The Inner Sanctum
Halfway Mark
So I have 4 weeks left of my year long course left. I have one major assignment to hand in and two more exams to sit for. All in the space in the next four weeks. I’ll be honest here and state that I’m not too confident on completing the exams. The assignment is straight forward enough. The assignment is mostly research based and can be completed in the remaining 4 weeks, provided I don’t procrastinate between now and then. It’s all so very hectic and stressful. Man I wish it were over and done with. I reckon I might have to return back next year to fix up things that I can foresee stalling my graduation from this course. God damn it all!
Like you don't use this already
Goodies From Steam
Since September, I’ve kinda bought a few games off Steam. Various titles spanning a couple off different genres:
A force of nature
BOINK!
Well, truth be told, since this game is now free on Steam, I didn’t really buy it. This game has to be one of the most fun-filled games ever made. It’s an FPS without trying to be a U.S. war simulator. You pick various classes to play as. The attacking classes are: Scout, Soldier and Pryo for the offensive unit. The defensive classes are: Demoman, Engineer, Heavy and the support classes are: Sniper, Medic and Spy. Classes are but a guideline, just a guideline and each class has particular abilities that don’t make then necessarily better than another class. The core aspect of the game is teamwork. This is something that isn’t so prevalent in modern FPS titles. You can argue with me on this, but that’s another matter altogether. Team Fortress 2 is also played at an extremely high speed to suit the quirky nature of the game. As I said before, this isn’t a U.S. military simulator, e.g. Call of Duty, so you can expect to do some really lulzy shit to happen in this game. Overall, it’s just a well bnalanced, fun, fast paced multiplayer game where you can do awesome shit and laugh about it to your mates afterwards.
Trouble in Paris
Play Dick Tracy
Picked up this guy too. It’s a fairly simple game, a point-and-click game to be precise. You play as a former detective turned artist, trying to make a new, fresh start in Paris. His name is Gus MacPherson, he’s from New York and decided moving to Paris would be a nice sea change. Late one night, he gets a knock at the door and a woman offers him a case. From here, you as the player make MacPherson answer her and various other characters questions by choosing from multiple responses which influence the information that they give you. The game is relatively straight-forward, or at least it is for me so far (I haven’t played it too much) and MacPherson is armed with his trusty notebook, file folder and drawing canvas. I can sort of see how this will play out however; it’ll end up MacPherson won’t be able to trust a single soul and you’ll have to make an accusation based off what information you’ve gathered.
This will make you shit yourself
One Of The Scariest Games You’ll Ever Play
Yeah, this game really throws me for a loop and in multiple instances has had me jump off my chair while playing it. This game is made by indie developer Frictional Games. These guys also made the Penumbra series and it’s sort of in the same vein, but much more bloody creepy in my opinion. You play as a young British man named Daniel. Like the title suggests, he has amnesia and can’t exactly remember all the details about his life and where he currently is. From the first scene of the game, we can already gather we’re in some medieval castle in Europe, somewhere. The game is seen through the eyes of Daniel, a first-person perspective. However, this is not a shooter. You start with no weapons, nor will you come across any. Your best friend is a lantern which requires oil and you can find tinderboxes to light candles along the way. This game is heavy on the atmosphere and plays on the player’s senses. Daniel comes with health and sanity that the player must keep an eye on at all times. Sanity determines Daniels senses and it’s advised you try to stay near light sources to keep it from dropping. The down side to this is that the hideous monsters that prowl around the castle interiors can see Daniel where ever there is light. Thus, the game forces you to choose between staying in the light and darkness. Gameplay wise, each main area requires the player to solve puzzles and engage in fetch quests in order to advance to the next main area all the while dodging and hiding from the monsters in the darkness. My God, when Daniel’s senses start to fail, the feeling of helplessness, urgency and general fear of death are invoked by this game upon the you, the player. It’s made even worse when Daniel starts talking to himself, has trouble running (which is bad when being chased) and starts seeing things he shouldn’t. If your sanity drops below what Daniel can handle he passes out for a period of time. This is good if you want your entire sanity back, not so good if there are monsters about. Long story short, Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a very good game that is genuinely scary and doesn’t rely on blood and gore to do it. It’s atmospheric, mysterious and intriguing. Now if only I’d have the balls to walk down that corridor in the prison…
The precursor to Amnesia
Why You Don’t Travel To The Arctic
Amnesia, having been made after the Penumbra series, owes a lot of its mechanics to its daddy. Penumbra Overture is the first episode to the series, the other episodes being Black Plague and Requiem. Overture chronicles the story of Philip journeying to northern Greenland. Why does he go to northern Greenland? He received a letter from his father that he never really knew and after putting a few clues together, understands his father was up there, doing something. Philip’s curiosity and natural longing to be closer to his father spurs him along to go to northern Greenland. Here he finds himself dropped off at an undisclosed location and is forced to take shelter in an abandoned mine from the harsh Arctic environment. The entrance to the mine collapses and Philip is forced to travel deeper into the mine. What he finds in the depths of this mine is something he’d never expect. Now, Penumbra is virtually the same game as Amnesia, involving puzzle solving, exploration and fetch quests. The main difference is that Philip doesn’t have to worry about losing his mind in the darkness. Instead, his eyes can adjust to the darkness while crouched and provided he stays still. You can also defend yourself against the rabid animals you will encounter in the mine shafts with a rusty hammer and a pickaxe. However, the fact you can assault your attackers doesn’t mean you’re safe from anything either. I never stated you’d be able to outfight kill them. Like its spiritual successor, Penumbra aims to scare and it does so, so very well. Amnesia is the better game in my opinion, but you ought to see how this all came about and Penumbra Overture is where you need to start.
Upon the edge of this life and the afterlife
Being In Limbo Is Seen In Black And White
"Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters LIMBO" is the game’s only description. I stumbled upon this gem very late at night. It was only $9.99 off Steam and it’s a monochromatic 2D platformer. It involves a nameless, young boy who journeys through a forest urban and industrial landscapes and environments, solving puzzles in order to advance further into Limbo. He does meet some other humans, but they will either run away from him or try to kill him. At first, Limbo seems like a fairly tame, innocent, and simple platformer, but when you end up dying you’ll find that the game isn’t so simple straight-forward as you might have first thought. As you venture further throughout the game, the puzzles tend to get more and more complicated; involving pushing crates to reach higher platforms, dodging various obstacles, jumping over pitfalls, pulling levers to activate various things, avoiding strange creatures and other murderous people, etc. Set in black and white and tones in between, LIMBO creates and eerie and foreboding atmosphere. It’s musical score also adds to it and so very appropriately and everything, musically and visually, creates something that really can be called a work of art. If you’re a fan of 2D platforming games, you find LIMBO to be right up your alley.
Wonderland never looked so batshit insane
This Is What You Get When You Pick The Wrong Rabbit Hole
Now this is one title I bought while it was on special. I haven’t actually installed it yet and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a 3D action platformer, so that’s nice. What initially brought me to it is the fact that it’s a children’s tale turned upside down and inside out. It’s gothic appearance is intriguing and I haven’t played an action platformer in a long while. I guess I’ll get along to installing at the end of my monthly allowance and get around to playing it after I’m done with this term.
Redirection, calculation, computation, acceleration, strictly apathy…
After Thoughts
None really. Just got to hope I survive my coming exams and assessment piece. Guess I’ll shove my shameless, self-promoting, mandatory link back to my website here for you lot.
