First Impressions: theHunter: Call of the Wild (PC)

 

theHunter: Call of the Wild

Systems: Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Release Date:  February 16, 2017

Publisher:  Avalanche Studios Group, Expansive Worlds

Developer: Avalanche Studios Group, Expansive Worlds

I picked up theHunter: Call of the Wild from the Epic Game Store as it was one of their free games of the week between June 22 - June 28th, but not because I wanted to play a hunting game, but because it was self-advertised as an open world hunting game. This meant a couple of things.  First, this was not going to be an arcade shooter hunting game akin to Cabela's Big Game Hunter, but you were exploring an area for wildlife to shoot. Second, and related to the first, I could hypothetically play this game without actually killing anything and just enjoy whatever the biome was where I would be hunting.  My thought was that I could play this game by looking for the wildlife, and just observing them, and that was it.  Based on the game's description, it did not seem like there was going to be a traditional "fail" aspect to this game, so why not add it to my Epic Game Store free game catalog?  

Although I was not expecting to play and write about the game as quickly as I have now done, but on Sunday, I read an article from ComicBook talking about how the last two games offered through the Epic Game Store (including theHunter: Call of the Wild) are "Some of the Worst of 2023."  Now, I am not an advocate of/for Epic Games but I have 100% benefited from their initial free game a day for a week during a specific time of the year into a free 1-2 games a week, every week, for the entire year that has now been going on for. . . a while now.  Which is essentially at least 52 free games a year for nothing more than having an account through the Epic Game Store.  True, some of the games vary in quality from Batman: Arkham Asylum and Wolfenstein: The New Order to Bloons TD6 and Next Up Hero, but to complain that the free games being offered by a multi-billion-dollar corporation as "disappointing" because "these titles are pretty dated" came across as incredibly entitled.  So this article is what lit that campfire under my posterior to actually playing this game (weeks/years) earlier than I had anticipated.

Before we get into the actual game, a little bit of context which you are free to skip over (because who wants to actually read someone's life story when all they want are the instructions to the recipe!?).  I do have a couple of years of experience duck hunting.  Between 1992-1994, I went duck hunting with my Dad and late Grandfather.  Before this, I had gone through a hunter safety course which I thought was incredibly informative and not just from a hunting perspective as it also covered general gun safety, hunter safety, wilderness education, and how to stay safe if you find yourself lost in different situations and environments.  It was also where I found out that I am left-eye dominant (I aim with my left eye) even though I am for the most part right-handed.  While duck hunting, I shot maybe 4.5 ducks (my Dad and I shot the same duck we were "tracking").  I was also responsible for cleaning the ducks I shot as well as several others because there was no way either my Dad or Grandfather are the types to not have me participate in all aspects of the hunting process if I was going to actually shoot and kill a wild duck.

So after downloading the incredibly large 73 GB of data to play this "pretty dated" game from 2017, I jumped into the open world of big game preserve hunting.  Maybe it was a bit presumptuous to try the game with "High" graphical settings, but I did, and that was a mistake as the introduction crawled along at an unbelievably slow frame rate, maybe 5-10 fps, with waits of up to 45 seconds waiting for the video to catch up with the spoken dialogue, but I could not tell because I don't think Epic Games has an fps overlay.  Then I took control of my first-person perspective hunter and the game continued to crawl ever so slowly, so I downgraded the settings to "Medium" across the board, but the movement was still painfully slow and I could tell that the birds flying off in the distance were flying very jitteringly.  So I moved the settings down to "Low" as well as some additional modifications like water reflections, shadows, fog distance, etc., and still, it felt like the game was chugging along.  

Eventually, I realized that the player was supposed to move slowly, because hunting is not a sprinting sport, but even with the Run function moving about as slowly as Dear Esther,  I knew that I was not going to be able to experience this game the way that I was hoping I could.  Getting anywhere felt like a chore, although I will note that the ridiculous nearly-eight-foot vertical leap was very smooth and did not seem to be hampered by and struggling hardware issues.  Firing any one of the three guns I was armed with also took a sturdy press of the mouse button as it did not feel as responsive as games like Left 4 Dead or even Portal.  Maybe there is something to be said about respecting what it is you are shooting and knowing when to shoot and when not.  Or again, my computer is just not well equipped for this game.

