SOFT CORE WORLD WAR — ISSUE 070
THE MONSTERS HAVE A MANAGEMENT TEAM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2026
Tonight: death-row inmates become content creators, Cindy Sherman invents wealthy elderly women, Napoleon's army returns from the grave, Planet Zoo lets the animals leave, Mothman becomes a potential friend, Michael Stipe prepares his first solo album, China puts twenty million people in line for imaginary creatures, Guess recruits Becky G, and Panama discovers the earthquake isn't finished.
01 — THE PRISONERS MUST BECOME INFLUENCERS OR THEY WILL BE EXECUTED
Japanese publisher Kodansha announced that BUZZ or DIE, a new adventure game from developer Bon, will launch on Steam on October 28.
The game follows death-row inmates forced to participate in a reality television competition where they enter their opponents' minds, discover embarrassing secrets and turn those secrets into short videos. Contestants compete for audience likes, with the winner receiving a pardon and the loser facing execution followed by an eternity of humiliation as an enslaved android.
A demo is available now.
The prison has discovered engagement farming.
Unfortunately, engagement is now a capital punishment issue.
Why it matters: This is one of those videogame premises that sounds ridiculous until you realize the satire barely requires exaggeration.
The entire contemporary internet already rewards people for discovering and publishing compromising information about strangers.
Private embarrassment becomes public entertainment.
Public entertainment becomes measurable attention.
Attention becomes status.
The game simply introduces an unusually severe consequence for losing.
What interests me is the decision to make the contestants investigate one another's minds.
The person becomes a resource deposit.
Their memories are content.
Their secrets are content.
Their humiliation is content.
And the audience determines whether they deserve to continue existing.
There is something horrifyingly efficient about that.
The villain is not necessarily the person running the game show.
The villain might be the audience enjoying it.
02 — CINDY SHERMAN HAS INVENTED AN ENTIRE POPULATION OF WEALTHY OLD WOMEN
Cindy Sherman opened her new Fabric Matrons exhibition at Hauser & Wirth London today, presenting a series of elaborate photographic self-portraits.
The 72-year-old artist transforms herself into fictional older women using wigs, makeup, draped textiles and jewelry, with several works incorporating materials from Chanel's archives. Rather than constructing conventional costumes, Sherman allows the fabrics to become both clothing and background, making her characters appear to dissolve into their surroundings.
The exhibition runs through December 23.
Extremely expensive imaginary women.
They have no biographies.
They appear to have opinions about the staff.
Why it matters: Cindy Sherman has spent decades doing something that sounds extremely simple.
She photographs herself pretending to be other people.
Except the people do not exist.
And somehow they feel more recognizable than actual celebrities.
The new series is particularly interesting because the characters are confronting aging, visibility and the strange social obligations attached to remaining attractive.
One figure clutches an expensive pearl-embellished handbag while dressed in a completely contradictory collection of fabrics.
Another seems almost swallowed by her own clothing.
These are not necessarily women you would want to meet.
But they feel like women you have already met.
Sherman understands that identity is partly a performance conducted for an audience that may not even be present.
Eventually the performance becomes so elaborate that the person underneath starts disappearing.
The clothing wins.
03 — NAPOLEON HAS RESURRECTED HIS SOLDIERS AND THE FRENCH ARMY IS HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME
Valor Mortis launched today on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Developed by One More Level, the studio behind Ghostrunner, the first-person action game follows William, a soldier resurrected from Napoleon's Grande Armée into an alternate nineteenth-century Europe devastated by a supernatural plague. Players fight mutated soldiers using swords, firearms, parrying and supernatural abilities, while Vincent Cassel voices Napoleon Bonaparte.
The game combines historical warfare with the punishing combat structure associated with Soulslike games.
You died for Napoleon.
You returned from the grave.
Napoleon would like you to continue working.
Absolutely unacceptable management.
Why it matters: History is particularly interesting when videogames stop treating it as something sacred.
Napoleon is already a nearly fictional character in the popular imagination.
The hat.
The horse.
The battlefield.
The enormous ego.
The man has become a recognizable silhouette.
Putting him inside a supernatural horror game barely feels like a violation.
It feels like somebody discovered the missing genre.
But the interesting part is the resurrected soldier.
William has already fulfilled the ultimate obligation demanded by military service.
