The Evil Within Looks to Scare You Sillier Than You’d Like to Be Scared, So Get With the Program!


 
Let’s see now: one part Resident Evil, one part Silent Hill, One part F.E.A.R. and a lot of what’s inside Shinji Mikami’s head certainly go a long way in his latest game, The Evil Within. Set for an October 14, 2014 release on PC, PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One, this survival horror game marks Mikami’s return to the genre that made him a master to legions of horror game fans. I’m holding out until I play this one, but from all those trailers and behind the scenes videos that have been popping up, this one looks as if it will deliver the goods to those who can take what it throws at them. Granted, if you’re one of those jaded types scared of nothing and think this game is “dull” when you haven’t touched a controller connected to a console or PC running it, then Bethesda Softworks and Tango Game Studios more than likely have no use for your commentary on some message board where you’re all anonymous and filled with bile for some reason or another.

I’d bet they’d LOVE more constructive and useful criticism from people who may run into something that keeps the game from being what it needs to be (but that doesn’t include being a direct Resident Evil clone, I’d bet), so maybe go PLAY this before you go online and whine expecting for someone to back you up when the developer and publisher would rather see you fall off a cliff onto something sharp. Or something like that. I’m betting Bethsoft and Mikami don’t care what anyone who hasn’t played this thinks because at the end of the day, those people are wasting their time rambling on about themselves and speaking for others when they should just shut up and maybe play some of those games they hate on for no reason. Just a thought…

STYX: Master of Shadows Launch Trailer: Time to get Sneaky, Sneaky With the Ugly Shorty…


 
Okay, he’s kind of cute in that way ugly little goblins can be cute under the right light and without too much alcohol in one’s belly (never get drink around a goblin!), but yes, STYX: Master of Shadows is out tomorrow on Steam and for the PS4 and Xbox One. I’m hoping his one does well, as Cyanide Studios has put a lot of work into this game and it looks like their most polished title to date. We’ll see what the scores say, although I’m betting some reviewers “get” this game and what it’s trying to do while others don’t. I almost wish this was on the older consoles just so more people would show interest in what’s here, but hey – you can’t push those new systems as much of you drop four versions of the same game on the first day. That and the more developers who get used to the new hardware and can craft games that show off what they can do, the better for sales of those systems. Allegedly. Anyway, this one seems worth a closer look, folks…

Alien Isolation Launch Trailer: At Home, Everyone Will Hear You Scream…


 

AI PS4 CoverIt’s almost here and yours truly will be popping up at a certain retailer bright and early to snap up my copy and trot back home so I can dive in feet first and come up for air with knuckles and hair all white from fear. Yay, fear! Hmmmm. I should e dreading this experience a bit more because I’ve not been really freaked out by any horror game in a while.

On the other hand, I’m knowing I’m going to enjoying seeing what The Creative Assembly has cooked up for people like me who’ve been following this from the shadows who want to go in cold and not have spoilers hitting us on the head because we hung out on the right message boards and want our “fun” spoiled. Of course, I’m less expecting this to be “fun” and more expecting it to be “Holy $#!+, I can’t take another step because I’m TOO damn scared, but that damn Alien is somewhere in the room, Gyaaaaaah!”


 
Or something like that. (sings) The sun will come out, tomorrow… Hmmmm. I wonder if they sell cork panels at the K-Mart across from the game shop? I may need a bunch to line the living room with so my neighbors don’t keep calling the cops on me. “GYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Monday Means Mo’ Bundles, No Problems!

Well, actually you’ll have SOME problems as far as finding the time to play the games in these bundles, but hey – don’t shoot the messenger, folks. He needs to be alive to play the games in his backlog! Anyway, here’s what’s what from the usual three suspects and more:

Every Monday 1062014
 
IndieGala Every Monday Bundle: Six games, $1.89, 24 hours before the price increases, so get this one FAST. I like Sanctuary in this set of games the best, but your mileage may vary:


 

Continue reading

TRI Hands-On: Rat King Games Wants You to Go After the Fox…

TRIAllLevels 

Okay, my preview for TRI is a bit late (the game drops onto Steam this Tuesday), but this is one of those wonderful indie gems that NEEDS to be played and enjoyed. Developer Rat King Games has made a fun and very challenging first-person puzzle/platformer that’s got influences from Portal and Okami to even a teeny-tiny bit of Minecraft. The build I spent some time with offered up some fine and challenging large levels that grew progressively trickier and from that simple tutorial, opened up into a game that’s going to surprise fans of quirky visuals and complex gameplay that keeps you hooked in. Come meet the Odd Gods and stay for a while – you’ve got a fox to catch (if you can)…

Continue reading

Mythos: The Beginning – Dark Gaia Studios Back In Action With This Horror/RPG Must-Buy!

