#that or you don’t like resident evil 4 which is fine

[bioshzrd]

my new controversial resident evil take is that if you don’t know who manuela is you’re a fake fan

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

As someone who grew up with RE4, which is my all-time favorite game, I feel like I have to swallow my pride and put the nostalgia glasses away because not only is it a good remake, it did do some things better than the original. Just off the top of my head:

1) Luis’ death. I always thought Luis was wasted in the original, especially since his death was anticlimactic. He just sorta dies and the game moves on. In the remake, he gets killed by Krauser, which is a HUGE improvement since it makes the conflict between Leon and Krauser feel more personal, which gives Luis’ death more narrative weight.

2) Ashley Graham in general. The redesign, the voice acting, the improved characterization. I went from feeling compelled to protect her to actually wanting to protect her. In one game, she went from zero to Ellie Williams (not a perfect example, but you get the point).

3) The change in tone. I’m fairly neutral to the “action movie” era of Resident Evil, but I do agree that the tone was off when compared to the previous games. The remake feels a bit like course correction since the story is mostly the same, but the tone is more in line with the older Resident Evil games. Less action hero, more survival horror.

4) The cult stuff feels a bit more thought out here.

5) Hunnigan in general. I like that she’s an actual character here and not just a face on my phone.

6) The Krauser boss fight is an actual fight, not just you mashing QTEs.

7) The storyline and characters feel more thought out in general. We actually get to see Leon’s transition from Raccoon City cop to secret agent, Luis’ character got expanded on, the feud with Krauser felt more personal, and so on. Capcom took the Resident Evil game that wasn’t really known for its amazing story (let’s be real here) and actually improved it.

I guess that was to be expected since making the story more serious meant that the plot had to be updated. Resident Evil games tend to get a pass for their thin storytelling since players usually don’t take the story seriously due to how cheesy and campy they are, which is fine since that’s part of the appeal. But by making the story more serious, you’re telling players that they need to actually be invested in what’s going on, which you can’t do if the story is thin. All this to say that the darker tone and improved storytelling feels like a mutual thing.

[sapphire-weapon]

another broke take i keep seeing is that ashley develops feelings for leon but that it’s not mutual, which is dumb bc even if leon isn’t as open about it (the ‘running from creeps’ and ‘good company’ lines notwithstanding), his body language is very telling imo.

holding on to her a little longer than he needs to during the church escape, touching her shoulder to check on her (when they’re saved by luis) or in reassurance (post-stabbing), gently cupping her head and tracing his fingers down her arm, reaching for her face again when she’s on the altar, grabbing her hand to pull her into the lift, and the way he always stops to help her up with both arms when she’s downed by enemies

even the fact that he’s literally being paid to protect her can’t justify the tenderness of all these little touches. i highly doubt “touch the president’s daughter like she’s the only thing that keeps you going” was in his job description. don’t even get me started on his boyish, almost bashful, “i can catch ya” like literally what the fuck

I think, after being forced into the shadows for eighteen fucking years by this fandom -- and by Aeon fans especially -- I've been hesitant to make any definitive statements on Leon and Ashley's relationship outside of its effects on Leon's character arc (and reaffirming over and over and over again that Ashley disappears from the series, as though to soothe people's reactions??).

But I was on discord talking to @godtier earlier, and once I actually said it out loud and then actually got an agreement from someone who could not be paid to give a fucking shit about this ship -- I'm just going to go ahead and say it for the wider fandom.

Resident Evil 4 Remake was written as a romance, and the romance is between Leon and Ashley.

With the new scenes they've added in, it's literally structured like a romance story is. I'll even outline it for you.

1) Call to Adventure / The Meet Cute

Literally their first meeting in the church, culminating with the catch and that moment of longing as they lock eyes while Leon continues to hold her just a few seconds too long.

2) Refusal of the Call / Rejection of the Relationship

At first, Leon treats Ashley solely as his mission objective. ("Hey can we take a break?" "Sorry, we need to keep moving.") And Ashley, for a good bit, doesn't trust him at all but goes with him because she has no other choice. ("Seriously, this cannot be happening.")

3) Acceptance of the Quest / Giving the relationship a chance

The escape from the cabin sequence up to the "seems this isn't your first time running from creeps." line. This is where we see them actually start to warm up to each other, and Ashley, for the first time, believes Leon can and will really get her out of there.