He died.
Then the institution requires additional labor.
There is something extremely funny and unpleasant about the idea that even death cannot terminate your employment.
The French Empire has invented the worst possible return-to-office policy.
04 — PLANET ZOO HAS FINALLY GIVEN THE ANIMALS PERMISSION TO LEAVE
Frontier Developments released Planet Zoo 2 today for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with the standard PC edition priced at $49.99.
The sequel introduces fully aquatic animals and flying birds, allowing players to build aquariums and aviaries alongside traditional zoo habitats. It also adds customizable Wildlife Reserves, where animals can be released into larger ecosystems beyond the conventional zoo environment.
The animal management simulator has discovered the concept of freedom.
A significant software update.
Why it matters: Zoo simulators are fascinating because the central pleasure is organizing life.
You build the habitat.
Select the animal.
Control the environment.
Monitor happiness.
Manage reproduction.
Sell tickets.
The entire experience depends on converting nature into a series of manageable systems.
And people love it.
I understand.
A perfectly designed enclosure is an extremely satisfying object.
But the Wildlife Reserve feature introduces a different fantasy.
The player is no longer merely responsible for keeping an animal inside a beautiful enclosure.
The player can construct an environment where the animal exists beyond the ordinary boundaries of the attraction.
That is a subtle but interesting change.
The goal becomes something other than displaying the creature.
You are attempting to create conditions under which the creature can live.
A much more complicated responsibility.
And considerably harder to monetize through a gift shop.
05 — MOTHMAN IS REAL AND APPARENTLY YOU CAN BECOME FRIENDS
Solo developer Versiris announced We Don't Exist today, a story-driven paranormal adventure game coming to PC.
The game takes place in a parallel dimension inhabited by creatures traditionally associated with cryptid folklore, including Bigfoot, Mothman and the Jersey Devil. Players investigate an interdimensional conspiracy, communicate with voice-acted characters and can assume the roles of different cryptids as their stories intersect.
A release date has not yet been announced.
Mothman.
Playable character.
Potential friend.
The West Virginia tourism department has achieved immortality.
Why it matters: Cryptids occupy a very particular cultural category.
They are creatures people discuss as though they might exist.
But they also function as fictional characters.
Bigfoot has a personality.
Mothman has an aesthetic.
The Jersey Devil has an entire regional mythology.
None of these identities requires definitive proof of the creature's existence.
The uncertainty is part of the entertainment.
What I like about We Don't Exist is that it reverses the usual relationship.
Normally humans investigate cryptids.
Humans search for evidence.
Humans attempt to prove something.
Here, the creatures already exist.
They have their own society.
Their own problems.
Their own relationships.
You are entering their world.
The monster stops being an object of investigation.
It becomes somebody you might actually enjoy spending time with.
Mothman deserves friends.
Possibly a therapist.
06 — MICHAEL STIPE HAS FINALLY DECIDED TO RELEASE AN ALBUM UNDER HIS OWN NAME
Michael Stipe, former frontman of R.E.M., revealed today that his long-awaited debut solo album is tentatively scheduled for May 2027.
The first single is planned for New Year's Eve 2026, accompanied by a video, while the album itself remains untitled. Stipe has been working with producer Andrew Watt and musician Andy LeMaster, and previously performed a new composition, “The Rest of Ever,” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
R.E.M. disbanded in 2011.
Fifteen years later, the singer is preparing his first proper solo album.
Extremely relaxed release schedule.
Why it matters: Michael Stipe occupies an unusual position in music history.
He is one of the most recognizable singers of his generation.
His voice helped define alternative rock.
He has enormous cultural credibility.
And somehow he has never released a conventional solo studio album.
That is almost impossible to imagine in an industry where artists are constantly encouraged to produce more material.
The interesting part is that Stipe does not seem particularly interested in treating the record as an obligation.
He has waited.
Experimented.
Worked with collaborators.
Allowed the project to develop without requiring it to become a continuous public spectacle.
This is increasingly unusual.
Most artists are terrified of disappearing from the audience's attention.
Stipe has apparently accepted that disappearing for a while might be necessary to make something worth returning with.
An extremely luxurious relationship with time.
07 — CHINA WINNERS: TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE ARE WAITING TO ADOPT CREATURES THAT DO NOT EXIST
Chinese developer Manjuu Network Technology announced today that Azur Promilia will hold its first English-language open beta in summer 2027.
