thehotrock
679 Reviews liked by thehotrock
A VR horror game with a promising start, but ends up ruined by some unbelievably awful stealth sequences.
Forming part of the World of Darkness mythos (along with Werewolf: The Apocalypse and, more famously, Vampire: The Masquerade), Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife has you playing a recently deceased spirit, trapped in a Los Angeles mansion. You have no memory of how or why you died, and you have to explore the mansion to collect documents, take photos and unlock your memories. That concept on it's own works for a spooky walking simulator, and it's during these quiet times when the game excels. The story is drip-fed to you through tableaus in which you see character models recreating the events leading up to your death. It's a better way to tell a story than reading endless notes, documents and diaries, at least.
The visuals are great - some very effective use of lighting and prop placement lends itself well to the VR format. I was constantly doing double-takes because I was sure I had seen something spooky out of the corner of my eye. The sound design is equally effective, utilising stereo sound to creep you out with whispering and other atmospheric noise to keep you on edge.
As said previously, the game works best as a spooky walking sim - when the "run-and-hide" sections start, the game absolutely falls apart. I know there are a lot of horror fans who bemoan games where you can't fight back - I am not one of them, believe me. I count Outlast, Amnesia and SOMA among the greatest games that the genre has to offer. However, "run-and-hide" horror has to be done right, or you risk these sequences becoming boring and/or frustrating. Sadly, Afterlife fails on both counts.
There are a few different sections during the game where you'll suddenly be in danger from "spectres", who will spawn in the area and roam around looking for you. Now, credit to Fast Travel Games, the spectres all have unique designs and are pretty creepy (the image of the Broken Woman shuffling out of the darkness was actually very scary - initially). But these encounters quickly go from fearful to frustrating.
The first issue is for the game generally - you move at an agonisingly slow speed, and sprinting feels like it barely makes a difference. For Afterlife's atmosphere-building early sections this is fine, but if you're running from something that's trying to kill you it's incredibly frustrating - especially when most of the spectres are just that little bit faster than you. If they catch you, it's pretty much an insta-kill - there's a health system, or "corpus", but it's basically useless. And because the game has incredibly infrequent auto-saves - and a few oddly-placed manual saving areas - you're likely to lose a ton of progress and have to replay sections over and over. Also, you're not given a map, which means you get lost frequently. The devs explained that they did this to make Afterlife feel more realistic, but in a game where I play a ghost and other ghosts are trying to kill me, I don't think a map is going to break my immersion.
The enemy AI is not good either, compared to other games of this ilk. Take the Traeger section in Outlast, for example. In that sequence, Traeger roams around the entire area, giving you a fair chance to move around and escape. Contrast this with the "Tall Man" in Afterlife. You're told at some point that the spectres can "hear" you, and it's not really specified what this entails. Slamming doors? Running? Speaking into the headset mic? It's not clear, since at some points the spectre made a beeline for me for seemingly no reason. If you make a noise and then manage to hide from the enemy, they have an annoying habit of just sticking around wherever you're hiding and never leaving, making escape that much more difficult. You have a flashlight (not a very good one) that you can use to stun the enemies, but you move so slowly that by the time you're able to get moving you're caught again.
I gave up at the Broken Woman, in which you're forced to wander around in the pitch black while a spectre (who actually does have an insta-kill) zones in on you. Oh, and the aforementioned flashlight stun? Doesn't work on her. Without the use of a map to know where to go, you're just wandering around in disorientation and bumping into walls before being killed. After doing this around 20 times I lost patience and uninstalled.
It's a real shame. Afterlife has a lot of potential, but its poorly-implemented stealth mechanics turn what should be the most tense sequences into boring, frustrating slogs. I'm afraid I can't recommend this.
Forming part of the World of Darkness mythos (along with Werewolf: The Apocalypse and, more famously, Vampire: The Masquerade), Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife has you playing a recently deceased spirit, trapped in a Los Angeles mansion. You have no memory of how or why you died, and you have to explore the mansion to collect documents, take photos and unlock your memories. That concept on it's own works for a spooky walking simulator, and it's during these quiet times when the game excels. The story is drip-fed to you through tableaus in which you see character models recreating the events leading up to your death. It's a better way to tell a story than reading endless notes, documents and diaries, at least.
The visuals are great - some very effective use of lighting and prop placement lends itself well to the VR format. I was constantly doing double-takes because I was sure I had seen something spooky out of the corner of my eye. The sound design is equally effective, utilising stereo sound to creep you out with whispering and other atmospheric noise to keep you on edge.
As said previously, the game works best as a spooky walking sim - when the "run-and-hide" sections start, the game absolutely falls apart. I know there are a lot of horror fans who bemoan games where you can't fight back - I am not one of them, believe me. I count Outlast, Amnesia and SOMA among the greatest games that the genre has to offer. However, "run-and-hide" horror has to be done right, or you risk these sequences becoming boring and/or frustrating. Sadly, Afterlife fails on both counts.
There are a few different sections during the game where you'll suddenly be in danger from "spectres", who will spawn in the area and roam around looking for you. Now, credit to Fast Travel Games, the spectres all have unique designs and are pretty creepy (the image of the Broken Woman shuffling out of the darkness was actually very scary - initially). But these encounters quickly go from fearful to frustrating.
