What I've Been Playing

I've always flirted with the Souls series, unfortunately for me the Souls series was not reciprocating my advances, joyfully laughing in my face as it's infamous difficulty left me reeling. But I'm nothing if not persistent. And by god I finally cracked the code. I've been enjoying the series more than I ever thought possible and have become a huge fan and advocate for newbies along the way. Scholar of the First Sin is an HD remaster of sorts except unsatisfied with a simple up-res and frame rate bump, Scholar of the First Sin rebalances the entire game changing around enemy placement, increasing the difficulty of various enemies and bosses and even mixing up item placements to make things more difficult, both for returning players who thought the game was too easy and as a fitting introduction for those new to the series and eager to experience the games notorious difficulty.

At the time of its release Dark Souls II got a lot of flak for being easier than it's predecessors and for generally poor level and boss design. A lot of this was attributed to the replacement of the series original director, who has since been reinstated as director for every game since. Scholar of the First Sin does its best to address a lot of peoples criticisms and for the most part succeeds. Unfortunately a lot of the games problems require a complete overhaul, but for what was changed it has drastically improved on the game, at least to my memories. Bosses are still the worst in the series, outside of a select few most bosses can be beaten with the exact same tactic, staying very close, strafing around to doge attacks, when you see an opening, strike two or three times, rinse and repeat. It's the most disappointing aspect of the game, made worse by the games legacy of ridiculously difficult and inventive bosses.

But in all other ways Scholar of the First Sin succeeds brilliantly, the rebalance makes things harder early on but it serves to train you for how quickly the game becomes even more difficult. The games runs perfectly smooth with zero slowdown or hitches of any kind, important in a series where timing and person can cost or win you a fight. Add in all the fantastic DLC, which improved on some of the criticism post launch, and you have another worthy entry into this grueling and surprisingly popular series.

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Holy crap, Undertale is why I love what has happened with video games these past few years. Here is one of the most unique, mind-blowingly innovative, hilariously written, games of the entire year and it came out of nowhere, no fanfare or announcement it just sorta popped up on Steam and took everyone by surprise. Undertale is an RPG modeled after classic NES games of the genre, more specifically Earthbound. Except Undertale is deceptively simple, brimming with minute details and depth it will take years for players to discover everything this game has hidden. 

What makes Undertale unique and it's sort of a spoiler or at least I would suggest if you're at all interest in this game from my beaming introduction just go play it and discover the magic on your own. But what makes Undertale unique is that it's an RPG with random encounters, items, leveling, all the things you would expect, except you can complete the game without killing a single enemy, without leveling up once. It works like this, when you encounter and enemy you enter a battle mode, as you would expect, but there is one option on the battle screen labeled 'TALK', hit it and you'll be given a few options, and they are not what you'd expect. Maybe you'd like to 'Flirt' with the 'Curvaceous Beetle' or 'Bully' the 'Ghost with Low Self-Esteem', what results is not only funny but down right devious as you try to avoid enemy attacks all the while trying to talk an enemy down enough to 'Spare' them. 

But it doesn't stop there, enemies will still attempt to attack you while you "Whisper Sweet Nothings' into their ear or 'Insult' their mother. And when they do Undertale reveals another innovation, instead of an unavoidable attack your heart is displayed on the screen and using the arrow keys you can control it's movement. Enemies will throw various things at your heart and it's your job to navigate the minefield of obstacles to avoid taking damage. It's almost like a small mini-game within the battle system. 

And that's just the combat, or lack thereof. The game has adventure elements as you need to navigate dialogue options, find items, and diligently explore to progress. Again I don't want to delve too deep into what makes Undertale such an incredible game suffice to say it's a game that offers an experience unlike any other and it's well worth trying out yourself.

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SOMA is a survival horror game from the developers of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, one of the most notorious pants shittingly terrifying games of the past several years. SOMA sees the developers delves deeper into some of the less obviously horrifying aspects of typical games in the horror genre. Focusing a lot more on story SOMA relishes in quite a bit of psychological horror, it finds horror in philosophical queries many of which are quite commonly asked in today's world. Unlike Amensia the game is enjoyable to play and look at and the better pacing of the straight forward monster horror moments make for an overall more enjoyable experience.

First and foremost SOMA is a first person exploration and puzzle game with more in common with Gone Home and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture than say Slender: The Arrival or even the developers previous game. There are plenty of monster to run and hide from eager to scare you as traverse a seemingly abandoned science facility deep underwater but the game smartly focuses on the mystery of where you are and what happened and it's in that that SOMA elevates itself to a great game and not just a gimmicky horror experience.

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Jotun is a gorgeous trek through Norse mythology but it's overall lack of gameplay polish and precision leave a lot to be desired. The easiest comparison is top-down Dark Souls, with an emphasis on large and extremely powerful enemies Jotun is a simplified version of the aforementioned series. The art is the reason to check this game out, all hand drawn it's some of the best art in a game this year. Wandering around the varied environments and encountering wonderfully designed new enemies is where most of my enjoyment came from, cause once the game demanded any amount of skill the games sluggish pace and clumsy mechanics make it more frustrating than enjoyably challenging.

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Assault Android Cactus besides having an awesome name is a fantastically fluid and well made dual-joystick shooter. Geometry Wars is the latest comparison but games like these go all the way back to Robotron: 2084. It's a bit on the short side, but apart from that this game is flawless. Wonderfully fast, fluid, and fun. I don't have much to say about this game other than it's probably one of the best games in the genres since the seminal Geometry Wars and deserves more positive buzz, figured I'd do my part. This game is fun, check it out.