Seemingly out of nowhere, BIG BAD WOLF launched new narrative adventure game “The Council” earlier this month.
“The Council” is a new take on the narrative adventure genre. Usually these games feature an episodic story with branching paths based on player choice. “The Council” finds a way to not only do that, but adds in role-playing game elements with a surprising amount of depth. Story in this genre is massively important and “The Council” delivers. Set in 1793, players control Louis de Richet. Richet, a member of secret society The Golden Order, ventures to an island to find his missing mother, a high ranking member to the order. This is where most games would have players fighting monsters and running through a jungle. The direction “The Council” goes in a completely different direction. Richet arrives at the island as a guest of the eccentric Lord Mortimer. Mortimer throws lavish parties at his island castle, inviting elites from around the world to shape global policy. Along with Louis there is an English duchess and ambassador, the American President George Washington, French lieutenant Napoleon Bonaparte and a Cardinal among other high ranking world leaders. Louis must compete in a battle of wits with high ranking politicians to find the truth about his mother. The story in “The Mad Ones” is downright impressive. The typical length of an episode in this genre is around two hours. “The Mad Ones” delivers around four hours of gameplay, and keeps all four hours interesting. Every scene introduces a new character, a new gameplay concept or advances the main plot or a sub plot. The story is masterfully written, but can get bogged down with stiff dialogue and animations. There is a leveling system in “The Council”. The episode is broken down into missions that upon completion awards the player with experience based on what they accomplished in that mission. After leveling, the player is awarded to put points into skills that can be used throughout the game. In the beginning, the player chooses a class. There is the talkative diplomat, the erudite occultist and the observant detective. The player’s choice of class does not lock certain skills. Instead, it automatically gives the player a free rank in all of that classes skills and costs fewer points to upgrade the skills. There are a few finer points to this system, but that is the gist of things. There is a surprising amount of depth in this game. Players need to decide whether to pick one class and stick to those skills, or branch out and be lower level on more skills. The level of skills matters when it comes to effort points. Effort points are basically stamina. To perform certain actions or dialogue choices, players need to use their skills. Depending on the level of the skill and the difficulty of the action determines the number of effort points the skill will cost. There are a finite number of effort points and players can replenish them with certain items. This forces the player to pick their moments to use skills more tactically and brings a whole new gameplay dynamic to the game. Instead of doing battle with monsters, Louis does battle with words. Every conversation the player with a character is a chance to learn more about the character. Not just from a narrative perspective, but this has gameplay implications as well. Each character has strengths and weaknesses. Certain skills in conversation work better against some and worse against others. If a player exploits a weakness they gain an effort point back and if the run into a characters the player loses an extra point. The final big gameplay mechanic is called “confrontation”. Confrontations are a conversational battle where players are attempting to win the exchange by making the proper dialogue decisions. Each confrontations has a limited number of sections and whether players choose correctly or not the confrontation continues until the final segment. The final segment will repeat until the player chooses the correct option. The player is not allowed an unlimited number of attempts. Every missed attempt cost the player a blunder. Once the player uses all their blunders the confrontation ends whether they made it to the end or not. There is a surprising amount of gameplay within “The Council”, there is even combat just not in the conventional sense. “The Council” found a way to find new ground within a genre that seemed set in its ways. This may be the first episode, but “The Council” is a game to keep your eye on. Score: 9/10 This is a great start to an episodic series. It has great ideas and implements perfectly in and often played out genre. The only thing that keeps this from being a perfect 10 is the stiff animation and dialogue that kept pulling me out of the game.
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Sebastian Castellanos is back and needs to re-enter the world of nightmares he escaped. He must dive back into STEM to save his once believed to be dead daughter. He enter into a world of horror. A world built on the shared consciousness of individuals revolving around the mind of one young girl, the Core.
