#and those platforms for the spirit reliving are hell

[sympaii]

never thought playing sky would make me so angry and upset but here i go

[sleeplessinsiswati]

Toxic Masculinity—A Contagious Kind of Pollution

Yeah, yeah, yeah. My bad, I know I’m late.

*grumble and murmuring*

My bad. Look, i said my bad.

*lower murmuring*

Look, in my defense, I had the post locked and loaded on the queue and then my internet went out. Boom. Now can we get on with what we came here for?

_________________________________________________

As you may know about me, bell hooks is one of my favorite authors. She has inspired me, moment after moment and time after time, to grow and love myself and others more wholly and fully.  In her writing she uses a combination of autobiographical, common-sensical language and academic, theoretical research to shed light to the various topics. Here, I will attempt to scratch at the masterpieces of her work, and use both theory and my experience to shed the light of truth concerning what I know about what the world has come to refer to as toxic masculinity.

Your story may be different than mine, but toxic masculinity is something that affects each and every one of us. Let me state again, masculinity is not the issue here; there is nothing wrong with “being a man” or being strong or having power. The issue comes in when notions or ideals of manhood force boys and men to be emotionally unavailable, makes us believe we are not enough as human beings, or encourages us to exploit and take advantage of others in an ultimate quest for power. There’s no way around the reality that this is no way to live, and there is the crux of the argument—living. Most of the things that we come to know and associate with being a “man” and “manhood” have to do with survival. Hunting, fishing, fighting, scanning a room and sizing people up, sports, fitness, taking a hit and not complaining, the list goes on and on. Most of these are guys grasping at straws, trying to get a piece, a bit more power than they had before, in order to survive. But this is not living. 

This is why the first step to growth, and leading a healthier life absent of toxic masculinity, is reflection. You must look over your life, your experiences and genuinely ask are you living or are you surviving. Patriarchy, being a system where men and masculine energy dominate spaces of power or with power and women, children, and weaker men are seen as inferior and vessels willing to be dominated or controlled, makes us believe that survival is the ultimate resource and that there are constant, looming threats to us accomplishing this goal. Though at times this may be true, it is not always true, and if we walk through life always scanning rooms with balled up fists we doom ourselves to early graves filled with bitterness, emotions we’ve never experienced, and a life devoid of love. There is more to life than reliving childhood traumas day in and day out, but that more does not come without being able to reflect and to heal. 

I don’t remember at what point in my childhood I started hating my dad; I know that it was not always that way. There’s a distinctly fond memory I have with him—wrestling my older brother and I, both of us no older than seven at the time, he pinned us down and stood on our chests saying, “ Who’s the man? Who’s the Man?” Gerald and I were half hysterical laughing, half having an asthma attack, and shouting, “ You’re the man! You’re the man!” He laughed saying, “ No, God’s the Man. Say, God’s the Man.” We giggle between gasps, “Okay, God’s the Man!” Mom came on to the scene from the back room of our duplex and looked at Dad with that look that only Black mommas can deliver; we were sorry that we got dad in trouble, but to this day I love that time in my life, I love that memory. 

Perhaps it was the pressures of two lives, two similar personalities, and an age difference spanning over three decades that caused there to be so much friction between us; don’t ask me what the first argument was even about, because I couldn’t tell you. I think that it was the silence that ultimately led to it all. Questions not asked by a son out of fear, and questions left unanswered by a father unaware of the shadow his figure casted. What I do know is that early on in my adolescence I became disillusioned with childhood, with being looked down upon and thought to be foolish, and I know it had a lot to do with Dad and things he said, or how he said them. Something as simple as walking into the room that Gerald and I shared, looking around and making an expression, and finally looking at us and shaking his head was all Dad needed to do to express his disappointment. Honestly I appreciated the silent expressions a lot more than the verbal ones, which seemed to have a back-breakingly painful bite to them. Gerald grew to be calloused and joke about it, but I was raw to it; words more than belts and punishments are what would break my spirit. Around fifth grade I realized that love didn’t really matter, or at least it didn’t mean anything—I loved my dad and he kept smoking cigarettes even after my brother and I begged him to stop; I loved my mom but I couldn’t tell her what I felt about the world because she couldn’t protect me from it; I loved my brother but I felt he constantly belittled me, silenced me, and made me feel like I was stupid (I’m sure he took a few pages from Dad’s book, in this way); I loved myself, or I thought I did, and yet I constantly belittled myself, telling myself that in this world I would have to be stronger. Love could not change anything about life, it just made you feel like you couldn’t even more.

Eventually I gave in to this belief system—years passed and I graduated to full blown “I don’t give a fuck about anything”. I was afraid, powerless and with those tools as weapons I was ready for anything at any time because I felt I had nothing to lose; I felt I had lost so much of my soul already, it wouldn’t matter even if I lost my life. Hotheaded athlete, I knew how to mask my shrewd and heartless demeanor with cool, chauvinistic locker-room thuggery. I acted chill, I wanted to be chill, but in my mind, at any moment I was a shoulder bump away from a full blown “nigga moment”, as so accurately defined in The Boondocks. I was a ticking time bomb, an emotionally unavailable mess all throughout high school, and college was more the same with less of the guard rails.

But before we keep going forward, let’s go back. Black Baton Rouge has become well-known in modern society (before the Alton Sterling murder) for one reason in particular, as far as I am concerned, —Lil Boosie. Now, I’m not talking about “Zoom” or “Wipe Me Down” Lil Boosie, that’s mainstream Boosie. I’m talking “Set It Off”, “Murder Was the Case” Lil Boosie; Boosie that I met that one time at the Mall of Cortana and he said, “Wassup, lil niggas” Lil Boosie. That one. The Boosie BR natives knew growing up was trap before trap was cool. Street, gutta, whatever you want to call it, Black BR loved it and they had to have it. Hell the whole world came to love it, but Baton Rouge had to have it so much that they had to mimic it; kids, even, began to walk with certain swaggers, talking lingos picked up from lyrics. It was a damn masterpiece from a mastermind, and there was no escaping it. The problem though, is what this success for one man meant for many boys (like me and unlike me) growing up in that era. Is being a man being that kind of man? The kind of man in these songs? Why do these boys think less of me because I’m not a “man” like they think they are? Do they know they’re faking?

These were the type of thoughts that got me chin-checked on more than one occasion, questioning what someone saw as their manhood, or them thinking I was calling them soft. I was a huge fan of Dr. King in my younger days, nonviolence and all, but I made up in my mind after one good fight that Dr. King must have never been to Scotlandville, Baton Rouge, a day in his life, and that was that for nonviolence as a way of life in my mind. In a classic case of if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them, I entered the wade pool of cool poses and posturizing. If a scrap came I didn’t think twice about it, and I was willing to take whatever bruises and lumps came with it from the school or the fight. Not like I was built or raise for all’lat, but didn’t seem like there was much other option. 

Now let’s press play, back at the start of my university academic career. I had finally made it to the platform where I wanted to be—college freshman, class president, track team, chapel assistant, so on and so forth. And the shit felt as plastic as a maxed out credit card. The aggression, the fight that I had come to know and hate and love—for all its pain and all  its suffering, I missed it; it was home, my home. Not much more than a self-righteous leader already, I quickly threw off the mask of who people wanted me to be as the smart, politically correct leader after freshman year, and allowed my passions to roam freely. I did what I wanted, when I wanted, for no reason other than I wanted to. 

It wasn’t until I nearly lost my opportunities to continue my studies and was threatened with the potential for never finishing undergrad, that I sat down and contemplated what went wrong, and why. It was then that I had to take a journey through my mind, into my past and confront the decisions I made, the reasons I made them, and the consequences of those actions. It was here that I discovered and acknowledged the pain in my past. The memories of desperately wanting the approval of my father, and simultaneously being pained by not living up to his seemingly impossible expectations; Times where he seemed to be emotionally unavailable hurt me more than any belt whooping ever could; fleeting thoughts of being silenced or crying inconsolably from feelings of inferiority or brokenness. From these starting points I came to resent the presentation of manhood before me in my father, and the power that came with it, with hoping to one day overcome (or overpower) it by whatever means necessary. That bitterness spilled over into other systems of power and I came to resent almost all, if not all, forms of leadership. Being on the lower rungs of the power dynamic at home and the frustration that came with it did not get any better in the world beyond those four wals; I was short, readily referred to as “nappy-headed”, and emotionally vulnerable. The ego bruises and self-esteem damage I received from early on in my public school career led me to believe that I had to become someone powerful, or to have power, in order to not be disrespected. This belief would haunt me from the moment of its beginning up to this very day. 

Once I realized this, and I was able to accept that for the vast majority of my life I had been living in my past burdened by unforgivness, that I had not been the person I really wanted to be, I began a journey of learning to become for the first time. It was exciting being able to unlearn ways in which I had limited my own humanity for fear of not being perceived as manly or displaying some form of power, but it has also been very painful at times. Admitting to yourself the damage that you have done to others, the damage you have done to yourself, and the damage that has been done to you is not easy. There are people who to this day I feel I owe apologies to, for things that I said or ways that I treated them, Black women in particular; for the sake of recovering acknowledgement I didn’t receive in my youth but desperately wanted, I took advantage emotionally of women who otherwise loved me, cared for me, and wanted to see the both of us to succeed. Some people, most people, are afraid to look into their pasts and examine the truth of their actions because they do not want to face that there may be consequences to their actions; even towards themselves there is unforgivness and bitterness. The truth is, without confronting our past we are bound by them and they have power over us. Only by being able to non-judgementally examine our actions, accept that they were wrong, and pay whatever toll to move forward, can we begin our journey of healing. 

Even I was afraid to begin my journey of unlearning toxic masculinity thinking that I may be vulnerable to the world and it’s threats, but I have come to find my wife and best friend, a life of love and laughter and carefree living, and wholeness through this adventure of learning. Yes, I am now more likely to cry in public and yes I share my feelings more with others, but I now see that instead of living a life silencing parts of who I am and distorting other parts of me to seem more angry or more threatening than I feel, I can just…be. 

And that, for me, is enough. 

Pain is universal: we all experience it, feel it, and suffer. But the only thing equally as universal, and infinitely more powerful is the healing from that pain; that healing is love. I challenge you to ask what ways has toxic masculinity been a part of your life, and then challenge your self to live a more whole, more alive life. Only by ending this vicious cycle can we stop the pollution of toxic masculinity, and breathe the fresh air of self-acceptance, self-love, and truly show our love for others. 

Peace.

[aion-rsa]

Upcoming Movies in November 2020: Streaming, VOD, and Theaters

https://ift.tt/3evPPz5

At this very moment, Halloween decorations are coming down, shattered Jack-o-Lanterns are being swept up, and bounties of candy are being traded by the most discerning of Trick ‘r Treaters. Yes, All Hallows’ Eve is done and November is here.

Seasonally that means warm sweaters and warmer, fuzzier movies at the cinema (or streamer in 2020 parlance). Even though we are still nearly two months away from Christmas, a glance at the upcoming November releases reveal it’s already the season to be jolly. But there’s more than feel-good cheer. There are also horror movies, awards contenders, and comedies to look forward to, whether in a theater or from the comfort of your own home.

Let Him Go

November 6 in the U.S. (December 11 in the UK)

Did you walk away from Man of Steel wishing you could just get a film about Kevin Costner and Diane Lane dealing with the seedy side of family life in rural America? Then you’re in luck, because Let Him Go looks like a slow-boiling thriller that actually takes advantage of their talents. In the film from writer-director Thomas Bezucha (pulling from a Larry Watson novel), the pair plays retired sheriff George Blackledge (Costner) and his wife Margaret (Lane).

After their son dies, the Blackledges’ daughter-in-law marries again, taking their grandson into a new family. But when the grieving grandparents realize her second husband is abusive, and is himself the son of even shadier figures (Lesley Manville and Jeffrey Donovan), George and Margret are roped into a nightmare of familial trauma and treachery. Do they let their grandson go, or face the scariest thing in the heartland… Manville’s Blanche Weboy.

Mank

November 13 (December 4 in the UK)

Prior to its December bow on Netflix, David Fincher’s hotly anticipated Mank will have a limited run in theaters later this month. The picture, which is already being hailed on social media as a masterpiece by many, is Fincher’s first film since 2014’s Gone Girl and has the tantalizing setup of being about the sometimes overlooked writer Herman J. Mankiewicz, co-screenwriter of Citizen Kane.

With an apparently sweltering performance by Gary Oldman as the hard drinking and morally ambivalent writer, the picture is shot in much the same style as Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece. Mank also pulls from other styles and seems to investigate the disputed claim by critic Pauline Kael that Mankiewicz deserved sole authorship for Citizen Kane’s script. Either way the film, which also features a screenplay by Fincher’s father, Jack Fincher, looks like one of the most unique and exciting movies of 2020.

Freaky

November 13

Writer-director Christopher Landon did an unlikely thing a few years ago with Happy Death Day: He made the Groundhog Day concept of being forced to relive the same day over and over again into a genuinely clever and amusing horror-comedy. He now seeks to do the same trick twice with Freaky, another Blumhouse Productions theatrical release that reworks the concept of Disney’s Freaky Friday with a blood-curdling twist. Instead of being about a mother and teenage daughter switching place, now the teenage girl is swapping bodies with a serial killer.