Overall, I cannot say that I had a positive experience with theHunter: Call of the Wild, likely due to my computer not being able to run the game as well as a newer computer likely could.  Even after looking at the minimum requirements, I was surprised that I could not run the game well enough even on the lowest settings.  If I am feeling ambitious, I might try to load it up on the Steam Deck. However, the game is currently rated "Unsupported" so maybe my hopes of playing an open-world hunting game without actually killing anything and just enjoying the scenery is not to be realized at least for now.  Or perhaps I just need a single-player offline vegetarian survival sim.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Try To Take Your Own Advice

P.S.  I could not find a great place to mention it, but there is a reserve warden (or something like that) named Colton Locke, who likes to be called "Doc" by his friends and everyone else, who walks you through your radio in the tutorial and through the rest of the game from what I could tell.  Telling you about where he spotted tracks recently and sending you the location on your GPS, that he recently saw some ne'er do wells doing not good things around the preserve, and just general chit-chat.  I did a brief look through the audio settings (so I might have missed a button or toggle), but you are unable to turn off Doc to enjoy the wilderness on your own.

MIDI Week Singles: "Easthaven in Peace" - Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition (PC)

 

"Easthaven in Peace" from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition on Windows, OSX, Linux, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One (2000 - 2019)

Composer: Jeremy Soule*

Album: Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition Official Soundtrack

Label: Beamdog

Publisher: Beamdog

Developer: Black Isle Studios, Beamdog

It has been literal decades since I last played Icewind Dale, even before Beamdog released the Enhanced Edition back in 2014 but I do remember "Easthaven in Peace" on some level, somewhere in the deep recesses of my subconscious.  What I find interesting about this song is that it's not really fitting for Easthaven when you start out the game.  It is almost too heroic of a theme, especially at 0:22 when the melody repeats and ramps up the volume.  Had the song continued at its starting volume level and maintained that same level of subduedness for the entire song, I think that it could have been appropriate for a small fishing village in the northern wastes of Icewind Dale.  Instead, at 0:22, it sounds like a homecoming to a grand castle after a massive campaign of dungeon delving and dragon slaying.

All of that being said, I still love this song, and while it has been a long time since I last played Icewind Dale, I am a little saddened that it might be that this song only happens in Easthaven and that I may not return there again unless I restart the game.

Which I am likely not to do for a while.  Maybe.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Not a Soul to Tell Our Troubles to

Demo Time: Lies of P Demo (SD)

Lies of P Demo

Full Game Release Date: September 19, 2023

Systems: Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Publisher: Neowiz Games

Developer:  Round8 Studios

Time Spent: 2.9 Hours

[Just a quick heads up, as of this writing (Thursday afternoon), I have not finished the demo for Lies of P.  I am currently in the process of grinding Ergo to level up for some additional HP and experimenting with the heavy weapon because the boss for the area, and presumably the demo, is doing a right job of kicking my robotic ass over the arena.  Now that that is out of the way, moving on.]

I do not think I would have thought that a Dark Souls-esque format and the story of Pinocchio would have been a compatible mix of genres and IP, but here we are in this dark and bloody/oily world of puppets gone awry.  Like the Dark Souls series, Life of P is purposefully vague as to what exactly is going on with weapon and item descriptions giving some of the world lore.  I did find two scraps of paper that contained events that happened in the world, noting that puppets and automatons were essentially rebelling against their programming (because who would not see that one coming), or at least that is what I am assuming has happened, but I am sure that there is more here taken specifically from Carlo Caollodi's novel Pinocchio.

I played Life of P on the Steam Deck, so everything I have to say about the game relates to how it played on that system.  I do not think my laptop would be able to handle it, or at least it might be able to crank out some double-digit FPS.  The graphical settings on the Steam Deck defaulted to Low, but I decided to bump it up to medium for the majority of my playthrough and the game looked great and handled without any issues.  Once I had left the Krat railway station, I increased the graphical settings to High and there might have been a slight improvement but I could not tell all of that much, and as the game seemed to be as smooth as it played on Medium, I left the settings on High.  That is until I was about 3/4 of the way through [area name] and then I decided to turn the graphics up to Best.  I cannot say for sure but there might have been a performance downgrade, losing only maybe a handful of FPS, but that could have just been a placebo effect.  From what I could tell, there were no issues with the game running on the Steam Deck, although the on-screen text that was part of the HUD was pretty small and thin, needing to squint a bit to read what 

