Don't mind me, just making the most of my PS Plus Extra subscription. BACKGROUND:
I don't remember where I first saw this game (it's either from a Nintendo indie presentation or an announcement from their Twitter account), but I was immediately on board for its chill gameplay. I heard it was a short game, however, so I held off on buying until a sale came along. The opportunity never really came, but we're here now. PLOT: Unpacking's narrative is told across several years (from 1997 to 2018) and chronicles the story of an unnamed girl moving to and from different places throughout her life. It starts out by showing her unpacking her things in her new room at their family's new house when she was a child, shows the same process when she moves to a dorm for college, and continues as she keeps moving throughout her adult life for various reasons (living with roommates, moving in with a boyfriend, finding her own place on a budget). There is no dialogue apart from the blurb at the end of finishing a level (which provides a bit more insight on her current living situation), so the only way to learn about our main character is to take a look at what possessions she has when she moves into a new place. Not a single word is spoken throughout this game, but this game tells its story so effectively just by presenting you with items that tell you so much about the girl. You see what her favorite things are right from the start, and you find out what she cherishes based on what possessions persist as she moves from place to place (from childhood toys, mementos from college and relationships, and even preferred product brands). You can glean details from these objects like how the girl tries to learn ukulele and keeps at it into adulthood, that she's into Nintendo games and D&D, that she's pursuing art based on her many notebooks and her drawing tablet, and so much more. There's even an item that corresponds to certain parts of the game's menu, which I thought was brilliant. Hell, you can even learn what her religion is based on one item from the first level. The locations themselves have much to tell as well. From the mess of living with roommates in her early 20s, the lack of space for her things in her boyfriend's apartment, the fallout of that relationship based on the next place she moves into, how the first home she buys for herself is quite the fixer-upper, and how a specific room in the final level reveals a bright future for her life, these details complement the girl's belongings to paint an even clearer picture of her journey. Even the gameplay reveals details based on what items you can move and whether or not you can place specific objects. In places where she's living with another person, she may be able to move some objects already in the room but not others. The placement limitation is only really used one time in a narrative sense, but I think it being the lone exception is effective in conveying the girl's emotions towards a specific life event of hers associated with the object. Naturally, I can't relate to aspects of this girl's life. For one, I'm a boy, so I don't deal with the hassle of having to make space for bras or sanitary napkins. More importantly, I have never really experienced a big move of any sort since I've lived in my parents' house (where I still reside as of this writing) for nearly 25 years. I've only lived elsewhere two other times in my life, and that was before I was old enough to have memories of anything. As such, I don't really know the feeling of my living situation changing along with every other aspect of my life. For every milestone and tragedy in my life, be it every single graduation I've had, getting my first job, welcoming my younger brother, or mourning my dad, I always come home here. I don't yet know the feeling of how home can't be home forever, but I can understand the tumult the girl goes through as the nature of having to unpack in a new living space is her reckoning with how she's in a new chapter of her life and how things will be different from here on out. The feelings that come with having to come to grips with that realization (whether that's optimism for the future or otherwise) is something everyone can relate to, and I'm no exception. What I can relate to is how the girl's possessions change over time. I may not have moved a lot, but the stuff I own is always in flux, and I can relate with all the changes we see throughout the game. Stuff like replacing old clothes or buying new kitchen utensils is obvious, but as I played through this game, I found myself feeling all the feelings I feel when I clean out or change the layout of my room just by seeing what items the girl has in her boxes. I felt a genuine connection with the main character as I saw what she has and set her belongings in the appropriate spots. Whether it's keeping (and rediscovering) sentimental items from my childhood well past adulthood, lamenting how I don't have some of my old books anymore, dedicating spaces for my hobbies and work, amassing a collection of books and games, finding a box of random shit that I still refuse to clean out, and being impressed how some of my old stuff is still useful, struggling to organize every little thing I own, or even having a preferred brand of mouthwash, nearly every item in this game reminded me of things I own and the emotions/memories I associate with them. Again, I'm sure this is something everyone experiences when dealing with material possessions, but I'm still impressed how the selection of items you encounter in the game can evoke all those emotions and memories. Even the act of taking items out of the moving boxes elicits a reaction. You don't know what you're going to pull out every time you interact with a box, so there's often a moment where you go "oh!" each time you reach in. I'm personally quite familiar with that feeling, as I've cleaned out many a drawer or chest and take two hours too long because I was excited by what I found (or rediscovered). The girl's actual life story is relatable, too, though only to an extent in my case. I know the excitement of having a new room all to yourself, I still remember the nervous excitement of starting college to pursue something I have a genuine interest in, and I'm familiar with the nostalgia of visiting a place I haven't been to in a long time and seeing what has (or hasn't) changed. I can't say I can connect with her other major life events, like living with someone that isn't family, having a relationship with someone, or even living by myself far away from family, but I did find myself wondering how I'd feel if or when my future has me experiencing those things. The game's ending is heartfelt, too, and the fact that it ends the way it does makes the buildup to it satisfying. PRESENTATION: The art style goes for a retro-feeling pixel art style with vibrant colors and a respectable amount of detail for the rooms and fixtures. Everything looks cozy and easy on the eyes, and it's a lot of fun to see the sprites for a wide assortment of items. I do wish that the girl's items had more intricate detail (especially for items like photos and books); while I could figure out what they're about just fine, being able to see more like titles of books or the people in the photos would have added to the game's already impressive feat of telling a full story with just an object. The music is appropriately chill for an admittedly mundane task of unpacking boxes and putting stuff where they should go, which makes the overall experience feel less of a chore and more therapeutic. The standout track is the heartwarming song played during the credits, which has vocals that tell a story similar to what the main character has been experiencing throughout the game. The sound design is superb, as every single item has unique sound effects when you put them down on the surface. With the DualSense controller, there's a greater sense of immersion thanks to the built-in speaker and the vibration giving the act of placing items a tactile sensation. GAMEPLAY: You could probably guess that Unpacking's gameplay is all about moving items to their appropriate spots in each room of the level. It's as simple as moving your cursor over a box, pulling out an unknown object, selecting the object, then dragging it to where you want it to go. There is no one correct layout (giving you the freedom to decorate as you please), but in order to proceed to the next level, no item must be out of place. That means no clutter on the floor, and items that belong in a specific room or container/piece of furniture (like toiletries or kitchen utensils) shouldn't be placed anywhere else. Everything else is more or less fair game, so you have some leeway in the placement of some objects. While nothing about this game is hard, there is certainly a logistical challenge that keeps it from becoming a boring, repetitive task. Hurdles that you have to overcome include limited space (prevalent in levels where the girl lives with other people), items being in the wrong box (e.g. toilet paper in a box located in the living room), items being too big for certain spots, and having to cram several items in places like drawers or cupboards. I've already said the word "therapeutic" when describing the gameplay, and to me, it really is that. Once you've solved your space issues, you just get to chill out and organize things at your own pace, and I thought it was a nice break from what I usually play (which can either be high-octane action or brain-busting strategy). Each level's available rooms (and the available storage solutions within them) also vary greatly; the college dorm only has two rooms but has space for clothes on hangers, while the houses in the later levels (which have more rooms) have a ton of shelves and drawers you can take advantage of. You can even encounter unexpected places to stash items, like the top of a fridge or windowsills. You can also leverage certain item behaviors to make the most of your space. This includes stacking items on top of one another (e.g. plates, bowls, folded clothes), using special items like hangers for clothes, rotating long items, making use of shelves (which automatically orient books and DVD/game cases vertically) or hooks for washcloths or towels There are two key accessibility features that can make things easier or more enjoyable for some players. The first is the wrong item highlight color, which you can change in case the default red isn't visible enough. The other is the "Allow Items Anywhere" toggle which enables exactly what it describes. Personally, I think that takes out the fun of actually organizing all the items, so I never used it. Honestly, there isn't much else to the game other than the very act of, well, unpacking. The achievements are at least fun little secrets tied to interacting with specific objects, though these are of course completely optional. There's also a photo mode if you wish to commemorate how you organized a room. VERDICT: The fact that I had so much to say about Unpacking's story despite having straightforward gameplay with not much else to it is a testament to how deceptively effective it is at telling the touching and relatable story of a girl moving through life. All you do is place items around rooms in a house or other living space (which, in fairness, is a relaxing activity), but the fact that those items and the places themselves tell you so much about the girl who owns these belongings (and the fact that I could connect with the very process of organizing her stuff and the feelings associated with said items) blows my mind. I really loved this game, and it's an early contender for my favorite indie games of this decade. I highly recommend this game to anybody. The gameplay is easy to get into that even people new to games can play it with zero issue, the gameplay itself is super chill, and I think experiencing the story is well worth the price of admission despite the short game length. You know what, here's the game on Steam: Unpacking on Steam (steampowered.com) - end -
