Next to play: Penumbra: Overture

Game: Penumbra: Overture
Release Date: 2007
Platform: PC

Conditions: 
Finish the game








It's Halloween so it's only natural that I'm going to play a horror game. So I went through my Steam library and out of many horror games I picked Penumbra from Frictional Games.

What do I expect?

I haven't played Amnesia but I've seen how it plays so I would imagine Penumbra plays in a similar way but with more puzzles. I don't know anything about the game's story so or much else so I'm going into it pretty blind, as it should be for the best experience. Hope it's gonna scare me a little.

Next to play: Starcraft

Game: Starcraft
Release Date: 1998
Platform: PC

Conditions:
- Beat all 3 campaigns: Terran, Zerg and Protoss





Starcraft 2 is not only one of the best RTS games ever made but one of the best games ever made period. Legacy of the Void is just around the corner so I have to catch up with the story.

What do I expect?
I've played this game before. I remember beating terran campaign but I couldn't do it with zerg. But that was back when I played RTS with mouse only. After playing a little bit of SC2 I'm familiar with keyboard shortcuts so single player shouldn't give me any trouble.

System Shock 2 Finished

Game: System Shock 2
Release Date: 1999
Platform: PC
Date Started: August 28, 2015
Date Finished: September 6, 2015

Conditions: Beat the game on impossible difficulty ✓
                     Play it only in the dark with the headphones on ✓

This post contains spoilers! 

I played the GOG version with the universal update patch. I didn't use SS2Tool, mods or HD textures because I want to experience games in their original form during the first playthrough. I actually played Shock 2 before but I didn't get to the end. There is a lot of backtracking in the game but I didn't find it annoying because the ship Von Braun, just like the Citadel station from the first game, feels like a real place and it's a character on it's own. Out of the 3 character classes I chose NAVI (tech specialist) and decided to focus on hacking and standard weapons skills. This game gave me nightmares as a kid and I was happy to revisit it but nothing could prepare me for the true horror - the protagonist's face. It is so terribly misshapen it doesn't even look human. I'm sure this was really bad even at a time it came out. Just look at it!

The protagonist is even uglier than mutants he fights

Never mind that, I just woke up from hypersleep and the entire sector is depressurizing, time to run. As Polito's voice is leading me through corridors and I listen to audio logs, I'm thinking the voice acting is really good. In the room with upgrade units I witness a ghostly apparition reenacting an event from the past. Apparently cybernetic implants enhance your perception and they can pick up ghostly phenomena. I always thought the ghost stuff was pretty stupid. The doors to the main hall open and I can hear distant mumbling of a mutant hybrid - "We seek, WEE SEEK!"  Nope, I'm not leaving this room. I back off whenever the voices get closer. I swear I spent at least 5 minutes just leaning behind a wall, afraid to step forward.

I think I'll just stay here.

All the horror disappeared in a second after I  killed a first hybrid. The same thing happened when I played Aliens versus Predator. At first I was nervously looking around in fear and I nearly shit my pants at the cliché broken steam pipe jump scare but after encountering an actual xenomorph, all fear was gone. System Shock 2 really creeped me out as a kid but both me and the game aged and I don't find it scary anymore. Doesn't matter, the story is still interesting and the game is hard. At this point I would go down from a single pipe swing of a hybrid. The game is really good at making you feel vulnerable and there is serious lack of ammo so you have to conserve it whenever it's possible. Wrench will be your best friend, get used to it. Scavenging and item management is really important so it's safe to say this game is a first person survival horror. Even the seemingly useless items like plants, cups and magazines can be recycled and converted into money. The gunplay feels alrigh, a lot better than in Deus Ex for example. The only problem is weapons are apparently made out of paper and they break after a couple of shots.

Psychic monkeys are the wost

Like it was yesterday

Yo Dawg, I herd you like games so I put a game in your game so you can play while you play. 

Honey, you got reeeal ugly

The story is pretty good and well told through audio logs. Unfortunately I got the big twist spoiled and I knew that Polito will turn out to be SHODAN but I didn't know the details so it was still a surprise to find we will be allies. The story suffers from some sci-fi stereotypes and they basically ripped off Alien. I mean they straight up called them "xenomorphs". Then again it wasn't totally unexpected since the later levels of the first game had very Giger-ish imagery.