After choosing a simplistic gameplay style between a balanced build, a dexterity build, and a strong build, I decided to go with the balanced build (Path of the Cricket) because that seemed the safest choice in a game that I had not experienced yet.  I was also a little afraid about choosing The Path of the Sweeper out of fear that I would be relegated to a heavy roll.  For the first half of the demo, there was nothing in the way of customizing P, which only came about after resting at your first Bonfire. . . sorry, Stargazer, located after you beat the first mini-boss.  Once using the Stargazer/Bonfire, I used the souls. . .sorry, Ergo to raise four levels putting levels into Capacity, Motivity, and Technique, mainly because I liked how widespread the stat distribution was, affecting multiple stats as opposed to just one or two.  I probably should have put a level or two into Vitality, but I was thinking of this like Dark Souls 2 and I rarely increased that stat.  I have since upped the Vitality stat while grinding because I have accepted the fact that I am going to get hit because my dodging and parrying still need some work.

But while there were similarities to Dark Souls, there were still plenty of differences from it being a direct copycat.  There did not seem to be a way to change the grip on the sword, making a one-handed blade a two-handed one, although there were three strengths of attacks.  The mechanic of collecting your souls/Ergo from the spot of your death was still present but modified in that any damage you took while on your way to collect your lost Ergo deducted from that amount; I do not know what the calculation is, if it is some combination of the number of hits and damage taken before you recover your lost Ergo, but I do not mind this alteration.  There is weapon degradation, but thankfully you can repair (sharpen) while you are out in the world, but the process takes a few seconds, which begs the question of why have weapon degradation if you can repair at nearly any time?  I assume that there is going to be some kind of enemy or boss that really degrades your weapon and sharpening/repairing on the fly is going to somehow be integrated, otherwise, it is just an inconvenience when you forget about the mechanic altogether.  The game also changes where your lost Ergo is placed if you die during a boss fight in that it is placed just outside the boss chamber, so you do not have to constantly enter the boss fight to recover lost Ergo only to lose it again during the same boss fight.  I also noticed that all but the mini-boss and boss enemies seem to lack any kind of poise.  That when you attack them, more often than not, their own actions are interrupted allowing you to wail away with the only real concern being when another enemy comes at you from off-screen and they start to mob you.  One last difference that I find is an improvement is that when you run out of Estus. . . sorry, Pulse Cell to heal, you can recharge your Pulse Cell by attacking enemies, but only to receive one additional charge at a time.  It is a little thing, but I like not feeling that I have to find a Stargazer after using my last heal, or that I might still have a chance during a boss fight.

I definitely see the appeal here and from what I played, Round8 Studios have successfully created a Soulslike experience with Lies of P with what they have presented in the demo.  I had originally thought I would stop playing after the first mini-boss in the Krat train station, feeling like I had gotten the gist of the game, but then I felt compelled to explore the new area even more.  I like the look of the game, and the setting feels more unique than the Dark Souls series.  Lies of P also felt like it had more horror elements than Dark Souls, in that, I was not so much afraid of what was around the next corner or if I was going to be jumped by a horde of automations and lose my Ergo, but that the enemies were deliberately staged in a way to make effective use of the lighting and setting.  As if they were just waiting for the right flash of lightning and flicker of light to disappear from under the spotlight they were standing under.  I did not mind the pretty boy aesthetic given to young teenage Pinocchio as it might be a bit strange playing as a two-foot-tall marionette who is off of their strings.  I do wish that the game did not wipe Pinocchio clean of the accumulated gore after each battle, and maybe that sticks around a little longer in locations where it is not constantly raining, but it did take a little bit of the immersion away that they can go from covered head-to-toe in automaton gore one second to sparkling clean the next.

Knowing me and new releases of digital video games, it is likely that I will not pick this game up immediately when it releases in September.  I am enjoying the game and look forward to eventually playing the full game, but my queue on the Steam Deck alone is about what you would expect to find from someone who has had a Steam account for just over a decade and I am not in the market to pay full price for a digital game at the moment.  Seek us out in a few years when I get back to this and I will have a Game EXP article for you all if you are still interested in this IP.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Denn keiner wird als Held gebor'n

MIDI Week Singles: "Magmoor Caverns" - Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

 

"Magmoor Caverns" from Metroid: Samus Returns on the Nintendo 3DS (2017)

Composer: Kenji Yamamoto

Album: Metroid: Samus Returns - Samus Archives

Label:  Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: MercurySteam & Nintendo EPD

I know this song as "Norfair - Ancient Ruins Area" from Super Metroid, but this arrangement is closer to the one used in Metroid Prime, although there are some subtle differences between that version from 2002 and this version from 2017.  The Metroid Prime version sounds a little more foreboding with the "tick-tock" more in the foreground (or that could be this specific mix, I am not sure as I never made it to Magmoor) while the version here comes across as a lot more aggressive, which is suiting for exploring SR388 and coming across a room filled with lava pools scorching air, and possibly an evolved/mutated Metroid.