Mythos TB
 
Say, do you love horror-themed games and trying new titlesVideo that should scare you up good and right? Well, you need to go slap down six bucks for Mythos: The Beginning NOW (or later today, if it’s too bloody early in the morning for you. Hey, I couldn’t sleep, so here’s a post for you). What? You’re a skeptic, are you? Well, go download the demo and try out a portion of the game and don’t be surprised if you wake up later with six bucks missing from your wallet and the game’s title screen glaring at you from your monitor. For me, it’s the 1930’s setting, the creepy atmosphere, the RPG Maker visuals that give the game a nice 16-bit look and yep, D. Robert Grixti’s writing style that gets under your skin and sticks there for a bit. Ooooooh, I’m getting cold now… wait, I left the window open (oops!).

(Thanks, Genocider Rina!)
 

No, seriously, it’s a great and creepy game with a nice Lovecraftian vibe and the fact that you create your own character and play as him or her investigating a not so right asylum adds a nice personal touch to the proceedings. Okay, I’ll shut up and let you go try this one out. And BUY it. Or else. Hey, one to one support for indie developers like Dark Gaia Studios means they get more money without their work getting forever lost on some big mega-site before they have a chance to shine, so go make DRG happy!

New Rollers of the Realm Trailer: Some Puzzles With Your Pinball/RPG? Sure, Why Not?

 
Rollers of the Realm is getting better and better, isn’t it? Phantom Compass’ upcoming hybrid game set to be published by Atlus in November is certainly looking even more polished (like a gigantic shiny new pinball) in this new trailer and I’m betting PS4 and Vita owners will be more than pleased with the plot, puzzles and play in this game when they finally get their hands on it. I’m still going back to that super aged preview build I have for PC just to get a whiff of what to expect and it’s so clear that the game’s going to exceed expectations on a few key fronts. I’m not sure Atlus needs to run another trailer until the November release, but I won’t complain at all if they do. That’s just one more opportunity to reach out and get a few more sales from potential pinballers who might not have gotten the good word already.

Back with more if more is on the way, as usual…

Alien Isolation #HowWillYouSurvive Final Update: Last Chance to Stomp Down to the Store, But Have an Egg First!


 
So, some early reviews are in and it seems that the reviewers that got it REALLY got it good and that’s a good thing. The ones that didn’t? Well, they came in looking for the wrong game and yep, boy were they surprised at the game not being what THEY wanted and what the developer intended. You have to love that sort of misguided missile writing, ladies and gents.


 
Anyway, as Sega seems to not like me, I’ll still be buying this one on Tuesday and reviewing it a bit later than the madding crowd that already has. But that’s just fine by me because I don’t plan on rushing this through at all. Nor one bit. Nope.


 
As for that eggy breakfast, Well… I’d like one of these, please. It can fit in the living room in place of that stupid recliner or the other chair that just dropped its lousy, crumbling cloth underside on the carpet like a misbehaving pet. Yuck. Anyway, I should probably catch up on some sleep over the weekend, as I’m betting Alien Isolation will be keeping me awake and creeping into my sleeping time for a while…

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward Kickstarter: Senscape Making This One for the Love of Craft…


 
Ha and ha-ha. I had to get in ONE cheap pun because H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward hasn’t got very much at all in the way of “amusing” content in it. It’s a nice and unsettling short novel and a neat read that sinks into your bones as its mysteries unravel. Anyway, veteran adventure game developer Senscape is making a PC game based on the book and like a lot of cool game ideas in progress, they’re reaching out via crowdfunding and hope people like you and I will kindly spare some coin (or more than a few coins) to get their project on the way to digital and physical life. Senscape has done a few successful PC adventure games in the past (Scratches, Serena, Asylum), so it’s quite clear they know what they’re doing with Lovecraft’s work and are certain to make this one a memorable and unsettling experience.

Charles Dexter Ward Anyway, enough rambling from me. Run, don’t walk like mister Dexter is doing above over to the game’s Kickstarter page, read up and pledge! Be lucky it’s not a Cthulhu game, as I’d imagine cash wouldn’t be accepted at all, but blood and souls and stuff like that? Yeah, they’d come for you even if you clicked on that page and didn’t contribute. ESPECIALLY if you didn’t contribute. *Gulp!*

Hmmm. Now, I won’t sleep at all tonight… Yaaaaah.

Kromaia Hands-On: Blasting Cool Looking Stuff Four Ways ’til Sunday (Well, Any Day of the Week)…


 

Kromaia ArtKraken Empire’s upcoming space shooter Kromaia is going to be one of those games genre fans will be more than pleased to see thanks to the stellar visuals and intuitive control scheme (provided you use a keyboard/mouse or decent game controller). Rising Star Games has wisely snapped this one up for a Q4 2014 release and I recently got my paws on some preview code to take for a spin. And spin I did, as the ships in the game are all kinds of maneuverable thanks to the six degrees of movement through the game’s enemy and obstacle-packed levels..

The preview build had four different levels and four types of ships to play around with, each linked to one of the stages. While I could sit here and make comparisons to Star Fox, Panzer Dragoon, Rez and other excellent sci-fi or fantasy shooters where you’re set on a path without much deviation, Kromaia outdoes those games by allowing you to go anywhere you point that ship you’re flying. There are clear goals in each map, but you can choose to go off what you thought was a predetermined path and zip around at your leisure while trying not to get blown into plenty of pixels by the nicely aggressive enemy AI…

Continue reading