Welcome the word of “The Evil Within 2”. “The Evil Within 2” is the direct sequel to “The Evil Within”. The original featured Detective Sebastian Castellanos and fellow officers respond to a mass murder at the Beacon Mental Hospital. From there Sebastian must walk through a nightmarish world built from the mind of a psychopath. At the end of the game everything comes to light that everything Sebastian experienced was not entirely real. It was the result of being inside the STEM system. STEM is a system designed by the main antagonist Ruvik, to create a synthesized reality that he can mold as he sees fit. STEM is similar to the Matrix, and Ruvik to a psychotic Neo. In the sequel Sebastian is down on his luck and approached by Mobius, a secret organization that exists in the shadows playing Machiavellian puppet master with the world, and his former partner from the police force Juli Kidman, who was revealed as a Mobius plant in the first game. Sebastian learns his daughter, Lily, did not actually die in a fire like he believed. She was actually taken by Mobius to be used as the core in a new STEM system. The system is breaking down and Mobius decides to send in Sebastian to try and retrieve his daughter and save the system from complete collapse. “The Evil Within 2” is a survival horror game in the third-person perspective. Unlike the first game, which was a more linear experience with survival elements mainly being resource management, the sequel adds sandbox environments. The more open environments give players more freedom and the chance for exploration. The game has plenty of surprises for the industrious player in forms of side quests, in game items and even Bethesda themed collectables. Everything about the narrative and environments in “The Evil Within 2” scream stereotypical horror game. This is neither a good nor a bad thing it all comes down to perspective and what the particular player finds enjoyable. The narrative does try and pull players in emotionally through Sebastian’s love of his daughter. It works at the beginning, but as the game goes on it becomes more of a goal to be achieved, and loses the emotional aspect. This is because the game continuously hammers the player on the head with the goal of the whole game. This is not assisted by hokey writing and at time some sub-par deliveries. What this game nails is its tone. It does what every great horror game does and that is unsettle the player. This is usually done by putting the player in a state of hyper awareness. Games will use lighting, sound and other means to put players in this state. Once in this state, responses to stimuli are increased making things even more disturbing. Out of the psychology lecture and back into the game, “The Evil Within 2” does a phenomenal job of making it feel like there is something just outside of the cameras view. Almost like there is something right behind the character. It also toes that line between making the player feel powerful enough to handle most situations and feeling like everything will kill you. This makes every engagement feel lethal and when players are worried about managing ammunition and healing items, tensions raise even higher. It is less about making players scared, but constantly uncomfortable and unsafe. Resource management is always a big part of survival horror games and “The Evil Within 2” is no different. In the world players can find items and ammunition. From there it is just a matter of conserving restorative items and ammo. “The Evil Within 2” takes it a step further by adding raw materials. For instance player can find gunpowder and use it to craft bullets. Not a wholly original way of doing things, but it works. There are two ways to craft. There are work benches that players can craft items and use weapon parts to upgrade weapons. Players can also craft ammo and items any time from the weapon wheel, but they will cost more resources. This does allow players to be a tad freer with the use of guns, but if they stop paying attention all together they will quickly run out of resources. Like the original, this game brings back the wheelchair that Sabastian sits in to upgrade abilities. Players use green gel that is harvested from defeated enemies to increase skills, health, stamina, etc. There is not much to comment on here, other than the wheel chair and the surrounding imagery fits the game to a T. For those worrying about not playing the first game, “The Evil Within 2” can mostly be played and understood as a standalone title. There will be some gaps in knowledge, but the important things are covered and focuses on its story not the original’s. “The Evil Within 2” finds its own voice in a genre that falls prey to the cliché. Score: 8/10 This is a great horror game, but the story is a little weak. Almost like I'm just trying to complete objectives to beat the game not see the next part of the story. Weekends are often great times to dig through game collections to play something old. This weekend I picked up the 2007 PS2 game “Rogue Galaxy”. The game is currently available on PS4 via PSN with 1080p up-rendering for those who missed the over a decade old game the first time around.