Part of me was a little "ehh" that the Norfair theme was used as a general "room with fire" theme but I understand why it was included in Samus Returns since the game is no longer on a monochrome olive-green screen and rooms of varying biomes have since become a key feature in  Metroid games.  It makes sense to use a song that banks on nostalgia for those who grew up playing Super Metroid in the mid-1990s and those who grew up with Metroid Prime in the early 2000s.  But then, I cannot remember specifically which area it was that was in a fire area along with a multi-tiered battle against a Metroid that ended with this music playing and it just made the battle all the more climactic.  I did not even care that I still had more Metroids to kill after this particular battle, it still felt great to have this overly dramatic music playing during a mini-boss confrontation.

I love this theme, and I love this specific arrangement which is why we are doing back-to-back MIDI Week Singles with music from Metroid: Samus Returns.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
I'm Your Nightmare Little Man

First Impressions: Celeste (SD)

 

Celeste

Systems:  Linux, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Stadia, macOS

Original Release Date: January 25, 2018

Publisher:  Maddy Makes Games

Developer(s): Maddy Makes Games, Extremely Okay Games, Ltd.

I hereby declare that this is going to be a short article for a couple of reasons.  First, I have only spent 2.8 hours playing Celeste and I just started the third chapter, Celestial Resort.  I am still getting a hold of the mechanics of the game and wrapping my head around how to time jumps and the best ways to preserve my stamina.  I also feel that this is a game that only gets better with additional playthroughs, not that it is required or that I feel the need/compulsion either from myself or the Celeste community that I should play the game at least five times "before I can truly understand the underlying complexity of the game and its narrative."

I was a little wary about playing Celeste as from what I was able to tell from trailers and general talk about gameplay elements and mechanics, was that it sounded like a pixel-perfect platformer akin to Super Meat Boy, which is a game I enjoyed to a certain point, but never finished because I definitely hit a skill wall and the game ceased to be fun.  I am also not one to play a game for the speed-running aspect and for some reason just knowing that the game is up there in the speed-running community made me a little anxious that I was going to not "be gud enough" to enjoy the game; for all my bluster about playing and enjoying games the way I want to and not be influenced by talk about min/max builds and "the only right way to enjoy [insert game title here] is to play it the exact same way I play it," I still had that little nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

But then I heard about there being accessibility options in the game which include increasing your character's stamina, slowing the game down, and even making your character invincible, and calmed my nerves down a bit.  In these types of games where you need to get from one side of the screen to the other, presumably, as quickly as possible all the while collecting an object that objectively makes the whole process significantly more difficult, I genuinely appreciated that there were built-in options to make the game easier/more accessible for people who were not always seeking out such a challenging experience.  Then after the first chapter, your character receives a postcard with an affirmation that had more to do with game mechanics and gameplay than it did being an in-story explanation.  The postcard read, "Strawberries will impress your friends, but that's about it.  Only collect them if you want to."  The second postcard (after completing Chapter 2) read, "Be proud of your Death Count!  The more you die, the more you're learning.  Keep going!"  And with my death count currently at 266 after only completing 2 chapters, that made me feel all kinds of better.  I have currently been playing the game without any of the accessibility turned on, not because I find the game easy or too punishing, but because the developers have made the game fun while still being challenging.  Similar to how the first BIT.TRIP Runner is both fun and challenging, but that may not be the best comparison.

I am playing Celeste on the Steam Deck because Humble was having a "Pixel Pride" sale for Steam specific games, otherwise I might have gotten it on the Switch.  I am glad that I am using a controller that has a nice feeling directional control pad and not a clicky directional pad (looking at you Xbox S/X and NYXI Wizard controllers) because for whatever reason this feels more responsive and accurate.  Although I am still making plenty of dashing jumps in the wrong direction but a lot of that can be down to anxiety.  The point is that the game is rated as Verified and has been playing flawlessly enough to where I cannot blame either the Steam Deck or its performance for any of my 266 deaths.

