Extreme Meatpunks Forever season two kicks off with a quest to steal the sun
A second serving of meatpunk
Extreme Meatpunks Forever is "a serial visual novel/mech brawler about gay disasters beating up neonazis in giant robots made of meat," a description which certainly tracks with the claim that it does punk better than any other recent game. The second season, Bound By Ash, has just released its first two episodes, which kick off the Meatpunks' quest to steal the sun. The remainder of the season is arriving in daily episodes throughout this week.
In 2018, season one of Meatpunks wrapped up with Hope, during which Jay Castello says "questions are answered, questions are raised, and there’s plenty of teeth-gritted, fists-clenched optimism". Season two begins with an episode called Reignition in which "The Meatpunks' quest to steal the sun begins in earnest when Cass finds a lead". In episode two, also out today, "Brad joins a punk band. What could possibly go wrong?" The season will carry on this week with episodes titled "Hello Again", "Too Far, Part 1", "Too Far, Part 2", and "Despair".
I'd take an optimistic reading of that last one, expecting some twist that belies the title, if not for J. Szpilka's explanation of season one. "It is incredibly refreshing to experience a game where the characters are failures and don’t have to overcome themselves at emerge victorious at the end, a game where a character implicitly says: 'we are fucked up meat critters with fucked up needs and if u run at 100% all the time it’ll destroy you'." Well, perhaps Despair really will just be what it sounds like then.
Episodes three through six of the season will launch daily from October 27th to 30th. You can find Extreme Meatpunks Forever: Bound By Ash over on Itch where it's currently marked down 10%. You can buy its soundtrack by Josie Brechner on Bandcamp, which will have two bonus songs thanks to a stretch goal from season two's successful Kickstarter campaign.
The first season of Meatpunks is currently 70% off on Itch. It was also included with the Itch Bundle For Racial Justice And Equality back in June, so if you happened to kick in on that ginormous bundle, you've got a copy waiting for you.