It’s a gonzo premise, which gives a lot of room for actors Kathryn Newton, as heroine Millie, and Vince Vaughn, as “the Blissfield Butcher,” to do big, bold things—especially once they switch characters.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

November 13

Netflix’s first major Christmas movie of the 2020 season aims to be a real showstopper. How can it not be with songs by Philip Lawrence and the immeasurable John Legend? The Grammy winning pair are now trying their hand at a Christmas musical with Jingle Jangle, a toe-tapper fantasy that melds Dickensian Yuletide iconography with a star-studded cast of diverse talent.

At the center of it is Forest Whitaker as the ultimate toy inventor who’s on the brink of unveiling his masterpiece. But after it’s stolen by the dastardly Keegan-Michael Key, two children must go on an adventure to save… look, it’s a family holiday movie with John Legend songs. You’re either in or you’re out!

Ammonite

November 13 (U.S. Only)

After months on the festival circuit, Francis Lee’s much anticipated Ammonite finally arrives in theaters this month. The film stars Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan as a pair embarking on a forbidden romance, yes, and it also promises a look at a world on the cusp of change. Some of it will be significant and relatively sudden, with Winslet playing the pioneering paleontologist Mary Anning, who in real life reached international notoriety for her scientific discoveries of Jurassic fossils along the English Channel. Some of it will be painfully slow if nonexistent.

The latter struggle occurs when Winslet’s Anning agrees to essentially chaperone Charlotte Murchison (Ronan), the depressed wife of a wealthy benefactor. But as Anne and Charlotte’s business arrangement becomes a friendship, and then blossoms into something more, their work along the coast becomes a point of interest for not only the pair, but also all those watching from the wings. A definite awards contender, it’s one many have been waiting to see for themselves since the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Fatman

November 13 in theaters, November 24 digital (U.S. Only)

Mel Gibson is playing Santa Claus. To reiterate, Mel “Mad Max” Gibson, is portraying old Kris Kringle.

But you should realize this isn’t your daddy’s Santa. Hell, it’s not even your Santa. But if this grindhouse VOD release somehow works… it might be one you are happy exists.

Read more

Movies

20 Christmas Movies for Badasses

By Michael Reed

Movies

The 17 Best Christmas Horror Movies

By Elizabeth Rayne and 3 others

The gist is Gibson’s Kris is a bitter burnout who has become disillusioned by the lack of Christmas Spirit out there. He’s even collaborating with the U.S. military to make ends meet. But when a lump of coal pisses off the wrong kid, that child sends a hitman (Walton Goggins) to take Santa’s head. This is like an ‘80s revenge flick, right down to Gibson’s starring role.

For better or worse, we’re intrigued.

The Princess Switch, Switched Again

November 19 (US Only)

Netflix made a sequel to The Princess Switch. You know, the holiday movie where Vanessa Hudgens plays both a posh princess and an all-American everygirl, and then they switch places like in The Parent Trap?

Either you know what we’re talking about or you don’t, and if you do, good news… they’re switching places again this month!

Run

November 20 (US only)

Run is a Hulu original that appears intent on causing teenagers around the world to think twice about their parent’s smiling concern. Because concern and smiles is what Sarah Paulson’s Diane Sherman is all about. A tightly wound “helicopter parent” if there ever was one, Diane refuses to see her daughter Chloe (Kiera Allen) as a burden. In fact, she likes Chloe just the way she is, confined to a wheelchair, helpless, and on perhaps unnecessary medication.

Read more

Movies

Best Modern Horror Movies

By Don Kaye

Movies

A24 Horror Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

By David Crow and 3 others

But when taken from Chloe’s point-of-view, this is terrifying. Too bad it will be incredibly difficult for her to run away from home. But as the title suggests… that may be what’s best, dear.

Small Axe

November 15 in the UK, November 20 in the U.S.

Rather than a single film, writer-director Steve McQueen follows up the underrated Widows with five movies in this anthology set. The BBC/Amazon co-production, which will see its premiere respectively on those platforms on each side of the pond, provides a nuanced and trenchant study of the Black experience in the United Kingdom. Each film is standalone but traces a different story or era.

For instance, the first film in the “series,” Mangrove, stars Black Panther’s Letitia Wright and tells the true story of the Mangrove Nine, who clashed with London’s Metropolitan Police in 1970, and whose trial resulted in the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within British law enforcement. Meanwhile John Boyega plays real life Metropolitan Police officer Leroy Logan, who joined the force with the aspiration of changing it after he saw his father assaulted by two policemen.

These promise to be probing and hopefully revelatory works of cinema, whether you view them as a collection of films or a single miniseries.

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square

November 22

Yeah, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is great and all with its three ghosts and Tiny Tim. But you know what it didn’t have? Dolly Parton as a singing angel. Checkmate, Charlie.

Read more

Movies

The Best Christmas Movie Soundtracks of All Time

By Ivan Radford

TV

Christmas in The Twilight Zone: Revisiting Night of the Meek

By Arlen Schumer

With Netflix’s Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, Christine Baranski plays a “Scrooge” styled owner of a small community’s land—and she’s planning to sell it this Christmas. That is until she has an intervention from an angel played by none other than Ms. Dolly Parton.

And did we mention Dolly wrote all 14 songs in this thing? It’s a Dolly Holiday, indeed.

Hillbilly Elegy

November 24

The Ron Howard who won an Oscar for directing A Beautiful Mind appears to be stepping to the forefront again with his first Netflix original. After spending time in the galaxy, far far away, Howard looks determined to offer a harrowing, and heartstring-pulling, account of three generations of “hillbillies” struggling for the American dream in Appalachia.

J.D. Vance (Gabriel Bosso), who is a real-life author, returns to his small town after attending Yale. Back home, he will have a reckoning with his childhood and the mother who defined it, Bev (Amy Adams). Actually Bev’s movie, Hillbilly Elegy see her experiences with J.D. and his siblings over the years from her unexpected teenage motherhood to their current estranged relationship.

Awards chatter will have you believe Adams is a Best Actress frontrunner for her turn, as is Glenn Close who plays J.D.’s grandmother Mamaw, but we imagine many might just be happy to see a family more dysfunctional than their own this Thanksgiving season.

The Croods: A New Age

November 25 in the U.S. (January 29 in the UK)

You remember The Croods, right? The DreamWorks movie about cavemen and a voice cast that includes Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, and Nicolas Cage… No, really, it came out in 2013! We’re serious.  Well, they made a sequel and this one also includes the voices of Peter Dinklage and Kelly Marie Tran, and it’ll be in theaters. So, yeah. There you go.

The Christmas Chronicles 2

November 25

It’s only Thanksgiving and we’re already on our fourth Christmas movie from Netflix. Yet we suspect this is going to be the one to generate the most excitement since it follows up on the first time Kurt Russell played Santa Claus as a burly mountain man of action for the streaming service.

That 2018 effort was cute, but this sequel is taking things to a whole new world—the North Pole to be exact—and will feature CG elves, a Dickensian Christmas village, and most spectacularly Goldie Hawn in more than a cameo role as Mrs. Claus.

Additionally, Chris Columbus has graduated from producer to writer-director status on this sequel. As he’s the director behind Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films, his clout and fantastical eye promises to bring some epic holiday majesty to a film that is still about Russell kicking ass and taking names for his naughty list.

Uncle Frank

November 25

One of the most anticipated Thanksgiving releases of the year aimed at a slightly older audience, Uncle Frank appears to be a substantial film about the ties that bind. Family ties are, after all, what brings Sophia Lillis’ Beth Bledsoe to visit her dear Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany). In 1973, Frank is a charismatic and worldly relation to a small town girl like Beth. But it’s only when she crashes his Manhattan apartment that she becomes the first family member to realize Frank is gay… and a delightful companion for a grim road trip to his native home in rural South Carolina.

Read more

TV

Hulu New Releases: November 2020

By Alec Bojalad

TV

Sky Cinema and NOW TV: What’s New in November 2020?

By Kirsten Howard

The film has played the festival circuit to already positive acclaim ahead of its Amazon Prime release, with the word being it’s a return to form for Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball. It also is supposed to have standout performances for both Bettany and It’s Lillis.

Superintelligence

November 26 (US), November 27 (UK)

HBO Max also brings some holiday cheer at the end of the month with Superintelligence, a new Melissa McCarthy high-concept comedy. In the film, McCarthy plays Carol Peters, a woman who believes nothing exciting ever happens to her. That changes when her smart TV, smartphone, and even smart microwave begin talking back to her.

What at first appears to be a prank is actually a test since she’s been selected for “observation” by the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence (voiced by James Corden). The AI wants to use Carol as a case study in examining the human condition… possibly as it decides to conquer us. Can Melissa McCarthy save the world?

Black Beauty

November 27

Disney+ has one major narrative film release in November, and it’s a new version of Anna Sewell’s beloved novel Black Beauty. Adapted by Ashley Avis, this is the timeless tale of a teenager and the singular bond she forms with a horse that keeps them connected for a lifetime. The 1876 novel was pivotal for a dawning appreciation of the plight of work horses in Victorian England, and the desire to treat animals more humanely. Indeed, the book is narrated from the vantage of the horse!

The new Disney film appears to be updating things, with the male horse of the novel now being voiced by Kate Winslet. It also appears to feature a modern American setting, but with a promising cast that in addition to Winslet includes up-and-comer Mackenzie Foy as heroine Jo Green and Game of Thrones’ Iain Glen as John Manly.

Possessor

November 27 (UK only)

Brandon Cronenberg’s follow up to 2012’s Antiviral is a sci-fi horror thriller which sees a convert corporation develop tech that allows agents to inhabit other people’s bodies and carry out assassinations. Andrea Riseborough stars as the star operative who finds herself getting lost in one of her quarries, while Jennifer Jason Leigh is her handle. Possessor already played the festival circuit and was scheduled for a UK theatrical release at the end of November until a second lockdown was announced. Now the movie will be released on UK Digital Platforms.

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[enterinit]

New Xbox One Games for February 11 to 14

New Xbox One Games for February 11 to 14.

AO Tennis 2 (February 11)

A PLAYING FIELD MADE FOR YOU, BY YOU Use the comprehensive Academy editing suite to create a player just like YOU as well as your own courts, or you can download thousands of community creations. THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD See how you compare to the big names on the ATP & WTA circuits, including Rafael Nadal, Ash Barty, Angelique Kerber and many more. A COMPLETELY REDESIGNED CAREER MODE Set out to conquer the world rankings in a singles career or in doubles with a friend. Manage your Reputation, sponsors and performance to reach the top. NEW GAME MODES Relive legendary matches or create new challenges using the scenario editor.

Reed Remastered February 12)

Reed is the last creation of an old supercomputer that has started to break down and lose its information cubes. To help calibrate the cubes to reboot the system, it created Reed to save the world. Can you help Reed and save the world? Everything depends on you and your platforming skills!

Project Starship (February 12)

Take the role of Garret or Gwen, pilots charged with saving their world from an ancient evil. Evade, adapt and survive randomly generated challenges that are never the same. Take down gods and demons alike in unpredictable bullet hell shoot ’em up action and dive deeper to confront the hidden eye that watches over all.

Super Mega Space Blaster Special Turbo (February 12)

It's 2051. Earth is all but dead, an almost uninhabitable polluted mess of smog and tar. Remotely control space blasters from a dying Earth. Fight in epic space battles against all kinds of weird alien spacecraft. Rescue cute 'blastronauts' from alien capture. Wipe-out the alien forces and take-over their planet to give humanity a new home. Time is running out. Do you have what it takes to become the ultimate space blaster pilot and the saviour of the human race? A modern take on the retro arcade shoot 'em up (shmup). Super Mega Space Blaster Special Turbo is an addictive, fast-paced space shooter with bullet hell elements, loads of unlockables, and leaderboards to climb. The ‘Turbo’ edition of Super Mega Space Blaster Special is the definitive edition giving you more ships, more game modes, more unlockables, more challenges, and more space blasting fun than any ever before. Blast your way through 5 unique game modes including 2 new Turbo edition modes. Save cute astronauts and destroy the boss to claim victory in ‘Save The Colony’ mode. Manage your fuel and ammo to survive to the big-boss in 'Survival' mode. Protect your mothership from damage for as long as you can in 'Protect Mother' mode. Blast your friends into space dust in local competitive multiplayer modes 'To The Death' mode and the new ‘One Shot’ mode. Play alone in single player, or with a friend in local co-op to take out the aliens. Collect coins to unlock more space blasters (ships), upgrade your weapons and power-ups, and explore the shop for extra perks. Complete over 40 fun challenges to get those extra coins. Use each space blaster's strengths to your advantage; from turrets that allow twin stick control, to fast manoeuvrable ships that can outrun your foes. Arm yourself to the teeth with awesome power-ups like big-bombs, homing missiles and lasers. Destroy the alien boss and continue the endless gameplay to rack up a massive score and become the ultimate space blaster pilot and top the leaderboards. Features: Fast-paced addictive shmup gameplay with bullet hell elements.5 play modes give varied gameplay and replay-ability.Play alone in single player or with a friend in local cooperative or local competitive multiplayer.Collect coins to unlock all 15 space blasters (ships) each with their own perks. From fast ships for darting around to slower ships that allow precision aiming.Exclusive space blaster called 'X-Blaster' only for Xbox and Windows platforms.Some space blasters have turrets, turning the game into a twin-stick shooter.Loads of awesome power-up weapons to help you take down your enemies including lasers, homing missiles, and multi-shot.Use your coins in the shop to upgrade weapons and unlock more perks.Collectables to aid you in your mission. Big-bombs wipe-out nearby enemies, shields help you survive longer, and magnets drag fuel and ammo towards you.Endless high-score chasing gameplay with over 15 enemies and a boss for those who can survive long enough (gameplay continues after the boss). Over 40 in-game challenges to help you gain coins and develop your space blaster piloting skills.Simple hand-drawn art-style allows you to easily pick out the foes amongst the asteroids. Compete to be the greatest space blaster pilot in the leaderboards.Play along to the pumping 80s inspired synth-pop original soundtrack by Electric Fan Death.

