social media (including a hilarious group known simply as ‘Normies’) to pull in more casual players, yet everything I’ve seen only serves to reinforce the soulless corporate identity at the centre of it all. There isn’t a press kit to be found like other titles in its library, only an official website and Twitter account with no concern for being understood. So long as it makes money and deepens the company’s dedication to blockchain it will suffice.

Symbiogenesis feels like a generic anime created by a computer programme, which I imagine all the suits at Square Enix thought was more than good enough for its glorified pyramid scheme. Early users are being drawn in with the promise of early draws at valuable NFTs, while a roadmap of different chapters and features I’m sure a poindexter on the moon would find exciting are peppered alongside them. The art of characters and locations shared across social media are so clearly produced by AI. Facial proportions are uneven, outfits appear generic or incomplete, hair crops out behind hats, and quite a few avatars lack the correct amount of fingers.

It could not be any lazier if it tried, and represents the very worst tenets of capitalism to be found in modern technology. Corporations might be making fantastic games and products we can find joy within, but the sad reality is how beneath all the emotion and creativity is a room filled with greedy men who want nothing more than to milk us dry. Unless we desire the gaming industry to become even more of a capitalist hellscape than it already is, it’s our sole responsibility to highlight projects like this and how transparent their intentions truly are.

Symbiogenesis

Money is the only endgame here, when Square Enix could be pooling resources to enable new voices, bring back forgotten classics, or do literally anything other than throw piles of cash down a well for yet another hearty dose of blockchain bullshit. I know I’m beating a dead horse at this point, but until it’s fully decomposed and well out of sight, there isn’t any other choice.

Next: Why Doesn’t EA Just Remaster The Lord of The Rings Movie Tie-Ins?