Wait, WHAT? Xenomorphs? I didn't sign up for this!

Shameless

Also some enemies feel a bit out of place. Like why the hell are there cybernetic ninja assassins on a FTL space ship? Doesn't matter, they are one of the more interesting enemies to fight. They throw energy shurikens at you from long range and run away when you get close to them. They are super fast so it was a nightmare trying to catch one of them with a wrench after I ran out of bullets. They remind me of the Black Ops assassins from Half-Life. After I crashed into bio mass in the Rickenbacker and started to descent into corridors made out of flesh, I started losing all hope for a happy ending. I thought the game could only end in two ways. Either SHODAN will transfer herself into my increasingly more cybernetic body and I will become her avatar, or more likely, I'll end up sacrificing myself  in order to blow up the bio mass. None of that happened. After SHODAN gets the power to alter reality, it starts recreating the Citadel station from memory and the final level of the game is actually the first level of System Shock 1. I felt right at home, having played the first game a few years ago. Visiting Rapture in Bioshock Infinite was awesome but System Shock 2 did it first!

SHODAN's Citadel recreation is pretty faithful. Left side is the original of course

The final boss fight was very disappointing, even compared to the anti-climatic boss fight from the first game. The ending cut scene was even worse.  I get what they were going for. Of course player wouldn't do what SHODAN wants and the "nah" after the epic long James Bond villain-like talk was similar to Indiana Jones simply shooting the swordsman who spent last 10 seconds showing off his skill. However I don't think the ending worked because it completely shifted the tone of the game that tried to be serious up to that point and the incredibly poor delivery of that single word didn't help either.

nah

I already have an urge to replay the game. On my first playthrough I barely touched Psi skills and I wasn't able to use more powerful weapons like machine gun, grenade launcher or any heavy or exotic weapons. This time I'm going to use some mods and HD textures. The co-op seems really cool so hopefully I can get it to work.

+ complex level design + sense of vulnerability + superb sound and voice acting + improved interface + plot twist + final level + replayability + SHODAN

- weapon degradation - poorly done character models - ending

9/10

Next to play: System Shock 2

Game: System Shock 2
Release Date: 1999
Platform: PC

Conditions:
- Beat the game on "impossible" difficulty
- Play it only in the dark and with headphones on






Even tho I've never finished Shock 2, it's still one of my favorite games of all time. I've beaten demo countless times. When I finally got the full version my hard disk crashed as I was about halfway through the game. Then life happened and I didn't quite get back to it even tho I love the game. Now finally after all these years I'm about to witness the game in it's full glory and I cannot wait.

What do I expect?
I expect the game will be good all the way through and won't let me down. Hoping for some horror and I hope the monkeys will still scare me as they did when I was a kid:)

Heart of Darkness Finished

Game: Heart of Darkness
Release Date: 1998
Platform: PSX
Date Started: January 31, 2015
Date Finished: August 23, 2015

Conditions: Finish the game on a medium difficulty ✓

I was almost at the end of the game when  my disk stopped working. Fortunately I found  a replacement and I was able to finish the game.

The game is about Andy, a young boy who doesn't pay any attention in class yet somehow he's able to construct a functional flying machine and lightning gun out of scrap metal. He suffers from nyctophobia (fear of the dark) and has a loyal dog named Whiskey. Sudden eclipse happens while they chill in a park and Whiskey gets kidnapped by the darkness...somehow (it happens off camera). Determined to rescue his friend, Andy runs home to his treehouse full of fantastic inventions, grabs a Tesla gun and takes off in his flying machine. How does he even know where to look for Whiskey? Up in the sky he collides with a flying darkling and crashes into a cliff. By the look of it he must be from Arizona. He gets attacked by shadowy creatures and the game throws tons of them at you from the very beginning which is a very odd since the first 5 minutes are one of the hardest in a whole game. Instead of  giving players some time to familiarize themselves with controls and whatnot, they throw at you an angry mob of shadow creatures that will literally tear you apart. I can't understand that decision. After a while Andy meets Jar Jar-like creatures called Amigos and they are just as annoying. The twist ending will answer all the questions you could possibly have about this weird world and it will sort out all the things that didn't make sense. I see how some people could hate the ending but it didn't bother me. But I'm surprised they put such an effort to make this game feel cinematic but they didn't write a very good plot. It's kinda terrible actually. What is also surprising is they hired a film and TV composer Bruce Broughton (Homeward Bound!) and a symphonic orchestra but they only used the music during cut scenes. There is no music during the gameplay for some reason.

