Mythic Quest’s means to spin among the gaming trade’s ugliest points into genuinely humorous comedy was what made it such a stunning delight when it first hit Apple TV Plus again in 2020. Even when it was joking about chaotic streamers or Nazi server takeovers, you would really feel the respect Mythic Quest’s inventive group has for video video games as an artwork kind. And by holding its concentrate on the lives of people that truly dream up and construct video games, the collection put itself ready to inform poignant tales concerning the prices that include chasing one’s goals.
Mythic Quest’s new fourth season nonetheless will get in its fair proportion of stable digs at gaming tradition. But the present looks like much more of a character-driven narrative that’s making an attempt to indicate you the way each member of the MQ crew is evolving as they transfer deeper into their careers. Mythic Quest has all the time had a knack for switching up its relationships and energy dynamics simply sufficient to maintain its workplace drama component feeling recent but acquainted. This time round, although, the shuffling is all in service of giving everybody at Mythic Quest HQ a brand new (however not essentially more healthy) work-life steadiness.
While an unhealthy quantity of dysfunction has all the time been a part of Ian Grimm’s (Rob McElhenney) inventive course of, Mythic Quest’s fourth season finds him making an attempt to be a greater colleague and pal to all the individuals who have helped convey his concepts to life. It’s nonetheless a bit of onerous for Ian to do not forget that Poppy Li’s (Charlotte Nicdao) return to Mythic Quest Studios with him hinged on his respecting her private boundaries and acknowledging her as an equal of their skilled relationship. Ian can also’t stand how a lot time Poppy desires to spend together with her new artist boyfriend Storm (Chase Yi). But everybody engaged on Mythic Quest (the fictional recreation) can really feel how, after years of blowing up at each other, Poppy and Ian are in a brand new headspace the place they’ll genuinely recognize how they make one another stronger.
With Mythic Quest gearing as much as launch a brand new Playpen replace giving gamers the flexibility to create their very own in-game content material, govt producer David Hornsby (David Brittlesbee) and monetization head Rachel Meyee (Ashly Burch) are all too blissful to have Ian and Poppy onboard cooking up concepts to make the characteristic shine. As the creator of Cozy Galaxy, the most well-liked recreation on the Playpen platform, former-tester-turned-developer Dana Bryant (Imani Hakim) can’t assist feeling ticked on the means she’s being lower out of all of the income Mythic Quest is raking in. But to cash shark Brad Bakshi (Danny Pudi) and cutthroat assistant Jo (Jessie Ennis), Dana’s emotions about working at Mythic Quest Studios are an indication that it’s time for them to rethink whose group they need to play for.
Like earlier seasons, Mythic Quest’s new episodes use the fictional in-show recreation to dunk on uglier points of the real-world gaming trade with a specificity that makes it really feel just like the writers room has been maintaining with the information. Playpen’s recognition is a monetary boon to the Mythic Quest group due to the way it presents a possibility to roll out extra in-game currencies. It additionally raises severe questions on whether or not platforms like Playpen are constructed with the intention of capitalizing on youngster labor.
Those questions change into even thornier as gamers begin arising with methods to convey intercourse of their Playpen creations. But regardless that this season of Mythic Quest will get its dunks in on the bigger gaming trade, the present spends extra time specializing in the rising pains that come when interpersonal relationships begin to change for the higher.
You can see it most clearly in Ian and Poppy’s arc this season as the 2 flip to AI assistants to assist work by their sophisticated emotions about each other, nevertheless it’s additionally highlighted in among the season’s episodes — one among which is a superb Clue riff — that take you outdoors of the Mythic Quest workplace. We see extra of what David will get as much as in his free time and the way the evolution of Dana and Rachel’s careers has introduced new tensions into their romance. And with so a lot of his colleagues (who’re actually his solely associates) pairing off, this season underscores how Ian’s prickliness with different individuals stems from the truth that he doesn’t have anybody to come back house to.
Though digging deeper into everybody’s private lives and easing up on the office shenanigans doesn’t fairly transfer Mythic Quest into straight dramatic territory, it does make this season really feel such as you’re meant to understand how far these characters (and some different shock cameos) have come since we first met them. This season’s online game jokes aren’t fairly as scathing as some viewers may like, however they reinforce how Mythic Quest (the sport) has change into one thing way more than one other fantasy MMORPG for each its gamers and creators — simply as Apple appears intent on rising the present in comparable methods.
Mythic Quest additionally stars Naomi Ekperigin, Andrew Friedman, and Michael Naughton. Season 4 hits Apple TV Plus on January twenty ninth.
