Game 128 - INK - Week X - Apr 24

NK was a frustrating joy. It's made me realise I am not the biggest fan of precision platformers, which also makes me dread that Super Meatboy is in my backlog. The game itself is a cool concept. You're a white cube on a blank screen. As you double-jump, land or slide, you'll fire out paint splotches of a difference colour each time. This not only paints the level in cool patterns, but also shows you the platforms. The rest of the game is fairly standard stuff across 75 levels. Jump, wall run, dodge projectiles in different levels and puzzles. As I said at the start I did enjoy it, but I was also relieved when I finished it. It's a game that's hard to describe effectively, so instead I'll share some screenshots. 

Game 127 - Fallout - Week X - Apr 24

allout and I go way back. My first experience with this game was second-hand from my cousin. "You're born in a vault and then you leave and explore a destroyed apocalypse." My imagination ran wild. It was a different time when I often didn't have access to games outside of images and magazines; building up the hype, crafting what these games were in my mind, often for years before I eventually had the chance to play them. World of Warcraft, Warhammer (tabletop) and Fallout 3 all fit that category.  I was also coming off the PS2 eras, where open-world RPGs were still a foreign concept to me. At the time I didn't have access to an Xbox 360 or good PC, but that didn't stop me from trying. I downloaded Fallout through a not so legal means. But it was not what I expected. Yes you started in a vault and left into the wastes, but it was an isometric CRPG. When I showed it to my cousin he said "Yes, this has all the trappings of Fallout but its not first person". I would later realise that I was playing a leaked version of the cancelled Fallout 3, "Project Van Buren". Eventually I was able to hire a copy and play it on my brothers Xbox 360 and then finally got the GOTY edition on my PS3. I immediately fell in love and was obsessed. However over a decade later and two sequels, I can still consider my first Fallout experience to be the classic formula, even if I didn't delve too deep. I've tried to go back to Fallout 1 and 2 but I was unable adjust. The lure of exploring the wasteland in first person with complete freedom, was a hard contrast against the dated graphics, harsh wasteland, unintuitive SPECIAL system, isometric gameplay with only one controllable character and an overworld map replacing the open-world I was used to. But after watching the Fallout series like many others I decided to give it another go, and I fell in love all over again. 

I can see why this was charming to so many for its time. I've grown to love this style of sprite art and few games did it as well as Fallout. Command & Conquer and Stronghold are chief among them, but not many others. From the very intro the Fallout universe is born, and the theme hasn't changed much. The stark reality of a dying world onset by war, where a steel US soldier stands over a Canadian and executes him, in the name of annexing Canada for solidarity. It's a tone for the wasteland, but this is offset by the humour, the pip-boy and the cartoons. The 50s style fashion, technology and music is all here from the very start. The Ink Spots will be carried through the entire series and they start strong with "Maybe" in the intro. I Don't Want to Set The World Set on Fire also gets a brief reference in a bar later on. The items, characters, creatures and towns feel unique and well written. The wasteland as it has been in all iterations is the most important character. The story is as follows; Vault 13 water chip has broken and you have 150 days to fix it. Your first encounter is the infamous cave of rats, which many a dweller did not pass. Then you set off with nothing but a pistol. The first civilisation you ever come across is the surprisingly friendly Shady Sands, a charming town that is often harassed and needs your help. After dealing with their scorpion problem and striking south you find Junktown and the Hub. As the name suggests its here you'll travel East and find Necropolis, full of Ghouls and mutants. You'll help them repair their water system, or doom them and take their water chip with disregard. To the south is Boneyard, the remnants of LA full of gangs and other nutjobs. Most importantly is the Brotherhood of Steel, where you'll find your very own power armour. The combat feels very satisfying with all the hallmarks of a good CRPG, choosing the right build and weapons to flesh out your character feels satisfying when the end result has you feeling like a badass. This is the first Fallout I remember playing where items actually feel scarce, traders have little to trade and often don't have enough caps to by the minigun or plasma rifle, requiring bartering for other items instead (which they sell at a desperate mark up). It makes the wasteland feel barren and desperate, as it should. Something I wish the later games didn't lose. The economy feels far more alive, certain traders will pay more for certain items and sell others for less. A gun store will sell ammo cheaper than a doctor, and vice versa. Everyone carries items which you can barter for. All these add to the immersion and make the world feel more alive, something I wish the games held onto. After ditching the 10mm I was rolling around with a desert eagle and 10mm SMG most the game, which I found hilarious. The 10mm SMG with the bloody mess perk was an absolute maniacal treat. Often tearing people apart in a visceral meat chunk animation and sound effect as I cackled with joy. In a similar fashion I moved on from my Vault 13 jump suit, to some leather armour and eventually combat armour in full road warrior style. After I joined the Brotherhood and donned my Power Armour, Plasma Rifle (exact copy of the caster in FNV) and Plasma pistol, I felt like an absolute iron monster. I went to a fight for survival to attacks barely hurting me outside of critical hits and I had enough agility at that point to fire three shots, liquifying any foes in another satisfying animation that reminded me of Raiders of the Lost Ark.  

