Sometimes you find a game that is more substance then style. You find yourself diving into layers and layers of lore or clever puzzles or even smooth as butter combat. Sometimes you find more style then substance and after you've played for a while, you start to get bored for how little is offered. And then you find a game like this... when there is this little content, literally all you have is style.
I can't say I have a history with this little game. Rather it was something I picked up cheap during a Steam summer sale because "why not?" These kind of purchases can be a bit of a gamble as I have found. Some turn out awesome, while others leave me wondering what the hell I was thinking. In this case, though, I think we have something more in the middle of the road. I may have liked it, but there really wasn't a lot there to like... or dislike for that matter.
Well, it was fun while it lasted, and we did plan to do it again, but…. that can not happen anymore. Changes Valve has made to the Steam Gift system have just rendered our yearly raffle impossible.
Well this was sudden. Last weekend United Front Games was posting a free weekend for their early access game “Smash + Grab,” a game that looks to be a MOBA based on rioting. This is not my cup of tea so in all honesty, had things gone as everyone expected, I would not have noticed anything.
But this morning, I was greeted by a tweet about how people will have to question if they can get refunds for something. Looking into it for curiosity, I came apon this story… before the free weekend was officially supposed to end (which included a discount on the game if you wanted to play longer), the studio was closed and Steam ceased selling early access copies of the game. People who just bought the game this morning, could well be shit out of luck.
This is one of those times when an idea proved too good to leave behind. I remember seeing this game for the first time when it was a greenlight title, and the idea of playing, not the hero in the armor, but an AI running the armor itself was unique and too interesting to not support it. So when the game dropped, I was eager to see what it was going to reveal. Admittedly, I waited for it to be on sale since my backlog was big enough as it was and the game was already selling as part one of a trilogy. I was tired of every game under the sun assuming it was getting a sequel like that. Still, I picked it up in a sale, and when it came up in my selections for the next game to take on during the #100daysofgaming for Extra Life, I jumped at it. After finishing the game, well… let’s talk about that.
Well the past few weeks has seen no shortage of controversies in the gamer-verse, though I'm not sure how much I can say about most of them… they are too self-evident, exactly what we all expected, and just more of the same bullshit from the same actors…. except maybe one.
When I saw this game, I knew it would make it’s way into my collection. Ignoring the simple imagery the trailer showed, I focused much more on the promise of the unknown that permeated it. This is not the first game to draw me with this promise, and in fact the last game I reviewed came to my attention for much the same reason. However, where P.O.L.L.E.N lived up to the unknown and discovering the details in the environment itself, Oxenfree chose a different way, feeding far more into the creepy-factor of the unknown instead. So how did this work out for them? Come on inside…
As time goes on, I hope to release a lot more posts like this one. After all, I've had a lot of fun being able to do give-aways on the big night, and this year will be no exception. If anything, it's going to be more personal, as I have made a few changes in how I'm picking these titles... so come on in, take a load off, and let's see what we will be giving someone on the big night.
When this game came out, everyone simply loved it, no matter what they played it on. For me, however, I honestly got the impression from the trailers that it was trying to be “Dark Half-Life” or something, and while I was interested in playing it, I knew it wasn’t a game I had to play right away. As a result it wound up something I picked up in a sale and then landed in the dark void known as the “steam backlog.” (And every PC gamer who reads this is now nodding their heads knowing EXACTLY what I mean.) Fast forward to now and I found myself expecting to be playing nothing but the newest titles in my “must play” list. However, that was not to be due to delays and in one case, the demo of a game being so underwhelming it dropped away. So, with some time to visit that void, I pulled this title out of it… and, I should not have ignored it for so long.
I remember watching for this game as news hit that Marvel was making an MMO. At the time Diablo 3 was still new and the controversy of needing to be online all the time and the Live Auction House were fresh, hot, and scalding. You either loved the game or hated it, and usually all the hate came from these two issues combined. So obviously with half the people who bought the game seriously upset with it, the search for alternative Diablo-style games was on. At the time, I was interested in this title, if only because I could imagine what an Isometric RPG could do with that universe. But at the same time, I don’t do betas much anymore. You could say between Transformers Universe and Darkspore, I’ve been let down way too hard just in how they ran, so I generally wait for the full game now. As such, this game fell to the wayside for a while.
When I did play, I decided I was going to run with Black Panther, and did for about a week. At that point, I found out one of my all-time favorite characters were being added to the game: Venom. And with that I walked away. You see, I was really very early in the story line when this happened, and I wasn’t walking away disappointed. I was walking away with a promise to myself to return when Venom was available and I could play through the game as a new experience from Symbiotic eyes. We have not been disappointed….
