‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and ‘Expedition 33’ Are Having a Second

Have you ever watched KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix or performed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

Chances are high the reply is ‘sure,’ and if not, you’ve definitely heard of them: each had been launched earlier this 12 months to pretty glowing critiques (if not outright important acclaim) and carried out very nicely commercially. The latter, a turn-based RPG from newcomer Sandfall Interactive, will possible choose up some awards at 12 months’s finish, whereas Netflix is planning to go all in on KPop. Together with talks of sequels and an ever-growing wave of merchandise, the streamer submitted the mid-movie track “Golden” for Academy Award consideration. Each may wind up leaping to live-action; Expedition had a movie announced months earlier than the sport’s launch, whereas Netflix is reportedly mulling over a remake with human actors.

There’s no less than one film, sport, or present that turns into the discuss of the city every year, however the way in which KPop and Expedition have been shifting feels extra important than most. Each of them definitely construct on the inspiration set by their predecessors; musically, Okay-pop has been a well-liked style for years, however it’s attainable common audiences didn’t totally know simply how a lot till now. Even when of us didn’t watch KPop Demon Hunters, they’ve certain heard the music, which has risen within the charts within the weeks after launch and beat actual teams like BTS and Blackpink. (In a enjoyable nod to the movie, the 2 bands, Huntrix and the Saja Boys, grew to become the highest-charting feminine and male Okay-pop teams for U.S. Spotify whereas competing in opposition to one another.) A number of outstanding artists within the style have reacted to or covered the movie’s music, which has additionally change into a viral sensation in Korea. Even earlier than that time, viewers had KPop fever the second the credit rolled and instantly demanded Netflix greenlight a sequel and shared their concepts for a TV spinoff.

In the meantime, Expedition 33 was constructed on the again of a long time’ value of turn-based RPGs made in Japan, from heavy hitters like Last Fantasy and Persona to fashionable cult classics Blue Dragon and Misplaced Odyssey. Whether or not you knew the influences or not, that didn’t cease the sport from feeling like a breath of recent air (nicely, paint) at a time when the trade may’ve used some excellent news in between the following rounds of layoffs and cancellation-focused information. It’s additionally a sport that did its job too nicely: between unhealthy religion actors and a common have to deify Sandfall for making a robust debut title, the RPG has change into overwhelmed by discussions about what its success may and may imply for the trade—and, extra pointedly, the ever-evolving Final Fantasy franchise, whose mainline installments have taken extra of a real-time fight focus—that subsequently smothered any actual talks about its mechanics or late-game narrative swerves. Sandfall’s stored its head down and targeted on updating the sport (and possibly its subsequent undertaking subsequent), so it’s onerous to understand how a lot of this has gone to their heads, for higher and worse.

For folk hoping for some originality, KPop Demon Hunters and Expedition 33 couldn’t have come at a greater time. The 2020s have seen franchises begin to buckle beneath steady sequels and expanded universe video games, prompting many to return to their outdated methods, if not reboot totally. So many headlines have targeted on what’s being rebooted or remade, what’s coming back for one more go years or a long time after the very fact. Unique works really feel extra uncommon than they’ve in a while, even regardless of the percentages changing into more and more stacked in opposition to them. It’s all the time been a crap shoot as to what originals will land with audiences and to what diploma, as seen with the cut up between how they took to 2023’s Elemental versus Elio this previous summer season. However when one looks as if it’s received the juice, there’s hope that it could actually construct up the right momentum and discover an viewers so it turns into a real nice. Or failing that, it could actually all the time be a stepping stone in direction of later initiatives from its creators and acquire extra consideration down the road.

Netflix will get to meet a number of of its KPop-related ambitions, and if Sandfall ever makes an Expedition sequel, gamers will likely be throughout it. However essentially the most attention-grabbing factor about them is seeing the shadow they’ll have each solid years after the very fact and what new creations come to comply with in its footsteps. And if what comes subsequent appears, sounds, and performs as nice as what impressed them or finds their very own voice, it’ll all have been value it.

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