The first issue is for the game generally - you move at an agonisingly slow speed, and sprinting feels like it barely makes a difference. For Afterlife's atmosphere-building early sections this is fine, but if you're running from something that's trying to kill you it's incredibly frustrating - especially when most of the spectres are just that little bit faster than you. If they catch you, it's pretty much an insta-kill - there's a health system, or "corpus", but it's basically useless. And because the game has incredibly infrequent auto-saves - and a few oddly-placed manual saving areas - you're likely to lose a ton of progress and have to replay sections over and over. Also, you're not given a map, which means you get lost frequently. The devs explained that they did this to make Afterlife feel more realistic, but in a game where I play a ghost and other ghosts are trying to kill me, I don't think a map is going to break my immersion.
The enemy AI is not good either, compared to other games of this ilk. Take the Traeger section in Outlast, for example. In that sequence, Traeger roams around the entire area, giving you a fair chance to move around and escape. Contrast this with the "Tall Man" in Afterlife. You're told at some point that the spectres can "hear" you, and it's not really specified what this entails. Slamming doors? Running? Speaking into the headset mic? It's not clear, since at some points the spectre made a beeline for me for seemingly no reason. If you make a noise and then manage to hide from the enemy, they have an annoying habit of just sticking around wherever you're hiding and never leaving, making escape that much more difficult. You have a flashlight (not a very good one) that you can use to stun the enemies, but you move so slowly that by the time you're able to get moving you're caught again.
I gave up at the Broken Woman, in which you're forced to wander around in the pitch black while a spectre (who actually does have an insta-kill) zones in on you. Oh, and the aforementioned flashlight stun? Doesn't work on her. Without the use of a map to know where to go, you're just wandering around in disorientation and bumping into walls before being killed. After doing this around 20 times I lost patience and uninstalled.
It's a real shame. Afterlife has a lot of potential, but its poorly-implemented stealth mechanics turn what should be the most tense sequences into boring, frustrating slogs. I'm afraid I can't recommend this.
The Sims 4: Seasons
2018
IT’S SUMMER BAYBEEE, LET’S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
“What? You paid for rain?” Man, we been paying for rain since 2007. For good reason. The Seasons expansions are always the peak of the entire franchise no matter which game it is. Give me the realism of freezing my balls off in a blizzard, thanks!! I’ll take the liveliness of summer sunsets anyday, boss. Plants that actually grow in season? Everyone now has two extra clothing options for both extreme heat and extreme cold. Drip for every occasion.
But the buck does not stop there, a new addition here is the ability to celebrate holidays. The Sims Team have finally killed Christmas. Father Winter (Santa Claus) is my new dad, and the dad of several neighbor’s children turns out. You got your typical real-world festivities already built into the system. Love Day, New Year’s Eve, Prank Day, Thanksgiving, and… Neighborhood Brawl? Suns out, guns out I say. If that ain’t your style, customize a holiday yourself. I have now made today a national holiday to appreciate the friends we’ve made along the way. Thank you, friends.
Genuinely the only caveat is how much of a temporary crybaby your Sim becomes if you don’t celebrate any given holiday when they appear. Oh no, you missed counting down the clock at midnight? COPE. Reverse realism on my Sims when they have work in the damn morning. Hurts, doesn't it? Thunderstorms tend to have this annoying effect because it turns out all Sims are petrified of lightning, sending them all into a full on panic whenever one randomly starts. There’s nothing quite like leaving your house on a 3PM sunny day, just to be met with a torrential thunderstorm at the location you’re heading to. Alright, guess I’ll come back later. Although, watching people get cracked on the head by lightning for just standing outside for 2 seconds never gets old. If you get struck more than once there's a solid gamble that you’ll either turn to ash or become a lightning bender but I am too chicken shit to find out the odds. Standing outside in the cold/heat for too long without the proper attire will murder you every time though.
But look, we got all this cool stuff!! I need you to live long enough to get full enjoyment out of the water slides and decked out greenhouse items. I’m your weirdo neighbor with bees in my backyard, yoinking their honey for financial gain. SUE ME. Leaves are all over the damn yard, Timmy. I haven’t built a snowman in years due to living in a warm climate now, so I will live vicariously through my Sim instead. I still have yet to win the lottery though, that shit is rigged.
You can purchase a scarecrow that comes to life, but mine turned out with the worst traits and is diabolically mean. I’d kill him if it didn’t feel unethical somehow, so I just put up with him coming over to torment me. At least he has the decency to garden for me in the meantime. There are no Aspirations unfortunately, because personally I would have loved one. And aside from a few added collectibles to already existing Collections, we just have the new Flower Arranging skill to work with. It’s just another “watch your Sim” craft things on a table for hours, but you can sell or give away the finished vases to make up for it. This means you can give someone the smelliest bouquet ever and literally piss them off with it. I’d maybe treat your Mom a bit better though.
Honestly, it’s pretty agreeable to most that this is a must have just due to the sheer amount of gameplay injected into 365 days worth of game. It’s life simulation with the background life functioning at the same caliber as everything under your direct control. They know this is the case too, that’s why they give it away for free and toss it into a ton of cheap bundles all the time. If I could recommend only one pack to a new Simmer, it would be this one hands down every time. You just ain’t living life until you’ve blessed your Sim with true art.