The game has great pacing and keeps changing things up so it's always interesting. Starts with some shooting sections, then you lose your gun and you have to run away from the enemies using your platforming skills. Andy gets a new power after coming in contact with a glowing green rock. Now he can shoot things as well as make seeds grow into trees. The later ability is used for puzzles. There are a lot of environmental puzzles where you have to move objects to a specific place and then activate them. They are not hard to figure out. Right in the beginning the game shows some interesting mechanics. Shadows can attack you and the only way to get rid of them is to destroy objects that are casting them. Great idea but sadly the game doesn't use it often and it feels like a wasted potential. The game has beautiful backgrounds and amazing animation. It can be frustrating at times, the last level made me scream at a TV for one hour straight but I enjoy the challenge (unless it's totally unfair like MK2). Heart of Darkness is officially the first PS1 game I've ever beaten.

Sauron, is that you?

+ animation + character design + gorgeous backgrounds + brutal death scenes + good mix of shooting, puzzles and platforming

- story - shadow mechanic not used enough - rough start

7/10

My Hearthstone priest deck

This is my first Hearthstone deck. It is my creation. I haven't looked at internet  decklists or anything.With it I plan to reach rank 5 or lower on ranked play (I am at 14th right now). There aren't any super expansive cards in it, Maexxna is the only legendary. This whole deck is based on synergy but sometimes it seems like it needs too many things to come together to succeed. Creatures can't really stand on their own. Most of the creatures have 1 attack power in order they get boosted up by Hobgoblin. If he is on the table, Micro Machine enters the battlefield as 4/4 for example and Demolisher becomes a 3/6 a and that's not too shabby. Cleric, Lightwarden and Shadowboxer are a great team. There are situations when opponent is playing really passive and my hero or creatures aren't damaged at all. Enter Imp Master. With his ability he can grant that there will be s sure target to heal every turn, which compliments especially Cleric. Lightwarden can get ridiculously strong in a single turn if I play Holy Nova and have a lot of damaged creatures on board.  Maexxna is trere for cleaning big enemies and 8 health is quite enough with the healing to wipe of the opponents side of the board. I know as I move up the ladder, the games will only more difficult for this deck but I have a couple of ideas how to improve it.

Game of Thrones Episode 5: A Nest of Vipers Finished

Warning: spoilers ahead

Unfortunately I got the ending spoiled and I knew from the start that I'll be able to save either Roderick or Asher. Before I even started the episode I already decided I'll let Roderick live. I like both of them but he is more suited to be a lord and his whole recovery would make a nice story arc. However when I finally reached the scene and saw the context, I had to leave Roderick behind since it made more sense in a way I played his character. He would choose to stay. I was looking forward to see Asher and Roderick rule and fight side by side so it was pretty disappointing the way it ended. The whole situation was bullshit anyway, archers would kill both of them just like they shot down every soldier that tried to get in under the gate. So even one of them making it out alive requires suspension of disbelief.
I feel stupid for carefully observing character actions and trying to figure out  which character was a traitor. They did exactly what I was afraid they're going to do. If you choose Royland for a sentinel, Duncan would betray you and vice versa. In my case the traitor was Royland and his reasoning was he tried to save the house and thought Roderick was too weak. My Roderick might have been physically weak but he never shown any type of weakness, didn't submit to anybody and always stood up to Gryff. Even Ramsay said something like "so I heard you're the man who cannot be broken". Even his physical recovery was going well so it makes no sense he would view him as weak. And how would betrayal help the house anyway?
I liked the part with the fighting pit, headbutting "The Beast" was fun (didn't enjoy the fight tho, don't like QTEs) and talk with Tyrion was slightly amusing. Gared's part was the least interesting.

All in all it's one of the weakest and possibly shortest episodes.

+ Ramsay

- short length - lack of facial animation - boring QTEs - Gared's segments - forced choice

6/10