4) Trials and Temptations / Three Dates

The three dates are:

1) Ashley busting the window open after the Mendez boss fight, helping brush the embers off of Leon, and helping to pull him to his feet

2) Salazar's introduction ("The girl's just fine. With me.")

3) The road to the Water Hall (Leon jumping across the chandeliers + this is the first time the "knight and the princess" allegory is stated)

5) Midpoint Crisis / I-need-you-but-can’t-have-you

The stab followed by Ashley running away in tears, terrified of hurting Leon again and horrified that he saw her like that. This is also the second time that the "knight and the princess" allegory is stated.

6) The Road Back / Pulling Back Together

The pep talk. Leon is openly vulnerable for the first time ever in this game, and Ashley is grateful to have him with her. Note that Luis calls Leon "Prince Charming" immediately following this scene.

7) The Fall

Ashley stating "I won't run. Wait for me, Leon." And then Leon following up with the "I can catch ya" line.

8) Dark moment / The Break Up

Leon sitting at Ashley's bedside waiting to turn and ready to shoot himself. He's already half given up, and some part of him has started to believe that they won't actually make it out of here -- not together, at least.

9) The Sacrifice

"This time, it has to be different." Leon is forced to challenge the assertion by Ada and Krauser that he hasn't changed, and he even has to prove it to himself. He destroys Ashley's plaga, holding her hand the whole time, smiles breathlessly, then collapses to the floor.

10) Declaration

"Hey... we're a team, right?" "Keep this up? I'll be out of a job."

11) The HEA

Leon and Ashley literally ride off into the sunrise together towards a happily ever after.

The original RE4 is not structured this way. Even if I tried to, I couldn't slot Leon and Ashley's scenes from OG into this outline.

And the romance angle is reinforced over and over and over again through repeated use of the "knight and the princess" allegory beyond what I've even listed in the outline. You know, the fairy tales about the knight who saves the princess and they fall in love and live happily ever after. In addition to Salazar saying it, there's the "Prince Charming" line from Luis, Ashley references it when she jokes that Leon should literally put on the knight's armor -- and, on a meta level, Leon has a fucking fantasy hero costume.

There's even goddamn dialogue in the game where Ashley says to Leon, "I knew you'd come" -- which is basically just ripped right out of the Princess Bride.

And to continue the meta reinforcement of it, Leon and Ashley literally have a matching set of alternate costumes called "Romantic" -- and they are fucking Romeo & Juliet inspired. Come the fuck on, man. They couldn't have been more on the nose about it if they'd tried.

And this is in addition to all the other shit you already pointed out in your ask.

And there's the fact that they completely removed any hint of Ada possibly even remotely being a love interest for Leon in this game. The focus remains solely on Ashley and the bond that she and Leon build together.

Leon and Ashley's relationship in RE4 Remake is canonically romantic in nature, and I'm so fucking tired of pretending like it's not.

[cloudninetonine]

Okay so this idea has been plaguing my thoughts for like weeks, and it is, how would the chain react to player who gushes over other fictional characters.

Since the chain are real people in this aspect they have no idea about potential other people that player has seen I mean who knows what they’ve played, but as for myself in honor of the Resident Evil 4 Remake that came out on Friday I just can’t help but imagine them when player talks about Leon Kennedy

If you don’t know basically he’s pretty badass and in re4 his main goal is to find the presidents daughter and bring her to safety, the whole game itself is pretty good and capcom definitely knew what they were doing in some scenes…😋

But yeah I’ve been consumed with anything Leon Kennedy related and it just makes me think ‘well how would the chain react to someone else that player gushes over?’ Are they all jealous? (especially Hyrule and Wild)or are they pretty chill about it if they saw what he looked like?

And if players phone does work in the chains universe who’s to say they aren’t on their phone watching gameplay or edits of Leon? I’m sorry I just needed to get this off my mind especially since Leon Kennedy has taken over me

When I tell you that Leon Scott Kennedy, Italian-American BSSA Agent could tear out my damn heart and re-gift it to me as something he carved from mere driftwood I would take it and kiss him as thanks

I LOVE THAT FUCKING STUPID MAN- I'm only a new Resident Evil fan (I got into it when Biohazard came out) but it has my heart, especially with the 4 remake.