The free-to-play fantasy RPG has reportedly reached 20 million global preregistrations, according to the developer, and will introduce English-speaking players through a dedicated U.S.-based server. Its central feature is a collection of companion creatures called Kibo, which assist players with combat, farming, crafting and gathering materials.
A new English promotional video, “Kibo Safari,” accompanied the announcement.
Twenty million people.
Waiting for imaginary animals.
The creatures have not even arrived and already have enormous responsibilities.
Why it matters: The creature-collecting genre is becoming something considerably larger than Pokémon's original formula.
Catch creature.
Train creature.
Battle creature.
Repeat.
That structure remains commercially powerful.
But newer games increasingly treat creatures as companions that participate in an entire simulated lifestyle.
They help with the house.
The farm.
The economy.
The world.
This is important because it expands the relationship beyond combat.
A creature that only fights is useful during battles.
A creature that lives alongside the player can become part of the player's ordinary routine.
Manjuu is attempting to build a world where companionship, domestic activity and fantasy adventure operate inside the same system.
The preregistration number is not proof of future commercial success.
But it does suggest considerable anticipation for another Chinese-developed fantasy game aimed at a global audience.
The competition is no longer merely about making attractive characters.
It is about constructing a world people want to maintain.
08 — BECKY G HAS BEEN APPOINTED CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE LOW-RISE JEAN
Guess launched its new B Jean campaign today with Becky G as the featured ambassador.
The campaign shifts away from the company's traditional black-and-white photography toward music, movement and film, reflecting an effort to reach younger consumers. Guess executive Nicolai Marciano says the company is concentrating its marketing around individual hero products, including the B Jean and Allegra handbag, rather than attempting to promote entire collections equally.
The B Jean is a low-rise flare.
2004 has returned.
It would like everybody to reconsider their waistband.
Why it matters: Fashion companies have an increasingly difficult attention problem.
A collection might contain fifty products.
The customer remembers one.
A successful handbag.
A particular jean.
One shoe.
One jacket.
Guess is essentially formalizing that reality.
Instead of expecting the customer to become interested in an entire collection, the company selects a small number of products and attempts to make them culturally unavoidable.
Becky G supplies an audience and a visual identity.
The B Jean supplies a recognizable silhouette.
The campaign attempts to make the two inseparable.
The interesting business shift is that a product no longer needs to represent the entire brand.
It simply needs to become famous enough to bring people into the store.
The rest of the inventory can wait patiently.
09 — MAJOR PLANETARY MALFUNCTION: PANAMA IS STILL SHAKING
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck southern Panama on the evening of October 12, following two much stronger earthquakes that hit the region on Friday.
The latest tremor occurred near Río Grande at a depth of approximately ten kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It follows magnitude 7.7 and 6.6 earthquakes that damaged buildings, roads and public infrastructure, prompting evacuations and emergency measures across the country.
There were no immediate reports of additional casualties or damage from Monday's earthquake.
The country has already experienced the disaster.
The ground has apparently declined to conclude it.
Why it matters: Earthquakes are especially frightening because they attack an assumption so basic that people rarely acknowledge it.
The ground is supposed to remain where it is.
Buildings depend on this.
Roads depend on this.
Entire cities depend on this.
Then the ground moves.
And even after the movement stops, the disaster is not necessarily finished.
Aftershocks complicate inspections.
Repairs.
Transportation.
Returning home.
The psychological damage can persist long after the most dramatic shaking ends.
Panama's recent earthquakes demonstrate the importance of preparation and resilient infrastructure.
But they also reveal something that engineering cannot completely eliminate.
The uncertainty of waiting for the ground to become ordinary again.
LINE OF THE NIGHT
EVERYBODY WANTS TO OWN A CREATURE UNTIL THE CREATURE STARTS HAVING REQUIREMENTS.
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
CINDY SHERMAN'S RED DRESS THAT IS ALSO THE ROOM
I am obsessed with this particular idea.
In Fabric Matrons, Sherman constructs a character using fabric that becomes a floor-length red dress.
But the fabric also functions as part of the surrounding environment.
The woman is wearing the room.
The room is wearing the woman.
Nobody is entirely sure where one ends and the other begins.