Outbreak: Epidemic (February 12)

The infection goes nation-wide in Outbreak: Epidemic, an action-focused survival horror adventure. Featuring the great Outbreak series gameplay with greater mobility, crushing difficulty and more camera options than ever before. You'll fight through the Campaign story mode, the wave-based Onslaught Mode and all new Experiments Mode scenarios. Choose your survivor, class and level up to unlock new buffs for your survivor as you face the nightmare. You'll need to manage your inventory and supplies carefully, so make every bullet count! Hardcore Survival Horror: You only have one life, make it count! OTS: Claustrophobic over-the-shoulder gameplay brings the nightmare alive. Defense: Utilize numerous firearm and melee weapons against the undead. Limited Inventory: Manage your inventory and supplies carefully! Explore: In Campaign Mode search areas, read logs, find keys and solve puzzles to survive. Difficult: Play across multiple difficulty modes. Story Mode: Experience the epidemic first hand as you fight through the story. Onslaught Mode: Take out hordes of the undead with limited supplies. Experiments Mode: Bonus modes with a unique spin on survival horror.

The Adventures of 00 Dilly – (February 12)

Get ready to shoot crash test dummy 00 Dilly as far as you can across the Grand Canyon with the weirdest and whackiest devices. Collect points, find treasure, and soar upward to the highest scores with Dilly as you aim for the giant bullseye.

Darksiders Genesis (February 13)

Get Rampage (for War) and Despair (for Strife), two different in-game horse skins for both playable characters plus the standard version of Darksiders Genesis, plus 24 hours early access to the game. Ride Rampage and Despair for the first time in Darksiders Genesis. Strife and War can mount their siblings' apocalyptic warhorses. Fury and Death gladly lent their steeds to support their 2 brethren in their endeavour to "restore the balance" (read: kick some filthy Demon's butt). DARKSIDERS: GENESIS is an action/adventure that tears its way through Hell and back with guns blazing and swords swinging. Genesis gives players their first look at the world of DARKSIDERS before the events of the original game. Furthermore, it introduces the fourth and last horseman STRIFE, as well as Co-op gameplay for the first time in the history of the franchise. https://youtu.be/Vyo1uG6ljBM

Galaxy Control (February 14)

Join with friends in a free-to-play, real-time PvP multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). Collect and upgrade an ever-growing number of cards featuring the sci-fi troops, perks, and defenses. Destroy enemy Spacecruiser Towers with your army to defeat your opponents and win Fame, Stars and glory in the Arena.

UnderHero (February 14)

Underhero is an RPG-platformer where the chosen hero has failed, and an underling of the evil king reluctantly takes his place as the new hero. Use timing-based combat to defeat enemies as you venture across the land, face off against quirky bosses, and save the Chestnut Kingdom from your own evil boss, Mr Stitches. Features: A side-scrolling RPG adventure, complete with lush pixel art and cartoony aestheticsJump, slash, evade, talk, and bribe your way through a fantasy adventure with a satirical twistTurn-based combat… without the turns! Precisely timed actions are your most powerful weaponsLevel up, solve puzzles, find secrets in a world full of friends, foes, and weird inhabitantsA wonderful original soundtrack composed by Stijn van WakerenA story full of humor and mysteries awaits! https://youtu.be/-xS2XRP6ups

Tony Stewart’s Sprint Car Racing (February 14)

Feel the rush of over 900 horsepower as you slide through the turns in a 410 Winged Sprint Car. Tony Stewart’s Sprint Car Racing puts you in the heat of the action and the mud will fly as you hit the track in a dirt racing experience featuring all the drama of Saturday night short track racing. Race your way in quick race, a championship season, head-to-head split-screen, and 25-player online multiplayer action.

Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions (February 14)

A dreamlike collection of artistic jigsaw puzzles to piece together at your own relaxed pace. Dive into the rabbit hole of the abstract and the fantastical, putting together stained-glass fragments to solve dreams and riddles. Enjoy baroque depictions of 20th century imagination, in puzzles more intricate and complex than the original.

Spaceland (February 14)

It is probably the most dynamic turn-based strategy in the spirit of the old school. Less covers, more action! Land on a lost planet and show the mutants what you are made of. Shoot, kick, blow up and destroy. You will put together the most reckless team of fighters and unravel the mysteries of the mystical planet following the best traditions of science fiction. Features: The game is inspired by the best turn-based strategies of the old school A unique system of dynamic turn-based battles lasting 10–15 minutes A squad of space rangers made up of 7 fighters with a unique fighting style A story about the mysterious planet in the spirit of the golden age of science fiction A hand-drawn map of the game world Assault rifles, machine guns, plasma guns, grenade launchers and a lot of other equipment to make your fighters even stronger More than 20 different enemies from alien animals to dangerous monsters Futuristic upgradable equipment which gives your fighters unique abilities Intense dialogs between team members, which reveal unexpected plot twists Colorful special effects that transform a turn-based combat into an exciting action movie And, of course, the party headliners are dangerous bosses that show up at the end of each chapter of the adventure https://youtu.be/F0E-AUwnvJ8 Read the full article

[ive-always-been-a-pirate]

The Other Prince + A CS Modern Royalty AU [Chapter 4]

Modern Royalty AU: HRH Prince Killian has grown up in the shadow of the crown while enduring tragedy and the burdens of being the spare to the heir. With a desire to escape his past, he agrees to play host to the visiting general's daughter in exchange for an eventual life outside royal bounds. Moving on is never that easy though and he quickly learns that being the 'other' prince is even more difficult when you find yourself falling for the girl everyone wants your brother to marry.

Catch Up On Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three Also on FF.net and AO3.

Word Count: 5,549

Okay, here's the next Emma chapter. I'm sorry it ended up taking so long to post - life got really crazy for about a week and this took longer to finish than planned. A little more backstory here and the next chapter will be the one we've been waiting for :) thanks for being patient with me. The reviews and flails are all so wonderful and they make my day! As always, all rights, characters, and my soul belong to OUAT.

"So you still don't believe me?"

Emma nearly laughed at her father's quickly drawn conclusion as he flopped down in the seat across from her. Peeking up from the recent issue of Time magazine she'd borrowed from her mother's bag, she found the analyzing eyes of the man who'd just asked her something of a question.

"I never said that," she replied with a sly smirk. "Just trying to process your new level of popularity. I guess I didn't realize how much things have changed since I've been gone."

His gaze was understanding and the tiniest bit concerned, almost as if he needed to hear that she was okay with this little venture. She'd assured him she was a few times over the past couple of days and even if it wasn't totally honest, Emma knew it was the right thing to do. Normalcy was the next step in her father's recovery process and if being in regular communication with a few members of the royal family fell into their now typical realm of "business as usual"….well, she would just have to learn to deal with that.

"It's not that different, Em," he started with a raised eyebrow. "I used to tell you all the time about how I was in the active ranks with the Queen's son years ago. We were quite good friends even back then."

"Yeah, but you also used to say you'd help slay the imaginary dragon under my bed," she replied, matching his expression. "You can't blame me for questioning what sounds like the stuff of embellished fairytales, Dad."

He chuckled at that, his humored smile a sight she continually hoped to witness over the past few months. His face had been full of alternating agony and frustration since the injury, but as he'd started to heal, those details had shifted into a look of longing - one reserved for a sailor who was certainly missing the sea. It was that view of her father she was happy to be rid of for now and hopefully one day altogether.

So far, her morning observations were making her quite optimistic about that possibility.

They'd only boarded the train leaving platform eight at Leeds Station about twenty minutes earlier and despite having about another two hours to go, Emma couldn't think of a recent time she'd seen him look this alert or prepared. His determined, courageous spirit seemed to rush back as he'd shuffled their tickets between his somewhat nervous hands before moving between the sliding doors in search of their seats. Her mother had taken over that endeavor rather fast and Emma had rolled her eyes when he'd teased her with their usual warning about minding the gap as she stepped on board behind them. Being steered toward first class was a bit surreal and she tried to act casual while she'd navigated a path between an assortment of suited businessmen in the same direction her parents had gone. Arriving in a quiet cabinet of dark blue plush covered seats - two on one side and a single on the other - was an experience unlike the past railway trips she'd endured, but after a moment, Emma reminded herself that this new reality was built on one crucial fact.

They were now part of the royal approved upper class and as snobby as it sounded, maybe it was okay to see just how the other and much more privileged half lived. Just for a little bit, she told herself. After all, the coffee on the cart moving up and down the aisle seemed like a step up.

"I guess it does seem a bit fiction worthy to be friends with an actual modern day prince," her father acknowledged with a brief smirk, the lift of his mouth falling as fast as it had risen. "It's a shame though that even the heir to the throne hasn't been handed one of those happy endings you read about in kids' books - and I'm sadly not just referring to when his wife…."

The sound of his reminiscing voice trailing off prompted Emma to look out the window for a beat, her eyes searching the expanses of green grass drifting by as the train moved. He didn't have to finish the thought for Emma to know what tragic event he was referencing - the sudden and all too heartbreaking death of Princess Katherine which had shaken the world nearly fifteen years earlier. It was a dark time for the Royal family that Emma didn't know much about, but she'd seen the same aftermath as most everyone else - hundreds of mourners lining the gates of Kensington Palace with flowers and sympathy, never ending news articles and magazine covers displaying the unbelievably beautiful face of the fallen princess, and one solemn march of her husband and young sons as they followed her funeral procession toward Westminster Abbey on a dim rainy afternoon.

The loss hadn't been hers, but Emma had felt the heavy grief pushed upon the world that day and it wasn't a memory she wished to relive.

"Well," her father said after a moment, his eyes calm yet sad as he tried to will away the sad thought. "I guess I can just say that I knew Brennan back before his days became so difficult to endure."

Emma's head swirled with several questions that she hoped to clarify, but one stood out among the lot of them - one that wouldn't require explanation if they weren't discussing a man who was part of a long, traditional lineage.

"Wait - Brennan?"

"Oh, yeah - though I guess the more proper title would be Prince Brennan, or Charles William Philip Brennan of Wales if I were to be totally accurate," her father explained, his expression slightly amused. "He'd probably kill me for addressing him by his extraordinarily long name though. He's preferred only the fourth part as long as I've known him, which he's always reminded me of right after insisting I drop the formalities in regards to who he is specifically."

Emma felt her eyes widen again as the connection between her military driven father and the regal class continued to unfold. An actual first name basis, she realized while continuing the process of accepting an elevated social status. Well, fourth name - but it was kind of the same thing in this case.

"Hell of a sailor though aside from being next in line to the crown," he continued, running a hand over his recently shaved face. "It's a shame his health has taken such a toll on his ties to the Navy."

Emma narrowed her eyes a bit in confusion, her mind trying to deduce just what he might be about to divulge. She'd heard gossip here and there about a few health issues the eldest prince had been battling for the past decade at least. It had all stemmed from an illness that struck just after his wife's tragic death if Emma was recalling correctly and she wasted no time in asking for clarification with a wondering tilt of her head.

"I think his steady decline started around Christmas that year - almost three months after Katherine's passing," her father said after a few prolonged and achingly silent moments. "He had a rather mild heart attack, likely brought on by stress in my opinion but also due to an underlying condition several doctors have been trying to decipher for years now. It wasn't quite as severe as the one that followed a few years later. I have to say it's an unfortunate type of ironic to see a man who's so silently passionate about life fall victim to a failing heart."

Since the second her father had taken the seat across from her own, Emma had been wondering just what sort of endgame was in store for this conversation and more so for the destiny driven man being discussed. Hearing the words that wrapped that answer in a cloak of tragedy wasn't terribly shocking given the rocky road the heir apparent had traveled health wise, but they still met her ears with a painful and quite perilous sound.

The elder prince meant to one day take the throne had a broken heart - both figuratively and oh so literally.

"So he's going to….I mean, what about….like a-" Emma tried, stammering as she adjusted her inquiry. "-transplant or something? Is that a possibility with his condition?"

"It was once I suppose - well, twice actually," her father recounted. "But an illness like his isn't always so easily remedied. They've tried for the surgery on two separate occasions, but it just hasn't panned out."

"Oh," Emma said softly. "Why?"

"It's quite a long story, Em - maybe too long for a train ride from the country to the boroughs," he told her distractedly, the sudden halt of his history lesson making her even more curious. "But I guess one thing I can say for sure is that not all stories end with happily ever after - even when you're a prince."