What makes me cackle is the Heroes just scoffing at Player and "He's not even real." and Player side eyes them

"Neither were you a few months ago- wait- I could meet Leon!" Which has them gushing more and suddenly the group of men want to avoid Dink's portals at all cost ;LOIHJFUH

Also following an au I made with the server a while ago (I have forgotten the name :') ) Is Player stumbling into different games and finding out they're the Guides for those too so- Player finds out they're Leon's Guide and they just fold.

"Leon Kennedy knows I exist, I can die peacefully."

I have also been watching edits none stop they've made him too fine now

[youreobsessedwithtoomanyfandoms]

Don't Let Me Go (Part 2)

Words: 5921

Warnings: language, talk of alcohol/alcohol consumption, regret, Leon being a dick but for a kinda good reason, maybe ooc characters and probably bad writing

Resident Evil Masterlist Main Masterlist Join My Taglist

This also was originally written for my OC Tiffany (Whose info on her/original story will eventually be available on this account @imnotobsessedwfictionalchracters )

Leon and Hunnigan are PROBABLY OOC (as I suck at not being able to keep them from being OOC)

Actually find it fucking insane how long this thing is all together

This is it in multi-part form: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

This is it in one part form

Reader and Leon are partners with their job (have been since 2004/2005) and is insinuated to be around the same height as Leon

Not Proof-read and I think it can be seen every once and a while (I know you can see where my brain couldn't function how to write the scene so I just guessed and hoped for the best)

Can be read as its own story or as a sequel to You’re About To Lose The Best Damn Thing You’ve Ever Had

Losely has themes from the songs Never Say Never by The Fray, No Surprises by Radiohead, Afterglow by Taylor Swift, and Look After You by The Fray

Anywho, enjoy

Love Z <3

Leon’s POV

Leon, who had only been there because he was going over a report with Hunnigan, head snapped over towards Hunnigan the moment that Y/N ended the call. Worry spread through his body as they were unable to contact her back. He felt his knee unconsciously bouncing up and down as the computer kept beeping. He knew that he technically had no reason to be worried. Now, thanks to his own doing, all she was to him was another Agent. Not his partner. Not his girlfriend. Not even his friend. (Of course he didn’t know that the last part was all on his own)

“Why is it doing that? Why can’t you get back to her?”

“She blocked me from calling. Which means one of two things; she needed no distractions or she had to go semi-dark. I’m trying the other 4 members of her team and if they don’t respond, it means that they had to go dark too.”

Leon bit the inside of his cheek. He knew that the team originally consisted of 7 plus Y/N/N. The original 3 BSAA and 3 STRATCOM had been reduced to 1 BSAA and 2 of their own. 

If he was going to be honest, Leon didn’t care about the team, he just cared about Y/N and if she was okay. He hadn’t meant to do what he did then just disappear. He meant to break up and let her be for a few days, a week tops, then talk to her. But then he got called in and had to leave immediately. He knew from Claire and Hunnigan both that she didn’t understand why it happened or what caused it. Which he knew was his own doing. He should have told her. He shouldn’t have just said that they weren’t gonna work out. Especially since on their previous mission together they had a run in with Ada. 

But that wasn’t why he did it. No. It was because Stacey had been that person who they thought walked in. And as they had exited the training room, had messaged Leon to remind him that fraternizing with your partner was against the rules. He knew he should have just told Y/N why he was doing it, why he pulled away and why he treated her like shit for so long. But he couldn’t. He was scared that if he had, she would have argued with him and said it was fine. That they would figure it out together. It’s how she was and he knew it was. 

Of course, he still felt horrible for what happened on New Years, he shouldn’t have done that. Shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up just to crush them the following days. He shouldn’t have treated her the way that Ada would treat him. Shouldn’t have done something that would make her feel like he was using her in the moment because he needed something just to hurt her later.

----

December 31st of 2008/January 1st of 2009

Leon had gotten to her apartment earlier that day to help Y/N put up the decorations. But the entire time all that he had said to her was when he asked her to hand him something or made a comment about getting a drink or going to the bathroom. And then once Chris had arrived, surprisingly being the first, he had gone to talk to him. He had seen her leave from the corner of his eye, knowing she was changing out of the pajamas she had been in all day. 

