To some, vore is that tag they have blacklisted on e621. To others, it’s a running joke on one of the McElroys’ twenty-thousand podcasts. But above all, vore is a fetish - a fetish for being lapped up into the mouth of a dragon or a big lady or some kinda weird goo monster. Or, y’know, an anthropomorphized wolf. I don’t judge.
The heart of the fetish lies in the idea of surrendering both your bodily and mental autonomy to a larger being. You know that warm, snuggly feeling you get when you’re wrapped up in your favorite blanket? How your body just seems to melt into it, and how the line between your flesh and the fabric becomes blurred? Well, it’s like that, except the blanket’s wet, slimy, and you can’t ever take it off.
The comfort comes from being completely encased and consumed, your body and mind now becoming a permanent part of another being. It’s a sublime, fantastical surrender of control that allows people to safely explore their inherent need to turn their brain off and give over to absolute pleasure.
Or so I’m told, anyway. Moving right along.
Today, Microsoft validated thousands of us… erm, thousands of people with the debut trailer of Fable. In the trailer, a gorgeous fairy is fluttering around a forest and living her best life. It’s a tranquil scene, one that sets a serene tone and gives us a sense of what sort of game this might be.
But in the trailer’s last moments, the fairy’s life is tragically cut short by some kind of dumb fantasy frog. Its tongue reaches out and coils itself around her, and as quickly as she appeared, the fairy is whisked away to the dark, moist crevices of the frog’s innards. In a final shot, you can see her tiny little foot dangling from the creature’s mouth - right before it swallows her whole.
This is a bold marketing strategy for Microsoft, but it’s one that we’re definitely here for. Vore’s a pretty popular fetish, so it only makes sense for Microsoft to court that crowd to sell games. In today’s marketplace, you have to find a unique angle, as the AAA space has a certain uniformity of design to it. If you want somebody to play your game, you have to write a catchy song or use real-world suffering as a fun prop to catch their attention!
In this instance, Microsoft is using a popular fantasy art fetish to draw in a certain crowd. “If you like watching people get eaten, you’re gonna love this game.” That’s the message they’re sending, and if it’s not, then it should be. Because vore enthusiasts need love too, and deserve more space in the gaming community than projecting themselves onto the ghosts in Pac-Man.
At any rate, we’re really glad to see Microsoft making this bold marketing decision, and we hope it translates to more vore content in the final game. After all, literally nobody was asking for a new Fable due to the existence of actual good RPGs, so they might as well do something cool with it!