I am having a lot of fun with Celeste and I think, at least at this moment, that I will be able to finish the game without needing to turn on any of the assistance options.  And I will gladly share the number of strawberries and how many times I died when I finish the game.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
I Write These Stupid Words

MIDI Week Singles: "Lower Brinstar" - Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

 

"Lower Brinstar" from Metroid: Samus Returns on the Nintendo 3DS (2017)

Composer: Kenji Yamamoto

Album: Metroid: Samus Returns - Samus Archives

Label:  Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: MercurySteam & Nintendo EPD

The music that this version of the song originated from came from the 1995 SNES game Super Metroid in a very similar form although the tone created by this song in Samus Returns is quite different.  In Super Metroid, this music played while you were exploring the underground depths of Brinstar, eventually leading Samus to her (next) confrontation with Kraid.  There is a sense of mystery and exploration as you play through the first third of the game, with everything still being relatively new.  

In contrast, with Samus Returns, you first hear this song, it is towards the end of the game after taking the elevator deeper into Area 5, still exploring, but now there is more of a sense of quiet victory, as it is in Area 5 that Samus unlocks/regains the Plasma Beam, Gravity Suit, and Screw Attack, the final abilities in her arsenal.  The theme here is not like Samus' fanfare and there were previous musical cues from earlier Metroid games, but for some reason, having the "Lower Brinstar" theme play at this point in the game was very fitting.  I knew I still needed to make the final run and go up against the Metroid Queen, but having this play while to scoured the depths of Area 5 and now being able to access all areas was a great way to close out the penultimate section of the game.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

The Dying Eyes of the Prey

P.S.  Don't be at all surprised if we are back on SR388 again next week.  Just saying.

Game EXP: Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

Metroid: Samus Returns

System: Nintendo 3DS

Release Date: September 15, 2017

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: MercurySteam & Nintendo EPD

Time Spent: 17 hours 32 minutes / 25 hours 01 minutes*

A bit of context before we delve into the game itself, so skip the next paragraph if you want.

I previously sat on purchasing Metroid: Samus Returns, the remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus, originally released on the Game Boy in 1991, because at the time of its release I was happily playing the original Metroid II on my 3DS.  I was very excited by the surprise announcement of the game at E3 2017 and the only thing I can think of, is that because my 3DS became non-well functioning in the end of 2017, I did not see the point in buying a game (and also the very cool Metroid: Samus Returns amiibo, which now cost upwards of $200) that I could potentially end up never playing.  When Nintendo announced the closing of the 3DS (and Wii U) eShops to new purchases, I had considered buying the game digitally, but since the digital game ran $39.99 (with it rarely going on sale), I was able to justify paying the same price for the physical cartridge.  

So it was that in January I started up Samus Returns for the first time and while I regret not playing this game when it first came out, I am eternally grateful that I am able to play it now and that I have played it.  MercurySteam did a phenomenal job reimagining Metroid II as I was a little afraid that the level design and layout would be nearly identical, although with the added counter-attack mechanic.  That fear was laid to rest pretty early on.  The bones from the original Metroid II are here, but so are the early framings of Metroid Dread.

What I had originally feared, that this would be a room-for-room remake of Metroid II, being one of the reasons why I did not immediately preorder the game, but those fears ended up being completely unfounded, not that I had an issue with Metroid II's level design, but I wanted something more than just a remake.  I already knew about the melee counter (as was advertised during the E3 announcement), but I genuinely knew little else about how similar the two games were.  In the original Metroid II, there was a poisonous/caustic liquid that would prevent Samus from exploring past a certain point, and after all of the Metroids in the current area were destroyed that substance would mysteriously empty down to the next floor where you would then hunt more Metroids.  In Samus Returns, the caustic fluid is still there, but now there is a physical mechanism that requires a DNA sample from the Metroids that is fed into a machine that lets you know ahead of time how many, between one and ten in a given area.  The other difference is, is that there is a lot more backtracking here as Metroid II was more linear with few reasons to go back to previously explored areas.