He had no idea what she was going to come out in, but as she came back from her bedroom, a glass of champagne having already been downed, he knew it would be hard to keep himself under control. He noticed that she was wearing that top she had not-so-secretly bought a few weeks ago. Or at least he assumed it was. He had never seen the one she was wearing and he knew she hadn’t worn that one top yet. It was paired with her stupid jeans that fit her perfectly and those stupid heels that he loved on her because for some reason it always turned him on when she was practically a head taller than him. He saw her necklace was the one he bought her for their first anniversary in 2007. The rings were the ones she always wore and he noted that she wore the bracelet that she had owned since highschool on her right wrist, opposite of the watch he got her back in 2006 after her previous one got destroyed on a mission. Thankfully it was her birthday too so he didn’t have to deal with her arguing too much so he could argue that it was a gift for her birthday and she couldn’t turn it away.

He remembered how she kept saying he didn’t have to and that it must’ve cost a fortune. He had just shrugged it off and said he knew she needed one and he thought she liked that one. And even now, over 2 years later, he still hasn't disclosed the price of it. Something he’d never do because he knew she’d give it back and feel horrible about it. Knowing the only reason she had accepted the necklace was because it was their anniversary and she had gotten him something he knew was expensive as hell.

But even then, he didn’t talk to her. He didn’t go near her. Even as the rest of the group got there. He occupied himself with drinking and talking with people. Even as he saw the look of desperation on her face as she talked to Jess and Claire. Even as he watched her walk back to her room with a face full of complete defeat written all over her face.

No. he stayed talking with Chris and her brother Joe while he knew she was likely standing in the bathroom that connected to her bedroom. While he knew that she was probably doing anything to distract herself from how he had been ignoring her. He knew she could hear him talking and laughing with them. He knew that it seemed like he was happier with everyone except for her. But he wasn’t. He hated this. Hated this hell he had created by not doing it already. This hell he had created for both of them where he knew she was feeling like a deflated balloon that he didn’t want anymore. When that was the complete opposite of what was true. God did he want her. God did he not want to have to hurt her this way. All he wanted to do was hold her and tell her it would be okay.

Let her convince him that Stacey wouldn’t out their relationship and they would figure it out.

He got pulled out from the conversation when he heard a faint sound of something crashing in the back. He wasn’t sure if others had heard and chose to ignore it, or if it was just him who did since he was the closest to the hall. He stood and excused himself saying that he was gonna go check on her since they hadn’t seen her in a bit. 

When he got to the back of the apartment, he looked in and saw that it had just been the cup that held their toothbrushes and pastes. He watched as she leaned down and grabbed the fallen contents. He realized that she didn’t even notice him there until she jumped as he laid a soft knock on the door.

He laughed softly, like he always did when she did this. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya.” As she placed the cup back where it went, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. The jolt from her didn’t go unnoticed and his face went from one of playfulness to concern. “Hey, you okay?”

She nodded silently, and he saw that she was trying to keep her breathing steady. “Yeah. Sorry. I think I’m just getting tired. My body isn’t used to not having to be on edge 24/7.”

He knew she was lying. He could tell it in her voice. But he still cracked a small smile in an attempt to calm her down. “Can’t disagree with you there. But you seem genuinely freaked, like after a mission.” The smile switched to one of concern, “Are you sure that you’re okay?”

She nodded and turned to him, giving him a smile of her own. “Yeah. I am Lee. Promise.” Lee, the nickname she gave him after their first mission together when she got a concussion. He remembered that his name kept blanking on her (as did most people) so she just referred to him as Lee as it was all she could remember and it had stuck. He noticed as she looked down at her watch before looking back at him, “Hey, it’s 11:59, we should get back in there.”

He was about to go to move some hair from her face, but stopped before he even reached his hand. He knew it would leave her even more confused when he broke it off. He knew it would make it harder for him if he continued to act like a boyfriend. So he kept on telling himself that he was being a friend. Friends treat friends this way. He could still be this way with her even when he calls quits to save her reputation. “Are you sure? It seemed like you had left for a reason.”

He knew from the look on her face that he was the reason and it hurt. At first it was because he hated that he was treating her like this, leading her on. But then it was because he couldn’t feel that way. He had to pull away from her so it would hurt less when he broke it. But he felt his resolve falling and knew it was close to breaking.

