- #1
Maybe the conceits of this subgenre (especially the VR type) aren't for me, so I'm cutting the story a lot of slack for its gaps and self-contradictions: The antihero tag is false, this is a villain protagonist but there's no tag on this site. Rare is a horror movie villain presented without criticism. There's no heroism, no sim-stranger to save, only the sim-genocide. The author repeatedly goes out of their way to describe how Rare sees the AI as both seemingly identical to sapient humans, and in some unclear implied way not true sapience. Not even a shallow excuse for dehumanization, or ironic self-deception underlying the mu*der fetish? That's a cowardly balance to make Rare edgy without expressing that she PKs in the game with no established qualms about, and maybe even holding her back from, becoming a real serial killer. Assuming the story faces that, it's still a massive worldbuilding issue and not written well yet.As for what I'm actually rating for: The protagonist isn't complicated or likeable, she's an addicted PKer with few social skills, who got an opportunity to massacre whole countries. Trolling and hurting others is nearly as fun to her as powering up. That's fine in itself, so Rare is a slasher villain who gained an army, but Rare and the plot don't gain any depth through relationships with others or herself. Rare's internal monologue is sometimes interesting, but mostly she's just thinking mechanically how to screw with other people and maximize stats. Up to where I'm at, Rare hasn't met any inconvenience she can't power through with sheer tenacity. I don't expect the story to improve from here.There are massacre-based fantasy stories that get more interesting and emotional. If you're only seeking stats without long pages and want to see cities of humans butchered for the lolz, this may be for you. I barely got through 1/6 of the plot, but the formula never changed so I expect it stays repetitive despite shifting the power balance or adding more ways to capture territory than gore festivals.Rating with a subgenre-tolerant handicap I think others are using, 3/5. Rating including how the story fails to get any emotional mileage besides shock from its take on mu*der and genocide, 2/5 at best. Rating if any AI becomes sapient 1/ (homo sapiens are speciest psychos, prepare to be judged)