Emma felt the mood shift as he stared out the window for a moment, his eyes distant with a recollection she hoped to eventually learn more about. She couldn't help but feel guilty as she watched him - a lot had evolved while she'd been away in the states and while the camaraderie he now shared with the well known royal was something she knew little about, it was obvious how affected he was by his ailing friend's plight.

"I appreciate you coming with us, Em," he said suddenly with a grateful smile. "I know you don't particularly love London and visiting the city is always a bit chaotic, especially on weekends."

"It's no big deal, Dad," she assured him with a returned smirk. "You're sure you're up to this though, right?"

"As much as I just love being cooped up in a house with two women who won't stop asking me if I'm okay, I think a breath of fresh yet slightly smoggy air will be a nice change," he teased, nodding toward the single seat across the aisle where her mother was sound asleep. "For all of us."

They seemed to share a mutual sense of relief at the view of her mother so unstressed as a nap overtook her. Emma had become familiar with the woman's troubled sleep habits since the accident as it was a struggle they shared, both of them alternating their bouts of worried insomnia while keeping watch over her healing father.

"Yeah, I've never seen her give into a seat swap so easily with me," Emma agreed, noticing how her father's expression filled with honest admiration as he watched his wife slumber. "Maybe a few days away will be just what the doctor ordered."

She couldn't help but giggle at the dramatically exasperated eye roll he offered in return, her ironic little play on words obviously just as cheesy as it sounded. The way resting didn't seem to vex the woman she'd been enduring this with at the moment made Emma believe that maybe they were on their way back to normal - even though this rather prestigious trip was anything but typical.

"Her idea doesn't seem like a terrible one actually," he decided while shifting back against the deep navy blue headrest. "You wouldn't mind allowing an old man to get a bit of shuteye, right?"

"You're not that old, Dad," she said in return with a teasing grin. "But go ahead - you're probably going to need it if you're going to sit through a bunch of boring meetings today."

"Hey, they aren't that boring," he replied with a wink. "Should only be about two hours to King's Cross and there will be a driver there to fetch us when we arrive."

Emma found herself still a bit flabbergasted by the formal amenities they were about to experience as she nodded and told him to get some rest. She honestly hoped he'd do so for what was left of the ride and while her simple wish stemmed from a never ending concern for his fragile health, a sudden desire to discover more about the family her father had just painted a vague picture of was something she was anxious to heed to. Knowing just the place to begin, she reached carefully for the magazine she'd recently set aside. It seemed like some odd piece of fate that the publication was advertising an article with a Modern Young Royals title - one about a familiar second heir and the less well known spare.

Her eyes followed the red letters on the cover to the table of contents, her fingers then navigating to the near middle of the pages. The short story wasn't long, but it slowly filled in the answers for a few questions floating around in her mind.

They were brothers of course, a fact she'd always known but one that suddenly fascinated her. Emma realized after a quick mathematical effort that the pictures printed alongside the words must have been a bit outdated - the photographs displayed two young soldiers who she now knew were retired military and sneaking up on thirty with a three year age difference. Well, at least the younger of the pair wasn't past that milestone yet. The article continued to chronicle the boys' adult lives - Liam and Killian of Wales, she'd read at the start - including their charity work and the eldest one's low key thirty first birthday retreat in Scotland. They seemed close and she wondered briefly if that conclusion was accurate. The relationship they'd developed had to be a bit tense with what certainly defined a whole new sense of sibling rivalry.

She sifted through the information printed in dark text as the green hills outside the window passed by, the train progressing along right on schedule and steadily enough to keep both of her parents peacefully asleep. The article didn't offer up as much new insight as she'd been hoping for and Emma sighed heavily as she toyed with the corner of the page.

Her eyes soon caught easily enough on the older brother's uniform, the crisp lines of the attire cut in deep blue and white just like her own father's. Though the picture was old and taken about four years earlier toward the end of his active duty, the pride and courageous qualities of the firstborn prince didn't seem like ones that would wear off anytime soon. The royal man had been mentioned in a few conversations throughout her life, especially once he joined the Royal Navy and eventually worked his way up to Captain - though as a man of a regal bloodline, his power obviously stretched beyond that title. His smile was genuine in the image displayed before her and it awakened an odd need to know deep within her soul - but the particular intrigue was suddenly not focused on Liam.

Her eyes scanned sideways unexpectedly with steady movement until her sight landed upon the younger prince. It took only a few seconds of staring down at the soldier dressed in the more sensible war-fit camouflage for realization to fill her head. While her previous knowledge on the older brother wasn't extensive, the truth regarding Prince Killian and exactly who he was was unbelievably unclear.

Sure, he was the other brother - the spare to the heir if dictated by cliche - but beyond that, she knew nothing about him.

Checking on her parents once more, Emma slowly reached into the black tote she typically slung over her shoulder on trips like this. Her hand bumped against the smooth cover belonging to her old copy of Anne of Green Gables - the book she was planning on rereading for the hundredth time - before she found the device she'd packed alongside that timeless tale. She pressed the power button quickly, making herself a little more comfortable in the cushioned seat as she waited for the iPad screen to brighten.

Almost sixty percent left, she noted silently. That battery life was plenty for an hour or so of research.

Emma let her fingers hover over the search bar as she pondered what to type. She wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for or just how much there was to learn about the younger prince, but the conflicted blue of his eyes in the single picture she'd just seen made it appear that there was more to him than what could be written in a two page spread. There was a mystery surrounding this guy - one who was only two years older than she was - and she needed to learn just how deep those serenely still waters ran. Opting to type simply his name with the formal title included, Emma hit the search key and waited in slight annoyance for the train's Wi-Fi signal to load the page.

"Holy hell…."

The barely expletive comment passed her lips in a sudden whisper, her teeth holding her tongue as she read the results with wide eyes. There was instantly a wealth of interesting information crowding her screen, everything from his recent departure from the military to his upcoming charity event regarding his work with wounded soldiers. The headlines were tempting as she scrolled through them and her impression of the second born royal began to slowly form, an opinion that was slightly honorable and dignified as she noted everything from his recent trip to a local zoo alongside a pack of private school first graders all the way down to his upcoming plans for an African elephant conservation trip. She didn't mean to so quickly gather a sense of intrigue toward the man affectionately deemed 'the people's prince', but there was no disputing the positive way he represented the Royal family - well, at least not until she clicked onto the second page.

Whoa, Emma thought with narrowed eyes. It didn't take long for text including terms like 'past rugby brawls at Eton' and 'the Las Vegas ladykiller' to put a pause on her impressed demeanor - or for those titles to be the ones she chose to elaborate upon.

She wasn't sure just how much of it was true as the publications ranged from trashy tabloids to online pop culture sites. Many of the reports were dated back a few years, possibly documented before his stint as a courageous helicopter pilot. There were plenty of them though and it was almost too easy to stereotype him as a playboy of sorts who'd taken part in numerous acts filed under that cliche of sex, drugs, and - as a fight at a past music festival in Dublin indicated - even a little rock and roll. As her touch swiped through dozen of stories, the facts began to prod her into a state of shocked surprise.

Prince Killian certainly wasn't as charming as his handsome smile and dapper suits suggested. He was almost some kind of a bad boy - and Emma's mind spun at the possibility of regality actually looking rebellious in the form of a dark haired, wild spirited royal.

The minutes ticked on, winding down the duration of their journey as Emma kept trudging through the tales her search had led to. There was no shortage of questionable stories and she shook her head as she navigated them - a short piece about his party habits and the various women he'd been spotted with. Her confusion mounted as she came across a piece speculating the reason for the prince's unexplained departure from Eton college a year earlier than was planned. The dramatically printed conclusion that he'd been kicked out didn't seem totally off base now that her exploration had shed some light on the enigma that was this younger prince - and that light wasn't of a bright sort as the publications piled up.

Another Weekend Bender for Prince Killian!

Supermodels Galore As The British Prince Hits The California Beaches!

The Prince's Untamed Temper Rises At London Pub!

Cheating, Failing, and Wild Nights Out: The Real Reason HRH Prince Killian Left Eton Early!

It felt strangely scandalous to be reading such outlandish reporting on someone whose name was proceeded by the label 'His Royal Highness', but each line of text seemed to normalize and expose him just a bit more. Emma knew she shouldn't care so much about someone she didn't even know. Just because they were visiting the palace didn't mean she'd ever even meet the man who was so suddenly mysterious and she had to thank god for that since there was no way she could look him in the eye after what she'd read - or what she'd now seen in some very interesting photographs following a few of the articles.

Sure, he was handsome enough - that probably wasn't really a secret to any woman in the world. Emma had admitted that to herself a few times over the year, typically when he graced the cover of whatever magazine she'd end up perusing while waiting in the grocery store checkout line. Everything from his dark, messy hair to his stormy eyes seemed to define what it meant to be attractive, but once he'd added a well trimmed beard and a seductive smirk - well, that upped the stakes a little more.

The pictures she found herself currently studying were changing the game even further in her mind though and it was becoming one where the rules were very few - almost as sparse as the clothing he was wearing in some of them.

There were a few from a bachelor's party he'd attended years earlier at the Bellagio in stateside Sin City where a late night strip poker game led to a drenched prince, his slightly grown out hair and defined chest falling victim to some poolside splashing. Just a several scrolls below that distracting photo opt was a blurry snapshot where a man who might be the prince she was contemplating appeared to be celebrating a friend's birthday party in nothing but his own birthday suit, only a well placed palm tree censoring the sight. There were also a couple pictures of him clad in a collared leather jacket with a drink in hand, intoxication scribbled all over his face as he moved from bar to bar throughout downtown London. In most of them, he was in company with the same small posse of two or three guys and also often followed by a pack of smitten women that constantly varied. Emma tried to ignored the way her face burned with what definitely was not jealousy, but perhaps….annoyance?

This guy was supposed to be the chivalrous face of the royal family, but as her research droned on, it was hard to see him as anything but a careless and perhaps hopeless womanizer.

Emma gave in to each outrageous link, her mind beginning to settle on the fact that this esteemed guy was bad news when her eyes unexpectedly found a string words that made her heart sink. She'd been silently afraid of finding articles like this one and her breath stuttered as she debated clicking on the blue title.

A Second Son's Struggle: How Prince Killian Found Peace After His Mother's Death.

Oh, she thought with pause and a small gasp. The suggestion of this royal man possessing yet another layer was painfully irresistible and Emma swallowed hard as she prepared to possibly change her mind again. She was almost certain she was headed down that perplexing path - well, right up until the sound of an cabin announcement signaled their arrival in the capital city a few minutes ahead of schedule. Her father's movement in the seat next to hers prompted Emma to hit the lock screen button and quickly stow away the device in the bag she'd retrieved it from.

"See that-" her father yawned wide, his eyes a well rested light blue. "-wasn't too long at all, right?"

"Uh, nope - no, it wasn't," Emma replied as she took a deep breath. "I guess I kinda have missed riding the train."

"Now, that's the spirit," he smirked, his line of sight focusing to analyze her. "Anything happen while I was out?"

Emma felt her cheeks grow warm as she thought back on the covert work she'd been undertaking while her family dozed. She couldn't pinpoint why she suddenly cared enough to explore further so she definitely couldn't explain her wonderings to the man who sat in high standings with the leaders of their current country and many others. Not now, Emma decided without words - and maybe not ever.

"Nothing to report," she answered, feeling instantly regretful for her ironic phrasing. "Well, other than the fact that you snore and that mom is still able to sleep through it."

"She's always found a way to put up with me I suppose," he winked, looking over at his tired wife as the train began to slow. "I guess we should wake her. All set?"

"Ummm, yeah," Emma nodded with a final glance out the window just as they passed beneath the arched entry toward the various platforms. "Guess we better get going, Admiral."

The charismatic grin he offered in return was enough to quiet her shaky breath as she rose from the cushy seat. Hearing the sounds of other passengers shifting and her mother's happy sigh as she awoke seemed to make it all that much more real. It really didn't matter if she was ready or not. They were actually headed for Buckingham Palace - and she could only hope her recent intel wasn't about to make that visit even more awkward.

"Oh, right over there," her mother pointed as they traversed the concrete walkway toward the ticketing area. "I think that's him."

Emma barely caught the signaling tone of her mother's voice, her eyes well beyond distracted as she observed the architectural beauty that was London's recently renovated station. From the moment they stepped off the train, she'd been been entranced by the building - the open plaza design, the sound of the echoing overhead departure and arrival announcements, and the steel structure of the towering roof. She'd been silently wondering just how her mother was able to sound so chipper right after waking up as she studied the white metal grid that weaved an enclosure above them. She quickly realized it was more than just a way to keep the city's sporadic rain from beating down on the throes of commuters and while she hadn't come to appreciate much about urban transportation, the sight definitely put a hold on her complaining as they exited through two of the various glass doors.

The sun was mild and a slight breeze hung in the air as Emma rubbed the smooth fabric of her striped sweater. The temperature wasn't much different than the one they'd just left, but as her eyes scanned the busy street lined with taxis and pedestrians, she noted that London was going to be quite the change from their peaceful stay in Leeds. Squinting as the bright light brought her back to an aware state, Emma tightened her hold on her shoulder bag as she peered in the direction her mother was gesturing.