“Rogue Galaxy” is a story of adventure for Jaster Rogue, as he fulfils his dream to explore the stars. Jaster is an inhabitant of the desert planet Rosa. The planet of Rosa is under direct control of the Longardian army, in what is essentially slavery. Jaster lives with his adoptive father, Raul, waiting for his opportunity to explore the stars. Jaster gets his chance when a giant monster attacks his city. Jaster takes up arms to defend his city and is joined by a mysterious hooded figure. Before squaring off against the giant monster, the hooded man gives his sword to Jaster before leaving. It is revealed that the hooded figure is the legendary hunter Desert Claw. He left his sword with Jaster so that he would be mistaken by Steve and Simon, two characters who have been searching for Desert Claw. After defeating the monster Jaster is given an opportunity to join the crew of the Dorgenark and become a space pirate. Jaster sets out on an adventure where the fate of the universe hangs in the balance. The story as a whole is a typical JRPG story. A seemingly ordinary young man gets thrown into a series of events where the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Throughout the game the character gathers companions to aid him on his journey. The first couple chapters of the game are spent introducing the player to those characters. What “Rogue Galaxy” does well is that it uses this classic formula to a high level. The story can draw players in and make them care for the world and the colorful bunch of misfits that inhabit the Dorgenark The game’s combat mechanics are described as being real-time action, a split from what developer Level-5 has done in the past. It really is not that simple. Each of the characters is given an action gauge that depletes as players attack, use items or use skills. After depleting the gauge, players have to wait for it to recharge or block an enemy attack to have it refill. Combat is real-time, but with limitations that make players have to implement strategy and keeps the game from devolving into a simple hack and slash style of game. It is a system similar to the one used in “Final Fantasy 12”. Exploring the worlds in the game, players will randomly encounter monsters. After winning in battle players are awarded with experience points, money and items. Experience levels up the players base stats (health, attack power, etc.), but does not give players skills at certain levels. “Rogue Galaxy” trades the usual way of doing things for a system that the game calls revelation flow. Each character has a revelation chart filled with blank spots for specific items. As players fill out the open slots they gain skills and open up more slots for higher level skills. This system is also reminiscent of a mechanic from “Final Fantasy 12”, the license system which lets players use different types of weapons or magic. “Rogue Galaxy” uses two different item crafting systems. The first is gained early in the second chapter as players gain access to a frog that can fuse weapons together to create a stronger one. As players battle monsters their equipment gains experience and after maxing that experience on two weapons they can be fused. This encourages players to constantly change weapons so they can keep fusing them together to get stronger ones. The second is a factory the players gain access to a few chapters later. This is a little more complicated than the frog. Players can break items down and create better ones that will be sold in shops. Once a player acquires a blueprint they need to acquire the necessary items to fuse. Then they have to run the items through a production line that breaks them down before fusion. This is a pseudo puzzle that makes players think how long it will take the materials to reach the combiner at the same time. The more items the need to be combined the more complicated the puzzle. For those interested in exploring and doing everything there is a host of side content. Through the game the player can capture bugs called insectors. Players can then feed and raise them and even fight them in the arena if they wish. There is also a list of the galaxy’s top hunters. Players can raise through the ranks by defeating set numbers of the monsters met through random encounters. Players can also nab a large amount of points by taking on optional mini bosses called quarries. “Rogue Galaxy” is an often overlooked game, never being recognized for how good it actually is. For players who missed out over a decade ago is available for 15 dollars on the PlayStation Store. Score: 9/10 Feel free to call this a nostalgia score. I love this game and think its great. EA has begun to release titles for it EA Originals initiative, recently releasing cinematic co-op game “A Way Out”. Before “A Way Out”, was a little game by Zoink named “Fe” back in February.