So much of the what made the series iconic started here and has been maintained; the perks, the weapons and armour, the fashion and style. It feels especially similar to FNV down to the feeling of the criss-crossed streets in the Hub and the Brotherhood of Steel with it's metal vents and circular doors, almost feeling 1:1. You might say, "well of course its made by the same people". Well yes, but not to this degree, and typically not over sequels. The consistency here is awesome and makes the entire legacy of games all the more impressive. The enemies are another surprise. radscorpians, radroaches, robobrains, super mutants, ghouls, deathclaws, they all started here. 

You can see how some of the future games iterated, as this game isn't perfect. Certain skills aren't as useful as others. I'm not sure what's the point of Doctor, as I don't think I ever got crippled. Medicine made it obsolete as I pumped myself with stims. Speech clearly had an effect in some conversations as you saw the character pause and wait, computing your speech skill against their insight, before giving a response. But its applicability seemed very sparse and they don't show you when it will take effect. Perhaps they were going for immersion, it "effects all speech", but it did not work. On the other hand I love how some of the stats had an effect on how you can approach the world. If you're intelligence is less than three you straight up can't join the brotherhood. Many quests can't be progressed because you're too dumb to figure out. While less creative then Fallout New Vegas I do love the commitment. I like how intelligence effects speech and your ability to make a rational argument. 

Finally is the story. First off the pacing is perfect. It starts with a basic, you must save Vault 13 by finding a water chip. The perfect story in an open-world game; "we need something, go figure it out", leaving to explore the wasteland at your own pace. Bethesda should take notes, something I've said the masters of explorations, who are terrible at main stories and plots should instead do. Let the world be the story, before letting a larger story unfold if you so choose. After you meet various factions and restore the water chip, you're told there's a new threat. Mutants are multiplying at a unnatural rate and the overseer fears someone is creating them. I already new this because I was captured by them, which I had to reload because the base is only beatable at higher levels. Not sure why they made it so you could be captured at lower levels, just kill me and get it over with. But it is cool if your sneak is high enough you could blow the base up at like level 3. Before you meet Brotherhood or enter Boneyard. Finally you find the source, under the creepy cult cathedral in Boneyard is a new vault. Here the denizens all merged into a super computer refereed to as Master. Master believes in unity through mutations, and anyone in the way must perish. Evolving beyond the human race and radiated wasteland, while removing warring factions in one fell swoop. Classic AI move. In the encounter Master blinds you with his psychic powers, reducing perception to 1, so I had to reload and go find a nullifier. In the end I didn't have to face off against the overseer's dual gating guns as I convinced him the mutants were sterile! "What do you mean?" "I just asked my doctors and they assure me everything is perfectly normal". Have you asked any of the females? "No... hold on. Oh god you're right...". Absolutely amazing. I'm sorry Mass Effect I was wrong, you weren't in fact the first to have an end boss die via silver tongue. No wonder this boss is so hyped up, from the presentation to his motives and the multiple ways to end him, he's such an interesting concept in 2024 let alone the 90s. Finally you return to your people, only to be turned away from the Overseer. He sees you as a threat whom his people will follow into the wasteland. To my surprise the Vault Dweller turned him into pulp as he turned his back. I googled why and it turns out this happens if you have bad or neutral karma, or the blood mess perk. So that's funny. Implying I'm some kind of psychopath or have a bad temper. I always heard Fallout 2 was the GOAT and 1 was dated, but I'm not so sure that holds up. The pacing is absolutely perfect here in a tight 20 hour adventure. Reading online it seems people look more fondly back on this one, with a more cohesive story and less pop-culture references. I can't wait to play, Fallout 1 is going to be hard to top. 