“Yeah. I’m perfectly fine. I just needed to get away for a moment. You know how I am.” 

He knew it was a lie. He knew she lied about something he wouldn’t call her out about. He studied her face and saw that she was doing everything to show she wasn’t lying. He knew she knew he was doing this. But he said nothing. He didn’t put her on the spot. Call her out. He just let her do it. Especially as everyone in her living room began to count down.

However, neither of them moved as their friends began down from 10. This was the closest he had been to her since Christmas. It was taking everything in him not to kiss her. Everything in him to not grab her face and pull it to his. But that entire work he was putting in was thrown out of the window the moment she brought her hand up and brushed some hair out of his face. And as she leaned in to him when their friends reached one, his thoughts to push her away were thrown out the window. As she placed a kiss on his lips. He heard nothing as he felt her softer lips on his own chapped ones. 

As she pulled her lips away from his, any control that had been left there disappeared as his hands on her cheeks and he slammed his back onto hers. The moment she let out a tiny gasp, he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He felt her arms wrap around his neck as he began moving them to the sink. Only stopping when the back of her legs met her sink. 

He pulled away for a moment, just to bring his lips down to her neck. And between kisses he asked a question that plagued him since he saw her come out in it. “Is this...a new...top?” He heard her humming in response, eliciting a small chuckle from him. “Is that a yes baby?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was soft and breathy, just above a whisper and he held back a groan when she did.

“I like it. You should wear it more.” He carefully moved her arms up so he could pull it off. His lips lingered on her collarbone, close to the center by her sternum, as he breathed in her perfume. It was a warmer one, a mix of vanilla and spice. He recognized it as the one he bought her back when she dragged him into Victoria Secrets when they were having a sale. He remembered her arguing with her that she wanted to buy it so they agreed that he’d buy her that and she could buy him whatever cologne he wanted. Which just happened to be the one he was wearing tonight.

His lips continued down her body as he got other noises from her. He only stopped when he heard a gasp, immediately pulling his lips away from her. His eyes looked over to see Y/N's sister-in-law standing there with a hand over her mouth.

“Shit, I’m so fucking sorry. I should’ve known what you two were doing when you didn’t respond. Fuck, I’m sorry. Um, Joe and I are heading out. I don’t wanna overwork my sister too much by watching the kids after she had a long week. But we had fun. I’ll see you later.”

He stood as he watched Jessica leave the room and felt Y/N/N's head fall on his shoulder. He listened as she ranted about how embarrassed she was by what just happened. How she had been hidden for nearly 30 minutes and then someone came to find her, just to see her making out with her boyfriend. So fucking embarrassing. 

He laughed lightly and joked, “At least we were just making out and not actually having sex.”

She groaned and buried her head in his chest, “I did not just say that out loud, did I?”

He missed the top of her head, “It’s okay.” He pulled away before leaning down to grab her shirt from where he had thrown it on the floor and handed it to her. After she slipped it on, he kissed her lips again. “You know I love you, right?”

She smiled and looked into his blue eyes, “Yeah, ‘course I do.”

“Good.”

This was going to hurt when he finally did it.

--

Leon knew that she wasn’t asleep as she laid by him. But he stayed quiet. He knew tonight would haunt him. He was supposed to be pushing her away. Not drawing her back in and making her feel better while he was just going to hurt her in the end.

----

January 3rd of 2009

He knew she was hurt. He knew she was trying not to cry. Leon knew how mad and confused she was. He knew. He knew her too well. He knew that she understood none of it. Even after he explained. He knew that she saw him as the one for her because he knew she was the one for him. But he could stop. He had to end them so neither...no so she didn’t get her reputation ruined. He refused to let anyone think that the only reason she gets chosen for assignments is because they’re together. He refused to let anyone think of her as anything but the fucking amazing and talented agent she was.

He had promised her back years ago that he would never hurt her. That he would never be the one to break her heart. That he would be there by her side no matter what. But then here he was, breaking her heart and about to leave her.

In the end, all that he could say was, “I’m sorry.” And “You don’t deserve this.” He reached to grab her hand in an attempt to comfort her, but she jerked it away. Which he understood. He deserved it. She didn’t deserve this. She deserved better than him. “You deserve better than this. Than me. Than our fucked up situation.”