The game dumps players into the forest in control of a small fox-like creature, Fe. As players begin to explore, they discover machine like organisms called the Silent Ones. They are capturing the animals and stealing the songs and sounds of the forest. Fe sets out to rescue the animals and stop the Silent Ones. On the surface “Fe” looks like a traditional platformer, and while there is plenty of platforming, this game plays like a Metroidvania. There is no combat in the game, but Fe has an ability to learn the songs of other animals in the forest. As players gain access to new songs they can interact with the world in different ways. Throughout the game there are flowers that react to a certain song. Some are more platforming focused and others assist in puzzles. Songs also allow Fe to interact with the other animals in the forest. Like the flowers, the animals all have their own abilities to help the player solve puzzles or traverse the world. “Fe” is a relatively short game, only lasting about seven to eight hours. There is something special within that short time. “Fe” is visually stunning in its own way. Deciding to go for a more stylized look, rather than a photo realistic one, the game’s colors and unique look are downright beautiful. With no dialogue in the game, the sound design is extremely important and “Fe” hit the nail right on the head. On every level “Fe” gets it right, from music to the intermingling of the animals’ songs. The game’s musical score finds the perfect moments to take center stage. Most of the time the music takes a back seat and adds flavor to the game’s visuals, but when the strings start to swell and the music builds everything comes together just right for a wonderful and emotional moment. The animal songs harmonize perfectly with each other. Whether it’s the animal songs, the music or both in conjunction, they create a beautiful soundscape that truly makes this game unique. While no dialogue works for this game, it is a double edged sword. It makes it difficult to tell a coherent story, instead leaving it up to individual players’ interpretation. This is an aspect that some will like, but others will find obtuse and irritating. There is also a lack of direction in the game. There are markers on the map that tell players where the objective is, but it’s up to players to figure out what to do. The game takes a hands off approach and lets players learn on their own without a tutorial and a minimal amount of on screen prompts. The game can feel sparse on content at times. There is plenty to be found for the industrious player, but there is not much reward with respect to how much work it takes to collect everything. There are pink gems throughout the game world that, after collecting a certain number, can be exchanged for a new skill. Each subsequent skill costs more and more gems, meaning if the player wants it they need to explore and find more of them. While the skills are helpful, other than the tree climb skill and the glide skill (the first two skills), the skills are not necessary to complete the game. The different songs are what is really necessary and those are obtained by completing the game’s story. There is no incentive to collect all of these and after the game is completed there is little to no replay value for “Fe”. “Fe” has been received everything from a 5-out-of-10 to a 9-out-of-10. It all comes down to the individual’s taste. “Fe” is a unique experience that is not for everyone. Score: 8/10 Normally would give this game a 7 but its sound and art design made me bump it to an 8 “Before the Storm” is the prequel to Dontnod’s episodic drama “Life is Strange”. “Before the Storm” follows Chloe Price and her relationship with Rachel Amber. This short three episode mini-series delves deeper into the character of Chloe. Why and how Chloe became who she is in the original.