Game 126 - The Adventures of Van Helsing II - Week X - Apr 24

an Helsing II,  I'm sorry - I messed up. Well not entirely, let me explain. I still felt a bit of an ARPG itch after Van Helsing 2 and decided to see if the sequel improved in a major way. My first impressions were not good. The game isn't so much of a "true" sequel and more of a part 2. The skills from level 1-30 (the cap from the prior game) are exactly the same. While some new enemies are introduced, and thankfully the UFO is rarely used, the graphics and levels are exactly the same. Other than one daytrip to a frosty mountain, you don't venture to a new locale and instead explore new districts of the same city; defending it from the big bad General Harker, leader of Frankenstein's army. In the rubble of your the first games finall boss fight you find Prison Seven. A specimen of the previous mad scientist who has been merged with the Ink, gaining control of it. The enigmatic figure is helpful, but the writing is so on the nose that he's not to be trusted and is going to betray you. Trying to get you to steal power for yourself at every turn, and that's exactly how the game ends. The tower defence returns here but is thankfully much shorter. A new mechanic that I always enjoy in games since I first experience in AC: Brotherhood is the mission hub. Command and train special teams to go on ops and help change the course of the war in favour of your resistance. Unfortunately it's little more than a dumping ground for your spare gold; in return receiving gold and the occasional item. The cutscenes are appreciated, even if they're a little outdated and redundant, like the rest of the story. You can see how they've come considering how food they are in WH40k Inquisitor Martyr. I don't think I mentioned the voice acting in my first review but I think it's fantastic; especially for Helsing and Katarina. Again, equally phenomenal in Inquisitor Martyr. 

Overall I was ready to write this series off entirely, and power through to the end skipping all side content.  All this was compounded by the fact that I had to level through the exact same skills from level 1, or so I thought. As it turns out you can import you character, a feature the game does a terrible job of letting you know about. So after too many hours tinkering with the Steam Deck to try and get the import to work on Linux, I finally had the idea of installing the games on my PC so I could sync the saves and create a new character. Once I did this I was ready to throw away my level 18 imposter and pick up where I left off from the first game. And to my surprise I enjoyed it. Not only do they bring over all your loot, giving it a much more seamless feel but they improve all the skills and look. The skills no longer feel like arbitrary number increases, an experience familiar to anyone who has used Excel. Instead now they have unique abilities that allow for much more creative build craft. The first ability I got was one that splits the bullet, which I could upgrade to pierce more enemies and split more. It also had frost and would freeze them, awesome. Compound this with a new ability that has a knockback affect to keep the elites at bay and now we're cooking. I never got rid of the poison shot with it's vulnerable because I love and it's just too useful; not to mention its good for the tiny hordes of rates, bats and more. By the end of the game I had a shot that would explore into a thousand ice shards, cutting down and freezing the hordes; while Hex shot would continuously increase an enemies vulnerability, and stack. By end game, these skills in combination with insane gear and stats in the hundreds had me at DPS of 5000 and hitting crits as high as 20k. The game always scaled well as well and just fulfilled that loot porn power fantasy to round of the game. It was the complete antithesis to the first game, which had dreadful scaling. 