“What? You paid for rain?” Man, we been paying for rain since 2007. For good reason. The Seasons expansions are always the peak of the entire franchise no matter which game it is. Give me the realism of freezing my balls off in a blizzard, thanks!! I’ll take the liveliness of summer sunsets anyday, boss. Plants that actually grow in season? Everyone now has two extra clothing options for both extreme heat and extreme cold. Drip for every occasion.
But the buck does not stop there, a new addition here is the ability to celebrate holidays. The Sims Team have finally killed Christmas. Father Winter (Santa Claus) is my new dad, and the dad of several neighbor’s children turns out. You got your typical real-world festivities already built into the system. Love Day, New Year’s Eve, Prank Day, Thanksgiving, and… Neighborhood Brawl? Suns out, guns out I say. If that ain’t your style, customize a holiday yourself. I have now made today a national holiday to appreciate the friends we’ve made along the way. Thank you, friends.
Genuinely the only caveat is how much of a temporary crybaby your Sim becomes if you don’t celebrate any given holiday when they appear. Oh no, you missed counting down the clock at midnight? COPE. Reverse realism on my Sims when they have work in the damn morning. Hurts, doesn't it? Thunderstorms tend to have this annoying effect because it turns out all Sims are petrified of lightning, sending them all into a full on panic whenever one randomly starts. There’s nothing quite like leaving your house on a 3PM sunny day, just to be met with a torrential thunderstorm at the location you’re heading to. Alright, guess I’ll come back later. Although, watching people get cracked on the head by lightning for just standing outside for 2 seconds never gets old. If you get struck more than once there's a solid gamble that you’ll either turn to ash or become a lightning bender but I am too chicken shit to find out the odds. Standing outside in the cold/heat for too long without the proper attire will murder you every time though.
But look, we got all this cool stuff!! I need you to live long enough to get full enjoyment out of the water slides and decked out greenhouse items. I’m your weirdo neighbor with bees in my backyard, yoinking their honey for financial gain. SUE ME. Leaves are all over the damn yard, Timmy. I haven’t built a snowman in years due to living in a warm climate now, so I will live vicariously through my Sim instead. I still have yet to win the lottery though, that shit is rigged.
You can purchase a scarecrow that comes to life, but mine turned out with the worst traits and is diabolically mean. I’d kill him if it didn’t feel unethical somehow, so I just put up with him coming over to torment me. At least he has the decency to garden for me in the meantime. There are no Aspirations unfortunately, because personally I would have loved one. And aside from a few added collectibles to already existing Collections, we just have the new Flower Arranging skill to work with. It’s just another “watch your Sim” craft things on a table for hours, but you can sell or give away the finished vases to make up for it. This means you can give someone the smelliest bouquet ever and literally piss them off with it. I’d maybe treat your Mom a bit better though.
Honestly, it’s pretty agreeable to most that this is a must have just due to the sheer amount of gameplay injected into 365 days worth of game. It’s life simulation with the background life functioning at the same caliber as everything under your direct control. They know this is the case too, that’s why they give it away for free and toss it into a ton of cheap bundles all the time. If I could recommend only one pack to a new Simmer, it would be this one hands down every time. You just ain’t living life until you’ve blessed your Sim with true art.
Out There Somewhere
2014
2014 Replay Backlog Challenge
Short and sweet little puzzle platformer inspired by metroid. The main gimmick is based on a teleportation gun that you use to progress through the game. The puzzles were well designed with interesting gimmicks and i found the overall difficulty to not be as challenging.
There's isn't much to talk about this game. The pixel art and music is alright and the plot is a simple story of you crash landing on an alien planet and having to get find parts so that you can repair your ship and defeat Grigori, the main villain who you've been chasing throughout the game.
The exploration part of this game is very limited, the only parts you can find are extra parts that you can use to upgrade your ship for the final boss.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with this, an easy recommendation if you want a short game to play.
Short and sweet little puzzle platformer inspired by metroid. The main gimmick is based on a teleportation gun that you use to progress through the game. The puzzles were well designed with interesting gimmicks and i found the overall difficulty to not be as challenging.
There's isn't much to talk about this game. The pixel art and music is alright and the plot is a simple story of you crash landing on an alien planet and having to get find parts so that you can repair your ship and defeat Grigori, the main villain who you've been chasing throughout the game.
The exploration part of this game is very limited, the only parts you can find are extra parts that you can use to upgrade your ship for the final boss.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with this, an easy recommendation if you want a short game to play.
Cats
2024
I guess this is the new scam game trend. There isn't even a steam market for this how are y'all gonna make money from this lmao.
Gunstar Heroes
1993
I’ve never really been a fan of the Genesis. I was always a Nintendo kid. I didn’t have a Genesis growing up so I’ve only finished a handful of games and they ranged from meh to bad. Obviously, I know there are good games to be played on the Gensis but I wasn’t sure where to start. So, I did the only logical thing and trusted everyone here. I went to backloggd put Gensis games in the filter and put highest average rating filter on. Thanks to this site, I finally have a Genesis game I can point to and say that is a reason to own a Genesis.