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Before the month ends, here's one more supernatural title. BACKGROUND:
This book was on the list of recommendations one of my friends gave me, so I was already interested in it just based on that. However, my friend didn't list this as a horror title, so I wasn't sure it was a good fit for an October read until I looked at the cover and the synopsis. Based on those two things, there was at least a supernatural element to the story, so I thought it would still work for the monthly theme I'm going for. SUMMARY: Kei Nagai is a more or less ordinary high school student who's diligently studying in hopes of having a good future. All that changes when he gets run over by a truck... but doesn't die. As it turns out, Kei is one of the so-called demi-humans, a recently-discovered class of beings that are immortal. These beings can recover from seemingly any injury (mortal or otherwise), are able to freeze people in their tracks who hear their voice, and appear to be tied to ghost-like creatures with superhuman strength. Only a few of these demi-humans are rumored to exist, and it appears that the world at large looks down on them as subhuman. Powerful entities like governments are also capturing what demi-humans they can in order to subject them to cruel experiments, adding to the persecution these people may face should more of them surface. Knowing full well what he is and how people would treat him, Kei flees the moment he gets his bearings. The complete 180 in how people view him is sickening, as even his own family regard him as some kind of ghoulish creature to be shunned. Scared and alone, Kei turns to his childhood friend Kai/Kaito, who appears to be the only person in Japan who isn't a prejudiced asshole and helps him evade capture from people looking to claim a demi-human bounty. As the story of Kei is told, we are introduced to other characters who appear to be in the know when it comes to the demi-human phenomenon. First, there are two government agents who are on the prowl for Kei (for reasons that aren't 100% clear), and one of them appears to be a demi-human herself. Second, two other demi-humans (one of which escaped his captors, who have been subjecting him to horrific experiments) have become aware of Kei's existence, and it appears that they're looking to recruit a third. I'm sure there's a conflict brewing in here. The X-Men parallels caught my eye almost immediately. Here we have a race of powerful beings who face untold prejudice and are exploited by people with influence, and the story is setting up a bunch of these characters to face different situations. Kei's plight is tragic, and while I'm glad that he still has a genuine friend looking out for him throughout his ordeal, I was appalled by how quickly others he knew started to treat him as below human for something he has no control over. On the flip side, I admired Kai for going out of his way to help Kei despite being different and despite the personal risk; that's what real friends do. I also appreciated how Kei didn't take Kai's help for granted, either, as he recognizes how he drifted apart from Kai for no good reason, and he tries to go out on his own knowing that Kai's life is in danger the longer he sticks with him. I'm very interested to learn about other characters who have lived with their demi-human situation for longer, and not just because I want to learn about the intricacies of demi-humans. A world with such deep-seated prejudice would shape a lot of these people's perceptions of society, so it's possible that there are a lot of closeted demi-humans here hiding their true nature. Kei's perspective on his situation isn't fully formed yet, so I think it'd be interesting for him to meet other demi-humans who have been that way for longer. X-Men comics have a lot of characters with wildly differing ideals on the place of mutants in the world (Professor X fighting for coexistence, Magneto's view of supremacy informed by his cynicism towards humanity, Morlocks shutting themselves off from the rest of society), and AJIN's world seems like the kind where exploring similar debates would lead to interesting societal changes and character clashes. I'm also interested to see if society's perception of demi-humans would change as the story progresses, since Marvel mutants don't get the luxury of lasting social upheaval in the main continuity (not in their favor, anyway). As of now, there isn't a lot of reliable knowledge on demi-humans available to the public, and the few entities that know things are torturing them Weapon X-style. Will there be a sort of event like a rise of a militant demi-human group declaring war on humanity that will bring a lot of secrets to light, or will a lot of the events of this book only be fully understood by a select cast of characters? The level of detail in the art can vary per panel, with some keeping things light and simple, while others feature more intricate textures and varied shading. Closeups of character faces, depictions of violence (things can get bloody in some scenes), and the entire look of the ghost things really stand out when the art style goes all in, and I found the prominent use of hatching and lots of movement lines notable in the more dynamic moments. VERDICT: AJIN: Demi-Human Vol. 1 grabbed my attention with a familiar premise not unlike the most iconic allegory for prejudice (and the struggles that come with being the target of it) in all of comic books, and it kept me engaged by shrouding the demi-humans in an air of mystique and setting up interesting threads like the rogue demi-humans and the government task force. Between my interest in learning more about demi-humans and the possibilities of the story (and how it could potentially distinguish itself from X-Men stories), I have plenty of reasons to keep reading this one. Like I said, this isn't really a horror book, though I suppose the occasional ghoulish drawings and depictions of violence can be upsetting to some. Outside of that, there's definitely some action if you're into that, and I think the X-Men parallels are more than worth the price of admission if you like stories that explore prejudice in a more fantastical setting. - end - I haven't been doing these as often with all the manga I've been reading, so I've prepared one in anticipation for Halloween. THE THEME: In case it isn't already obvious, my selection for today is simply five comics that fit the upcoming Halloween festivities. I'm not really going for anything specific in terms of subject matter or vibe, though I did my best to seek out titles that have some connection to Halloween itself (even if it's something as tenuous as "this comic is a Halloween special"). THE COMICS: DONALD DUCK'S HALLOWEEN SCREAM #1 Publisher: IDW Writer: William Van Horn Artist: William Van Horn This comic prints two Halloween-centric Donald Duck stories. In the first, Donald competes with his nephews to collect the most candy during trick-or-treat (it goes poorly... until it doesn't). The second is a sequel to the ending of the first, where the boys try to get rid of all the chocolate they got from Halloween (there was a lot of chocolate). TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: ZERO'S JOURNEY #0 Publisher: Tokyopop Writer: D.J. Milky Artists: Kei Ishiyama, David Hutchison In this manga spinoff, it's not Jack Skellington who's the star of the show, but Zero, his loyal companion. After a game of fetch gone horribly wrong, Zero is spirited away to Christmas Town, and it doesn't look like he's getting back anytime soon. Don't worry, it seems like he's fine. Enjoyed the art here. DONALD DUCK'S HALLOWEEN SCREAM #2 Publisher: IDW Writer: William Van Horn Artist: William Van Horn For this Halloween ComicFest special, Donald Duck is working as a house painter, but his first job has him painting a house that's haunted... allegedly. His nephews try to prank him while he's doing his job, but it doesn't go very well for them. TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: THE BATTLE FOR PUMPKIN KING (FCBD 2023) Publisher: Tokyopop Writers: Shaun McLaughlin, D.J. Milky, Dan Conner Artist: Deborah Allo Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie have been friends for a long time, and the two enjoy a fair bit of competition among themselves. Now, with Halloween Town's Pumpkin King looking to name a successor, the two are brought in for what may be their biggest competition yet. SORE THUMBS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2012 Publisher: Keenspot Writers: Owen Gieni, Chris Crosby Artists: Owen Gieni, Chris Crosby A strange comic where one story is about a girl competing to be the next Elvira (Mistress of the Dark) and everything goes horribly wrong, while the other story is a bizarre attempt at edgy commentary on the 2012 US presidential candidates. The humor in this is... not for me. Whether or not you'll be dressing up or stuffing your mouth with candy, hopefully you have a great Halloween next week. There's usually a bit of a break because of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, so I'll be taking it easy myself for the mostly free week with some spooky games. PANEL OF THE WEEK: - end -
In a financial decision that I may end up regretting later, I subscribed to PS Plus Extra. Not only will it allow me to play online multiplayer (whose genius idea was it to make that something to pay for?!), my subscription tier also includes monthly free games and access to a modest Game Pass-like catalog that I can play on-demand. I think you know where this is going. BACKGROUND:
It's unlikely to have missed this game if you were hanging around online a lot when it was first released. Even its initial announcement was met with a lot of buzz thanks to its very simple premise rooted in the classic trope: geese are assholes. A lot of people were making videos featuring gameplay and many more were entertained by the shenanigans that were possible. This game achieved what many indie developers strive for: catch people's attention with a remarkable concept, deliver on said concept, and generate a ton of publicity as everyone raves about the final product. Speaking for myself, I learned of the game at about the same time as everyone else (I think this was announced at a Nintendo indie presentation), and I found the idea of playing as a goose fucking with people absolutely hilarious. I couldn't get it at launch, so I ended up watching some of my favorite YouTubers play the game instead. While I saw plenty (and was more than entertained), I still wanted to play it for myself, but with so many other games competing for what little money I have, I could never find a good moment to pick it up. Thankfully, it's on PS Plus Extra right now, so that solves that problem. PLOT: You're a goose that lives nearby a small village, and you're an asshole who actively antagonizes people, steals shit, and causes property damage. Why? I don't know, but it's hilarious. There is no deep lore or world-building, there are no compelling supporting characters, and the goose's motivations are but an enigma. If you think this game has any of those things, you are deeply mistaken, my friend. PRESENTATION: Untitled Goose Game's art style isn't completely minimalistic, but it leans heavily toward such an aesthetic. The models are as simple as they can be while still clearly resembling real-life objects, the colors are flat with almost no shading throughout the game, textures are pretty much nonexistent, and you don't get any wildly complex animations. It's not much, but I think the overall result is quite charming. That charm fits the silly vibe of the game's premise, which I think is good, because all you do in this game is be a dick to people for no other reason than you want to ruin their day (and that doing so amuses you). I feel like if the art style leaned even a little bit into realism, the vibe would shift from cartoony shenanigans to mean-spirited. The music is equally simple, as the entirety of the soundtrack is cheery piano melodies that complement the chaos you are causing. I liked the dynamic approach to the game's music, as the melodies adjust in volume or tempo depending on what's happening in the game (e.g. more urgent tunes when a person is chasing you). The only other game off the top of my head that employs a similar approach is Ape Out (that's a different blog entry). GAMEPLAY: Untitled Goose Game is a 3D game where you waddle around as a goose, and your goal is to accomplish all the tasks given to you in the given to-do list. These tasks involve stealing things from people, harassing them, trespassing, and destroying property. There are multiple to-do lists (one for each of the game's four areas), and you'll need to clear a list to proceed to the next area. It's quite straightforward, but the reactions of the people around you as you terrorize them makes the experience entertaining. Some of the tasks can be tricky, whether it's because they require stealth, involve transporting items around, or triggering specific interactions with particular people. The goose can sprint, lower their head (allowing them to go under crawlspaces or reach low objects), interact with objects with their beak, and swim on bodies of water. These abilities are all you need to accomplish the game's tasks, but you can also honk and flap your wings. Why? To that, I say: why not? Jokes aside, spamming these actions as you accost people adds to the comedy of the situation, though that may just be me and my weird sense of humor. As you clear to-do lists, more of the village opens up, and by the end, you can freely explore a modestly sized sandbox. There aren't really any secret areas or anything like that, but you can take items from one area to another and just leave litter in your wake. The main tasks are plenty, but the game also has secret tasks you can complete by triggering very specific interactions (some of which involve bringing items from one area to another). I found that a few of these tasks are rather difficult to figure out without help, but for the most part, a lot of these secret tasks are completed simply by fucking around and experimenting with the objects and people at your disposal. I think that being the case makes the reveal that you've completed a secret task satisfying, as you end up accomplishing something just because you wanted to see what would happen if you try this one thing. Once you accomplish the game's final task, you unlock a speedrun challenge where you try to complete the main tasks of one area within seven or so minutes. This is the only thing in the game that can be considered difficult, as figuring out an efficient route to complete tasks as quickly as you can is not easy. You have to contend with variables like the AI behavior of the people (which can flip out if you lead them to a spot with many items in it), people chasing you out of establishments, accidentally dropping items because you're being chased, and having to account for events where you have to wait for something. Unless you're trying to perfect the game's achievements, there's no need to take on this challenge. For the record, I got all the speedrun-related trophies, and while getting each one was tough, managing to do everything within the time limit does feel satisfying. Apparently, this game has a two-player mode. That sounds like fun on paper, though I don't know if the mode adds anything unique that the base game doesn't already have. VERDICT: Playing Untitled Goose Game was as entertaining as I hoped it would be. Though the game is a very short romp, messing with people and their property (and discovering all sorts of fun interactions that result from doing so) in that brief span of time made me chuckle all the way. I enjoyed the very light puzzle-solving elements of the tasks, had fun sneaking around pretending to be an innocent animal (until it was time to unleash chaos), and thought the implementation of the secret tasks was neat. It was also just hilarious to honk at people like I'm saying "the fuck you gonna do about it, bitch?!" For how short the game is and how there's nothing much else to do once you've done everything, it may be best to wait for a sale if you want to play this one. In any case, I think this is a game anybody can enjoy; the controls and objectives are simple, very few tasks pose a significant challenge, and everyone has those days where they just want to be a little devil and be a nuisance for the hell of it. This game is a great way to get that feeling without actually messing with people. The game is available on Steam as well: Untitled Goose Game on Steam (steampowered.com) - end - We're past the halfway mark of October, and I'm keeping the spooky/eerie vibe going as we inch closer to Halloween. BACKGROUND:
The title immediately caught my eye when I was listing my manga library down (how could it not?), and given how disturbing the synopsis sounded, I felt it was a perfect October read. SUMMARY: Taku Kamishiro has had feelings for childhood friend Mika Hanazono for a long time now, but it seems that it's all one-sided given that Hanazono finds delight in bullying Kamishiro. One day, Kamishiro resolves to finally confess to Hanazono, but a harrowing encounter with a stranger the night before changes him in a completely twisted way. Now, he is "infected" with homicidal tendencies towards people he cares about, and he can't help but have incredibly violent fantasies of murdering Hanazono. This condition of his also causes him to brutally hurt others, and it apparently comes with inhuman strength and durability that allow him to inflict said hurt. Kamishiro is naturally deeply disturbed by this, as his desire to kill is powerful enough to override control of his actions. Confronting Hanazono almost always ends in disaster, and while she doesn't end up dead in this volume, Kamishiro definitely gets physical and straight up says he wants to kill her (even though that is 100% not what he means to say in his head). Understanding the threat he now poses to the girl he likes a lot, he tries to isolate himself completely, but circumstances keep causing them to cross paths. The violence doesn't stop there, however, as anybody can become the target of Kamishiro's impulses if they're unlucky, and it seems like only someone his equal can physically stop him. For what it's worth, the violent urges don't appear to be a constant thing he has to deal with, but given the damage he can cause when they surface (and the inconsistency in when the urges manifest), Kamishiro's choice to isolate is perhaps the best option available. Kamishiro and Hanazono's first meeting when these violent urges first sprang up ended in chaos, but despite the undeniable trauma such an incident would have caused, Hanazono still makes the effort to reach out to Kamishiro. Despite her aggressive teasing, it does seem like she does genuinely care about her friend, and laments how they've kind of drifted apart. Kamishiro is taken aback by this, but his fear causes him to push her away in a more direct manner. The volume doesn't resolve this emotional tension, as it's revealed in a very disturbing manner that Kamishiro isn't the only one with such a terrible affliction. It's in facing these monsters (who have happily given into their desires, or more disturbingly, found a way to rationalize them) that Kamishiro finds a manner of resolve and reaffirms what he truly feels about Hanazono, as well as awakening a hidden strength to his curse that he uses in the ensuing battle. We're left with a cliffhanger, however, as the final visual assures readers that the twisted desires that have been planted into Kamishiro are still very much there. Before his horrific change, Kamishiro doesn't really have a personality other than he's a neat freak and he likes Hanazono. Though his uncontrollable fantasies are deeply unsettling (that is an understatement, by the way), he still has the willpower to know that those are not his true desires, and he takes whatever steps he can to avoid anything that would prey on those desires. I mostly just want to see him not be the way he is anymore, because the vividness and specificity of his murder fantasies are utterly disturbing. As mentioned, Hanazono seems to have a layer beneath her "girl who bullies the guy" trope, but this volume doesn't have the time to explore that beyond hinting at deeper feelings. I'm curious if she'll figure out what's going on at any point, as it seems cruel to subject her character to regular instances of almost being murdered by her childhood friend (complete with highly detailed imagery of how it may happen) and her never finding out why Kamishiro has changed. A few other characters are introduced to show that Kamishiro's condition isn't an isolated case, but they're pretty one-dimensional given they've succumbed to the violent urges. They serve their purpose well enough as a look into what Kamishiro might become, I suppose. I don't know if the manga will tackle this, but I am curious about the root cause of the violent urges. The book frames it as a sort of contagion that infects people, so I wonder if it's from something (like an external, perhaps supernatural source or some inexplicable patient zero). It also seems like this volume only scratches the surface of how different people deal with the intrusive thoughts, so I'm interested in the possibility of meeting other characters dealing with similar violent urges but different approaches to suppressing (or not suppressing) it. Also, why does this "disease" make you a superhuman? I wonder if there's an explanation for that, too. The art is solidly detailed all around between the wide variances in textures and shadings, and the style really shines when things get sinister. When the violent urges take over, Kamishiro looks more monster than human with how out-of-proportion he's drawn and his creepy facial expressions. Things escalate further when we're given a glimpse of Kamishiro's current murder fantasy, which sees someone (usually poor Hanazono) murdered and mutilated beyond recognition, all in gut-wrenchingly vivid detail. These panels are easily some of the most twisted images I've seen on print so far, rivaling the likes of Mortal Kombat in terms of gore, except there is zero of MK's campy tone present. VERDICT: My desire to read more of Can You Just Die, My Darling? after this first volume is probably best described as a morbid curiosity, as I'm interested to see if there is somehow a nonviolent resolution to this twisted situation, and I want to know if the urges Kamishiro is dealing with have a deeper story to them. That said, I don't know if I want to see all the creative ways Hanazono could possibly die at the hands of a crazed Kamishiro, because the art is upsettingly good at depicting impressively unique ways to mangle an innocent girl's corpse. I think the content warning is obvious here for readers out there who may be curious about this title. The graphic depictions of violence in this manga are not for the faint of heart, and I say that as someone who has played Mortal Kombat since I was four. If you can get past that, I think the psychological horror aspect of Kamishiro's situation is quite gripping and suspenseful, as I never know when he's going to snap (and whether or not he'll be able to hold himself back). Might be worth a look if that's your kind of genre. - end - That's one more off the backlog. BACKGROUND:
Here's another game I picked up from the 12 Days of Christmas giveaway of No Gravity Games. PLOT: Didn't seem like this one had a story. I feel like a world where cats fused with combat vehicles race around would have benefitted from a silly, cartoony plot. PRESENTATION: Everything's bright and cartoony as the premise. The 2D art of the cat characters is cute, and the actual game features vibrant colors, lively albeit derivative locales, simple effects, and goofy facial expressions from the cats. I can't really say the visuals look 100% polished, but the style does a lot to compensate. The brightness can also be quite a detriment, as it's often difficult to make out where item boxes are in some of the daylight courses. Aspects of the UI are great, like the little meter that indicates how close you are to top speed, and a cute little avatar of your character emoting as you race. My only complaint here is the indicator for what power-up you have, because the icon is pretty tiny, and the actual iconography doesn't communicate what exactly you have clearly. The music complements the cheery visuals with some upbeat tracks. Something about the overall sound just captures the inherent silliness of cartoon cats in war machines running around wildly. GAMEPLAY: Supersonic Tank Cats is a Mario Kart-style racing game where you pick one of various cat characters, control them like cars in races, and pick up item boxes that let you use power-ups. It's a time-tested formula, and admittedly, this game does very little to mix things up. If you've played a game of this kind before, you already know how to play. Perhaps the main thing that stands out to me about this game is how significant character choice is. Each cat has their own driving stats (top speed, acceleration, handling), which is nothing out of the ordinary, but the most notable thing to me is how everyone has a different set of power-ups they can pick up. This is a contrast to Mario Kart, where everybody pulls from the same item pool. Now, the items themselves aren't anything new (they're just variations of things we've seen before, like Koopa shells and banana peels), but I found the idea that each cat has different item focuses interesting. Whether or not such a concept lends itself well to game balance, however, is a different story. Apart from that, I can't say that there's anything wildly unique about any other aspects of the game. The controls are pretty standard, the track layouts don't go buckwild with gimmicks (they also felt like they stretched on a little too long), and you have your usual game modes (grand prix, quick race, time attack, a Balloon Battle-style mode, and local multiplayer). There's more than a few unlockable tracks and characters as well, which is nice. The one unique mode here is Missions, which are a set of specific challenges set in the various tracks. These range from knocking down trash bins strewn about the track and other gimmicky objectives of the sort. I thought this mode was a neat idea that slightly mixes things up from the usual racing, and I would have loved more of it. There's also the Kitty Playground, which simply has you play with or pet the cat characters. It serves no purpose, but it's cute, I suppose. VERDICT: As much as I find the whole cats in weapons of mass destruction humorous and I enjoyed some of the neat ideas in the gameplay, Supersonic Tank Cats didn't hold my interest as long as I would have liked. The game has a lot of charm and plays mostly fine, but the novelty of it wore off for me after a while. It might be because ultimately, the game doesn't really reinvent the wheel in terms of the racing genre, but apart from that and a few issues, I did enjoy most aspects of the game. That said, I think I'm content with what I've played for now. I'm certainly interested to see if this game is expanded upon in updates or with a sequel, because I really want this ridiculous idea of a game to succeed. I think this is a serviceable racing game that anyone can get into and enjoy, but I would be more comfortable recommending proven series like Mario Kart if you want your racing fix. Those franchise games have had time to polish the formula and can offer a lot of what's in this game with a much smoother experience. But again, I don't really see anything wrong about picking this one up if you are as amused as I am about racing cats around. This game is also available on Steam: Supersonic Tank Cats on Steam (steampowered.com) - end - And they said video games don't teach you anything. BACKGROUND:
This game immediately caught my eye given its subject matter being something I actually learned about in college. Some of my friends have actually played this as well. My turn. PLOT: Our protagonist is an aspiring programmer going through the all-too-familiar struggle of dealing with bug-riddled code. One particularly frustrating moment causes them to walk out, at which point the pet cat takes over and... solves the problem? Bewildered (because who wouldn't be), our main character resolves to create a cat-to-human translator to find some answers. It's a silly premise that gives the main character a reason to pursue the field of machine learning, and the rest of the game carries that air of silliness via the email requests you receive from clients who have need of your slowly improving coding skills. Those emails make cheeky references to pop culture or simply keep with the absurdity of the story by having barely coherent emails clearly written by cats, though the requests themselves fall in line with some of the real-life applications of machine learning (like image processing software). That said, I can't really say that I was particularly invested in the end goal of figuring out what the cat is saying or found most of the jokes to be to my taste. The game takes time to give a quick overview of the history of machine learning between puzzles, which is nice and informative, but as somebody who actually took a class that covers the subject, I can say that it's far from comprehensive. PRESENTATION: The visuals take on this simple, cartoony style with flat colors and little to no fine detail. It's cute, but I can't say that it really captured my imagination or anything like that. The UI for the main gameplay is pretty clear, but I did have issues with the lack of space you can work with, since you have to zoom out into space to fit in several elements. The music is more or less the same throughout, and it's this simple xylophone (or something equivalent) melody that sets a chill vibe for the gameplay. I found it repetitive after a while, so I ended up switching out to my own music/podcasts. GAMEPLAY: While True: Learn is a puzzle game heavily inspired by the concept of machine learning. The idea is to take a data set (oversimplified to just be shapes, colors, or a combination of both), run it through "nodes" that represent various types of machine learning algorithms (which process the "data" differently), and transport the data to the appropriate receptacle (signifying that the algorithm has interpreted the data correctly). Pretty much all the puzzles involve simply setting up the right nodes and having them detect the right parameters such that the whole "program" sorts everything into the right receptacle. This is an oversimplified take on how machine learning applications are actually developed. At no point do you actually learn to create any of the machine learning/AI algorithms. The most you'll get is a summary of how they work, and even that is criminally abridged; I only know what the hell any of the models are because of prerequisite knowledge. I think of this game more as a visualization of how machine learning algorithms process data, which does have value in that it shows that such algorithms aren't perfect right out the gate. Unfortunately, you're not really going to learn how to put together specific machine learning models, you don't actually train any of your models to learn anything from your data set (which is a major component of machine learning), or even learn how to ensure your data set is collected properly to begin with. If you want to learn more about the machine learning concepts the game is invoking, you are directed by the game to click some outside articles or videos regarding the subject. This approach was incredibly bemusing to me, as I went into this hoping that the game would teach you about the concepts with its gameplay. That does not happen at any point, and I think that's a massively missed opportunity for a game that sells itself on the notion that it's a gateway to machine learning. Rather, the objective of the puzzles of this game is to have your setup of nodes deliver the data to their designated receptacle in a timely and accurate manner and making sure the quota of each receptacle is met to begin with (this is either quantity of data or maintaining a specific threshold of accuracy for a specific time). The longer I think about it, the weirder this approach is to me, since the game quickly becomes all about optimizing your setup as opposed to simply solving the task at hand. I don't know about anyone else, but I typically worry about my code accomplishing its objective first before I hit my head on the table over and over trying to figure out how to make it run better. This becomes an issue to me due to the existence of medal ratings for each puzzle, which incentivizes you to make sure your setup sorts the data within a time limit and encourages you to use only a specific number of nodes. It feels like you're actively punished for making the most out of your available tools (your medal rating lowers the more nodes you use) and by not immediately figuring out the most time-efficient setup (some of the puzzles feel straight up unsolvable because of time limits). I couldn't put my finger on what was frustrating me about chasing for gold medals until I sat down to write this, and what makes this worse is that the reward for getting many gold medals is practically meaningless (spoiler: it's just infinitesimal variations of story cutscenes). Now that I think about it, the game is more a collection of math-based puzzles than anything. Often, the key to figuring out the best setup of nodes involves carefully checking your data set (as the quantity of each object is specific), understanding the sorting behavior of the nodes themselves, and checking the conditions for the receptacles they'll be going into (like the data object quota and the percentage of "correct" data). You must then set up your nodes such that all those conditions are satisfactorily fulfilled. I didn't mind this being the conceit of the puzzles (math is fun to me, too), but it's certainly far removed from what I assumed was a programming game. In terms of time limit, each node has a specified running time, which