The new skills almost singlehandedly redeem the gameplay, I just wish I was able to use more.

The enemies also improved a lot with cyborg ghouls, floating steampunk octopuses and more. Even though we ended on a high note, I had more than enough of my fill to continue with Van Helsing 3. I was sick of two games of Borgovia and being limited to five abilities, which really holds the game back as it did WH40k Inquisitor Martyr. My curiosity to see where Prison Seven goes is mild at best, the story does not hold any of my attention, and considering the third game has mixed reviews and the first two weren't really my cup of tea despite having positive reviews; I'd hate to see how bad that one is. Instead I think I'll end it here and see the conclusion to his journey elsewhere.

Game 125 - The Adventures of Van Helsing - Week X - Apr 24

he Adventures of Van Helsing Is a game that immediately felt familiar. The limited abilities you can use at any one time. The incredibly basic skills that have very little variety or creativity, resulting in a repetitive gameplay loop. After googling the developer, NeoCore, I now realise that's because it's the same developer who made WH40k Inquisitor - Martyr. A game that while I enjoyed overall for its realization of the 40k world and its enemy design, it also lacked depth and variety in its gameplay. While I enjoyed Helsing in parts, particularly towards the centre, overall my 13 hours spent as Abraham Van Helsing, and his ghostly companion Katarina was mediocre at best. The variety of the skills go as far as attack adds AOE, attack adds rapid fire, attack adds elemental damage, and some very uninspired skills like a lightning bolt (basically no different to the poison or cold shot), a fireball and a beam attack. Compare this to Abraham's great uncle, the Necromancer from Diablo 2 preceding him more than 10 years, he could summon a variety of creatures, or rely entirely on curses to debuff and damage enemies, or use a spell casting kit that had a creative spin in the form of firing bones at your enemy, or mix any of the above in a viable way. There are some interesting abilities like slow time or the mana shield but the rest are basically passive buffs, this extends to the loot, with no unique abilities, a mistake that ARPGs often fall into when they forget what that the A stands for Action. On top of this the game punishes you for experimenting. I tried to split build sword and gun, and was getting absolutely steam rolled before in Act 2. So I swapped to just guns, dex but still tried different abilities like lightning, cold shot and the beam. They all sucked. So in the end I ended up with a build that used poison shot that made enemies vulnerable to other attacks and just blasted them down with single shot or groups with an AOE explosive shot. The most boring reductive build I could ever imagine. I couldn't even find any good dual six-shooters, instead the only good guns were rifles. Being a dual wielding, spell slinging monster slayer was the main thing about this game (essentially the front cover) that appealed to me, and I was robbed of even that. By the end even this wasn't enough to kill the bullet sponge enemies as I'd backpedal, shoot, backpedal, shoot often half way across the map. Before wandering back to where I was and repeating. This is on normal difficulty by the way... In the end I was so sick of this formula and discovered the lamest most annoying uninspired enemy in the game, a flying saucer jelly fish like enemies that shoot lightning on you and kill you quick smart, that I found myself just waltzing through all the enemies, taking the death, and ghost walking until I got to the next area. On top of this the final boss was incredibly lame. The mech was pretty cool but not really what I expect to fight as Van Helsing the vampire slayer. In fact I don't think I killed a single vampire in this game, what the hell... But the boss mad scientist flabbergast or whatever his name was, would also send his worst creation at you, dozens of jelly saucers. I ended up having to destroy all of the monster closets that would spawn them, the towers that heal him, and the wolf cages before taking him down. But he got bugged twice and was stuck mid-death from above, which seemed to happen when I triggered slow mo as he did it. Grrrr how has this not been cleaned up. It was an unfortunate shitty cherry to top a game I was happy to power through and immediately uninstall. 