“But Leon, I like it. I love you. I don’t care about the secrets and the lies. I just want you. Leon, please.”

“I can’t.” He stressed, he still hadn’t said what Hunnigan had told him when he asked what would happen. That was why he was doing this. He had to protect her.

“Can’t what?” Her voice was stretched, he knew she was trying not to cry.

For a brief second, he thought that he shouldn’t do it, but as he saw her face, saw as she was breaking, he decided to do it. “Can’t ask you to possibly give up your job because someone found out! Watch as you have to get reassigned because Hunnigan already confirmed that it would be you. Watch as your life completely changes just so you can be with me!” He ran a hand through his hair, “That’s why we’re done, Y/N/N. Why we have to be. Both in this relationship and in our partnership for work. I already sent in the request for a new partner.” He hadn’t said that last part to her yet. But it was true. He did it yesterday. After she had left the office for the day.

“Leon.”

He ignored her as he walked to her door, he was planning on just leaving, saying nothing else. But as his hand reached for the knob, he stopped, “I’m really sorry Y/N/N. Truly, deeply, sorry.” 

He walked out after that. But he didn’t go far. He stayed there in the long hall. He brought a hand up to his mouth to stiffen the sobs that were threatening to fall. He felt his chest tighten as he heard her scream and a crash. He knew she was angry and upset. He knew she was blaming herself. And it took everything in him to not open the door and agree with her that they’d figure this out. That they’d find a loophole. That they’d be alright.

----

February 18th of 2009

He shook his head, trying to forget that last time he saw her. Instead, he became hyper focused on Hunnigan trying to contact anyone on her team. The difference between her and them was with them, it called, but no one answered. He felt himself picking at the calluses on his hands, a bad habit that she always noticed. A habit that whenever she saw, she would take his hands into hers and hold them. He ran a hand through his hair as the nerves built up again when it went off that she disconnected herself from being able to be contacted. 

He hadn’t even noticed Hunnigan talking to someone through her mic set until she said: “Do you want me to assume her and her team are dead, sir?” He snapped his head to her. What did she mean by that? Why would they assume that Y/N was dead? She just went dark. Since when has it been the procedure to assume death when gone dark. “Of course sir, I’ll keep watch and will let Agent Kennedy know.” Leon narrowed his eyes at Hunnigan as she turned to him. “They want me to keep an eye out for if she pings a location in the next 48 hours. If not, then you’re being deployed to finish the mission and if you come in contact with her, call for an evac for her. But shoot to kill if she’s been bitten.”

Leon looked away from Hunnigan. He wasn’t sure if he could do that. Shoot to kill Y/N. Personal feelings aside, they had been partners since she joined back in 2004. Since right after he got back from Spain. Hell, she would’ve been with him if she hadn't had to get her appendix taken out and miss training causing her start date to be pushed back to where it was around 48 hours before he got back from Spain with Ashley. He had known her for 4, going on 5 years now. How could he shoot her, even if it was for the greater good? He felt his chest tighten and--

“Leon? Do you understand?”

He looked back at Hunnigan and nodded silently before getting up to leave the room. He couldn’t be there anymore. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He practically ran through the halls, not caring who looked at him. Only able to catch his breath when the cold February air hit his skin. He heaved, his hands on his knees and he leaned forward. He couldn’t do it. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it. He knew that he would get in trouble. But he would rather get in trouble for not doing his job than have to shoot her.

He just prayed that she pinged to prove she was alive. And that if he ever got sent in, he would find her. Alive or dead but not bitten. Not turned. He’d rather find her already dead than have to do it himself. He would never be able to live if he broke her heart and then killed her.

Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to live with himself if he broke her heart and then found her dead.

--------

February 28th of 2009

36 hours after she went dark they received the first ping. 11 days had passed since and they had gotten 8 more pings. Leon was at his desk, waiting for Hunnigan to tell him they got the next ping. But as the sun went further and further down, they still had got nothing. He kept telling himself that she was okay. That maybe she just forgot or wasn’t somewhere where she could.

He kept telling himself that it was okay and she was alive. That he had no reason to worry. That she would make it back to them alive.