represents how long the node "processes" a data object before it spits it out to the next node. It hardly seems relevant since there's no real way to manipulate a node's running time, but it can become an issue since nodes have a max data capacity, and if the node doesn't process data fast enough, the flow of data can get throttled, slowing everything down. Figuring out how to get around this was an exercise in frustration, and that's not even taking into account setting up nodes such that you get the gold medal time limit. The closest thing this game has to machine learning are the reinforced learning puzzles, where you try to teach a self-driving car how to detect obstacles and move accordingly. This is more in line with what I had in mind (visualizing how machine learning models learn by iteration), but the execution of it in this game left something to be desired. There was no clear indication as to how the car's AI was learning from my training, so the puzzle quickly devolved to clicking shit until I got what I wanted. Moreover, the main criterion for clearing the puzzle is ensuring that the car maintains a specific average speed. Now, I'm not an expert on self-driving cars, but I would assume the AI of such a car should prioritize not slamming into anything over maintaining a speed limit. You earn money when you clear each puzzle, which you can spend in the shop. Most of the items are useless cosmetics that only exist to change the main screen, but you can also buy upgrades to your character's setup to optimize their machine. These, in turn, improves things like data transfer speed and such, but as far as I can tell, these improvements are barely noticeable. Also, the existence of this mechanic implies that the moral of the story is to throw money at better hardware to programming problems, which is.... not exactly the lesson to take away. There are also "startup" puzzles where you have more leeway with how many nodes you can use to solve the problem. You can then push your finished setup and the game determines a profit based on how "customers" feel satisfied with the product (and patch things accordingly, if needed). It's a good way to earn some extra cash in-game, but again, there's little to spend money on. Frustratingly, speed is still the main metric of success (people get mad if your application is slow, and you'll soon find yourself operating at a loss), and the game doesn't tell you what an acceptable running time is (making the former problem extra infuriating). Also, every startup seems inevitably doomed to fail (too real?), and you have the option to cash out at any point before then. VERDICT: I really wanted to like While True: Learn, but I found the dissonance of what it's trying to be (a machine learning course in the form of a game) and what the game actually has you do (solve puzzles all about optimizing the flow of data as opposed to piecing together machine learning algorithms) too jarring to ignore. I don't have a problem with the puzzles conceptually, but I wish it leaned more towards being open-ended with solutions (which the game permits to an extent) instead of frustrating me with trying to figure out the one optimal setup. It also barely teaches you about its own subject matter, which is a shame because I feel like a game that makes machine learning accessible to people outside computer science would have value. I don't really know how a game that does what I hoped this game would do would even be structured, so I'm sadly left frustrated at how it's only tangentially connected to machine learning. If you're looking to get this game in the hopes that you'll come out of it knowing a thing or two about machine learning, I'm afraid the most this game has to offer is an abridged history lesson and an oversimplified visualization of how some machine learning models work. As a game itself, I feel like the puzzle gameplay is an interesting concept, but I think the way success is measured may lead to frustration for some players. Thus, I have some reservations about recommending this game to people. Choose your preferred platform: - end - I'm keeping the spooky vibe going for this month with this manga. BACKGROUND:
In a rare case of judging a book by its cover, I saw that this had an undead girl on the cover and thought "yeah, this is an October read for sure." I don't think it's a horror book per se based on the synopsis, but I'm content with it simply having a supernatural premise of some sort. Plus, a friend suggested I read it for this month when I consulted my more manga-versed peers on what titles to check out for a Halloween theme. SUMMARY: Furuya Chihiro is a big fan of anything zombie. He watches a lot of zombie movies, has a lot of zombie merch, and is fascinated by the possibility that they could become a reality. That's all well and good, but it turns out that he has a very specific fantasy about being in a relationship with zombie girls. It's.... certainly odd, but other than that, Furuya seems like a regular high school freshman. When his beloved cat dies, Furuya is determined to discover the secret to reanimation. With the help of a mysterious book he had found prior to the events of the manga (the origins of which are not explained in this volume), he spends his nights secretly trying to recreate a reanimation potion in hopes of bringing his beloved pet back. Thus far, however, his attempts have been unsuccessful, as an unclear instruction in the book has forced him into an exhaustive trial-and-error situation for a key ingredient. During one fateful night, Sanka Rea (a popular girl born to a powerful family who attends the all-girls school close to where Furuya studies) shows up near the abandoned building where Furuya conducts his experiments. Sanka only happens to be there to vent her frustrations in isolation, but Furuya ends up calling attention to himself when he overhears her doing so. The two end up talking, and Sanka learns why Furuya is hanging out in the area. Sanka initially offers to do anything for Furuya in exchange for his silence, but after learning of his attempts to bring his cat back to life, sympathizes with his situation and decides to help him. The two then begin spending their nights together as Furuya continues to toil over the potion and Sanka helps when prompted. Sanka goes out of her way to help Furuya acquire a new ingredient one night, but the new recipe seemingly fails. Defeated, Furuya resigns himself to moving on and finally burying his cat. That night also seemingly marked the end of Furuya and Sanka interacting with each other, but wouldn't you know it, the potion actually worked. That twist factors into Sanka's story, as she is caught by her strict father sneaking outside the house that same night. Absolutely fed up with having to live up to her family's strict standards, she drinks some of the potion Furuya created (which she had swiped without his knowledge) in hopes that it would kill her. Nothing happens at first, but when she tries to warn Furuya about her father going after him (assuming that he is responsible for Sanka's erratic behavior), she falls to her death. Well... it would have been her death, but she is reanimated into a zombie. Furuya takes Sanka back to his place, and this is where I think the story's formula is fully established. Furuya is both terrified and totally into the fact that Sanka is technically dead, and he's scrambling to figure out what to do. Sanka, on the other hand, feels liberated for the first time in her life (un-life?), and makes Furuya promise to let her experience being a normal girl. The volume ends before that journey could begin, but it also adds a little wrinkle to the situation: Sanka's body is still in danger of decomposing, and Furuya has to figure out a way to preserve her in some fashion. I can't really say I care for Furuya as a character at this stage, as apart from his resolve in bringing his cat back (and acknowledging that his desire to do so may be selfish), I can't really connect with anything else he has going on. I suppose him having an obsession of sorts is something I relate to (except the bit where he has an incredibly specific type when it comes to women), and his rare attempts of messing with Sanka are as bad as my own sense of humor, but right now, there really isn't much else for me to get behind. I feel like anything that I may find compelling about him doesn't come up until later volumes. Sanka, on the other hand, I feel for immediately. She has a messed-up family situation to the point that she doesn't want to be alive for any of it, and the moment she finds an out, she's jumping at the chance to live a life (well... you know what I mean) that she's been yearning for. I can immediately get behind the idea of Furuya helping her get that chance and making sure that her body (and her secret) stays intact in the process. There's an obvious romance being set up here (they're not shy about the tension between them in more physical interactions), though I'm not really excited by the idea this early on. I'm more interested in Sanka's individual journey right now more than I am the growth of her relationship with Furuya, and I don't feel like there's enough to Furuya yet that I want to see him get to live out his weird fantasy. Again, this feels like something that is built upon more in later chapters. As far as other characters go, you really only have members of Furuya and Sanka's family, and you don't get much of them in this volume. Furuya's sister and cousin (?) just think he's weird, his grandad is his own brand of strange, and Sanka's parents are given just enough for me to go "I totally get why Sanka wants out." There are also Furuya's friends in school, but only one of them stands out in my memory, and in a bad way. The art's pretty light on shading and detail, plus there's hardly any variance in the linework, but there are a lot of silly facial expressions. There are a few panels where the shading/lighting changes dramatically along with an increase in textures, though these are reserved for the more emotionally intense moments. There are some unpleasant moments and imagery in this book, but it's nothing over-the-top in my eyes. No one's really horrifically disfigured, and our reanimated characters don't look like gory abominations or rotting corpses (well, not yet, anyway). What I did find startling is a surprising amount of nude (implied, but they hardly leave anything to the imagination) depictions of the female characters (who are in high school). I'm increasingly becoming weirded out by how common sexualizing high school girls is out of the manga I've read so far (to the point that I'm starting to forget pointing it out in some of my recent reads)., and I fear that people who are browsing my catalog of reads will think that I seek this kind of content out on purpose. VERDICT: Sankarea's first volume ends before it can really get going, but its setup for Sanka's journey to living the normal "life" she never had (and the challenges that will come with hiding the fact that she's a zombie) is enough for me to want to keep reading. Admittedly, I'm not really into Furuya as a character, and I don't feel like there's anything beyond tense, intimate moments to their budding romance, but these are things that may be developed in later volumes. I don't know that for certain, but if that is indeed the case, I can definitely see myself continuing this series. While I don't know where this story eventually leads, this does seem to be building to one of those unconventional romance stories with a supernatural twist, so if any of that tickles your fancy, there may be something for you here. - end - For today's backlog game, we're playing some goddamn sports (sort of). BACKGROUND:
I've mentioned my history with pool/billiards when I talked about playing a pool game for the Super Nintendo, so instead of repeating myself, just read that here. I haven't really played any other pool games since that post went up. PLOT: If this were a Mario sports game, there would be a whole plot where the heroes try to defeat Bowser with the power of playing 8-ball. This is unfortunately not a Mario sports game, and no story of any kind takes place. PRESENTATION: The pool table looks nice, the UI communicates important game information clearly, and the music's pretty chill. Other than that, I have little else to say. That's perfectly fine, too; I don't typically expect a pool game to have shit-your-pants graphics, flashy effects, or a banger soundtrack. GAMEPLAY: If you haven't already guessed, Pool Pro Gold is a sports game where you play pool. Specifically, you play 8-ball, one of the most well-known variations of the game. If you're not familiar with 8-ball, the idea is that you're assigned either the solid-colored balls or the striped balls, and you have to sink all the balls of your assigned type into the pockets of the table. Once you've done that, you can try and pocket the 8-ball, and if you do that before your opponent does, you win. There are other rules, but this is the basic gist. As far as controls go, this game could be a bit smoother. Rotating the cue is slow, and it's too finicky for me in the sense that I can't make minuscule adjustments without my aim skewing completely. Repositioning the cue ball after the opponent commits a scratch (pocketing the cue ball) is particularly annoying, since the controls for it are slippery. The two main modes of play are Tournament and 1v1. The latter is more or less the Quick Play of the game, while Tournament has you go through a gauntlet of four AI opponents in hopes of winning. Both 1v1 and Tournament have multiple options in terms of the competition you can enter, and they each have an associated award when you win (in the case of 1v1, you have to win the specific competition seven times). Where things get weird is the in-game currency. You start the game with some money, which you will need to play any of the modes. Yes, every game of pool here has an entry fee. I haven't run out of money yet, but I assume you pretty much have nothing to do if you're broke, as there is no free play mode or any sort of multiplayer. As someone who just wants to play some virtual 8-ball, I'm not entirely thrilled at the thought of a scenario where this game will not let me play it. Seemingly to get around this, the game has this Wheel of Fortune-ass wheel that you can spin for a random amount of money every couple of hours. It's like one of those timed freebies you get from many a mobile game that goads you into checking in at regular intervals. Additionally, you earn money by winning games either in Tournament or in 1v1, so you make some sort of profit when paying the fee (but only if you win). For Tournament mode in particular, you have three strikes, and if you happen to use all those up, your payout is based on the ranking you reached compared to the AI opponents. For what it's worth, money has a use other than as a resource that lets you play the game. You can buy different cues in the shop, and they actually have stats like greater force, better aim, and extra time to line up your shot. Some even have bonuses like a percent bonus to your money earned. I don't know if the best cues are worth the grind, but even the inexpensive ones make a bit of difference. Unfortunately, everything except for the default cue has energy that runs out the more you play, and you have to pay money to recharge them. If you don't recharge them, their stats go down drastically. I think the need to buy into the game's few modes is frustrating enough, but the game adding an unnecessary stamina mechanic makes things extra aggravating. VERDICT: I must say that I'm not really a fan of Pool Pro Gold requiring you to always have in-game money just so you can play the game. That there is no mode where I can play freely is a baffling choice to me. I enjoy the game itself just fine (outside of the controls), but the whole money mechanic kind of gets in the way of my enjoyment since I now find myself worrying about winning just so I have more money to keep playing. I would have much preferred an experience that allows me to play at my leisure. There are probably better options out there if you want to play virtual 8-ball, so I can't really say this is the pool game to get if you're looking for such a title. And if you have the means to do so, I'd recommend playing pool in real life over playing a video game version. The real thing is pretty fun! - end - I once again had an opportunity to play a game via Switch Online's Game Trials. What was in store for me this time around? BACKGROUND:
I vaguely recall seeing this game at one of those Nintendo indie game presentations, but I didn't remember anything else about it other than the name and the art style. I came in with pretty much zero idea of what to expect as a result. PLOT: The world of Eastward is a post-apocalypse where a phenomenon called the Miasma blankets the surface and has nearly wiped out humanity. The surviving humans have either fled underground or have made makeshift settlements on the surface, while the remnants of civilization have been overrun by the return of nature. Our story begins in Potcrock Isle, one such underground settlement where the people have been taught to fear the surface. One of its residents is a digger named John, who has taken in a young girl named Sam (whom he stumbled upon one fateful day at work). They seemed content with their life underground until a series of events persuade Sam to seek out the surface. She is adamant that the world aboveground is not the desolate wasteland Potcrock Isle's residents have been led to believe, and that belief leads to her and John's banishment from the town. John and Sam are sent to die on the surface, but as it turns out, Sam was right, and the world is mostly lovely. Sam and John's adventures take them through different settlements on the surface, where they meet all sorts of wonderful people and try to get used to their new life. It seems like everything's going great until reality sets in, and it's revealed that the threat of the Miasma is still present. Once it's established that the world isn't as safe as it first appeared, the duo works together with other characters in an effort to figure out how to stave off disaster in their new home. There are more than a few twists and turns that take the story and its world in a surreal direction, revealing some dark truths about how everything ended up the way it did. Admittedly, not all of these reveals stick the landing for me since the story doesn't take its time to explore these threads in a way that personally satisfies me, but for the most part, I enjoyed learning about the bleak underbelly that hid beneath the hopeful facade of a world that's rebuilding itself after such a devastating calamity. I liked that the first half of the story was simply John and Sam finding a new life together, so I was worried that the charm of that would disappear once they kick off the whole big adventure where a lot of things are at stake. What I appreciated when the story does switch gears is how that adventure kicks off by making John and Sam's motivations more personal than simply going "we have to save the world." While the pacing suffers at points by doing this, the game takes its time to let you get to know the people John and Sam interact with, and I think that's one of the story's strongest points. Many of the NPCs are memorable in some way, be it through their quirks or with how fleshed out they are. Some of the more prominent supporting characters have compelling arcs or backstories, and even minor NPCs get to stand out in brief moments. This reminded me a lot of Earthbound, which had a lot of NPCs that, even with just one line of dialogue, end up leaving a lasting impression in some way. Games with NPCs like that make going up to each and every one to see what they say worth every second. Of course, the stars of the show are John and Sam. Sadly, John is a silent protagonist, but the way other characters interact with him (especially Sam) ends up giving him a sort of character regardless. Normally, this sort of approach can be a hit-or-miss on whether or not I end up becoming invested in the protagonist, but what elevates John for me despite his lack of words is Sam's complete adoration of her father figure. The way Sam would talk to John or speak of him did more than enough to sell me on the notion that he's the best guardian Sam could ever ask for, and I'll always have a soft spot for loving father figures in any story. After spending an entire campaign with her, I think I can say that Sam is probably up there as one of my favorite video game characters ever. Her positivity and sense of childlike wonder are infectious, and it was an absolute delight to play a game where such a character is front and center. I truly enjoyed her interactions with the game's cast, from her always speaking highly of the people who she sees as cool or kind, showing her own kind nature (whether by showing concern, taking initiative to help, or standing up for others), getting excited over pretty much anything interesting, or even saying silly things because she's just a kid who doesn't know a lot yet. If I ever change my mind and end up having children, she is the daughter I can only hope I can raise. That is how much I liked Sam as a character. PRESENTATION: While the game goes old school and opts to use classic pixel art for its visuals, the execution is incredible. The sprites are impressively detailed, boast such fluid animations, and the game is chock-full of memorable character designs and striking environments that take full advantage of this aesthetic. Highly detailed locales like New Dam City are a showcase of how intricate the pixel art can go, and the animations go a long way to give characters even more personality than they already had. The music is lovely as well, with a lot of cheery, melodic tunes to go along with you exploring the wide world of Eastward. While some tracks do have that retro chiptune flavor to them, most of the soundtrack has a more modern feel to me. GAMEPLAY: Eastward plays quite close to classic 2D Zelda games at first glance, where you explore the world from a top-down perspective, go through the equivalent of dungeons, fight enemies and bosses with mostly basic combat, and solve puzzles to move forward and uncover secrets. There are plenty of things that set it apart, though, and we'll get into that. As opposed to one huge, seamless world, Eastward is structured such that you focus your exploration on one of a bunch of separate, but still decently large areas in each story chapter. On one hand, it makes trying to check out every nook and cranny less stressful since you don't have to navigate a massive map, but on the other hand, this structure heavily preyed on my "avoid the main path at all costs" habit. Normally, that doesn't cause any problems, but the fact that you can miss optional collectibles and such just by progressing the story is its own brand of stress. If it's any consolation, there is a chapter select, but it's unlocked when you beat the game for the first time. Each of these areas