There are a few positives worth mentioning. The art style is fantastic for its time, really evoking the Eastern Europe feeling of the Van Helsing movie. Whether it be the dark polish forest or the medieval cities. The enemies initially feel familiar after playing the polish inspired Witcher series, like the Rusalka. This was the case at least in the initial forest and swamp. Once you reach the city you're swarmed by the black plague, that is rats and ratmen. This immediately reminded me of another game for the second time, evoking an ARPG copy-cat of Vermintide. The models are carbon copies down to the the muskets the ranged enemies carry and the acid throwers "Igor" slug around. The abominations you encounter later are clearly meant to be Nurgle demons. The city itself also feels similar to the Old World. I wonder if they intended for this to be a licensed game, at the very least they're huge fans. So props to the art team for those enemy designs as they're fantastic, another credit to when I played Martyr. But unfortunately this ends when you get to the last area that have generic steamborg frankenstein enemies. Finally ending in the saucers and robots which I've already given such "glowing" praise. It seems the creative steam ran out after they stopped looking at The Witcher and Warhammer, and I wished they didn't, as those creatures were much more enjoyable to slaughter. Overall I did not enjoy The Adventures of Van Helsing, and I hope his second quest takes some huge leaps to improve upon the first game. 

The environments evoke some interesting folk designs.

Game 124 - The Last Campfire - Week X - Apr 24

he Last Campfire surprised me. I had no expectations going into it but first impressions were not good, in fact I thought it was incredibly dull, falling asleep while playing in the middle of the day. I'm not really a puzzle game guy and at first there seemed to be nothing special like there is in Portal to draw me in. But it was short and so I put on my speed running boots and decided to power through it. I'm not sure when it was, but the game charmed me over. The game is very whimsical and the characters have a cartoony ember like manner to them. The world and art itself just has a very wholesome feel to it that's very inviting. Whether it be the narrator who describes the blue ember (main character) going down a slide only to end up face first in mud, but the ember doesn't care because it was fun. Or perhaps its the pig who you can lure with an apple, waddling over to a blockade of brambles guarded by a ember-eating plant, shoving the apple in its fly trap and watching the pig wrestle it to death and clearing you a path in doing so. The gameplay is what won me over in the end. It has some light adventure mechanics like finding a net, getting a fishermen to repair and then using it to fish up another item a character requires to progress. But the bread and butter of course is the puzzles. The story is somewhat dystopian, the lands are no longer liveable and your kind, embers, are on a pilgrimage to find a new land, the last campfire so to speak. In your journey you'll come across embers who are forlorn, essentially they've lost hope and died. So for each of them you must travel inside and retrieve their fire of hope by completing the puzzles, at which point they return to your campfire ready to progress with you. The puzzles are simple, short and enjoyable, never overstaying their welcome. Each one is unique and there is always a satisfaction to completing them. As you recover the fire of a ember, they'll join you at your camp. Once you've recovered all seven in an area, you're ready to move on to the next area. Working your way through an area and recovering each ember one by one feels so rewarding. As you travel you'll notice the red ember (to your blue) in the distance, watching you. Eventually you'll come across the bird people and the Forest King. They're obviously embers puppeteering the birds and they want to keep the others in their walled garden and you from progressing into the dangerous wastelands. As you travel you find notes from the Wanderer's journal. In the end this all turns out to be the red ember, who has trail blazed the rest and found nothing, except other forlorn embers and no hope. So the red ember tried to create a sanctuary and stop others progressing. As you defy this he fails and the little hope he had was gone. You convince him all hope is not lost and you progress together with the other embers. The game ends as you leave the last campfire into a new world. A world that had been foreshadowed throughout the game by a mysterious map with a labyrinth ending in a large ember symbol, paradise? As the game pans up to roll credits, it would have been nice to see a beautiful landscape and bountiful world but instead it fades to black. Oh well, it was still a wonderfully charming game to play. 