Gunstar Heroes is an excellent game that is very fun from the very beginning until the credit rolls. The run and gun gameplay is fast paced and fun to experiment with (even if I was too stupid to realize until half way though the game that if you had 2 weapons you can actually use a 3rd weapon combining the 2. I know I'm dumb.) Once I learned about weapon combining the game got even more fun experimenting with all of my options. I also found the difficulty to be very well balanced. It's not so easy that you are mindlessly running through stages but also not so hard that anything will take more than a couple of attempts. The game runs incredibly smooth for being a game made in 1993. There are so many bullets, enemies, and explosions on the screen at times and I had frame skips one time. The art is one thing that I think the Genesis gets right almost every time and this game is no exception with great visuals. The music was pretty good as well.
This is an easy recommendation that is decently accessible thanks to the switch. I'm going to try out some more Genesis games but like I said I know very little about the system. I believe the only games I've played is Sonic 1-3, Ecco the Dolphin, Vector man, and now this. I know many of the friends I've made here are big on the Genesis so If you have any suggestions, please comment them and I will do my best to get around to playing them.
My 2024 ranked:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/
Gunstar Heroes is an excellent game that is very fun from the very beginning until the credit rolls. The run and gun gameplay is fast paced and fun to experiment with (even if I was too stupid to realize until half way though the game that if you had 2 weapons you can actually use a 3rd weapon combining the 2. I know I'm dumb.) Once I learned about weapon combining the game got even more fun experimenting with all of my options. I also found the difficulty to be very well balanced. It's not so easy that you are mindlessly running through stages but also not so hard that anything will take more than a couple of attempts. The game runs incredibly smooth for being a game made in 1993. There are so many bullets, enemies, and explosions on the screen at times and I had frame skips one time. The art is one thing that I think the Genesis gets right almost every time and this game is no exception with great visuals. The music was pretty good as well.
This is an easy recommendation that is decently accessible thanks to the switch. I'm going to try out some more Genesis games but like I said I know very little about the system. I believe the only games I've played is Sonic 1-3, Ecco the Dolphin, Vector man, and now this. I know many of the friends I've made here are big on the Genesis so If you have any suggestions, please comment them and I will do my best to get around to playing them.
My 2024 ranked:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/
Dragon Age: Origins
2009
the combat is the most dysfunctional unbalanced shit and you basically have to trivialize it either by lowering the difficulty or exploiting broken strategies. not to mention the AI is so dogshit with its pathfinding and sometimes will literally just not listen to you when you tell them to do something. but once you get past all of that it's okay i guess
Lakeburg Legacies
2023
There's a solid game here but it's targeting two gameplay fantasies that will limit its appeal:
1. The element of management sims where you adjust randomly-generated personnel to get the most out of their unique skillsets while minimizing their shortcomings
2. Elements of games like Crusader Kings or The Sims where you can play matchmaker and watch the characters autonomously develop their own relationships as they age
If you strip those out, this is essentially an idle game, but they attempt to make up for it by layering a lot of extra considerations on top of those systems. People have their own skills but they also have their own passions and idiosyncracies, and all of these factor in when deciding how happy and productive they are in their workplace. If your brain is wired like mine there's a lot of fun to be had in shuffling people around and attempting to let everyone work the job they're most passionate about without making too many sacrifices with regard to production.
The thing that can ruin this whole experience, really, is realizing that it all comes back to production. Happiness, life expectancy, all of this is about having a productive workforce that makes numbers go up instead of down. They do a decent job of tuning this so that you have to engage in some strategy when assigning jobs, but it's not so challenging that you'll find yourself optimizing forever. There are long stretches of downtime in the game (largely mitigated by a ridiculously powerful fast-forward feature) that reveal that idle game underneath all of this, waiting for resource stockpiles to tick up until they reach a threshold that allows you to construct a new building, improvement, or invite some new villagers. Again, I don't think this is necessarily bad, but some people who are lured in by the strategy here will hit that dreaded point where they decide they've cracked the puzzle box before the game has finished showing all its tricks.
On a more positive note, though, it leans really hard into those fantasies I mentioned earlier. If you, like me, are used to games with this art style being casual cozy puzzlers or digital toys, you will be surprised by how many numbers and meters are in this thing. People have stats, skills, personality traits, likes and dislikes, health, social class, job preferences, and relationships - all of which factor into their ability to do their job and get along with other people in the village while doing so. The game does a good job of highlighting the relevant info, though, meaning that when you're doing the work of placing these people in a job or a relationship, it feels more like you're looking at a business card than jumping headfirst into a decade-old spreadsheet. It creates a situation where you never have to consider more stats than you want to, but continually offers just a little more in the way of stats that can be optimized if you want to really get everything exactly right.
Hard to say too much more than that. If you want to tinker directly with the social foundations of a village and then sit back and watch as it grows into a kingdom, this game is designed for you more than any other game has been designed for you. If you're hoping for a city builder or a particularly challenging strategy game, you might still find some value in this if you're willing to meet it on its own terms, but that's much easier to do if you're picking it up during a sale.