Yes, there was Samus starting out barebones with just her Power Suit that you upgrade over time with all of the classics like the Morph Ball, Ice Beam, Phazer, Super Missiles, Varia Suit, but many other skills and abilities that were not in the original Metroid II.  Not all upgrades felt like they were treated equally though, like the Ice Beam and Grapple Beam.  Upgrades like the Space Jump, the Screw Attack, and the Super Bomb all felt like they were geared more towards exploring additional areas than being combat functional.  For the Ice Beam, it felt like an improvement from the standard beam shot, and there were several enemies that you could freeze and then perform the counterattack to shatter them instead of pummeling them with the Ice Beam, but that at times felt more time-consuming that pummeling them with the standard shot and taking a few points of damage. It felt that shortly after.  The Charge Shot I felt that I used it primarily to open doors that required the Charge Shot as opposed to regularly using it in combat.  I would still occasionally use the Ice Beam after acquiring the Wave Beam, but very rarely until towards the end of the game when you fought the quintessential Metroid.  And even then looking back, unless you came into the game with foreknowledge that Metroids are susceptible to the Ice Beam before being hit with missiles, I do not know how you would figure out that information aside from painful trial and error.

I was probably disappointed the most by the Grapple Beam as aiming at an angle while moving (often after jumping from one Grapple Beam point to another) with the controls on the 3DS felt very cramped, often needing to press/hold the button with the inner pad of my index finger.  The swinging mechanic did not feel good either, compared to the Grappling Beam in Super Metroid or even Simon Belmont's swinging in Super Castlevania IV.  Here, I felt more like Samus was swinging horizontally and that I could never get a decent arc going to launch myself.  And similar to the Ice Beam and the Wave Beam, the amount of time between acquiring the Grapple Beam and the Space Jump (which allows Samus to spin jump infinitely rendering the Grapple Beam essentially useless in a lot of situations.  There were other uses for the Grapple Beam though with moving or destroying specific blocks and so it ended up becoming another context-specific tool for exploring and very rarely about traversing.

The only mechanic I did not make extensive use of that was specifically designed with the 3DS in mind was using the bottom touch screen to use the Ball function.  The game prompts you to tap the side of the screen (as in on the area with the map on it) to immediately roll up into the Ball rather than tapping down twice on the directional pad (first to crouch, then into a ball).  I used it on a few occasions when I wanted to try to stick to the wall (using the Spider Ball) to avoid some environmental obstacle (spikes, slime wall) so that I could bomb a bombable section of the wall, but that action never really felt natural or comfortable, so I stuck to using the directional pad.  And honestly, there really were not any areas or tricks that would have required you to roll up into the ball while in mid-air.

Like most Metroid games, I took my pretty time, not really caring to try for a speed run, especially on my first run-through of the game, so I was not aiming to see Samus in her Zero Suit or whatever form of skivvies was designed for her to wear.  After every upgrade, I unabashedly would look at my map for any markings I made next to unexplored areas to see if I could possibly acquire more missiles, a new energy tank, or open up additional areas.  There was definitely more backtracking than in Metroid II, but with an in-game map to guide me this time, I never felt lost, or at least so lost that I needed to consult a walkthrough.  Scratch that, I did feel lost several times, but again, never so lost that I needed to consult an out-of-game map or guide.

I did however consult a guide twice in regards to two boss fights, partly because I apparently missed some on-screen visual clues as to what I needed to do during each of the boss fights, but also because I felt that the game was not obvious in what I needed to do.  For instance, during one fight, the enemy created a vacuum that if it sucked you into it, would chomp Samus a couple of times and then spit her out dealing a butt-ton of damage.  I thought if I fired missiles into the vacuum I could damage the boss, but that turned out to not be the case.  What you were supposed to do was use the Spider Ball function and drop bombs that would be sucked up and damaged that way.  The second time I consulted a guide for the final boss, as I was not sure if I was doing something wrong, or missing another visual clue (like using the Super Bombs in the final fight in Metroid Dread), but when I found out that you could also use the verticality of the stage, it changed my way of thinking about that fight and I was able to defeat the final boss on the second of two attempts.

I really hope that Nintendo decides to bring over Metroid: Samus Returns to the Switch since anyone who enjoyed Metroid Dread will immediately recognize the visual style and mechanics that MercurySteam brings to this franchise.  The touchscreen functionality could easily be mapped to any of the trigger buttons not on the original 3DS system, and that would really be it.  True you would lose out on experiencing a game that looks and plays great with the 3D slider cranked up to max (although I did turn it down during the two aforementioned boss fights), but the sales of the 2DS system prove that not everyone felt they were missing out on the 3D effect baked into the 3DS games.  I want more people who never had a 3DS/2DS to play this game because it is just an all-around great Metroid game from a company that has proven they know the Metroidvania genre.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Never Dreamed You'd Return

*P.S.  I also included the time pulled from the stats app on the 3DS system to show that there were a few times that I died and the game restarted either from my last save or just right outside the door to the bosses that I died against.  This means I spent nearly 4 1/2 hours backtracking and redoing the same thing (or nearly so) because I died.