      

Game 123 - Ori and the Blind Forest - Week X - Apr 24

ri and the Blind Forest. If there was one word to describe this game it would be wholesome. In the same vein of old school Disney or Ghibli, it paints a mystical fantasy landscape with whimsical animal like characters. The backdrop of nature spirits reminds me of Ghibli, and the Kodoma from Princess Mononoke. The intro was infamous for making people cry, it was heart touching in the same way the Pixar greats were like Toy Story, Ice Age and Monsters Inc. The spirit tree, heart of the forest, loses one if its children Ori, and this is adopted and nurtured by a forest spirit Naru. Without Ori however the tree begins to decay and so does the forest. Without any food Naru dies, leaving its last food to Ori. Queue waterworks now. So Ori sets off on its heroes adventure to restore the spirit tree and heal the the blind forest. I had already played the start of of the original game years ago, prior to the definitive edition. So this segment didn't hit hard this time but I do remember tearing up when I originally played it. In fact this was the last entry on the list of games I attempted to finish previously and got pulled away. Moving on everything I play is an entirely fresh start.

        

The watercolour art style and backdrops that make up the forest are absolutely the star of this game. They're beautiful whether decayed spider caverns and volcanic blasted forests or flourishing valleys and crystal lakes and every part of it oozes pristine charm. It makes the holistic adventure of restoring the forest all the more satisfying when a dead lake comes to life which you can now swim in. The forest has three biomes with multiple areas you must work your way through to restore. It's also a clever way to embed metroidvania mechanics. Restore the rivers and you now have swimmable sections, unlock the valley and you now have winds that can carry you to new heights. Along your adventure you'll be accompanied by Sein, an agent of the spirit tree that empowers you, serving as both your ability tree and guide. The skill tree itself is fairly basic, upgrade health, pickups, attacks, reduce damage. But there are a few game changing mechanics like triple jump or air dash that have huge utility. As Sein guides you through the forest you'll be hunted by Koru, an owl that lost its children in the decay and blames the spirit tree, seeking to destroy it and its agents out of revenge. Another central character is Gomu, a creepy cute little fur ball with legs that originally steals the spirt energy but in the end uses it to revive Naru. In the climax you're cornered by Koru, but Naru shields Ori, giving Koru images of its own children it failed to protect. In the end Koru realises its folly as the forest begins to burn down and endangers its last child, it sacrifices itself to restore the spirt tree and save the forest. The game ends with the forest blooming among the ashes and a little family of Ori, Naru, Gomu and Koru's egg cracking. 

The gameplay is mostly platforming with some combat that involves telegraphing different enemies types and spamming Sein. The enemies are quite interesting from slimes that split to toads that spit their bile at you. The game combat opens up more once you gain the slingshot ability that lets you launch off and redirect enemies, lanterns or some projectiles. This leads to my biggest criticism, the d-pad. I always play platformers with the d-pad. Ori however is a game that requires full 360 degree precision in your movement especially when it comes to the slingshot. Not only this but trying to use the d-pad straight up does not work. Up + Right to move North East will only send you in that direction 1 in 5 times. So when my preference is this poorly implemented mechanic a lot of frustration ensued for an hour or two. The gameplay thankfully picked up again when I eventually ditched the d-pad entirely in favour of the analog stick. Now I have no issue with their design choice not working optimally with the d-pad. However if this is the case, just don't allow me to use it and force me to get used to the analog stick early on and not have to switch over half way through. Beyond this the gameplay is fantastic and chaining together wall runs, sling shots, double and triple jumps together to pull of an intense platforming section is always deeply gratifying and a joy to look at as you do. The game finds new puzzles to throw at you that fit each area perfectly and keeps you on your toes the whole way through. Overall it's a beautiful game and I'm glad I finally got back to finishing it.