1. The element of management sims where you adjust randomly-generated personnel to get the most out of their unique skillsets while minimizing their shortcomings
2. Elements of games like Crusader Kings or The Sims where you can play matchmaker and watch the characters autonomously develop their own relationships as they age
If you strip those out, this is essentially an idle game, but they attempt to make up for it by layering a lot of extra considerations on top of those systems. People have their own skills but they also have their own passions and idiosyncracies, and all of these factor in when deciding how happy and productive they are in their workplace. If your brain is wired like mine there's a lot of fun to be had in shuffling people around and attempting to let everyone work the job they're most passionate about without making too many sacrifices with regard to production.
The thing that can ruin this whole experience, really, is realizing that it all comes back to production. Happiness, life expectancy, all of this is about having a productive workforce that makes numbers go up instead of down. They do a decent job of tuning this so that you have to engage in some strategy when assigning jobs, but it's not so challenging that you'll find yourself optimizing forever. There are long stretches of downtime in the game (largely mitigated by a ridiculously powerful fast-forward feature) that reveal that idle game underneath all of this, waiting for resource stockpiles to tick up until they reach a threshold that allows you to construct a new building, improvement, or invite some new villagers. Again, I don't think this is necessarily bad, but some people who are lured in by the strategy here will hit that dreaded point where they decide they've cracked the puzzle box before the game has finished showing all its tricks.
On a more positive note, though, it leans really hard into those fantasies I mentioned earlier. If you, like me, are used to games with this art style being casual cozy puzzlers or digital toys, you will be surprised by how many numbers and meters are in this thing. People have stats, skills, personality traits, likes and dislikes, health, social class, job preferences, and relationships - all of which factor into their ability to do their job and get along with other people in the village while doing so. The game does a good job of highlighting the relevant info, though, meaning that when you're doing the work of placing these people in a job or a relationship, it feels more like you're looking at a business card than jumping headfirst into a decade-old spreadsheet. It creates a situation where you never have to consider more stats than you want to, but continually offers just a little more in the way of stats that can be optimized if you want to really get everything exactly right.
Hard to say too much more than that. If you want to tinker directly with the social foundations of a village and then sit back and watch as it grows into a kingdom, this game is designed for you more than any other game has been designed for you. If you're hoping for a city builder or a particularly challenging strategy game, you might still find some value in this if you're willing to meet it on its own terms, but that's much easier to do if you're picking it up during a sale.
Selaco
2024
is it impossible for developers to not load these things with inane references to other shooters and fucking youtubers and SHIT PICKLE for the love of all that is holy. can you just establish a game world and take it seriously i'm fucking begging you.
Banana
2024
we should make this review page the paint drying of backloggd
Happy Wheels
2010
Exploding into bits was fun, would recommend
Firewatch
2016
This review contains spoilers
Firewatch is the hardest game that I’ve ever written a review for. Upon finishing it and collecting my thoughts, I was left feeling extremely conflicted and confused. That’s the main reason why I decided not to give the game a score at the time of writing this. The common consensus of Firewatch is that it’s a well written walking sim with a really unsatisfying twist and downer ending. It felt like the game was giving you choices that might determine the outcome of the narrative, when that really wasn’t the case at all. Of course, I initially thought that too. It felt like the game was building up to something much more than that, something bigger, and when you make it to the end and you find that there really isn’t anything else to it, you’re left feeling disappointed and empty. The thing is, I feel like that was the point the game is trying to make.
I believe that the primary message of Firewatch is that when life throws awful things your way, or when you make poor choices that lead to horrible consequences, you need to face them head on, and you can’t rely on escapism to avoid them, because at the end of the day, your problems will still be there. I think that the main plot delivers this message in a way that’s very difficult to swallow. Delilah mentions at the very beginning of the game how people only take the job of a fire lookout in order to get away from something, specifically she means the things in life that are burdensome or traumatizing. Henry is there as a way of coping with the fact that his wife is suffering from dementia and had moved back in with her family in Australia. She might not even remember who he is anymore, and he doesn’t want to face or accept that.
Delilah is there to escape from the fact that her ex-boyfriend, Javier, left her after his brother was killed in a town called Gillette (which, after doing some Googling, is apparently a town known for mining, which could mean that he died in a mining accident). He left because Delilah was too focused on her dream of becoming an instructor for the Wyoming Outdoor Leadership School and she didn’t provide any sort of emotional or moral support to him during this delicate time. Delilah also ended up lying to her sister about the reason behind the break up, stating that Javier had sex with their neighbor, and had continued to lie about it for over ten years.
Then, there’s the Goodwins, Ned and Brian. It’s not revealed in-game why Ned and Brian were at the park to begin with, but I think it’s highly likely Ned just wasn’t happy with how his son was turning out. Brian was an introverted boy who loved science, fantasy, and comic books, and Ned very much gave off the impression of being your stereotypical stern, masculinity-obsessed Father who didn’t understand any of that stuff and wanted his son to be more of a man. Based on the cassette tape he leaves for Henry at the end of the game, I suspect he brought Brain out there in order to put some hair on his chest, or something like that. Then, after Brian’s death, Ned chooses to live in the woods alone, both in order to make sure that no one learns about what happened to Brian and finds his body in cave 452, and so that he didn’t have to face the reality of his son’s death and the consequences of bringing Brian out into the wilderness when it was against park regulations.