"Yeah, must be," her father answered, his taunting wit returning in full. "I guess that sign reading 'Nolan Family' in big bold letters is a dead giveaway."

Emma laughed softly as he received an unamused glare from her mother. It was a reaction that would have typically come in the form of an unabashed elbow to his side or a slap on his chest, but what they'd endured the past few months didn't really accommodate such acts. The expression on his wife's face seemed to get the job done anyway and he abruptly pressed a kiss to her head as he led them toward a man holding a clipboard and paper with their last name in welcoming black text.

"You must be Marco," her father said kindly, holding out a hand for the man to shake. "Bren-...I mean, Prince Brennan gave me your name, but I must admit he didn't say much beyond that."

"That I am," the man smiled as he accepted the handshake before glancing over to Emma and her mother. "Which must make this Nolan family."

"All but our son," her mother commented with a grateful grin. "He attends Eton, but we'll be meeting up with him while we're here. Oh, heavens, I'm sorry - I'm Mary Margaret, David's wife."

"Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Nolan - Marco Geppetto, palace chauffeur," the man nodded with a slight bow. "I'm glad we're finally meeting as I've heard nothing but wonderful things about your family for years now."

His eyes were deep brown and the way they crinkled at the corners was so cheerful - a fact that quickly put Emma at ease. His face was slightly tanned while partially covered by a white beard he kept neatly trimmed. He wore a tweed flat cap that hid what hair he still appeared to have and his face was wrinkled with a numbers of years she couldn't quite pinpoint. His attire was a little more casual than expected from a man who drove royalty around for a living, but Emma decided quickly that the tan sweater vest paired with a brown tie and slacks was very fitting for the old man who seemed very much like an ally.

"So I suppose that makes you Emma," he started, raising an eyebrow in question. "Columbia grad student and the only daughter, right?"

"Oh - well, former Columbia student actually, but yes," Emma answered, trying to ignore the blow to her ego he certainly hadn't meant to offer. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Ge-"

"No, no, Marco will be just fine," he chuckled, moving the few steps to hold open the door of a jet black Range Rover for them. "Unless my driving isn't up to par, in which case, you're welcome to label me with whatever curse word you deem necessary."

Emma felt herself perk up slightly as he handed her a type of banter that might lead to a good humored friendship between them. As she clicked her seatbelt, she didn't fail to realize that such a development might not be possible. It was highly likely that this man was one of many when it came to drivers contracted to the Royals. This could very well be the only and last time she saw him, a thought that made her spirit fall when she noticed how instantly he'd also ignited a casual conversation with her father.

They chatted up a storm as they traveled, a mixture of explanations and easy laughter that could have provided her with hope of a pleasant trip had she allowed it. Keeping her eyes trained on the passing scenery, she tried to tune out the talking resonating from the front of the obviously quite new SUV.

It didn't matter that the beautifully built station and this man's cheerful demeanor had welcomed them so unexpectedly to the central hub of England. Her father was there to do a job and nothing could completely change the fact that they - well, she - didn't belong in London.

"So if I recall properly, your meeting at the Ministry of Defence is in about an hour, sir-" he started, glancing toward her father as they waited at a roundabout. "-and then the prince mentioned that some shopping might be in order?"

"Shopping-" Emma started, her eyes moving back and forth between her parents. "-for what?"

A slow, suspicious silence filled the car as her father glanced back at them from the passenger seat. Emma shifted slightly against the sleek leather as her eyebrow lifted expectantly. They were up to something, she realized as her parents exchanged sneaky expressions. Each glance seemed to accuse the other of dropping the ball on this one, but as usual, her mother with some well practiced peacekeeping prevailed.

"I just thought maybe while your father is busy, we could go look for-" her mother said, clearing her throat as she tried to act casual. "-a new dress."

"A….dress? Why do I need a new dress?"

Marco cracked a small smile as he turned onto a busy road, the vague parts of a confused picture finally sorting themselves out for him. Her father was fidgeting distractedly with the cuffs of his dress shirt, a little tick he often gave way to in uncomfortable situations and one that seemed to speak volumes given their current circumstances. Emma's mind drifted back to the last time she'd seen him toy with his sleeve so nervously and it took only a moment to recall that he'd done this exact same thing the morning he'd asked her to attend the Cambridge gala in his place - an ask that even he knew was a lofty one. Emma was in the middle of remembering just how humorously nervous he'd looked and how hard she'd tried to act irritated when suddenly, it all started to make sense.

She needed a dress for a royal event - and god, they were truly going to owe her for this.

Tagging some lovely people: @optomisticgirl (thank you for the beta assistance, my friend), @themmaswan, @xpumpkindumplingx, @spartanguard, @harryandthecambridges, @eala-captian, @allietumbles, @kmomof4, @laschatzi, @galadriel26, @timeless-love-story, @lifeinahole27, @kat2609, @msres, @all0of0the0usernames, @captainswanismyendgame, @lovelycssefan, @hooksheroicheart, @irishcaptainodonoghue, @gonzothegreat90, @cat-sophia, @rebelcxptain, @prairiepirate, @yesplskillianjones, @jennjenn615, @xhookswenchx, @heomomka, @fckyesroyals, @lenfazreads, @cherrywolf713, @lucasxdorothy, @hollyethecurious, @fairytalesandtimetravel, @lillyanjones, @pirateherokillian, @shipsxahoy, @phiralovesloki, @jscoutfinch

*If there’s anyone who’d like a tag in future chapters, just let me know :)

[laurietom]

My Favorite Games of 2016

My gaming backlog is something impressive, as I typically buy a few more than I can play in any given year, and then those extras build up. The result is that I rarely play any game in its year of release unless it's a part of a favorite series, and even then, depending on how busy I am, a much anticipated game might get postponed. But I'm not adverse to playing older games. As long as the gameplay is still there I generally don't care. Maybe that's the same for you? These are the nine games I liked enough to finish for the first time in 2016, in the order I played them. Virtue's Last Reward * I enjoyed 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors for the Nintendo DS, so I intended to pick up the sequel, but took a while due to a bugged 3DS version (now patched) and not having a Vita at the time. Virtue's Last Reward is quite simply the strongest entry in the Zero Escape series. Science, pseudo-science, multiple universes, time travel, non-linear gameplay, and an incredible cast of characters made this a joy to play. I was up at 3am with tears in my eyes (on a work night!) because I had to see a particularly bittersweet sequence through. Fair warning there is a lot of reading, and the gameplay is all making choices and escape room mechanics, but if that's even remotely your bag it's worth playing. It'll mean more if you play 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors first, but the good news is that both games are coming to Steam in a remastered edition. Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest I was looking forward to Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, and despite the child problems I blogged about, I enjoyed it. It was refreshing to have a game so focused on family and divided loyalties. I really liked the moral gray area that Corrin and her siblings occupied and as mentioned in my RPG Talk entry, I like that the final confrontation features Corrin standing together with her siblings rather than Corrin plus love interest and motley band of heroes. Familial relationships are usually set behind the romantic ones in games, so having family placed before everything else makes this unique. Zero Time Dilemma Zero Time Dilemma had a hell of a lot of hype to live up to, and at the end of the day I don't think it's going to be anyone's favorite out of the Zero Escape series, but it's still an enjoyable game. It keeps a lot of the same mechanics from Virtue's Last Reward, but suffers from a less satisfying mastermind than the other two. There's also a plot twist that people tend to either love or hate. But that said, it does a decent job of wrapping up the series, the escape rooms are still fun, and offers a lot of emotional rewards for fans of the previous two. Code Realize: Guardian of Rebirth This is the best otome game I've played to date. I would have liked to include it in my top three games of the year, and it was a narrow miss. Otome games are usually given lackluster, passive protagonists to serve as the female player insert, but not Cardia. That girl is amazing, whether she's piloting an airship, busting herself out of confinement, or being a supportive girlfriend, because why can't one person do all of that. The boyfriends are more interesting than average, with only one route that really bored me. If there's any fault to this game I'd say it's locking Lupin's route behind everyone else's and making it so clearly the "real" route. Danganronpa: Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls Ultra Despair Girls is a little strange in that I don't think it's a particular good game, though I still finished it. It's a third person shooter, which is a strange genre jump for what had been a visual novel series. I only played it when I did because the Danganronpa 3 anime had Monaca, who originated in this game. The story isn't bad, it asks good questions and even clears up some others (like where did Junko Enoshima get all those crazy robots), but I'm not a shooter fan and I can't imagine the overlap between visual novels, shooters, and Danganronpa is enough to justify this game's existence. If you suck at shooters though, there's no story penalty for playing on easy. You can still see the whole thing. Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice I still haven't posted my VN Talk for this, but the sixth entry in the Ace Attorney series was a bumpy ride. It was good, but it wasn't great, and I think this is mostly due to character bloat. Dual Destinies had three lawyer protagonists so by golly Spirit of Justice has to too, even when the game can't quite figure out what to do with them. Unlike Dual Destinies, where the story honestly belongs to all of them, when it comes down to it, Spirit of Justice is really about Apollo, but the writing tries to showcase everyone, including several supporting characters, which results in a lack of focus. But if you like Apollo, this is the game to play as he has his best moments. This War of Mine * I waffled a lot on whether to buy This War of Mine because the vertical cut-away view of the buildings made me think of old platformers I was terrible at, but This War of Mine needs very little in the way of reflexes. I bought it for the for miserable experience of surviving as a civilian in an urban warzone and I was not disappointed. There's no tutorial, but the basics can be picked up by point and click, which feels oddly immersive, as the characters you're tasked with caring for have no idea how they're going to make ends meet either. Chances are, a first playthrough is going to be unsuccessful. People will die along the way, and you'll feel awful, which is the point. You get to put down the game and go home whereas the people who really lived this life could not. It was a sobering realization. (This War of Mine was inspired by the real world Siege of Sarajevo.) The Room This was a purchase based on a friend's recommendation because we both like escape rooms. While you're not escaping anything in The Room, the type of puzzle solving is familiar to anyone who has done escape rooms, and it's a affordable fix that can be done in an afternoon or two. The story is minimal and the atmosphere creepy, though it's manageable for those who scare easily (with one possible exception during the ending, but you've solved everything by then). I'm skipping the sequel because I react poorly to jump scares, even the ones that are so mild that most people wouldn't even consider them jump scares. Civilization V * When Civilization VI came out, I realized I wanted to play a Civ game again, but rather than getting the latest and greatest at full price, I decided to pick up Civilization V during a Steam sale, which netted me the base game and all the expansions and DLC for under $14. This turned out to be $14 well spent as I've now logged an embarrassing amount of hours on it. It's a lot of strategy and management to bring my chosen civilization to victory, but fun since the AI leaders of other civilizations have their own personalities. I had a really good tussle with Caesar in my Carthage campaign, which felt appropriate. My only complaint is that Europe feels over-represented in the number of civilizations available. There are multiple options for a continent like Africa, with Carthage, Morocco, Ethiopia, Egypt, Songhai, and Zulu available, which show that the game designers did put effort into avoiding a Eurocentric world, but it feels like it's not enough when 15 of the 43 civilizations are European (17 if one counts Byzantium and Ottoman, which I'm not since they're partially in the mideast), making them slightly more than a third of what's available. As I did with my book roundup, the three games I tagged with an asterisk (*) were my favorites of the year and definitely worth playing. I'd also like to mention the four games I replayed this year since it's rare that I replay anything, and four is unprecedented. Fire Emblem: Awakening (second time) Dragon Age II (third time) Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (third time) Danganronpa 2: Good-bye Despair (second time) The Danganronpa games were mostly because of the anime and wanting to relive the experience, but Fire Emblem: Awakening and Dragon Age II were purely unprompted, with the former having happened before the release of Fire Emblem Fates.

Mirrored from: The Rat’s Den

[operationrainfall]

Title Castlevania Anniversary Collection Developer Konami Publisher Konami Release Date May 16th, 2019 Genre Adventure, Platformer Platform Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBox One Age Rating T for Teen – Blood, Fantasy Violence, Partial Nudity Official Website

I wasn’t originally planning on reviewing the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. After all, I didn’t receive a review copy, and mostly bought it to satisfy my own nostalgia. But the more I played it, enjoying both reliving and experiencing anew highlights in this storied franchise, I decided I might as well write something. After all, I was already taking dozens upon dozens of screenshots. And despite only being a nominal fan of the Castlevania series, I felt I had some things to share. I say nominal because I only really got into the series when Symphony of the Night revolutionized the entire thing, and you’d be accurate in saying there’s a big difference between the original games and those which came after SOTN. Hell, before this I hadn’t even beaten any of the original NES games other than Dracula’s Curse, nor had I touched upon the Gameboy or Genesis entries. So I actually had a lot of work to do in order to write this review. The question is, did I come out of it with my fandom gloriously inflamed by the Collection? Or was it just a miserable pile of remakes?

I’m going to start out by explaining how this review is going to go, since it’s not often I review 8 games at once. This review will devote a few paragraphs to each game in the order I played them, along with plenty of pretty pictures. At the very end, I’ll touch upon the visual and audio presentation plus anything extra, and finish it up with my summarized thoughts. With that out of the way, let’s start my first foray into the Belmonts’ Gameboy mayhem with Castlevania The Adventure.