This series’ Chloe has a much deeper emotional range. In the first game she was not just angry and cold, but this series provides a much more introspective look into the mind of the character. The first episode sets up the friendship, and possibly more depending on player choices, between the two characters beautifully. It reveals that Rachel, the golden child of Blackwell Academy, and Chloe, the school delinquent, were much more similar than meets the eye. Both of them were dealing with family dysfunction and plan to escape from their lives, their family and town. Episode 2, “Brave New World”, starts in a disciplinary meeting that ends in either Chloe’s suspension or expulsion. Chloe then learns that her mother’s boyfriend is moving in and, to make things worse, is going to start cracking down and try to reign Chloe’s wild side in. Chloe refuses to go along with it and runs away. Chloe is later approached by the local drug dealer, Frank Bowers, with a proposition to erase her debt with him and possibly make some money. Frank’s “friend” Damon Merrick, who is a big name in the town’s underworld, is owed money by one of the students at Blackwell. It falls to Chloe to try and collect the money. During her attempt to covertly retrieve the money she has a run in with Merrick himself. There is a decision that players can make at this point to let Damon go about his business and assault the students that owes him or step in. Despite the choice players later meet back up with Rachel and the two finalize their decision to run away together. After reaching the Amber household the pair is caught and forced into a family diner. By the end of the meal the truth is brought to light. Rachel confronts her father about his affair and her father brings a secret that will rock Rachel’s world to its core. Overall this episode is good, but stumbles after the great start in the first episode. The episode still has great writing, but the performance was not up to the level of the first episode’s. It would have been nice to see more of Rachel in this episode. Part of what is made the first episode so great was the exploration of a character who plays a significant role in the original game, but was never seen. Rachel appears at the beginning of the episode and then again at the end. It appears that this mini-series is beginning to fall into the same pitfall that the first game. Instead of telling one concise story, it is trying to do too much and tell this complex winding narrative that is just unnecessary. There are great titles that do tell a story filled with left turns and big reveals, but a simple approach would fit this game better. Deck Nine is telling a great drama, and big soap opera-esque reveals are par for the course. The problem starts when there telling another side story of the darker side of the town or the supernatural/scifi aspects in the original game. They are telling multiple stories of different genres and trying to shoehorn them into one coherent narrative. There are minor complaints to be made about this episode, but it is still enjoyable. Deck Nine still has another episode to work with. Hopefully they will recover from this stumble and finish strong. Rating: 7/10 Two months ago Bungie released the long awaited sequel to its 2014 sci-fi hit “Destiny”. “Destiny” found success as one of the first pseudo MMOs that have been coming to consoles in recent years as part of the “games as a service” trend.
In “Destiny 2” players create a Guardian. Guardians are beings that have been bestowed a power called Light from a mysterious artifact known as the Traveler. The Light gives Guardians the ability to revive themselves after death and mystical powers depending on their class. When creating their character, players are given the option to choose between three classes Titan, Hunter or Warlock. Titans are more resilient and stronger soldiers. Hunters are more of a speed based class that utilizes knives as a melee weapon. The final class, Warlocks, use their Light as a weapon in a way resembling magic. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses that can be offset by playing with others in three person fireteams. “Destiny 2” builds off of the success of its predecessor. There is not necessarily more content to “Destiny 2”. Everything players can do in the sequel, they could do in the first game to a lesser degree. What “Destiny 2” does so well is adding more depth to the content. The narrative is more involved in the game in the sequel. The first game had a forgettable story that had a weak connection to the point of the game. In “Destiny 2” the story takes center stage and has roots in every part of the game. There is a lore or narrative reason for everything in the game. Every bit of content needs to be unlocked by playing the story. Strike missions, for example, are not unlocked until near the end of the story as opposed to right from the start. Patrol missions have been replaced by adventures. Adventures can be found on each planet in the game. Patrols were small, single objective missions that could be completed to farm experience. Adventures have a similar purpose, but tell adventures are longer and tell a short self-contained story. Players also gain rewards from completing adventures in the form of loot or skill points. Patrol missions do return late game and are very similar to the original. Leveling and outfitting characters is slightly different this time around. There is still a skill tree, but it is laid out in a simpler and easier to understand way. Subclasses are back as well. Each class has three subclasses, each with a unique special ability. Like most of the game, subclasses fit into the narrative and need to be unlocked. This game’s subclasses allow for even more fine-tuning of the character to meet the player’s preferences. Weapon classes have seen a small change. “Destiny 2” does not utilize the primary and secondary weapon system the first game used. Instead, “Destiny 2” divides weapons into kinetic, energy and power weapons. “Destiny 2” gives players more flexibility in how to loadout their character. For example, a player can take an auto rifle and a submachine gun in either slot. In the first game, certain types of guns could only be taken in specific slots. There are certain weapon classes that can only be used as power weapons. Those weapons are sniper rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, fusion rifles, grenade launchers and swords. The Crucible also makes a return. The Crucible is the series’ player versus player arena. This is a feature that saw minor tweaks. The biggest change is that matches have been reduced from 6 v 6 to 4 v 4. Map sizes have also been reduced. By reducing the number of players and shrinking the size of the maps, Crucible matches are faster paced and more fun. Everything “Destiny 2” does, it does well. The game is incredibly fun and will drain hours from anyone who plays it. The game is still in its infancy and it can only be better as more content is added as time goes on. Rating: 8/10 “Bastion”, “Transistor” and now “Pyre”, these are all titles by the hit development studio Supergiant Games.
