{"id":5263,"date":"2017-05-07T16:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-05-07T20:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalchemy.wordpress.com\/?p=5263"},"modified":"2020-01-31T16:35:46","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T21:35:46","slug":"polygon-opinion-piece-the-last-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewkuhar.com\/blog\/published-articles\/polygon-opinion-piece-the-last-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Polygon Opinion Piece \u2013 The Last Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Polygon graciously allowed me to write this intimate opinion piece for them, which explores my experience playing the long-awaited\u00a0<em>The Last Guardian<\/em>\u00a0and the parallels I drew between it and our bond with animals. It serves as an analysis of the game&#8217;s design, as much as it is a personal essay and investigation into the ways we all encounter animals in need.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s an excerpt from the piece:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>The Last Guardian<\/em> doubles as an interactive metaphor for the discovery and rehabilitation of animals in situations of abuse or neglect. For being such a fantastical setting, it plays host to a cautionary tale that is grounded in reality. By offering us an extended glimpse into an abused animal\u2019s perspective, <em>The Last Guardian<\/em> asks us to empathize: What does it mean to spend time in <em>their<\/em> environment? How are they a product of it, and how much can they change?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/2017\/4\/26\/15419026\/the-last-guardian-abused-animals\">The full article\u00a0can be found here<\/a>,<\/strong> and I invite you to share your own story and\/or takeaway from <em>The Last Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,12,25,13,14,15,16],"class_list":["post-5263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-published-articles","tag-animal-care","tag-game-design-2","tag-pets","tag-polygon","tag-ps4","tag-the-last-guardian","tag-video-games"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Polygon Opinion Piece \u2013 The Last Guardian &#8211; 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