Archive for Games

Review: Outlast 2 (Video Game)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2018 by Lilliandra Winters

Developer: Red Barrel Studios
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Release Date: April 25th, 2017

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Lets take a minute to appreciate how truly fucked up Outlast is. It’s full of some twisted shit and when I thought it couldn’t get worse, they gave us some messed up DLC. Thank fuck that’s over! Outlast 2 was like, hold my beer.

The problem with sequels is that you have an expectation. It isn’t the new, never-seen-before experience of the first one. So keeping this in mind, Outlast 2 seems to have upped the ante. Also giving it an American Horror Story feel the second game, with only subtle nods to the first game, gives it a completely different concept. You are a different character in a different part of the world.

outlast_2_launch_screen_7Blake and Lynn are flying in a helicopter, making their way to investigate a woman that was found wondering down a stretch of highway, barefoot and pregnant. She is later murdered under suspicious circumstances. Your helicopter crashes and bursts into flames. Lynn is missing, but your camera is intact, so you pick it up and start to make your way in the darkness looking for her. You see a man tied to a tree and gutted, you see a town in the distance and make your way towards it.

Outlast 2 jumps into pushing limits. It was really interesting to see what they did to the game after the the demo. They incorporated a lot, but not everything, and there were some distinct differences between the two. The ‘flashbacks’ unlock a story from Black’s past about his friend, Jessica, and what happened to her. It has some correlation to what is currently happening, but why it’s happening is pretty fucked up.

I will warn you, there is a LOT to follow in this game: cults, zealots, STDs, a prophet, murder and your past. That’s just the tip of this disturbing iceberg. It’s a lot of information to keep straight, but completely worth it when you do. Outlast 2 is a wonderful reminder of the depravity that lurks in the dark.

I don’t know why you are still reading this. If you haven’t played Outlast & Outlast: Whistle Blower go play then and jump straight into Outlast 2. Here’s hoping you have a strong stomach.

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Left 4 Dead 1 & 2

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , on October 27, 2017 by Lilliandra Winters

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Dev/Pub: Valve
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox360
Released: November 17th 2008 & November 17th 2009

Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 are by far two of the best games out there, in my opinion. I’m shocked I haven’t reviewed it as of yet. I’ve played the hell out of this game and just have some achievements to work on.

727f9a52112d14ec1d07dd712fe2d9b0f36e306b_hqNow here we will talk about that line of what people consider horror. Horror purists will say that it isn’t a horror game if you can fight back. They prefer game in which you can’t fight back, like Outlast, and will argue that if you can fight it is action and not truly horror no matter what you are fighting. I say, fuck that. If a zombie, demon or crazy lost wife in some backwater hillbilly mansion is trying to rip your intestines from your body, it’s horror.

Now, back to the game. Each episode has a movie poster and you are starring as one of four characters. In the first game it’s Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey. In the second it’s Coach, Ellis, Nick and Rochelle. I will point out that in the second game you (at least on PC) you have access to all of the episodes from the first game and it’s characters. However you can only play the characters appropriate to the mission, meaning you can’t play L4D characters in L4D2 episodes and vice versa.

left2b42bdead2b22bmonsterSo the story, it’s the zombie apocalypse, you’ve met 3 strangers and have banded together to try and make it out alive. This is a FPS survival horror game. You are equipped with a pistol that has infinite ammo and you can pick up various weapons you find. The weapon list isn’t long but can be entertaining. You have machine guns, rifles, machetes, frying pans, grenades, Molotov cocktails and more. However, any gun that isn’t a pistol has a limited ammo supply.  You have first aid kits, pain pills, adrenaline shots and even defibrillators to keep your character going. All this with a variety of dead things to attempt to kill you. From your normal zombies that run to your specials. Tank, Smoker, Boomer, Jockey, Spitter, Hunter, Charger and the damned Witch that will ruin your day fast. All of them horrible and deadly in their own right but when these bitches gang up on you while the normal zombies keep coming, it’s down right infuriating.

Now this is a game without end, sorry for spoilers but it’s literally about surviving. This isn’t looking for the cure or the reason it’s just surviving which is one of the reasons that I love it so much. It’s you verses them, that’s it. Get you and your friends out. I’m sure that doesn’t sound exciting to everyone but they add so much to such simplicity. It’s hard to get everyone out alive when a smoker has your buddy dangling off the edge of a building, strangling them while you’ve got a zombie hoard at your back that the AI or your friends is trying to deal with. It’s constant team work or cursing at the AI for being stupid. You always have a full party of 4 with you and if it isn’t your friend it’s the computer.