“Pyre”, released earlier this August, is set in a fictitious fantasy world in which, as opposed to jailing criminals, they are cast down to a place called the Downside. All crimes receive the same sentence, exile. The Downside is an area that has no escape that the founders of this society once found themselves. These founders, known as the Eight Scribes, found enlightenment in the Downside and when they emerged founded the society known as the Commonwealth. The story begins with the player waking the Downside. At this time players are not aware of what crime they committed. The player’s character is rescued other exiles who are part of a triumvirate called the Nightwings. It is revealed that there is a way to escape the Downside and return to the Commonwealth. This is done by competing in Rites. The Rites are the process in which the members of the triumvirates attain enlightenment. The player is then revealed to be a reader. The Commonwealth outlawed reading, so finding a reader in the Downside is rare. The player’s job as the reader is to assist their allies in the Rites. The Rites themselves are the sole aspect of gameplay in “Pyre”. The narrative and plot points are told in a way similar to that of a visual novel, meaning it is all text based. During the Rites, player’s control a team of three exiles. The goal is to take an orb from the center of the playing area and run into the opposing side’s pyre or throw it into the pyre while the other side attempts to stop the player. The game has been affectionately been called wizard basketball by some. Each character on the field emits an aura. If a character moves into an opposing character’s aura they are banished and will return to play after a set time. Auras cannot defend characters when they are carrying the orb. When a character is in possession of an orb their aura disappears leaving them vulnerable. This is where players’ strategy comes in. On each side, only one character can move at a time. This means that placement of the inactive characters is important. Throughout the game, the Nightwings gather more members for the player in their path to liberation. Eventually, the Nightwings benefactor is revealed. He explains to the Nightwings that they are pawns in a larger plan of his to fundamentally change the Commonwealth through revolution. Once players reach what seems to be the end of the game, it is learned that a Liberation Rite must be held to earn freedom. It is also revealed that only one exile may go free. After completing the first Liberation Rite, the game picks up speed and really enters into its gameplay loop. From here on players decide who they wish to face in the Rites and, depending who wins, shapes who they will face in the next Liberation Rite. “Pyre” has an enjoyable if not slow story. It takes a while for the first gameplay loop to close then each subsequent trip through takes less time. This becomes repetitive near the end, but the gameplay of the Rites remains fun until the end. “Pyre” is an interesting game that can keep players engaged all the way through its winding story. It is a slow burn but with entertaining gameplay, an amazing soundtrack and beautiful art style “Pyre” is a piece of art. Rating: 9/10 Deck Nine has released the first episode of its prequel to Dontnod Entertainment’s “Life is Strange”
“Life is Strange” is an episodic adventure game. It utilizes a similar style of gameplay to games by Telltale. Set in 2013, the story focuses on Maxine “Max” Caulfield as she attempts to navigate everyday social interactions, a missing person’s case, an impending natural disaster and a mysterious ability to rewind time. “Life is Strange: Before the Storm” takes place three years prior to the original. Players control Chloe Price, Max’s best friend from the original game. Episode one “Awake” depicts the events that led Chloe and Rachel Amber, character from the first game, friendship and even dabbling with deeper emotions between the two. Gone is the time manipulation, science fiction story of the original. “Before the Storm” tells a much simpler type of story, a teen drama. Going for a simpler concept works this game’s favor. The original seemed like it told two or three separate stories that somewhat tie together in the end. “Before the Storm” has significantly fewer moving parts, allowing the story to flow at a much smoother pace. The writing and performances are a step above the original. “Before the Storm” does what took the original two or three episodes to dial in. The first couple episode of “Life is Strange” had flat performances and some poor writing. “Before the Storm” starts strong from the start. There are still some stiff moments, but not nearly to the frequency of its predecessor. In this style of game, every choice matters. Every choice changes the game world and will have some sort of consequence. “Life is Strange” allowed players to rewind and undo most choices after seeing the immediate consequence. This time around every choice has more finality. Every