This is much more interesting than an expensive dress.
An expensive dress is relatively easy to understand.
Somebody designed it.
Somebody manufactured it.
Somebody wears it.
People look.
The end.
Sherman's object is doing something else.
It creates the person.
Then threatens to swallow the person.
The clothing becomes an entire fictional environment.
I want to live in a room where the furniture and the outfit are the same thing.
Extremely impractical.
Very beautiful.
Probably impossible to find the light switch.
TASTE CHECK
THE CREATURE IS NOT THE PRODUCT
There is a strange assumption underneath much of contemporary entertainment.
The interesting thing is the character.
The animal.
The monster.
The celebrity.
The artist.
The person.
And everything else exists to deliver that interesting thing to the audience.
But tonight's stories suggest the surrounding systems may be equally important.
BUZZ or DIE turns prisoners into entertainment products.
Planet Zoo 2 asks players to construct environments capable of supporting animals.
Azur Promilia makes fictional creatures responsible for helping maintain an entire fantasy world.
We Don't Exist imagines cryptids as members of a society rather than mysteries waiting to be solved.
Cindy Sherman creates people whose identities cannot be separated from the elaborate environments surrounding them.
Even Michael Stipe's solo album is interesting partly because he has spent fifteen years existing outside the institutional identity that made him famous.
These are different stories.
But they all concern the relationship between a subject and the structure surrounding it.
A monster is frightening because of the world in which it appears.
A celebrity is desirable partly because of the cultural environment surrounding them.
A videogame creature becomes emotionally significant through the things the player does with it.
An artist becomes recognizable through years of accumulated decisions.
The creature alone is not enough.
The world has to give it somewhere to exist.
This is where entertainment becomes interesting.
Not merely designing another recognizable character.
But constructing a world with enough internal logic that the character begins to feel like it belongs there.
A badly designed fictional world contains characters.
A convincing fictional world produces the feeling that the characters existed before the audience arrived.
They have routines.
Histories.
Relationships.
Problems.
Things they want.
Things they dislike.
Maybe even things they do not want the audience to know.
The audience becomes a visitor rather than the center of the universe.
That is a much more interesting relationship.
The monster stops existing merely for your entertainment.
It starts having a life.
And suddenly you want to know what happens when you leave the room.
MARKET TRANSLATION
Japanese independent gaming: BUZZ or DIE demonstrates how small developers can differentiate themselves through unusually specific narrative premises. Its combination of social-media satire, death-game mechanics and point-and-click storytelling creates a recognizable identity without requiring blockbuster production.
Art / luxury: Cindy Sherman's Fabric Matrons uses archival fashion materials to explore constructed identity and aging. The exhibition demonstrates how luxury clothing can operate as material for contemporary art rather than simply as a commercial product.
Gaming / mid-budget development: Valor Mortis combines an established combat genre with an unusual historical-horror setting. Its commercial prospects depend on whether distinctive atmosphere and execution can differentiate it in a crowded action-game market.
Simulation gaming: Planet Zoo 2 expands the original game's management formula with aquatic environments, flying animals and wildlife reserves. The sequel broadens the range of activities available to players while retaining the construction and management systems central to the franchise.
Independent gaming: We Don't Exist illustrates the creative opportunities available to solo developers working with recognizable public-domain folklore. Cryptids provide an existing cultural vocabulary that can support new characters and stories without requiring expensive licensed intellectual property.
Music: Michael Stipe's planned solo debut demonstrates the continuing commercial and cultural value of established artists operating outside conventional release schedules. His existing reputation creates anticipation without requiring constant new material.
China / gaming: Manjuu's Azur Promilia is another example of Chinese developers targeting international audiences through expansive free-to-play fantasy worlds. Its reported preregistration figures suggest substantial early interest, although player retention and monetization remain unproven.
Fashion business: Guess's Becky G campaign reflects a strategy centered on making individual products culturally recognizable. Concentrating attention around a few hero items may offer greater marketing efficiency than promoting large collections with equal intensity.
Planet: Panama's continuing seismic activity demonstrates how earthquake disasters can extend beyond the initial major event. Recovery requires not only repairing damaged infrastructure but managing the uncertainty created by subsequent tremors.
The creature is not the product.
The world is the product.
The creature is simply the reason you entered.