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It’s easy to think of portable iterations of any popular series as quick cash grabs, and I admit I didn’t expect much of anything from Castlevania the Adventure. Luckily, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Because while the classic Gameboy wasn’t capable of the visual feats of the NES, Konami seemed to take that as a challenge to pack as much awesome into this tiny adventure as possible. Though it only includes 4 levels, no doubt due to the limitations of said platform, they are each multi-tiered and full of challenging platforming and nasty beasts. There’s everything from Punaguchi (Bone Pillars) to Mudmen to what I assume must be the ancestors of Fleamen. While falling into bottomless pits was frustrating, it was made less so with the advent of save states. I actually stumbled upon that feature, discovering it was available for all the games in this Collection. I quickly grew to love its inclusion, since you can press ZL at any time to freeze the game, and then either save or load your progress. You might think that made things too easy, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Saving at the wrong time, such as when at low health or equipped with a bad sub-weapon, made things much harder, so I grew to time my saves carefully. They were a necessity, especially when facing challenges like instant death spike walls chasing me through levels. You’re welcome to play without any saves, but that should only be reserved for the most hardcore of fans.

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The bosses in this game were also surprisingly impressive. Though simplistic, they offered a robust challenge, especially the room full of Goblins (they’re really Fleamen) jumping out of holes. As for Dracula himself, being on the Gameboy didn’t sap any of his challenge. He managed to teleport all about hurling waves of fire at me, and as if that wasn’t enough, transformed into a giant, deadly bat for the final confrontation. I was really quite impressed by Castlevania the Adventure, but felt I needed a break from Gameboy graphics afterwards. And so, I decided next to try a game that just now officially made its stateside debut…

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I had actually heard a lot about Kid Dracula over the years, but there’s a big difference between hearing secondhand and playing firsthand. What I never could have guessed was how truly weird and innovative the game was. First off, while most Castlevania games are dark and brooding, this side story is light and cheery. You play the titular Kid Drac (not clear if he’s supposed to be a young Dracula or Alucard, but that’s not really important) on his quest to oust a pretender to his monster throne. That’s about as serious as things get, and I quickly was met with how absurd this game was.

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For one thing, every monster in this game is a cutesy and cartoony one. There are adorable little witches, goofy skeletons, cheerful bats and much more. But don’t let that fool you, this game is far from easy. If I had felt any guilt about using save states in Castlevania the Adventure, that completely left me here. Kid Dracula doesn’t really believe in checkpoints, so often if you get killed, it’s back to the very beginning of a stage. That’s made more difficult by the fact many of the bosses here are large threats who like to cheat. The most mellow is a happy ghost who looks creepily similar to a Klansman, and even he killed me a couple of times. Pretty much the only boss who won’t pose a challenge is the Statue of Liberty (no, you didn’t hear that wrong), since you just need to beat her quiz show to win the “battle”.

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What makes this game a treat though are all the weird combat conventions. Each time you beat one of the 9 stages, Kid Drac gets a new power which he can scroll through at will. If that sounds like Mega Man, just you wait. He can also charge all of his attacks by holding the attack button, though some of his fully charged powers double as new ways to traverse your environment, such as transforming into a bat or flipping onto the ceiling. Which is my way of saying that there’s a lot of complexity to the game, and no shortage of challenge. Turning into a bat didn’t keep me from dying dozens of times, and in a game with this many stages, you’d better be ready to die. The only thing at your disposal to earn more lives are the totally random minigames, such as guessing the color of dancing girl’s panties, stabbing a skeleton or various games of chance. If nothing else, Kid Dracula is worth playing just to see how full of deliciously crazy Japanese flavor it was. After beating it, I needed something a bit more grounded, so let’s return to the years of the Gameboy.

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Everything that impressed me about the original Gameboy outing was enhanced in Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge. It continues the story of Christopher Belmont, who was victorious, defeating Dracula in Castlevania The Adventure. But you can’t keep a good vampire down, and this story has the ghastly spirit of the Count take possession of Christopher’s son, Soleil Belmont. Symphony of the Night flashbacks aside, I was not expecting this much lore in the game. After all, the first one was pretty basic, but there’s some intense father / son drama in the game, not to mention the first true boss fight against a human in the series, serving as a progenitor for fights against the likes of Juste, Richter and Maxim later on.

One of the reasons I enjoyed Belmont’s Revenge was that it took all the things that were good about the first outing, and smoothed over the rough edges. Sure you can and still will die, but you have a bit more breathing room. And the bosses were wildly creative, in my opinion. You have an elemental wizard, a fight against two living statues, an armored demon, a creepy wall monster, a super difficult bone dragon, Dracula himself and even your son, Soleil. What gives you a fighting chance, unlike in Castlevania The Adventure, here you have access to a couple of sub-weapons – the axe and holy water. Being accustomed to the later games, I thought the water was the way to go, but to my great surprise, the axe was my go-to weapon of choice. Being able to hit things at odd angles was a constant life saver.

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As much as I loved most things about this game, there was one sticking point – the final bosses. The fight against Soleil was incredibly difficult, but not as tough as Dracula. Mostly because the good Count fired rotating balls of death, and finding a safe place to avoid them required much patience on my part. The only upside is this time there was only one phase to the Dracula fight, so it wasn’t impossible. Overall though, this was the better of the portable entries included in the Collection. Next up, we’ll go back to where it all started on the NES.

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There’s a reason I took my time getting to the original Castlevania, and that reason is simple – fear. I worried I wouldn’t be up to the task of tackling the game that started it all without the modern conventions I’ve grown accustomed to. You can’t level up and you’re totally reliant on timing and having the right sub-weapon equipped. I also was concerned the platforming would be too much for me. Thankfully, those fears were mostly unfounded. Sure, the original game is hard, but it also has some sections that are surprisingly easy. Furthermore, most of the bosses in the game are a cakewalk, with the notable exceptions of Death and Dracula, who are both unrelenting bastards.

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I learned a lot of lessons after playing the first Castlevania. First off, I learned Dracula’s design has changed wildly over the years. I always thought of him as the dapper caped gentleman with long hair, but here he looks far more ghastly and demonic (and that’s before he transforms). I also learned that the bad writing for the plot isn’t a bug, but a series feature. And that Fleamen are horrible in any game, but doubly so when you have limited evasive movement. And lastly I discovered that some of the most iconic bosses, such as Medusa and the Mummy, start out as pushovers. There are also weird discrepancies, such as Dracula’s fireballs having homing capability. That said, I had a lot more fun with the first game than I expected. But after all that retro, I wanted something a bit more updated, so I moved on with Super Castlevania IV.

Head to the SNES on Page 2 ->

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Some games transitioned to the SNES with flair, and Super Castlevania IV is certainly one of those games. They took everything that made the series iconic and seasoned it with a bunch more spice. This was the first game in the series where you could whip in multiple directions, as well as fling your whip around to block projectiles. You could also swing across gaps with it, a feature I think should have shown up in more games. But what I loved most about this entry was how huge it was. They jam packed content into this, and when I thought I was almost done, I was barely at the halfway mark.

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The experimental nature of the game was fantastic, and I loved how it really took chances with different ideas. They used Mode 7 graphics for crazy rotations and things like giant chandeliers you could stand upon. They also made it really feel like a Castlevania with lots of opportunities for a cheap death. That happened a ton in the Clock Tower, and I died several times fighting against the Mummy atop giant clock hands. They even took foes I thought of as weak in later entries like SOTN and made them a true threat. Namely, the ghostly dancers are a force to be reckoned with here. When they turned invisible and started attacking me, I nearly lost my composure. And as weak as Slogra and Gaibon were later, they were an impressive challenge here.

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Perhaps the best part of this game was the final path to Dracula. While the fight against Dracula himself isn’t my favorite in the series, it’s plenty challenging. And considering you have to brave a gauntlet of foes like Death and others to get there, it feels suitably epic. I already liked Super Castlevania IV from playing it years back on my Wii U, but after finally beating it here, it’s easily become one of my favorite entries in the long running series. So of course, my next game was one that has gotten a ton of praise as well.

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Dracula’s Curse is iconic in the Castlevania fandom, and it’s not hard to understand why. Not only did it introduce multiple characters and branching paths, it also had tight gameplay and the challenge fans have come to expect. Hell, the recently released Netflix series was heavily influenced by this game, and that wowed us fans. I had played a little of Dracula’s Curse on my 3DS, but I got frustrated by some of the bosses and hadn’t picked it up afterwards. So I figured now was as good a time as any to try again.

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Whereas the original Castlevania featured Simon Belmont, this one took place several hundred years earlier. As such, it made sense to focus on his ancestor Trevor. The curveball were the 3 other characters – Sypha, Grant and Alucard. All three have totally unique play styles and offer interesting ways to explore. That goes triple for Grant, who can hop around like a heroic Fleaman. I daresay that Symphony of the Night wouldn’t have existed without this game, and for that, I love it even more. That said, there is one thing about this game that really irritated me. Sometimes when you kill an enemy, they will drop a random sub-weapon, which I think is a feature exclusive to this game. Sounds great, except it often happens in the heat of the moment and usually gives you a sub-weapon you really don’t want. I can’t count the number of times I reloaded my save to avoid getting a shitty weapon.

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The bosses in Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse are pretty tough, and the fact that you can take a variety of paths through the game makes things interesting. While they toned down some bosses, there are plenty that will cause you grief. One is the recurring Cyclops boss, another is a fight against an evil spirit who possesses multiple monsters to kill you. Even though they mellowed out Death from the first game, he also has a second, horrific form. And while I wasn’t a huge fan of the Dracula fight in Super Castlevania IV, the one here is fantastic. I can’t say I understand why he turns from a Count into a monstrous amalgamation of brains and then an angry bird statue, but the creativity and challenge impressed the hell out of me. Frankly, we’re lucky we got this game, since the one that preceded it was highly controversial. And that one’s up next.

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I’m gonna be perfectly frank, I considered skipping Simon’s Quest. While you hear nothing but good things about Castlevania III, II is the polar opposite. It’s confusing, awkwardly written and somewhat psychotic. And yet, the more I played it, the more I found weird little charming features. For one thing, the music in this game is still amazing, no matter how much of a mess everything else is. For another, aspects like leveling up and equipping items got introduced here, and without those, I never would have gotten my first Metroidvania. They introduced Churches to fully heal you here. Also, the day / night cycle was actually really cleverly used, and it made sense Dracula’s minions were more powerful at night. So much so that I kind of wish it had made it into other games, not counting the stupid N64 entries.

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With all those nice things out of the way, let’s move onto the messy bits. First and foremost, you really can’t beat this game without a guide. Or you can, but it takes blind luck and infinite patience. I am not a fan of either, so I found a guide and got playing. There’s so much that would have been improved with just a bit more clarity in this game such as what equipped items do, clear hints on where to go next etc. And this may sound like an odd critique, but I wanted more bosses in this game. There’s a total of three, including the big bat himself. That is starkly less than any other game in the series, even the Gameboy adventures.

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They also complicated things with tons of hidden items and invisible platforms. I cannot count how many times I fell through the floor, but it was definitely more than a dozen. The game seemed to delight in pulling the rug out from under us players. Especially with regard to things like kneeling to make tornadoes appear or water levels recede. It’s bonkers this game didn’t kill the entire series, charming quirks notwithstanding. But I am glad I finally got through it, doubly so cause it let me save the best for last – Castlevania Bloodlines!

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Not to immediately contradict myself, but Bloodlines wasn’t quite my favorite game in this Collection. It did come damned close though. With just a few improvements, it would have easily claimed that title. See, I grew up playing video games, but I never owned a Sega Genesis. I had a Game Gear, but that wasn’t the same thing. So I missed out on games like this when they originally released. Which is a shame, since Bloodlines had heart and creativity to spare. Not only did it expand the Castlevania universe in big ways with two playable characters, it also took the series into modern times. That’s quite cool, and part of the reason I was so impressed by this entry. Another reason was the gameplay.

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This might sound odd, but in many ways Bloodlines almost doesn’t remind me of a Castlevania game. For one thing, it’s significantly faster than the other games. Both you and your foes react quicker and have less wind-up time, which in part caused me to get burned alive by Bone Pillars on many occasions until I acclimated. For another, it is far less focused on platforming hell than other entries. And while there is the usual gothic influence here, it just feels different. In a weird way, this almost reminded me more of a Contra game. But that’s far from a bad thing, and some of the unusual foes caught my attention, such as Minotaurs and swinging plant monsters.

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As you span the globe in Bloodlines, going from Greece to France, you’ll face some really eclectic bosses and even mini-bosses. One of the weirdest ones is a pile of living gears that attacks you in Germany. An especially interesting one is a floating, ethereal maiden who transforms into a hideous moth. And the fight against Death himself is especially clever, involving Tarot cards that force you into fighting older bosses a second time. Sadly, the fight against Countess Bartley herself is a bit underwhelming, and so is the fight against Dracula. But all in all, there’s a lot more great stuff than bad stuff here. Plus, with two playable characters, you have an excuse to play through more than once to enjoy all the sights and sounds. My only real complaint about the game is how short it is, sitting at only 6 stages.