choice becomes more important, because it cannot be taken back. Eliminating the time travel aspect has an effect gameplay. Max would be able to go through dialogue with a character to get a piece of information, then rewind the conversation and open up new dialogue choices. Without this ability, Chloe has her own way to influence conversation. This is a mechanic called “backtalk”. During these moments Chloe will try to intimidate or persuade the other person. Players will need to listen carefully to a line of dialogue, and then pick a retort from a group possible responses. The overall goal is to fill a meter at the bottom of the screen before the opposition does. The difficulty of these moments fluctuates depending on the person on the other side of the dialogue. This is an example of gameplay meshing with the narrative. It fits rebellious punk personality perfectly. A few of the moments where players engage in backtalk feel overly scripted and fall flat. It is not even the whole event just a line here and there. Despite a few lines, the addition of backtalk is an organic addition to the game. “Life is Strange: Before the Storm” episode one “Awake” is the first of this three episode series. This episode, despite its flaws, is a great first step in this story. Rating: 8/10 Take a trip into the depths of a young woman’s grief stricken mind and stare into the face of death in “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice”.
“Hellblade” follows the path of Senua as she attempts to revive her deceased lover, Dillion. Of Senua, driven by tales the Northman, brings he lovers head on a journey to the gates of Hellheim. There Senua will have to fight not only gods, but the darkness within her own mind. Senua is plagued with something that her people called the darkness. In actuality, she is fighting with psychosis. This leads to Senua being treated as an outcast and a bringer of misfortune. The game’s narrative can be confusing. It is never completely clear if what Senua is experiencing is a figment of her imagination, a shadow to be chased that gives her hope, or if she is actually taking on the gods in a “God of War”-esque story. It could be true that the answer is somewhere in the middle and that both are true at the same time. It could also be true that the developer intended to keep players guessing and asking these questions. These questions linger on well after the game is over. Overall, the story stands tall. Despite being confusing, this is a deep, enthralling and emotional story that will sink its hooks into players and won’t let them go. “Hellblade” takes a minimalist approach to gameplay, but has zero fat. There are two main aspects to gameplay, combat and solving puzzles. Combat is simple and bare bones. Light and heavy strikes, a melee attack (usually some kind of kick) that will open up an enemy to a sword strike, a dodge and an ability called Focus that slows down time to allow for rapid strikes. All of these are available to players at the get go, minus the focus ability that is added a short ways into the game. Puzzles are mostly just simple traversal puzzles. Puzzles that require players to see through illusions to find a path forward. Other puzzles are locked doors that can only be unlocked by finding glyphs in the environment. These puzzles are often simple, with an occasional tricky one thrown in, but they are all achievable for players who look carefully. With no Heads up Display (HUD) or tutorial, players are left to their own devices to figure the game. Even with no tutorials, all the controls are listed in the pause menu. The game finds its own ways to tell the player things that would usually be told to the player through a pop-up window. The game provides explanations of systems through the voices in Senua’s head. “Hellblade” mixes every system within the lore of the game. The voices will provide the player with advice in combat. They will whisper things like “look out behind you” to warn the player that they are about to be struck from behind and when they say “focus” activate the focus ability. There is also permadeath in this game. Early into the game, Senua is inflicted with the death rot. This starts as a mark on her hand and every time the player dies spreads up her arm. When it reaches her head Senua will die and the player will have to start the game over. These are fascinating ways to integrate a tutorial into a game. As opposed to the game just outright telling the player what to do, the player needs to find out for themselves the best way to play the game. “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice” is not what most would call a fun game, but has been received as a good game. The game is bleak and eerie in tone, but has a tremendous amount of polish. With great writing and performances, this game can stand on equal footing with some other big budget projects. Rating: 9/10 “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” is the latest game in a historic franchise in the video game industry.