feels truly distinct from the last both in terms of their overall aesthetic and vibe as well as what they have to offer in terms of lore and gameplay. You get mostly unique enemies per area, each area introduces a new key item that adds to both combat and puzzles, and very few NPCs make an appearance outside their home zone. All that combined with the fact that you can't revisit areas once you progress the story encouraged me to take my time and fully explore everything before I move on, and I mostly found that endeavor worthwhile. The first thing that makes Eastward stand out in terms of its gameplay is how you control two characters Donkey Kong Country-style. At first, you only play as John, but after a short while, you can also play as Sam. For most of the game, you're able to switch between which one is in control (the other character just follows along automatically), and there are plenty of moments that make fun use of this mechanic. John is your main guy when it comes to combat. His first weapon is a frying pan, which is your standard melee attack (with a powerful charge move), but he also unlocks ranged weapons like a gun, a flamethrower, and what I can only describe as a buzzsaw launcher. These alternate weapons give you options to deal with enemies that you can't easily approach, but they all use the ammo resource that you'll have to refill with drops or a consumable. The ranged weapons are also used in puzzles, though it's mostly some variation of "hit a faraway switch." The only one with a specialized purpose is the flamethrower (it burns bramble away), and I kind of wish the other weapons had niches like that to give them more utility. Outside of that, these weapons do a mighty fine job of wrecking enemies from afar, and each one has its advantages in combat (e.g. flamethrower is good for racking up damage, while the saw shooter's projectiles can ricochet off walls). As John, you also have access to bombs. They can be used in the usual ways (damage enemies, break walls), but the game has a fun mechanic where you can use the frying pan's charge move to whack bombs across gaps. There are also multiple bomb types, including a floating bomb that homes in on targets, and a remote bomb that you can detonate manually. Like the ranged weapons, the bombs are used in puzzles, which is neat. Sam can't hurt enemies (save for very specific exceptions), but that doesn't mean she's useless. Her main ability is shooting energy bubbles, which are tied to a meter that recharges over time. For the most part, this is used to activate special switches and interactables in the environment (like warp points and moving platforms), but if you hit enemies with it, they are stunned for a brief period. You can take advantage of this and swap to John when you stun an enemy so you can clobber it for free. Sam can also charge her shot to extend the bubble's range or keep enemies under for longer, and you can even take advantage of the bubble's boomerang effect for some trick shots. Sam also has access to special skills that are tied to a separate special meter (charged by whacking breakable objects and killing enemies) like an area-of-effect stun, a barrier that negates damage for a short time, and health regeneration. I found myself wishing there were more abilities than just this (I feel like Sam could do a lot more than just stun enemies), and I'm not sure having two of these abilities be completely optional is the best approach since players may end up skipping them entirely. The most fun puzzles in the game involve alternating control between John and Sam to navigate a room. There are points where the two must separate to interact with objects only one of them can interact with, like crawlspaces only Sam can go into, or John pushing heavy objects across a room. I was fully engaged with the puzzles that made the most of this mechanic, and I enjoyed the journey of figuring out how to get John or Sam where they need to go by making use of the other character's abilities. Most of the enemies aren't too troublesome, as they really only have one or two behaviors to watch out for. Once you figure that out, you can play around it and kick its ass with the handful of tools at your disposal. Bosses are mostly straightforward, too, but with tougher attack patterns and gimmicks you have to play around. Overall, combat isn't that complex, but it's still fun to stun-lock an enemy with Sam's bubbles and bludgeon them to death with a frying pan. Perhaps the only other thing I found notable with combat is how the last couple of boss fights have you parry the bosses with the frying pan. That would have been fun as a full mechanic. Also, you can deflect certain projectiles with the pan, but this mostly used in puzzles (if it's used at all). As you explore the world, you'll pick up salt, which is the game's equivalent to money. These can be spent at shops or vending machines for all sorts of things, from consumable items, ingredients (more on that later), upgrades for your weapons, and backpack slots. It's actually quite easy to get more salt than you know what to do with unless you're in the habit of hoarding items (which you can't really do since the backpack has a maximum of ten slots). Hidden all around are chests that have goodies in them. This includes bonus salt, gear parts (used for weapon upgrades), tokens (more on that later as well), extra ingredients, and even the equivalent of Heart Pieces to increase your max number of hearts. I enjoyed how cleverly hidden some of these chests are, and they made going off the beaten path to solve optional puzzles worthwhile. Ingredients, as you may have guessed, are used for cooking food. It's probably more convenient to just buy healing items, but cooking in designated spots (usually conveniently located next to a save point) lets you combine three of these ingredients for more potent healing items. It's not just more healing that you get from these foods; depending on your combination of ingredients and spices, your food can even provide bonuses like extra hearts or buffs like damage up or defense up. The recipe list is sadly not as expansive as something like Stardew Valley or Breath of the Wild, but that's not really a big deal since secondary effects don't make or break this game. It would be nice to actually get unique dishes, though. There's a minigame you can play called Earth Born, which is more or less an homage to Dragon Quest with its character designs. Like the game it pays tribute to, it's a turn-based RPG where you control a party of characters. Don't worry; it's rather short minigame with a small, easy to navigate map, and the goal is simply to recruit the party and gain enough levels and equipment in seven in-game days. Once that in-game week has passed, you are warped to Earth Born's final boss, and the goal is obviously to kill him. Figuring out where things are obviously takes some trial and error, but once you get past that, Earth Born ends up being a fun little diversion where the real challenge is making efficient use of your limited time as opposed to actual RPG strategy. There's not really a point to it once you've seen everything, but you can go for a high score by attempting to beat the final boss early, or try to find all the secrets. Beating Earth Born's final boss is actually quite tricky because he has all sorts of cheap gimmicks, but you can mitigate your disadvantage by spending tokens at the gachapon machines (which, conveniently, are often next to the Earth Born machines you interact with in the overworld). There's a collectible aspect here, too (get all 20 unique monsters from Earth Born), but the more important thing is how these collectibles also give you items in Earth Born. Between healing potions, stat-boosting elixirs, and more, you always get something useful whenever you pull, and they can help you beat Earth Born in a pinch. VERDICT: I had a delightful time exploring Eastward's interesting world. The visuals and the music are wonderful, I was a huge fan of the main characters (with Sam in particular ending up becoming an all-time favorite), the lore was interesting, and I enjoyed how both puzzles and combat made use of the core mechanic of switching between John and Sam. While I think certain aspects of gameplay could have been expanded, and the story's pacing could have been improved, I quite liked this game overall. I'd say this game shares general vibe with titles like Earthbound, so if you like a similar mix of quirky, heartfelt, and sometimes surreal or dark, Eastward ticks all those boxes (albeit in different ways). The game is also worth a look if you want a slightly different flavor of the 2D Zelda-style action-adventure game, or you're the type to get invested in a game's many colorful personalities. Here's Eastward on Steam: Eastward on Steam (steampowered.com) Here's the soundtrack on Spotify: Eastward (Original Soundtrack) - Album by Joel Corelitz | Spotify - end - For the month of October, I'm challenging myself to read horror/supernatural manga all month long. BACKGROUND:
I don't know anything about this series, but the synopsis was as creepy as the cover, so I felt confident that this is the kind of read I want for this month. SUMMARY: PTSD Radio is an anthology of short stories revolving around the dark influence of a being called Ogushi. This malevolent force terrorizes, tortures, and murders humans unlucky enough to fall under its curse, and it attacks and manifests in an unusual way: with human hair. Each of the stories features different characters who are affected by Ogushi's influence. These include a grandmother who cuts her granddaughter's hair to keep her safe (and the consequences when she forgets when to cut her hair again), believers who hang clippers on their front door to ward Ogushi off, various people seeing shadows made of hair, and more. As of now, the stories hardly interconnect, but they paint a terrifying picture together: Ogushi has been around for many years, and it can seemingly strike from anywhere. Very few stories end in any note other than disturbing, as people die, go insane, or live in utter paranoia. There's a little bit of world-building thanks to some of the stories featuring characters who know of Ogushi (from people who worship it to others who fear it). The traditions I described previously imply that generations of people have been plagued by this evil entity, and the fact that it continues to sow terror in modern day is even more disturbing. The few details surrounding Ogushi's nature and past left me super intrigued, and I definitely want to learn more about its origins. What truly sells Ogushi's menace is the incredible art. Something about the textures (which, appropriately, look like hair with all the thin lines) of the supernatural elements of the manga gives me goosebumps, the shadows that pop up in the stories are haunting, and the body horror (combined with the impressive, realistic details of the people and the environments) is outright disturbing. The way certain panels are framed adds to the creep factor, as shadows lurk or suddenly appear, hands inch their way into the shot, there are plenty of closeups of people in utter shock or with contorted facial expressions, and other disturbing imagery I won't spoil. VERDICT: I was actually distraught that PTSD Radio Vol. 1 was so short, and that speaks to how hooked I was by the book as a whole. The art is amazing and did so much to create such a creepy atmosphere, and all the disparate stories came together to build up Ogushi as a being to truly dread. I want to see more twisted stories and learn more about Ogushi, and I absolutely want to see how far they can push the ghoulish visuals. I highly recommend this manga if you're into horror. The art alone is worth the price of admission, in my opinion. - end - This game in particular really stood out to me as the odd duck of the September Switch Online additions. BACKGROUND:
I haven't even heard of the animated movie this game is based on, so that's a good sign. SUMMARY: Quest for Camelot is an adventure game in the style of 2D Zelda where you play as Kayley, the daughter of Sir Lionel of King Arthur's court. Sir Lionel was slain when Ruber, a traitorous knight, attempted to assassinate King Arthur, and ten years later, Ruber makes a play for the throne by attempting to steal Excalibur. Kayley, who has aspired to be a knight since childhood, takes it upon herself to set things right by searching for Excalibur while also getting a measure of revenge for her family. A lot of this story is told separately from the game via lengthy text with a slideshow of images mixed in to illustrate what's going on. I found it odd that the storytelling was done in this manner, but I was pleasantly surprised by the accompanying visuals, which look solid despite the obvious limitations brought about by the Game Boy Color's hardware. In contrast, hardly any storytelling is done in the actual game, as the few NPCs you run into have nothing to say other than what you should be doing to progress. The gameplay itself didn't really do anything for me. Having played my fair share of 2D Zelda, I didn't really encounter anything I haven't seen before, and what I did run into here felt unremarkable. Combat was fairly standard, enemies are basic, and the special items weren't anything unique. I didn't really mind that there wasn't much going on here, though I obviously would have preferred that there were more to do. What really killed my interest in this game involved exploration and progression. Exploration was almost nonexistent, since the maps were small, and the game is further segmented into standalone levels. Progression was even less engaging to me, as there are hardly any puzzles, and moving forward is usually accomplished by something much more tedious (like fetch quests, killing every enemy in an area, escorting an NPC somewhere, or looking for something that barely constitutes as "hidden"). VERDICT: I wish I had more to say about Quest for Camelot, but there really isn't much that captures my interest here. The story is standard fare, and the gameplay is a less interesting rendition of a formula that's been done well before. I don't know if the movie tells the story better, but I'm fairly confident that you're better off playing Link's Awakening if you're looking for a game of this style. All criticisms aside, this game brought back some memories of the heyday of developers vomiting out licensed titles, and part of me wants Switch Online to add a bunch more of those (regardless of quality). - end - Thanks to a sale from a while back, I finally got to pick up a game that's long been on my wish list. BACKGROUND:
Considering I enjoy both roguelikes and card games (especially deck-builders), it should come as no surprise that this is a game I've had my eye on for a long time now. I was further convinced by its gameplay when a good friend of mine streamed their gameplay, and when a sale came along, I took my opportunity. PLOT: Not much of Slay the Spire's story is explored front and center, and the most you can do is get bits of lore as you play. The gist, as I've come to understand, is that the eponymous Spire appeared some time ago, and that great evils reside in it. The playable characters (who all have their own little backstories) go to the Spire to, well.... slay it (as it is actually alive in some sense), and the roguelike aspect of the game is given in-universe context as a powerful being resurrects these characters over and over in hopes that they eventually succeed. There's only so much I could glean from the in-game descriptions and whatever few dialogue exists, and while the mystique of the Spire has its allure, I do wish I knew a bit more upfront. I did enjoy piecing together what I could about the game's lore, but again, that's not a storytelling approach everyone would enjoy. PRESENTATION: The art style combines a somewhat painterly aesthetic, muted colors, gloomy environments, creepy monster designs, and simple animations for a rather one-of-a-kind look. The animations weird me out a little, but other than that, I appreciate the look. The music fits the eerie mood of the Spire as well, which is great. GAMEPLAY: As I mentioned in the first section, Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-building card game. Combat is turn-based, and you succeed by utilizing your deck of cards in a strategic manner to take down the Spire's hostile inhabitants. As you progress, you have the opportunity to customize your deck to take advantage of certain mechanics. The roguelike elements come in the form of different maps each run, with different encounters at each checkpoint. You choose from one of the four playable characters, who each have a unique set of cards they can encounter that cover a variety of play styles. The Ironclad, for example, is a bit straightforward in terms of what his cards do, while someone like The Defect involves more complex gimmicks. There's a lot of possible builds even for one character's card set, which is great, but there is rarely any overlap between cards of different characters. Card gimmicks range from simple damage, increasing your character's Block (which absorbs damage), and typical deck manipulation (discards, multi-draws, card generation/refresh etc.). The more complicated gimmicks involve inflicting status effects like Poison, various buffs and debuffs, and character-specific mechanics like Watcher's stances and Defect's orb manipulation. Again, there's a lot you can do, and I love that. Regardless of which character you pick, the basics are the same, and all cards can be classified into either Attack (does damage), Skill (provides effect for the turn it's played), and Power (gives you a passive buff that lasts for the entire battle). Each turn, you have only three units of energy to spend, and each card has a specific value attached to them. Managing both your resource and the order you play your cards in is key to victory (or, in many of my runs, your only chance at survival). There's already a lot of depth when it comes to building your deck for a given run, but as you play, you'll have opportunities to acquire Relics, which are special items that give you buffs or debuffs. Without getting lost in describing the wide variety of Relics that exist, some can synergize with certain decks/card types, while others help you in other ways (like conditional healing or preventing troublesome events), and more than a few actually come with their risks and rewards. All the playable characters also have a unique starting Relic that you can upgrade in specific conditions. This mechanic is very much in line with what you see in many roguelikes (the journey of picking and choosing from a random assortment of items to make a powerful build); it's never a guarantee that you'll get the items you want, but if the stars align, the satisfaction of a fine-tuned build is nigh unmatched. You can also pick up consumable potions that give you special bonuses for one battle only. Even having gone through dozens of runs, I still forget to use them, but they can end up saving you from death with judicious usage. Like Relics, getting what you want here is dependent on luck, but in my experience, you get more opportunities to get potions. Each run is split into three Acts, and you have a choice on your starting point and the path you can take on the way to the boss. Each stop can be a battle, an Elite encounter (a tough enemy with great rewards), a shop to spend your gold on, rest sites where you can heal up or upgrade cards, and dozens of random Choose Your Own Adventure-style events that can either be very good or very bad. Figuring out what route to take is a balancing act of getting as many opportunities to get rewards (like more cards or Relics) as possible and avoiding unnecessary damage going into a boss fight. Once you beat the boss of Act 1, you're healed to full and move onto the next Act, and so on. Getting the true ending for each character is quite the journey, as you have to complete a run with every character (except the Watcher) before it becomes available. Once that's done, you have to acquire three keys from specific encounters, though a level of risk is involved in doing so. That makes true ending runs a bit more challenging, as you have to consider the tradeoffs when picking up the keys. It does culminate in a hellacious boss fight that's incredibly satisfying to beat, so I'd say it's worth it if you can make it that far. Whether you win or you die, succeeding runs will have you talk to this weird whale thing named Neow, who will give you a helpful starting bonus before you get going. This can range from extra gold to free cards/upgrades, though you can choose one of the riskier ones that come with a penalty (like less max HP or your starting Relic getting replaced) or a potentially better reward. If you manage to complete a run with a character, you'll unlock the Ascension mode for that character. You start out with Ascension Level 1, which makes the game slightly harder, and as you complete runs with these modifiers on, you'll unlock the next level (which adds another modifier on top of the ones from the previous levels). I haven't seen for myself how far up these levels go, but the ones I've seen do a lot to make an already challenging game quite difficult. You can also take on a Daily Challenge, which has a predetermined playable character, unique modifiers, and a fixed seed that's all the same for every player. The goal here is to simply get the highest score you can (which is determined by what you accomplish in a single run), which may be fun for leaderboard chasers out there. There's also a Custom Mode where you can mess around with the game using various modifiers, as well as the ability to play specific seeds by taking codes from your previous runs or from other players. VERDICT: Slay the Spire successfully scratches my itch for both the roguelike genre and the deck-building card game, with an impressive variety of builds you can go for, enough random elements that ensure that you never have the exact same deck twice, and a respectable level of difficulty even on default. I found myself going "one more run" at times when I really should be sleeping, and historically, that's been an excellent metric that shows that I absolutely enjoy a game. I don't think I'll be grinding out Ascension Levels anytime soon, but I'll definitely be playing more to mess around with other deck builds. If you're like me and are a big fan of roguelikes or of deck-building card games (or both), I highly recommend this one. There's naturally a learning curve to figuring out what makes a deck viable in this game, but the game has plenty of descriptions you can look at so you know what everything does, as well as a handy card compendium you can view in between games so you can brainstorm your own ideas. Obviously, figuring out a game like this is daunting, but I'm willing to argue that the eureka moment that comes from piecing together a deck that works is worth the effort. Slay the Spire is available on the following: - end - |
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