It wouldn’t be fair to talk about any collection without discussing the controls. Thankfully, I found all the controls tight and responsive. Once you get them down, you’ll be ready for each subsequent game, other than Bloodlines. That efficiency also applies to the aforementioned options. It’s handy and quick to save and load the game, as well as check the controls at any time. I didn’t really play with the other visual filters, but there’s plenty if you’re interested.

While I won’t cover the aesthetics for each of the 8 included games, I will discuss the art for the series on the whole. It’s my opinion that Castlevania started out great and only got better with age. You’d think the NES games would look ugly and blocky now, but the game has always had tons of personality and conveyed dark themes well. That’s in large part due to the color palette, which has lots of browns, reds, blacks and other dark colors, such as dark blue and forest green. Whenever they had more to work with, they managed to improve things dramatically, such as the huge character sprites in Super Castlevania IV or the complex visual effects such as bleeding fountains in Bloodlines. And perhaps one of the things I love most about the series are all the great monsters. Ranging from bone tossing skeletons to hulking Axe Knights to floating Medusa heads, there’s a ton of diversity on display. Some of the more eye catching visual effects were swinging from your whip, rotating chambers, shifting towers and even a cool mirrored effect at the end of Bloodlines. Hell, even the Gameboy games were visually appealing, and they only had two colors to work with. If I wasn’t already impressed with the art in the series, I certainly am after playing through all 8 of these games.

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Musically, this series is even more impressive. Even when they only had a few tones to work with, they managed to orchestrate complex melodies. The tunes range from hard rocking to gothic songs, and everything else in between. While there are the more iconic tracks like Bloody Tears, Theme of Simon, Vampire Killer and Wicked Child, I also liked some of the lesser known stuff. From the Gameboy games, I was fond of New Messiah and Revenge. From NES, I enjoyed Mad Forest and Silence of Daylight. From SNES, I really was impressed by both The Library and Treasury, while from Genesis, Iron-Blue Intention and The Discolored Wall stuck with me. As for Kid Dracula, the music there was totally unlike everything else, being cheerful and upbeat. A good example of which is Hop and Step Above the Clouds.

As much as I enjoyed the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, there were a couple glitches and one letdown. One glitch occurred when I exited from Simon’s Quest. When I returned to the game select screen, there was a loud static sound that muted all the music. Thankfully, restarting my game seemed to fix that. Another happened during the original Castlevania in the underground grotto level. It was a loud, recurring ding sound not unlike the ticking of a clock. Once I got past that level, it never returned, but it is worth noting. The more serious concern I had was that this collection inexplicably doesn’t have a music select which seems odd, for a couple reasons. For one, Castlevania is known for the tremendous music. For another, there is a companion called Book of the Crescent Moon, full of interviews, strange secrets and behind the scenes looks into the development process, as well as some great sketch art. While you can certainly hear all the wonderful songs while you play the game, this game absolutely deserved a way to listen to them at your leisure.

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Honestly for $19.99, it’s hard to go wrong with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. It’s packed with great retro gaming, easily 10+ hours worth, and tons of lore about the series. It should put a smile on the faces of many fans. I definitely feel like more of a true fan after playing it, and gained new appreciation for what Konami accomplished back in their glory days. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned glitches and frankly inexcusable lack of a music select, I couldn’t give this a perfect score like I wanted. But if you’re a fan, old or new, of Castlevania and want a handy collection on any current console, you have plenty to sink your teeth into with this.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″]

Review Copy Purchased by Author

REVIEW: Castlevania Anniversary Collection Title Castlevania Anniversary Collection

[deruste]

chapter 2 Mira

Well, that was an interesting … experience. Held hostage by a lizard and a guy who was basically was a walking quasar.

          I was drowning in endless darkness and my strength poured out of me, making me weaker and weaker. My gaze shifted to a giant tower that stood in the center of a stone city. The tower had a large spiral that went into the clouds causing them to spin around it in endless cycles. A ring of light suddenly surrounded it, growing larger and larger. It then released an ear blasting boom that rippled through every stone building, every cloud.

          The stone city disappeared before me into a city full of lights and buzzing noise below a gigantic skyline. I looked at me and saw I was in Times Square, In New York. I marveled around me but when I walked around the people went through me, which sent chills to my….. Body, I guess, or spirit, or whatever the hell I am right now. A loud noise that sounded like a thousand crackling thunderstorms being pulled by hundreds of horses came rushing towards me. BUM, BUM, BUM. The blast from the tower apparently was either very near or was extremely fast because it seemed to follow me all the way to Times Square. As it slowly washed over the city, the jumbotrons slowly fell and smashed into thousands of pieces.

           The people all around me started running in terror in all directions and I looked to follow the sound of the rumbling. “What is that? I stood in complete horror as I watched an electrified wave, it was only the beginning. Giant waves rose out of the horizon, swallowing the buildings, and crushing others with its massive girth. All the people that aimlessly ran in different directions were then now caught up in the waves along with all the debris from the buildings. I stood there helplessly watching as people were drowning all around me, and saw that those who weren’t fortunate enough to quickly succumb to death were impaled with debris. That wasn’t the worst of it; in the waves, I saw something worse, my childhood books of monsters came alive. Slithering shadows of various creatures swam all around me, either killing the people that were trapped in the waves or … devoured.

          I couldn’t bring myself to think of it but all around me there were dismembered body parts and blood filled waters. I closed my eyes daring not to open them I didn’t want to see any more carnage.

“Don’t avert your eyes,“ a droning ominous voice said. “To cower is to show them weakness and that would be giving them what they want.” The hollow voice was echoed with no warmth or care in it as if to say “get up, you wimp! It’s just a massacre". The waves were silenced only to be replaced by the roaring of flames.

“I… I remember this,“ I said. As the words came out, I lifted my eyes and saw that the space around me shifted into an apartment that was ablaze.

“MOMMY, DADDY WHERE ARE YOU” A little girl shrieked as smoke started to fill her lungs, slowly suffocating her.

"MIRA HOLD ON!” A horsed voice of a man tore through the smoke, making the girl look less distressed.

“DADDY I’M HERE IN THE LIVING ROOM” the girl screamed as she tried to avoid falling debris from a burning ceiling. The man kicked down the door and reached out for the girl.

“WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW, THE BUILDING WILL FALL IN ANY MINUTE” The girl gave a nervous nod to the man as he picked her off her feet and ran down a burning hallway.

"Daddy is mommy okay” the girl faintly whispered in his ear.

“She is fine Mira, just do me a favor and stay awake, you can rest when we are…” the man’s sentence was cut by the vision blurring them out leaving only a dead man on the floor bleeding under burnt rubble.

“Daddy please wakes up, everything fine now y…y-you can wake up now.” I just stood over the girl as she pleads for her father to get up fell on death ears.

“WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING, Who’s forcing me to see such horrible things "I fell to my knees crying, hoping I was having a horrible nightmare and at any moment mom would wake me up saying that it was a dream. The room felt colder maybe below zero and right in front of me a dark figure started to come out of the ground, and as he raised the light of the fires came pouring into him… “You have someone else to meet, Ms. Mira, please take the exit behind me we will chat another day I promise that much.” I stared at the dark figure, it was nothing but a blot of darkness in the shape of a giant man; I had to pinch myself after that so I was sure that I wasn’t totally insane for seeing that. A rectangular hole was behind him projecting prismatic light that seemed to comfort me in a warm bath of light. “It’s not right to keep someone waiting by doing nothing and by the way, what you saw was just the calm before the greater storm so I would toughen up if I was you.” He said as if it was just a drink that was spilled on a carpet.

“Please tell me this is just a disturbed nightmares or a delusion, please tell me that didn’t truly happen?” He just stood there in silence, not noticing the question or not caring about it at all. He let out a little chuckle and turned his head toward the door

“If you were truly mad would you be questioning these images or even have a reaction to them? Besides, it’s not in my nature to lie about those matters.” All I wanted to do as was leave, so I ran toward the light filled entrance ignoring the dark figure. “Please send my regards to him; I haven’t seen him in a couple centuries.” He faded away after those last words leaving the room empty. I wiped the tears off my face and stared at the illuminated steps in front of me.

“Well nothing ventured, nothing learned,” I said as I stepped through the door of light

Somehow this place gets weirder and weirder as if this supposed dream was trying to one up itself in craziness. I really want to know what a person has to do to reach this pinnacle of madness, maybe jalapeño with a giant jug of alcohol. The doorway led to a stairway that spiraled around a pillar of what seemed to be a starry night wrapped into a roll, and when I looked to another side it looked like the stairway went down straight to earth from space. “I better have some answers as soon as I reach the top or someone is going to meet the back of my hand” I looked behind me and saw that the doorway closed itself, great I might be possibly trapped here forever.

I looked up and saw that there was a platform with a purplish glow emitted from its sides at the end of the stairs. The further I got, the more I relived the last hour or so and I mean that literally because images swirled into existence in the shape of little puffs of smoke that circled around me showing me different memories. The smallest puff forced itself front of the others and floated right in front of me. “Now what?” The cloud shifted into my face and just stood there as if it was examining as if to say, what a lovely specimen. It distorted itself changing into a comical version of my face. The imitation of my face then started spewing out a gas that enveloped me and the staircase in a black mist that was darker than obsidian that blinded me and began to swirl into another place. “Not this again,” I groaned, it was mystifying the first time, but it was just getting ridiculous.

The image finished swirling around me and now was … “What?” It was in my high school, Celeste High. I was in the lunch room filled to the brim with seated teenagers, eye glasses watching those corny 80’s or 90’s orientation video, staring at people that looked too old to be in high school in an almost cartoonish situation. The lunch room was completely dark except the light of the screen and what light could get in from under the doors, a girl came in from one of the closed doors with a very confused look on her face. She was had very tanned skin and looked as if she was playing the klutz for a kids T.V show. “Wait, that’s me!” It was what I looked like on my first eyeglasses, a dark blue sweater the jeans, and of course sneakers. It was also the last day I ever let my hair down instead of the ponytail I have nowadays.

“She, me… my God! I don’t even know anymore, rushed in with most of her supplies falling from her arms. Books and pencils falling everywhere as the girl tried to hold her glasses in place, and all the while the others kids watched with smug smiles or uninterested pity for the dark right in front of them. A girl came rushing to help her pick up the supplies.

"Hey, you new here?” The girl who came to help her had jade eyes and pale skin and red dyed hair.

"Uh, uh.” My younger self is a true example of human grammar skill. My younger self-was blushing extremely from embarrassment. “Thank you I…I moved here a few days ago actually" She managed to get out trying to cover his face. “Well… my name is Amber what’s, yours?“

"Mira, Mira Atherton” I know, I know, what kind of name is that? Moving on, after she helped pick up her books she showed her to an open seat right next to her and two guys who looked bored as hell.

“Who is this Amber?” The boy had black hair that was a cut very neatly near his forehead but also had a ponytail.

“At least she seems nicer than the last random person she had us meet.“ This boy had very dark skin and had a corn roll style hair cut with a tiny goatee. "Oh sorry, what’s your name?”

“Uhhh, Mira Atherton, what are your names.” she said, dumbfounded by these strange people.

“My name is Alex, and this is Damien”, said the corn roll style boy while the ponytailed one nodded.

“So what’s your story, just a regular transfer or running from a psycho ex” Amber started to laugh excessively from Damien’s comment. Amber’s impish laugh always sends chills down my spine, to be honest. Damien had laugh lines on his tanned face that seemed to suggest that he laughed a lot, while Alex just seemed to make a sarcastic chuckle that broke the others laugh.

“My mom actually got a job here so we had to move,” my younger self-replied.

"Well if you want we can show around town this weekend and be also going to the forest tonight to help Alex with his horticulture project.” Damien casually said not knowing he would nearly lose his head for his friend project by an attack from an anthropomorphic dragon.

“No, don’t go, stay at home and forget you even heard of that damn forest!” But as with the people in Times Square no one could see or hear me, a large kid walked through me and I got an un-needed look at his anatomy.

“Strange I don’t usually get guests, much fewer humans here. Pray, tell what your name is.” I jumped at the sound of the new voice.

“W…Who are you?” I asked              

“Oh that’s the question of the millennia, you humans haven’t given me a proper name, but I do usually go with Zelnam for your … type.” The voice remarked as the vision started to stop time. “But first let’s clean up this horrendous mess, those Lares have no manners what so ever. I can’t even remember why I keep them around”

“What do you mean by my type and what’s a Lares?” I want answers and I wanted them now, no disembodied voice is stopping me from getting them.

“My meaning is that your special Miss Mira and Lares are spirits of the dead, they typically bring back horrible memories of people’s past or suck out their souls. But enough with beating around the bush I will reveal myself to you” The vision turned to smoke again and began to swirl like a squall in a singular area of the steps. The person that came out of the squall was equal parts beautiful and disturbing.

Mira part 2 The body seemed to fit the voice, though; he was in the shape of a well-built man with entire galaxies on his body with a rugged face and tiny supernovas as pupils’. He carried a staff containing a black hole and a robe with a moving image of the solar system with the lower half his body with what I can only describe as man skirt which almost made me burst out laughing. “I see you’re beside yourself with amazement to see my true form. It’s not typically one I go with often but breathtaking nonetheless, do you agree?“ I just stood there trying to give a straight face at his Dumbledore rip-off robe.