The game leaves this up to the player’s interpretation, but I think that Delilah was likely supporting Ned the entire time. The conversation that you overhear near the start of the game, after you first emerge from cave 452 and encounter the mysterious figure, clearly indicates that she was talking to someone about Henry, and that it was a conversation you were not meant to hear. If there was no conspiracy, no government agents recording Henry and Delilah’s conversations over the course of the summer, and it was just Ned out there the entire time, then I don’t see how Delilah could’ve been talking to anyone else during that conversation. Ned was probably freaking out regarding the fact that you went into the cave. You also have to consider Delilah’s position as the manager of the fire lookouts. When you find Ned’s bunker at the end of the game, it’s filled with supplies, and unless he’s just been going around stealing from campers all of these years, I don’t see how he was able to get these things without Delilah’s help. She likely ordered additional supplies be delivered and shared them at various supply caches for Ned to collect from. I think she might have done this because she knew about Brian’s death. Either she sympathized with Ned’s desire to stay in the park and keep from facing reality, or she was afraid there would be repercussions against her since she had more than ample time to report Brian’s presence to higher-ups and didn’t say anything. Regardless, I think that by the end of the game, she’s overcome with guilt and regret over what happened and comes to the realization that she and Ned were wrong to do what they did instead of owning up to the mistakes they made.
That’s why I think the narrative unfolds the way that it does. Players likely go into Firewatch not really knowing what to expect, thinking that it’ll be a piece of media that can act as a way to entertain themselves and use as a temporary escape from their own problems in life. When they find the game doesn’t really provide that, that the story that was seemingly being built up doesn't go in the direction they expected to, and then concludes the way that it does, I totally get feeling burnt by that. I certainly felt the same way in the heat of the moment. In conjunction with the narrative, I believe this is the game’s way of communicating its themes regarding escapism. You can use things like art and media to distract yourself from whatever it is in life that you don’t want to acknowledge, but until you face them yourself, no matter what you do, your problems will always be there. It’s an extremely bitter pill to swallow.
Did I have fun with Firewatch? I’ll be honest: no, I didn’t. However, I do think that Firewatch most definitely affected me in the way the creators intended to. That’s what makes reviewing this game so difficult, and why it leaves me so conflicted. I truly feel like I can’t give this game a rating. It’s weird, I’ve never run into something like this before. I’m usually able to easily express my opinions, how I came to form them, and rate a game based on them. Firewatch is entitled to all of the credit in the world for making me think and mull over so hard about it. It’s absolutely a worthwhile experience and something to discuss and debate with others, which in all honesty, is one of the highest compliments you could give to art. That being said, I can’t say that it’s a game I enjoyed at all, nor is it one that I think I can fondly reflect on. Maybe it’s because to a degree, I feel called out by it. Maybe it’s because I just can’t get over my immediate reaction of being let down that everyone else has towards the twist and ending. I really don’t know. All I know is that I really don’t like how this game makes me feel.
I believe that the primary message of Firewatch is that when life throws awful things your way, or when you make poor choices that lead to horrible consequences, you need to face them head on, and you can’t rely on escapism to avoid them, because at the end of the day, your problems will still be there. I think that the main plot delivers this message in a way that’s very difficult to swallow. Delilah mentions at the very beginning of the game how people only take the job of a fire lookout in order to get away from something, specifically she means the things in life that are burdensome or traumatizing. Henry is there as a way of coping with the fact that his wife is suffering from dementia and had moved back in with her family in Australia. She might not even remember who he is anymore, and he doesn’t want to face or accept that.
Delilah is there to escape from the fact that her ex-boyfriend, Javier, left her after his brother was killed in a town called Gillette (which, after doing some Googling, is apparently a town known for mining, which could mean that he died in a mining accident). He left because Delilah was too focused on her dream of becoming an instructor for the Wyoming Outdoor Leadership School and she didn’t provide any sort of emotional or moral support to him during this delicate time. Delilah also ended up lying to her sister about the reason behind the break up, stating that Javier had sex with their neighbor, and had continued to lie about it for over ten years.
Then, there’s the Goodwins, Ned and Brian. It’s not revealed in-game why Ned and Brian were at the park to begin with, but I think it’s highly likely Ned just wasn’t happy with how his son was turning out. Brian was an introverted boy who loved science, fantasy, and comic books, and Ned very much gave off the impression of being your stereotypical stern, masculinity-obsessed Father who didn’t understand any of that stuff and wanted his son to be more of a man. Based on the cassette tape he leaves for Henry at the end of the game, I suspect he brought Brain out there in order to put some hair on his chest, or something like that. Then, after Brian’s death, Ned chooses to live in the woods alone, both in order to make sure that no one learns about what happened to Brian and finds his body in cave 452, and so that he didn’t have to face the reality of his son’s death and the consequences of bringing Brian out into the wilderness when it was against park regulations.