Game EXP: Alone in the Dark Prologue (PC)

Alone in the Dark Prologue: Grace

Systems: Windows, Steam Deck

Release Date: May 25, 2023

Publisher: THQ Nordic

Developer: Pieces Interactive

Time Spent: 15 minutes

I have some experience with the original Alone in the Dark, originally released on DOS by Infogrames back in 1992, and played that game the agonizing way it was meant to be played, with arrow keys and the spacebar as an action button (which you had to pause to select what action you wanted to perform when you unpaused and returned to the game).  The point is that I am somewhat familiar with the Hartwood family, the Dercerto estate, and the general vibe that this game very successfully was establishing.  I love survival horror games that can convincingly incorporate non-combat gameplay and at the same time, fool me into believing that I am not playing a point-and-click adventure game.

The Alone in the Dark Prologue is a short introduction to this reimagined world from the original game with the full game being released later this year.  Before starting the prologue, I specifically did not look up information about the game apart from it being essentially a remake of the original Alone in the Dark, just to make sure that it was not going the route of the 2008 remake by turning it into a first-person shooter, or the 2005 movie by just being apparently bad (both of which take place in the present day).  Not that I needed the game to take place in the 1920s, but I find that it helps with this kind of story by limiting the types of resources the player can use in the world, although there are obvious exceptions in games like Outbreak and Layers of Fear: Inheritance.  I spent 15 minutes total with this demo, and that was watching all cutscenes, exploring every available room, talking to every person I could find, and interacting with everything that gave me an "A" button.  Sure there was no combat, no equipable items apart from the one key I found that immediately went into an invisible inventory that I could not pull up.  And once it was clear that I was going to be playing as Grace, a child no more than 12 years old, I was not expecting her to be wielding crowbars or touting a six-shooter.

What I found interesting about this prologue is that it really is just a prologue and less like a demo of the full game, designed to set the tone of the full game which releases on October 23rd of this year, so I cannot say if this short story will be included or will be a separate entity altogether.  It is not so much a demo in the traditional sense that you might expect from Street Fighter 6, System Shock, or Gal Guardians: Demon Purge in that all you did here was walk around, talk to people, look at things, and unlock a door.  Sure there were context events that happened, but I would not say that I experienced all of the functions or mechanics of the game enough to say that I know what to expect from the full game.

While the main game does not currently have a Steam Deck rating, the prologue is rated as unknown compatibility, but I did not have any issues playing the game the three times I booted it up; the first time for my playthrough, and the other two times to get a couple of pictures I missed.  The game, by default, set all of the graphical sliders to High and Ultra, so I decided to leave them as such.  The game ran fine, although I probably could have turn down the settings for a smoother experience, but there were no hiccups with long load times or stuttering between gameplay and cinematics.  The graphics were about what I was expecting considering this is not an AAA studio, but I do not know if I would want to trust the Alone in the Dark IP to a AAA studio with the end goal being board member profits and not the customer's experience.  What it really boils down to, is that I was very happy with this prologue and how it ran on the Steam Deck, and if the full game runs as well as this did, I will be very happy come October.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
So It Shall Be Written

P.S.  I just wanted to throw in that it appears that, at least in this one instance, that the developers utilized functioning mirrors, or at least a trick to give the impression that mirrors are functional in this game.  I actually do not know how the technology works for mirrors to be a thing in video games, and I am sure that there are ways around it so that the game is not actually generating a mirror image of what the camera sees based on where both the character and camera are in relation to the mirror in the stage.  Yeah, like I know what I am talking about.

MIDI Week Singles: "Aim Spirente" - Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (PC)

 

"Aim Spirente" from Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire on Windows, Linux, macOS, PlayStation 4, & XBox One (2018)
Composer/Arranger: Justin Bell
Album: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Original Soundtrack)
Label: Digital Release
Publisher: Versus Evil
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

Not having played Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire but knowing that ships are heavily involved in the story, when this song came up while listening to the soundtrack, I literally lol'd.  Not out of malice or mean-spiritedness, but because I was not expecting a sea shanty to be parodied/rearranged as well as it is done here.  I love the recording quality as if it had been done in the back room of a tavern just before it opens, although the acoustics are slightly better than what you might find among the islands in the Deadfire.