“Pffft maybe you should add some pants; at least, ill,” I said trying to contain my laughter at this ridiculous sight. “If it makes more you comfortable” He nodded his head and, his man-skirt was now replaced with what look like the lower half of a proper robe. “Now let’s talk, ask any question you like and as many as you need"

“All rigI'llbite what is this place and what are you?”

“This place is known as the spiral of Azria, a sacred place for practitioners of Arcane Arts. As for my own identity I have and will always be known as Zelnam nothing more, nothing less.” He seemed to have a disinterest in the question as he seemed to only have focus in a never ending darkness that surrounded the spiral.

“Why am I here and can you put me … back into my body.” To say these questions were awkward to ask would be a massive understatement, but I was talking to a glorified walking galaxy so it evens out.  

“An unwitting O.B.E experience, it’s quite commonplace with mages who just discovered their abilities. I can nudge you in the right direction towards your body.” The words were stuck in the air awhile before it finally sunk in.

“Wait, what does that O.B.E mean? And what do you mean by a mage?” He suddenly turned his head toward the bottom of the spiral towards earth. He had expression only suitable to when you told someone close to you has been hurt.

“I’m afraid I might have to cut this short Ms. Mira that I will give you a token of my good will. You will have a great need of it for the danger you will face if you wish to live through this …” he stopped talking abruptly as if he finished that sentence something terrible would happen. He turned his gaze towards me and held out his hand. “Make a covenant with me and I will help you with your out of body experience and I will give a gift that will surely help you in this dire time.”  

“But I still have a question that begs answers, like what are you? And did you know those monsters that attacked me? And I’m not making and coven- whatever’s till I get them.” I put my foot down on the ground towards his offer the only rebuttal he gave was a glance back down towards earth.

“I don’t have time to deal with this, so I’ll give you a taste of what I can give to you and send you back towards your body but, I'll contact you again when I have the chance just follow the advice of the creatures you’ll encounter next if you want more answers.”

“But I-.” I was cut short as a vortex appeared and it felt as though a snare was put around me that was sucking me into it.

“You shall find that the world you know as of late has died and shall never be the same but have faith, for you and humanity shall endure but shall live in a whole new world and shall share it with all manner of magical beast and mortal being. May you find your place among them?” With that, he waved his hand and I was sucked into the vortex. When I enter the portal I had just the same feeling as before, my strength leaving me and a drowning feeling. This time around thought I hit something hard and my eyes close out from exhaustion setting in as I heard a familiar voice.

“Mira, Mira wake up."I was in tremendous pain feeling as if I was pulled apart and put back together. I manage to open my eyes and peek out who was yelling at me to wake up. A girl with long red hair wearing a hello kitty shirt and jeans pants ripped up at the knees was stand over a kind of hospital bed where it appears I had been lying on.

”*Cough* *Cough* Amber…?“ she shed a tear and instantly hugged me with joy nearly crushing my ribs.

"Thank god you’re alright! You had been out of it for hours. Everyone was worried sick.”  

“Please amber you're crushing my ribs *cough*.” She immediately released me from her steel -like grip and I saw three men in the shadows of the room.

“We have a few questions for Ms. Mira but we could save them for when you feel well enough.“ The biggest of the figures was talking but I still felt woozy.

"Just let her rest Tal-no, she needs to rest this off.” I started to doze of sinking into shadows again.

“Oie, this again.” I drifted off to sleep once more.

[aion-rsa]

Xbox Game Pass: New Games for September 2020 Revealed

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Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft’s subscription service for Xbox One owners. It’s designed to be like a “Netflix for games,” where you pay a simple monthly rate and get access to loads of games for download. It’s not to be confused with the Xbox Live Gold membership, which gives users a selection of free games each month.

There was a huge surge in popularity and profile for Xbox Game Pass in 2018, mainly due to Microsoft unveiling a strategy that puts brand new games on the service. Sea of Thieves was the first example of this, followed by State of Decay 2. Crackdown 3 launched on Feb. 15. Since then, the service has seen the Day 1 launch of several Xbox exclusives, including Gears 5, The Outer Worlds, and Halo: Reach on the Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Membership to Xbox Game Pass will set you back $9.99 per month. You can now also get an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for $1 for the first month and $14.99 a month after that. The subscription includes an Xbox Live Gold membership as well as all of the games offered on Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass for PC.

New games are added each month to Xbox Game Pass. Here are the games coming this month (with descriptions courtesy of the Xbox team):

Xbox Game Pass: Games for September 2020

Crusader Kings III (PC) – September 1

“This grand strategy game puts you at the head of a noble house in a deeply researched medieval world. Use your armies, your diplomacy, and your wit to expand and elevate your dynasty. Each generation brings new characters and new challenges as pesky plotters, turbulent priests and ungrateful children challenge your efforts to keep your realm and your family in line. Pre-install now, so you’re ready when Sept comes.”

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard (Console & PC) – September 3

“Menace and desperation seethe through the rotting walls of an abandoned southern farmhouse. Resident Evil 7 biohazard marks a new beginning for survival horror with a shift to an immersive first-person perspective. Powered by the RE Engine, graphics reach new heights of incredible photorealism to further draw players into the disturbing game world.”

Xbox Game Pass: Games for August 2020

Darksiders: Genesis (Console) – August 6

“An action/adventure game that tears its way through hordes of demons, angels, and everything in-between on its way to Hell and back with guns blazing and swords swinging. Genesis gives players their first look at the world of Darksiders before the events of the original game. Furthermore, it introduces the fourth and last horseman Strife, as well as co-op gameplay for the first time in the franchise.”

It Lurks Below (Console & PC) – August 6

“The world is being slowly corrupted, and you have awoken from a terrible dream. Create a customized character and choose from several different classes to delve deep into the mysteries of what evil lurks below. Dig down and explore the randomly generated levels, find random items, and combat deadly monsters to get the answers in this retro-styled, 2D, action-oriented, survival RPG by David Brevik.”

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (Console) – August 6

“Five friends set sail on a holiday diving trip and as the day unfolds, a storm rolls in and their trip soon changes into something much more sinister. Who will live? Who will die? It’s up to you and the choices you make. You can also share your terrifying story with a friend online or go for safety in numbers with the up-to-five-players offline “movie night” mode.”

Trailmakers (Console & PC) – August 6

“Build an amazing vehicle out of blocks and explore an alien planet in Trailmakers. This physics-based action game lets you build anything from hypercars and helicopters to hovercrafts and hydrofoils. Play solo or with friends in huge sandbox maps or perfect your race car to perfection in the Trailmakers Rally.”

UnderMine (Console & PC) – August 6

“Delve deep into the UnderMine and discover its secrets, one peasant at a time! UnderMine is an action-adventure roguelike that blends combat and dungeon crawling with RPG-like progression. Mine gold, die, upgrade yourself, and try again! Challenge dangerous bosses and rescue helpful characters that supply new upgrades for your adventure. Decipher the cryptic messages of the UnderMine’s residents and unfold the mystery at the heart of the dungeon.”

Xeno Crisis (Console & PC) – August 6

“Run and gun your way through seven distinct areas and master an arsenal of ten different weapons as you take on thousands of varied adversaries in this top-down arena shooter for one or two players. It will require guile, composure, and good judgment to have a chance of reaching the final showdown. Xeno Crisis is a genuine 16-bit throwback for those who enjoy a challenge, with superb pixel art and a blistering soundtrack.”

Final Fantasy VII HD (Console & PC) – August 13

“Relive the RPG that redefined gaming. The world has fallen under the dominion of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a sinister corporation that has monopolized the planet’s very life force as Mako energy. Cloud Strife, a former member of Shinra’s elite Soldier unit, now turned mercenary, lends his aid to the rebels, unaware that he will be drawn into an epic battle for the fate of the planet, while having to come to terms with his own lost past.”

Microsoft Flight Simulator (PC) – August 18

“From Xbox Game Studios, available with Xbox Game Pass (PC or Ultimate) on day one! From light planes to wide-body jets, fly highly detailed and accurate aircraft in the next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Test your piloting skills against the challenges of real-time atmospheric simulation and live weather in a dynamic and living world. The world is at your fingertips.”

Spiritfarer (Console & PC) – August 18

“Learn how to say goodbye in this cozy management game about dying. Playing as Stella the spiritfarer, build a boat to explore an imaginative world in search of spirits seeking passage to the afterlife. Befriend and care for your passengers as you farm, mine, fish, harvest, cook, and craft your way across mystical seas on your hand-crafted ferry. Run, jump, zip, and glide your way through elegantly constructed platforming levels. Bring along a friend to join the fun as Daffodil the Cat, in optional two player local co-op. Spend relaxing quality time with your spirit passengers, create lasting memories, and, ultimately, learn how to say goodbye to your cherished spirit friends.”

Battletoads (Console & PC) – August 20

“From Xbox Game Studios, available with Xbox Game Pass on day one! The wait is over! Rash, Zitz, and Pimple are returning at last to smash-hit their way through an all-new action-packed adventure of choreographed chaos, and couch co-op may never be the same again. 1-3 players will take control of the Battletoads and team up to storm through wild and unpredictable stages with only one rule – expect the unexpected. Teamwork makes the dream work in a drop-in, drop-out gameplay blast, filled with over-the-top gameplay moments that anyone can enjoy, but only a True ‘Toad’ can master. Pre-install now, so you’re ready to play when it drops!”

Crossing Souls (PC) – August 20

“It’s 1986 in California, and a group of friends will live the summer of their lives after a mysterious discovery in the woods outside their quiet town. By uncovering an artifact whose powers they don’t fully understand, these remarkable kids will defy the laws of nature and somehow interact between two planes of reality: life and death. Their curiosity will trigger a series of unexpected events that will get them involved in a government conspiracy and a mysterious U.S. Army general with his own nefarious plans.”

Darksiders: Genesis (PC) – August 20

“Darksiders: Genesis is an action/adventure game that tears its way through hordes of demons, angels, and everything in-between on its way to Hell and back with guns blazing and swords swinging. Genesis gives players their first look at the world of Darksiders before the events of the original game. Furthermore, it introduces the fourth and last horseman Strife, as well as Co-op gameplay for the first time in the history of the franchise.”

Don’t Starve: Giant Edition (Console & PC) – August 20

“Don’t Starve: Giant Edition is an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic. You play as Wilson, an intrepid Gentleman Scientist who has been trapped by a demon and transported to a mysterious wilderness world. Wilson must learn to exploit his environment and its inhabitants if he ever hopes to escape and find his way back home. Don’t Starve: Giant Edition includes the original hit game Don’t Starve and the Reign of Giants expansion which adds new playable characters, seasonal bosses, weather conditions, new biomes, creatures, and more!”

New Super Lucky’s Tale (Console & PC) – August 21

“Join Lucky on his thrilling journey through the Book of Ages, a magical artifact that opens doors to amazing worlds. Meet new friends, explore exciting lands, and recover the missing pages from the evil sorcerer Jinx and his villainous family, the dreaded Kitty Litter. A complete re-imagining of the original Super Lucky’s Tale, with new content, an improved story, and major overhauls to the camera and player controls, New Super Lucky’s Tale is the definitive Lucky experience and a love letter to classic 3D platformers!”

Hypnospace Outlaw (Console & PC) – August 27

“Hypnospace Outlaw is a ’90s internet simulator in which you scour Hypnospace’s wide variety of weird and wonderful websites to hunt down wrongdoers, while also keeping an eye on your inbox, avoiding viruses and adware, and downloading a plethora of apps that may or may not be useful. In your spare time, you can customize your HypnOS desktop however you see fit, with a variety of downloads, wallpapers, screen savers, and helper bots to keep you company.”

Tell Me Why: Chapter 1 (Console & PC) – August 27

“From Xbox Game Studios, available with Xbox Game Pass on day one! Tell Me Why is the latest narrative adventure game from DONTNOD Entertainment, the studio behind the beloved franchise, Life is Strange. In this intimate mystery, twins Tyler and Alyson Ronan use their supernatural bond to unravel the memories of their loving but troubled childhood in beautiful small-town Alaska. Pre-install now, so you’re ready to play the moment Chapter 1 is available!”

Double Kick Heroes (Console & PC) ID@Xbox – August 28

“Double Kick Heroes mixes a shoot’em up with a rhythm game! In story mode, you must survive on the highway to hell by killing monsters with your gundillac! Struggle through the 30 levels of total madness and escape from this nightmare! Only the power of Metal can save your band! In arcade mode, jump right into the action and play your favorite tracks from the game. Features – Double Kick zombies in the face with insane Metal music!”

Wasteland 3 (Console & PC) – August 28

“From Xbox Game Studios, available with Xbox Game Pass on day one! Wasteland 3 is a squad-based RPG from inXile entertainment, featuring challenging tactical turn-based combat and a deep, reactive story full of twists, turns, and brutal ethical decisions that will keep you hooked whether you’re a Wasteland veteran or new to the series. Create a squad of up to six Rangers and customize them with perks and abilities geared to your playstyle. Pre-install now, so it’s ready to play when you are!”

The post Xbox Game Pass: New Games for September 2020 Revealed appeared first on Den of Geek.

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