The game leaves this up to the player’s interpretation, but I think that Delilah was likely supporting Ned the entire time. The conversation that you overhear near the start of the game, after you first emerge from cave 452 and encounter the mysterious figure, clearly indicates that she was talking to someone about Henry, and that it was a conversation you were not meant to hear. If there was no conspiracy, no government agents recording Henry and Delilah’s conversations over the course of the summer, and it was just Ned out there the entire time, then I don’t see how Delilah could’ve been talking to anyone else during that conversation. Ned was probably freaking out regarding the fact that you went into the cave. You also have to consider Delilah’s position as the manager of the fire lookouts. When you find Ned’s bunker at the end of the game, it’s filled with supplies, and unless he’s just been going around stealing from campers all of these years, I don’t see how he was able to get these things without Delilah’s help. She likely ordered additional supplies be delivered and shared them at various supply caches for Ned to collect from. I think she might have done this because she knew about Brian’s death. Either she sympathized with Ned’s desire to stay in the park and keep from facing reality, or she was afraid there would be repercussions against her since she had more than ample time to report Brian’s presence to higher-ups and didn’t say anything. Regardless, I think that by the end of the game, she’s overcome with guilt and regret over what happened and comes to the realization that she and Ned were wrong to do what they did instead of owning up to the mistakes they made.
That’s why I think the narrative unfolds the way that it does. Players likely go into Firewatch not really knowing what to expect, thinking that it’ll be a piece of media that can act as a way to entertain themselves and use as a temporary escape from their own problems in life. When they find the game doesn’t really provide that, that the story that was seemingly being built up doesn't go in the direction they expected to, and then concludes the way that it does, I totally get feeling burnt by that. I certainly felt the same way in the heat of the moment. In conjunction with the narrative, I believe this is the game’s way of communicating its themes regarding escapism. You can use things like art and media to distract yourself from whatever it is in life that you don’t want to acknowledge, but until you face them yourself, no matter what you do, your problems will always be there. It’s an extremely bitter pill to swallow.
Did I have fun with Firewatch? I’ll be honest: no, I didn’t. However, I do think that Firewatch most definitely affected me in the way the creators intended to. That’s what makes reviewing this game so difficult, and why it leaves me so conflicted. I truly feel like I can’t give this game a rating. It’s weird, I’ve never run into something like this before. I’m usually able to easily express my opinions, how I came to form them, and rate a game based on them. Firewatch is entitled to all of the credit in the world for making me think and mull over so hard about it. It’s absolutely a worthwhile experience and something to discuss and debate with others, which in all honesty, is one of the highest compliments you could give to art. That being said, I can’t say that it’s a game I enjoyed at all, nor is it one that I think I can fondly reflect on. Maybe it’s because to a degree, I feel called out by it. Maybe it’s because I just can’t get over my immediate reaction of being let down that everyone else has towards the twist and ending. I really don’t know. All I know is that I really don’t like how this game makes me feel.
The third installment of the Uncharted series was the first one I played, and despite not knowing much about the story from the first two games, I still enjoyed the hell out of it. It was also the first game I ever earned a trophy in, which adds a personal touch to my experience.
Once again, Nate is searching for an ancient mythical city, this time: Iram of the Pillars. The Islamic myth of Atlantis of the Sands is a neat idea that originates from the Quran, and truth be told, I know of it only because of this game. I like it when games revolve around mythical places that aren't the most mainstream thing ever, adding a unique flavor to the narrative.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception builds upon the foundation set by its predecessors with refined mechanics and new gameplay features. The melee combat system was significantly improved, making fights more dynamic and fluid, allowing for seamless transitions between punches, counters, and contextual actions. You can use the environment to your advantage during fights, such as slamming enemies into walls or using objects to attack.
The gunplay felt good, with shooting mechanics that are more polished, better aiming, and recoil management. Drake's climbing and traversal abilities are smoother and more intuitive thanks to improved animations and control responsiveness. The game features a variety of puzzles integrated into the environment and story, adding variety to the gameplay. Drake's journal often contains clues and hints that help solve the puzzles.
This game also features more robust stealth mechanics, allowing you to silently take down enemies and avoid detection. This adds a layer of strategy to certain encounters. There were sections where I would restart if detected and keep trying until I cleared the area undetected, but this was hard to achieve on higher difficulties. Surprisingly, the multiplayer was great, and I had a lot of fun playing it. It's a shame it's no longer available.
⚠️SPOILERS⚠️
Uncharted 3 is known for its cinematic set pieces, such as the famous cargo plane sequence, the sinking cruise ship, and the collapsing castle. These moments are seamlessly integrated into the gameplay, making the game memorable. When I think about "Uncharted 3" these great moments pop into my mind.
Adding to the list of great sequences are the young Nathan moments in Colombia where he first met Sully, the chase in Yemen, the desert visions, the ghost town, the horse riding through the desert, and finally, Iram of the Pillars/Ubar. The mythical city is gorgeous, and I was mind blown when the gates of the city opened and I got to see this great interpretation of it.
But.... why the hell does everything that's ancient in this series need to be destroyed, what's up with that? If an Uncharted game was set on an extraterrestrial planet, that planet would be destroyed by the end of the game.
Just like in Uncharted 2, It ruins the ending for me, once again. The entirety of the game you chase the discovery of an ancient mythical city only to destroy it, every fucking time.
Anyway, I really liked the pacing of the story; it probably has the best pacing out of all the Uncharted games. The cast is great with the likes of Nate, Sully, Elena, Chloe, Charlie, and Salim. I especially liked Sully's bond with Nathan, which is central to the story, providing both emotional depth and invaluable support.