I first heard the original song, "Santianna, " a couple years back when Conklederp first started playing it for The Squire, but the version I had heard was performed by The Longest Johns featuring Justine Galmiche from the group SKÁLD.  So hearing a new version of this song sung primarily in English was a little strange, but there are location, person, and ship references scattered all throughout "Aim Spirente," so it is somewhat like its own language.  Kinda?  I dunno.

I just love a good sea shanty, so don't be surprised if we up and use another song from this album in the coming months.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

The Tears Wash Clean

Game EXP: Art of Balance TOUCH! (3DS)

Art of Balance TOUCH!
Systems: PlayStation 4, Wii U, Wii, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS*
Release Date: February 15, 2010
Publisher: Shin’en Multimedia
Developer: Shin’en Multimedia
Time Spent: 10 Hours 7 Minutes

I have mixed feelings about Art of Balance TOUCH!

On the one hand, I love the concept and idea of trying to balance different objects on top of each other.  On the other hand, I do not like a lot about this game, or at least I do not like specific aspects to how it plays on the 3DS.  Art of Balance TOUCH! is a balancing game where you are given a set number of blocks to place above a bowl of water and if any of the blocks splash into the water, you have to restart.  As the game progresses, there are added modifiers that make the concept more difficult, like pieces that break if too many other pieces are stacked on them, platforms that move (which is not ideal when you are trying to balance objects on them), increasingly difficult shapes to stack like triangles, and blocks that you can see the shape of, but cannot use until you have used the blocks preceding them..

First off, the camera.  I get that the camera will sometimes do dynamic zoom-ins/outs based on what you are doing, but when that zoom-in happens while you are trying to precariously place a block on top of another block (which is balanced on four other blocks, one of which is round), it can be a little aggravating.  It is a steady slow zoom-in, but it is often at the expense of not being able to see the top of the screen, which is where you want your block to go because again, you are trying to balance it on top of five other blocks.  This means that you are moving the block you are trying to place while trying to make special accommodations for the camera, which feels like is not something you should need to think about in a game focused on balancing things on top of other things.

The second issue is the wild imbalance in how the levels are laid out or at least the progression in each world.  Because this is a puzzle game, it makes sense that there are going to be puzzles that are more difficult than others, but for me, there are some puzzles that are frustratingly difficult. There is a stage (World C, Level 9.2) that took me 19 minutes after 36 attempts tucked away amongst other stages that I have beaten in a minute and fewer than five attempts, to me, seems out of balance.  And then there are stages (World E, Level 5.2) that are so difficult to start, that I typically have to restart after just the second of six pieces; this is also one of those stages that are timed, so there is that added stress of getting the correct piece rotated to the correct angle and place gingerly on pedestal that moves based on the weight placed on it (think of it like a balancing scale) and quickly picking up the next of the five remaining pieces.  All within the 15 seconds that start about .5 seconds after you pick up your first piece.  So maybe it is just a me issue and not that the game is being too difficult?  Yeah, I don't think so, because in (at least) the PS4 version, you have one fewer pieces and still have (I believe) the same amount of time.  Yeah, I am just a little bit salty about this stage.

Lastly, not so much a game issue as it is a "me not being able to find a solution" issue is just that.  I have looked for walkthroughs for some of the more difficult stages (World D, Level 7.5), and it seems that the PS4 and Wii/U versions of the game do not have the same levels in the same order as the 3DS version, let alone the same puzzle layout with the same pieces (see above issue with World E 5.2).  This makes trying to find out how/why I cannot solve a particular puzze or why it seems exceedingly difficult and a bit of a hunt-and-peck based on the thumbnail.  I do not mind having to retry levels as there is that high of finding a solution after several attempts, but once you have to retry the same level for the 10th time, it can feel a bit futile not knowing if you are on the right path or failing because you are not placing the correct piece in the correct order in the correct place.

I do not know if I will 100% Art of Balance TOUCH! if only because some stages that I have not completed just frustrate me to no end, but I also do not want to hammer away at a game that I am no longer enjoying (see The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks) and right now, this game is still enjoyable when it is enjoyable.  Because again, I love the act of being able to balance objects on each other.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
So Take A Try

*P.S.  I included the other Art of Balance games even though they technically do not have the "TOUCH!" in the title.  I will usually not include earlier or different versions of the same within a Game EXP article, but I wanted to include the others here to partly illustrate that the game is still in circulation on modern systems.