“Resident Evil 7”, released on Jan. 24, is a true return to form for the franchise. Not shying from its roots, the game returns to the survival horror style that made the franchise so popular. The past few entries in the series attempted to relive the franchise of the slower paced horror DNA and replace with a more action focused style. Needless to say, hardcore fans of the series have been unhappy with the change. “Resident Evil 7” seems to be an attempt on the part of Capcom to win back those fans. The game opens on Ethan, a man trying to find his wife, Mia, who had been missing for three years. Ethan receives an email supposedly from Mia, simply saying “Come find me,” and giving him the coordinates to a seemingly abandoned farm house in Louisiana. Ethan quickly realizes that things are much more sinister than they first appear, because he will soon come face to face with the cannibalistic Baker family. The first scene where players truly get to meet the Bakers, Ethan is tied to a chair in a dinner scene pulled straight from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Ethan is an unwilling participant in a dinner of human flesh and organs. In a way the scene plays out almost comically. The family sits and squabbles, as families do, players are confronted with a sort of macabre circus which ends with the father of the family, Jack, cutting/ripping the son, Lucas’, arm off and attempting to force feed bits of it to Ethan. Every scene in “Biohazard” is enhanced by the first-person perspective that the game utilizes. The series has historically used an over the shoulder third-person perspective. This switch to the new viewpoint restricts the peripheral view of the players. This instills a constant fear that there is something lurking just outside the boundaries of the camera. Many are praising Capcom’s utilization of VR in “Resident Evil 7”. One of the best descriptions of the VR experience was made by Chloi Rad in her review for IGN, “My Resident Evil 7 experience was positive with and without the PlayStation VR. (I played about half in VR, and half without.) There were only a handful of sequences that I felt were designed specifically to take advantage of VR’s unique capabilities (any sequence when a character brought an unwanted object too close to my face), but I never felt like I was missing out on anything substantial when playing in 2D.” The game’s narrative strings the player along, providing just enough to keep players moving on. This is somehow both a positive and negative. While the story takes a back seat to the gameplay, it works perfectly giving players just enough reason and motivation to explore the Baker estate. As with past games in the series, “Biohazard” utilizes a semi-open environment for players to explore. In ways “Resident Evil 7” is more similar to an adventure game, as opposed to an action game. It rewards players to explore and there are tons of optional puzzles, collectables and other assorted items to be found. Managing inventory is a crucial part of survival in this game. Not only is space limited once an item is dropped it is lost into the ether. This prevents players from item managing by dropping items momentarily to pick up another item, use it and pick the original item back up. Players can also manage inventory through storage boxes located in the save rooms throughout the Baker estate. Item combination also returns in “Biohazard”. By fusing herbs and chem fluid, players will create a curative item. Mixing chem fluid with gunpowder will create ammunition. This offers up a challenging conundrum. Do players make health items or bullets? Depending on the situation, it could be the difference between life and death. There is much more to talk about in this game, but due to a limited word count there are not many more details that can be added. “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” is just a frighteningly good game. Though not without its faults, this game is a gem that truly shines. Rating: 9/10 |
AuthorI am A.J. Goelz. I'm a gamer first and a writer second. I hope you enjoy the content on this page and check out the rest of my content on YouTube. Archives
April 2019
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