That being said, Uncharted 3 is my favorite out of the first three games for its memorable moments and the bit of nostalgia it holds for me. It's a standout entry in the series, filled with thrilling adventures, compelling characters, and unforgettable set pieces.
Once again, Nate is searching for an ancient mythical city, this time: Iram of the Pillars. The Islamic myth of Atlantis of the Sands is a neat idea that originates from the Quran, and truth be told, I know of it only because of this game. I like it when games revolve around mythical places that aren't the most mainstream thing ever, adding a unique flavor to the narrative.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception builds upon the foundation set by its predecessors with refined mechanics and new gameplay features. The melee combat system was significantly improved, making fights more dynamic and fluid, allowing for seamless transitions between punches, counters, and contextual actions. You can use the environment to your advantage during fights, such as slamming enemies into walls or using objects to attack.
The gunplay felt good, with shooting mechanics that are more polished, better aiming, and recoil management. Drake's climbing and traversal abilities are smoother and more intuitive thanks to improved animations and control responsiveness. The game features a variety of puzzles integrated into the environment and story, adding variety to the gameplay. Drake's journal often contains clues and hints that help solve the puzzles.
This game also features more robust stealth mechanics, allowing you to silently take down enemies and avoid detection. This adds a layer of strategy to certain encounters. There were sections where I would restart if detected and keep trying until I cleared the area undetected, but this was hard to achieve on higher difficulties. Surprisingly, the multiplayer was great, and I had a lot of fun playing it. It's a shame it's no longer available.
⚠️SPOILERS⚠️
Uncharted 3 is known for its cinematic set pieces, such as the famous cargo plane sequence, the sinking cruise ship, and the collapsing castle. These moments are seamlessly integrated into the gameplay, making the game memorable. When I think about "Uncharted 3" these great moments pop into my mind.
Adding to the list of great sequences are the young Nathan moments in Colombia where he first met Sully, the chase in Yemen, the desert visions, the ghost town, the horse riding through the desert, and finally, Iram of the Pillars/Ubar. The mythical city is gorgeous, and I was mind blown when the gates of the city opened and I got to see this great interpretation of it.
But.... why the hell does everything that's ancient in this series need to be destroyed, what's up with that? If an Uncharted game was set on an extraterrestrial planet, that planet would be destroyed by the end of the game.
Just like in Uncharted 2, It ruins the ending for me, once again. The entirety of the game you chase the discovery of an ancient mythical city only to destroy it, every fucking time.
Anyway, I really liked the pacing of the story; it probably has the best pacing out of all the Uncharted games. The cast is great with the likes of Nate, Sully, Elena, Chloe, Charlie, and Salim. I especially liked Sully's bond with Nathan, which is central to the story, providing both emotional depth and invaluable support.
That being said, Uncharted 3 is my favorite out of the first three games for its memorable moments and the bit of nostalgia it holds for me. It's a standout entry in the series, filled with thrilling adventures, compelling characters, and unforgettable set pieces.
KIRBY!!! :)
Yeah this game is really good, Kirby games don't usually keep my interest past the first few levels but the levels in this game were really well designed and full of cool new ideas. Kirby's moveset translated perfectly to 3D and the platforming still felt as good as all the 2D games. I was kinda dissapointed by how few copy abilites there were but the upgrades for them added a lot to make them more interesting then they otherwise would be, so it's fine I guess. I'm not a big fan of the story, and usually just opted to skip cutscenes to get right to gameplay, but there was a lot going on in that department so I'm happy for all the Kirby lore enthusiasts that get to eat with this one. And finally the bosses, especially the ones towards the endgame, were actually really sick and sort of difficult, which I thought was really cool for one of these games. I regret not playing much of this when it came out, this game rules and it was a nice change of pace from all the heavier stuff I've been playing lately.
Yeah this game is really good, Kirby games don't usually keep my interest past the first few levels but the levels in this game were really well designed and full of cool new ideas. Kirby's moveset translated perfectly to 3D and the platforming still felt as good as all the 2D games. I was kinda dissapointed by how few copy abilites there were but the upgrades for them added a lot to make them more interesting then they otherwise would be, so it's fine I guess. I'm not a big fan of the story, and usually just opted to skip cutscenes to get right to gameplay, but there was a lot going on in that department so I'm happy for all the Kirby lore enthusiasts that get to eat with this one. And finally the bosses, especially the ones towards the endgame, were actually really sick and sort of difficult, which I thought was really cool for one of these games. I regret not playing much of this when it came out, this game rules and it was a nice change of pace from all the heavier stuff I've been playing lately.
“yeah you might say I’m a bit of a gamer…” (points at 7 different solitaire apps on his phone)
Apple Arcade ranked
Apple Arcade ranked
Moonlighter
2018
The concept for the game should work for me.. but I've picked up other games and avoided Moonlighter on purpose.
I think I enjoy the pixel art a lot, but I don't care for the shop mechanic. It should work in my brain, but I signed audibly as soon as I realized this was a big part of the game.
I'll try it someday again, "but it is not this day".
I think I enjoy the pixel art a lot, but I don't care for the shop mechanic. It should work in my brain, but I signed audibly as soon as I realized this was a big part of the game.
I'll try it someday again, "but it is not this day".