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Bottom line, it’s an amazing game that immerses you. I always get caught up in it and

find myself yelling, laughing and dying often. Oh and if you thought that the game was over once you did all the episodes, you are mistaken. After that, you get to go into verses matches. Play maps as the survivors or the special zombies mentioned above. Great for up to 8 people. Trash talking strongly encouraged.

What do you think? Have you played it and loved it, hated it? Interested? It’s available on Steam.

Huge Left 4 Dead Fan? There is a Fan Movie Left 4 Dead – The Movie, I’ll review that soon.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/112665788

 

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Review: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2016 by Lilliandra Winters

Game by: Michael Lutz
Platform: PC

The Uncle who Works for Nintendo is a weird choose-your-own-adventure horror indie game. Unlike most games that I adore, this is visual novel. I avoid these like the plague since they’re not as interactive as I’d like video games to be.

What’s it about?
Diving into it, you are a kid sleeping over at your best friend’s house. You have dinner with his parents, play video games with your buddy and unravel the weirdest tale possible.

What did I think?
The artwork is sketched backgrounds, beautifully simple and effective, with a few sound effects and some creepy atmosphere that only intensifies the incredible story. A story about a night at your best friend’s house and their uncle who works at Nintendo.

I’m not going to go into the story, but it’s perfectly written and free, so I urge you to play. It has 5 endings and a hidden one that takes some work to get to, but I have faith in you. You’ll get it.

It’s incredibly creepy, completely worth your time and very, very creepy pasta.

Maybe I need to stop giving visual novels a bad wrap?

Do I recommend it?
Play it, thank me or yell at me. Tell me what you think.

WintersOver4

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Review: Dead End Road (Video Game)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2016 by Lilliandra Winters

Dev: DDD Wares
Release Date: July 8, 2016

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What the fuck? So, nevermind that the graphics are old school pixels, I don’t care about that. Some amazing games are pixel-based. I even enjoy the premise: you are trying to complete a dark ritual to achieve your ultimate goal. I’m down. Deal with the devil. Crossroads pact. I get it. How you are magically teleported across the county is confusing, but okay, I’m trying to follow your logic here. So, you have to drive to different cities to find a book, a bell and a candle and something to light them with? Okay, I’m still with you.

Why the hell does the middle feel like a driving simulator from hell? I get the point, it is very obviously a challenge to make sure you are worthy or have the strength of whatever cliche you want to throw at me. That’s fine, but it could make a little more sense. It could be structured better. It would be amazing if every time you screwed up, you didn’t have to start the whole fucking game over again! What bullshit is that? You could just start at the last town back or something like that instead of having to start the whole annoying process over again, especially since the last drive makes going to hell seem like a simple task.

And please don’t get me wrong, I am all for hard. Make me work for it, don’t just hand me the ending, I want to earn it. By the time you finally get to the end of this game, you would rather throw your computer out the window because that would feel a shit load more satisfying. It took every ounce of my being to not type that out all in caps and I am sure you appreciate that I didn’t, but HOLY SHIT did it feel impossible and anti-climatic when the game was finally beat. Two of the endings I encountered were both disappointing and making me wish for all that time back.

Let me know what you think. Am I utterly wrong or filled with righteous rage quit?

WintersOver4

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Review: Outlast 2 Demo (VIDEO GAME)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 19, 2016 by Lilliandra Winters

Developer: Red Barrels
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Release Date: October

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Firstly, I have never played Outlast, so jumping head first into the demo for the sequel was interesting.

This demo throws creepy at you from the start. You are one of two investigative journalists following up on the murder of a pregnant woman, Jane Doe.

The first thing I noticed, besides the stellar graphics, was the fact that you are using a camcorder. I know it has been used in other games before, but it is still a wonderful mechanic. The night vision afforded by the camera is both helpful and eerie, creating a more terrifying environment than you can imagine. One thing I love, which apparently is an addition in this sequel, is the camcorder’s ability to determine if sounds are coming from the right or left of you, which I am sure will be instrumental when hiding.

You are wondering around in the woods, after your transportation crashed, looking for your counterpart. You come across a ‘town’ in the black of night, which is where the night vision comes in. Exploring this ‘town,’ you come across dead bodies, a load of flies (well done on the insects), screaming, talking and people walking about in the creepiest fucking manor possible. It looks so incredibly cult-like that you feel you have some idea what’s going on.