Hello and good day out there. While the Greenlight issue is why I am writing in the first place, I wanted to clear the air in a few questions brought up here prior. Admittedly, when the “uncaring” (yeah, right, how many posts have they left now?) troll asked about me not covering major fuckups in the gaming industry, I was snarky as hell rather then answering. I don’t apologize for that, nor will I. A troll is a troll is a troll, but even so, he did bring up two good examples that I would like to answer now before I take a look at Valve’s latest actions in their utility to let gamers choose some of the library they get access to.
It’s October, and here at the Red Sector we like to celebrate with style. That means a sick amount of candy and booze. Games are good too! Being that time of year I thought I’d dive into some games that showcase this holiday’s essence and boy does this one have it in spades!
To explain why I absolutely needed this game, you have to go back to my days as a young child. My parents had bought me and my little brother an NES for Christmas fairly recently and we loved playing on that thing. In fact we were into it enough they actually subscribed to Nintendo Power for us, and this was how I met Shadowgate for the first time. One of the earlier magazines included a walkthrough for the game up till you face off with the fire drake about 1/3rd or so through the original title… and I devoured every inch of those pages, loving everything I found about the game. I knew a game this intricate HAD to be in my library.
My parents were apparently listening as I got the game for my next birthday… and then I had my first encounter with the grim reaper. Maybe as a kid, I had not had enough exposure to horror to be ready for it, but that thing creeped me right the hell out, and yet I couldn’t let him beat me. With that in mind, I faced off with the game again and again and finally, it was, if I’m not mistaken, the second game I ever finished since I started playing video games. (In case you are wondering, the first was Life Force, which I borrowed from a friend and took out with the 30 life code.)
Suffice it to say, this game stuck with me, enough so I would speed run it a few more times before I put down the cart forever due to the nature of the game itself. And I would ultimately get an N64 almost exclusively to play the one sequel I was aware of (even if I got it after it finished it’s run cheap). So when I saw the original being remade with new puzzles on Kickstarter, I got excited and already knew I would have this one too. And now that I finished my first playthrough of the new version… I have to say, it was worth the wait. Welcome to Castle Shadowgate!
If you play PC games, it’s almost a given that you have at least heard of Steam, and if you use Steam, I do not need to tell you about their updates from last week. For those who are not however, last week went by with absolutely awesome updates for it’s users, the biggest one in the software being a built in MP3 player so you can supply alternate music to any game you have without a second program running anymore.
But for those of us who use Steam as a store or want to help other find great games, Valve has re-built the store page itself and given users the ability to become “curators.”
Well we are here. It seems like the internet has fucking lost it. I have no other description of the events ever since the “Quinspiracy” broke and brought to question the integrity of “gaming journalism” even more then it ever was previously.
But I think we have officially hit a new low and when the internet heard how Anita Sarkeesian fled her house afraid of “gamers” who twittered her threatening to attack her. I do not pretend to know what was said or even if any of it was real. After all, we are talking about a woman who has been caught in everything from stealing artwork and video from gaming speedruns to buying her way into TedX and then claiming Ted Talks invited her to speak (while they are not the same thing). With this kind of “honesty” on display, I am actively reserving judgment on what actually happened that night. However, I only bring it up right now due to the aftermath.
Let’s be real here for a second. As gamers, I have said many times we are due for some serious shifts. Hell before Microsoft turned everything around on the Xbox One, I predicted they would be out of the console race this generation. Now as the 2 newest systems finish up their second months, we are seeing both of them already break 3 million units sold, which is nothing to sneeze at.
But at the moment, that prediction may show itself to not just be wrong, but amazingly so. It’s not time to call anyone out of the race just yet, but we just might be able to see it from here. But for us as gamers, whatever happens should be nothing more then a temporary setback.
Well, it’s that time again. As the new platforms roll out, gamers are choosing what they want to be their main gaming beast for the next several years. Some will pick Xbox One. Other will pick the PS4. Still more might even pick a WiiU. But there is a trend of gamers who are considering walking away from the console mess and starting anew with PC. Each and every one of these gamers making a switch will of course need a little time to adjust, but the PC might prove the most interesting (and confusing) switch. To these gamers, they will be moving from static machines to something flexible, fluid, and full of choices they frankly never had to consider.
Now, as far as hardware goes, these choices have been covered again and again from professional websites to forum members eager to welcome someone to their ranks. But no one seems to consider where to get your games, and what sources to welcome in. Allow us to help with that. In what follows, you can get to every source we talk about by clicking on the picture for it, so if it appeals, have a peak. And welcome. Although I do not believe you should abandon your console field, but add PC to your selections, welcome and enjoy.
As the convention gets set to begin in Las Vegas tomorrow, a lot of gamers will let it slide by. After all, console gamers will have no interest in what the new hardware is because theirs is already set and console gaming isn’t exactly the biggest part of this convention. A lot of PC gamers (myself included) also tend to look the other way since new hardware is not so much new and exciting as just something we know is coming due to the gradual nature of our choice device. But this year, I think there are a few participants who will make it worth our while to pay attention.
