I’ve had an urge to play a side scrolling Castlevania game lately so I gave Curse of the Moon a try. I would’ve preferred 16 bit inspired rather than 8 bit but this game scratched the itch. It has a cool character swap mechanic that allows you to swap between different characters that have different abilities.
Ultimately, I’m impatiently waiting for my PS5 to arrive!
Just beat System Shock 2 and it was certainly a Ken Levine game huh. A good one to play mind you but well.
Starting with the good. Super engaging re-it's plot and the sound design really allows this 21 year old game to feel genuinely terrifying despite the fact that the tech can only allow them to render the suggestion of body horror rather than actually do the damn thing. Cyber midwives are up there for coolest horror villains of the 90's. And you're just in trouble the whole time. You can't pause, your guns are failing, the enemies won't stop respawning (this isn't actually annoying to the game's credit as it's handled sensibly) and just as you put your points into something useful, something new comes along that makes you doubt your choices. The whole thing makes you feel the game is actively hostile to you but there's just enough there to give to allow you to crawl through.
But just like all the Bioshocks to come, there's that point where the plot just grinds to a halt after the twist (for system shock 2, this halt is significantly after the twist but still) and the last few hours really just feel like power creep + new mechanics that don't work in the context of the game. System shock 2 introduces more verticality in an already broken engine and bioshock introduces escort and fetch quests. Then there's the sense that Ken Levine really just doesnt know how to write politically. Bioshock is kind of a perfect storm of being able to bash an easy target. Doesn't take a genius to see how Randian philosophy as praxis would stratify a social class. But System Shock's 2 collectivist parasite is the worlds worst Hegel parody and feels like a preview to Infinite's drunk racist uncle "WHAT IF THE SLAVES ARE BAD PEOPLE TOO" routine. Plus that John Woo/Duke Nukem ending is so ridiculous in a game that heretofore had Cronenberg aspirations.
Made it all this way without mentioning Shodan, who's a great villain and the BDSM language and imagery throughout that she utilizes is really corny but also fucking works. Porpentine who's probably the greatest interactive text game developer made a fan interpretation of that aspect that was so fucking good it made it into the Whitney Museum but also definitely not safe for work. Check it out here
So this came out last Friday, and it has been fun revisiting this again. One of the best games from Nintendo during the 2010's. If anyone is curious to get into real time strategies but want something way more manageable to tackle. This is a high recommendation. Even if you haven't played the first two Pikmin games, you can pick this up with no problem. This one in particular streamlined certain qualities from the first two games to make this easy to get into. And even if played this before, there is new stuff like in game achievements, multiple difficulty settings and a new side story. If you have a Switch, get this.
Recently bought Dark Souls, again, for the Nintendo Switch. I've been enjoying this second (actually would be like fifth, but have only finished the game once) playthrough. I've been taking it as a kind of prep for Elden Ring next year!
Just beat System Shock 2 and it was certainly a Ken Levine game huh. A good one to play mind you but well.
Starting with the good. Super engaging re-it's plot and the sound design really allows this 21 year old game to feel genuinely terrifying despite the fact that the tech can only allow them to render the suggestion of body horror rather than actually do the damn thing. Cyber midwives are up there for coolest horror villains of the 90's. And you're just in trouble the whole time. You can't pause, your guns are failing, the enemies won't stop respawning (this isn't actually annoying to the game's credit as it's handled sensibly) and just as you put your points into something useful, something new comes along that makes you doubt your choices. The whole thing makes you feel the game is actively hostile to you but there's just enough there to give to allow you to crawl through.
But just like all the Bioshocks to come, there's that point where the plot just grinds to a halt after the twist (for system shock 2, this halt is significantly after the twist but still) and the last few hours really just feel like power creep + new mechanics that don't work in the context of the game. System shock 2 introduces more verticality in an already broken engine and bioshock introduces escort and fetch quests. Then there's the sense that Ken Levine really just doesnt know how to write politically. Bioshock is kind of a perfect storm of being able to bash an easy target. Doesn't take a genius to see how Randian philosophy as praxis would stratify a social class. But System Shock's 2 collectivist parasite is the worlds worst Hegel parody and feels like a preview to Infinite's drunk racist uncle "WHAT IF THE SLAVES ARE BAD PEOPLE TOO" routine. Plus that John Woo/Duke Nukem ending is so ridiculous in a game that heretofore had Cronenberg aspirations.
Made it all this way without mentioning Shodan, who's a great villain and the BDSM language and imagery throughout that she utilizes is really corny but also fucking works. Porpentine who's probably the greatest interactive text game developer made a fan interpretation of that aspect that was so fucking good it made it into the Whitney Museum but also definitely not safe for work. Check it out here
Have you played System Shock 1? May be hard to get into in this day and age, but I played it some time ago and loved it! The Enhanced Edition on Steam makes it easier to control.
Playing Earthbound for the second time, now that I can do so legally. Great game, a little slow at parts but probably my favorite turn-based RPG I've played _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Finally playing Control, since I recently got RTX GPU. Extraordinary game, climbing up my list of favourites by the day. And I got it for free on Epic. Seriously thinking of buying the Ultimate Edition on Steam.
Also installed PS2 emulator to run Silent Hill 2 and several other games from my childhood, I'm excited like when I was 8 lol. _________________ Finally updated the overall chart
Would love to give Silent Hill a proper go sometime, me and a mate have dug out some old consoles now that we're allowed meet up again and been playing through PS2 games bit by bit over the past few months, must try and find a copy of Silent Hill.
Earthbound is another good shout, played a fair way through but never finished it at the time, saw it was up on the Switch store so must get around to it (I'll be inheriting a Switch soon). _________________
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