That is, until you are dragged into a well.

This lands you in an air duct that drops you in a school? What the hell. Walking down the halls of a school at night is enough to fill your nightmares, but they found a way to make it worse. Running from things you can’t see, lockers opening and slamming closed (don’t forget to keep getting batteries for your camcorder). There are enough jump scares to give you heart problems. I do love how, when things get really intense, you get all out of sorts, just like in Amnesia.

You are thrown back into the ‘town’ that you previously escaped from, as if you are in shifting realities. Running from what I can only imagine are rednecks from hell, you stumble through a cornfield, trying to hide and escape all at the same time. The cornfield was an amazing touch and stirred all my memories of Children of the Corn in a wonderful way.

Of course, horror games throw rules out the windows. So, I am interested in seeing how the shifting realities pans out in the long run. It could be an amazing way to keep you on your toes or rip the rug right out from under you repeatedly. It seems that, in the ‘town,’ your enemy is the people, but, in the school, there is this unknown force that is chasing you. I know not every demo reflects how the finished game runs and they want to give you the best bits of the game and keep you salivating for more; however, the ending of the demo is amazing and a must see.

Outlast 2 is due out in October of this year. I’m sure we will catch more of a glimpse at E3. Right now, I have to check out Outlast.

WintersOver4

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Review: Notes of Obsession (Video Game)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2016 by Lilliandra Winters

Developer: Creaky Stairs Studios
Platform: PC

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Notes of Obsession is a short horror game for the PC. For a short game, about 30 minutes, it is so incredibly detailed. The stage is your own home and you are the wife/mom. Doors are slamming, there’s creepy laughing, and mysterious music on a dark and stormy night. The details of the house are so painstaking, from textures to the house knick knacks, that I was immediately impressed. We definitely can’t forget the horror elements of flashing lights, wet walls and each bump in the night.

Wondering around the house, you find a music box that, combined with demonic symbols, makes this one hell of a ride. Throwing jump scares at you like Halloween candy with some definite Silent Hills inspired elements, this is worth your time if you are looking for a good scare.

For such a short game, I don’t want to spoil too much so you have to go play it yourself; however I do have an end theory.

Either way, go play the game, come back and tell me what you thought, if you agree with my theory and more games you want me to check out.
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SPOILERS: I believe that the dagger is a cursed object that was brought into the home and took over the son while the father was out. I feel that, at the end, it is indeed the son. However, this isn’t confirmed. It’s just my theory.

WintersOver4

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Silent Hills PT (Video Game)

Posted in Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 31, 2015 by Lilliandra Winters

Silent Hills Playable Trailer
Available: Never for Nothing

Silent Hills is a (cancelled) horror game by Konami. Not to be confused with Silent Hill, this game was to be directed by Guillermo del Toro, the man behind Pacific Rim, Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labrynth and Hellboy among others. Of course, he has been quoted that the cancellation is ‘fucking stupid’ and I couldn’t agree with him more.

This trailer takes place in a hallway with one room and features all sorts of “Nope” and “Fuck That.” You know very little about this game, so little that people have found it impossible to complete. With a little help from the interwebs and that poor soul that figured it out the first time, it can be completed.

You’re away in a barren basement and, upon exiting the room, you stand at the end of an L-shaped hallway. There is plenty to see in, what appears to be, a normal hallway in a normal house. The radio crackles to life and reports of a man who killed his wife, carrying her unborn child, and then hung himself. Their child hid in the bathroom. You have no idea why you are here or what you are supposed to do. Other than surviving, that is.

You are gift-wrapped an experience of jump scares, creepy stories, sounds, a baby crying at 3am and you don’t have a baby, horrific scenes and amazing graphics. The puzzles become increasingly more difficult and you are given little choice but to continue. After all the work you do, you finally escape only to realize two horrible things. That was just the introduction to the game. A game that you will never get the chance to play.

I’ve seen some terrifying horror before and this jumps right to the top for me. Everything about it screams amazing and that you will never sleep again for as long as you live.

You also break nearly every single one of our rules.

I say go forth and play the trailer! If you can find it. It’s been pulled. I see there are some fan sites out there that have recreated it for the PC.

Ah, Norman Reedus, it looks like I will never play you.

Sleep Tight

WintersOver4

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