--------

March 2nd of 2009

Leon looked out the window of the helicopter he was on. 4 days had passed since her last ping. Since they last heard of her being alive. They had sent him in the early hours of the morning to go finish the job and find her. They told him to not have hope she’d be found alive. The cold was horrid and she was supposed to be back by now. It was doubtful she’d have enough heat stored to survive.

But he ignored them. He ignored their warnings and pushed them away as he climbed down and off the heli and walked the remaining mile to the village her team were meant to be staying at.

It took him almost no time to find the abandoned snow-mobiles they had ridden to get there. Took him almost no time to walk into the small place they were staying to find the rest of her team all dead. But still, there was no sign of her. No sign that she had even been there recently. He told Hunnigan and she responded that she’d send someone once they found Y/N. As he exited the house, he grabbed the keys to be able to use one of the vehicles.

He drove through the town until he reached the point where she had gone dark at. It was by a larger building that stood out compared to the rest. But that wasn’t where she had left at. She had left off in a small home by it. He walked in and looked around, finding her tracker and communication devices in a box that had been covered in snow. A few of the windows had been shot through, he assumed it was from her. He walked up the stairs and saw that there was no way out from there. If she had been in there, she had left the same way she went in.

He walked out of the house and was about to get back on the snowmobile, to head to her last pinged location, but he realized that it was inside the large building and he would have to walk it. The sun was going down as the time passed 6 PM as he jumped the fence and ran around trying to find her, shooting those infected that got in his way. Which he was surprised wasn’t that many. He had expected more to be there, but it was like someone had already gone through and killed most of them. 

He ignored the fatigue that grew as he ran closer and the sky got darker. Or at least he assumed it did, there were practically no windows in this place so all he had was his watch to tell the time. He ignored the gnawing feeling he had that he was going to find her dead. That he came all the way to bring her home alive that he’d have to do it dead. That he kept telling himself that she’d be alright and he could apologize. He could tell her what Hunnigan told him when he got back. So he could apologize and let her scream and yell and choose what to do. 

So he could know if there ever would be a possibility that they could have made it. That they could have done more if he hadn’t let the possibility of what could've happened take control of his life.

As he grew closer and closer to where she had last pinged, he felt his heart drop further and further into his stomach as he saw more and more blood covering the floor. He kept telling himself that it wasn’t hers. It was someone else's. And he wasn’t entirely wrong as he grew closer. A body laid on the ground, he could tell the blood wasn’t even an entire week old so it had to be from around her last ping. He placed his boot at the dead and grimaced as he recognized him as the guy from last summer.

That told him why she went dark. 

He kneeled by the body, looking for what caused the bleeding, finding a few bullet holes. They weren’t accurate and he could tell that whoever shot them had a shaky hand. Making him doubt it was Y/N. One thing he knew he could always count on was her steady aim. Rarely would she hit a target in the wrong spot on accident. It was always on purpose. But, he knew the bullet holes. It was with a Lightning Hawk. It was like how he always had his Matilda, she always had a Lightning Hawk on her.

He stood up and continued on, looking down at the small device to see how much further and realized that it was to his left. He turned and saw a door drawn shut. He put the device away and grabbed his gun out from its holster and carefully opened the door. He swiftly turned to walk further in, something that at first seemed futile as he didn’t see her. But as he walked further in and looked around, he saw remnants of her having previously been there.

He kneeled by her clicker that had been pinging her location when she told it to was on the floor with some of the layers she had been wearing when the mission started. But what scared him was that there was a bandage covered in blood that looked like it had been sitting there for a few days. If it was her blood like he thought, that would explain why it looked like someone had shot the guy shakily and unsure. And so that nausea grew as the gnawing feeling that she was dead came back to him. 

He shook his head of those thoughts and got up, looking around the room more. As his eyes scanned, he saw that there was a trail of blood that led to one of the walls. When he got closer, he saw the faint marks of what he assumed had been someone moving the cement. He put the flashlight between his teeth and holstered his gun as he began to touch around, trying to find a weak point in the wall. When he did, he pushed in until it started moving. Once it was opened enough for him to slip through, he grabbed the flashlight from his mouth and upholstered the gun. 

He pointed the gun forward and slipped through the crack, he walked with cautious footing. He still found it rather suspicious that he hadn’t had to deal with much since he had gotten there. His senses were on high alert, feeling like there was a possibility of him getting attacked at any point. He walked down the dimly lit room, turning the flash on and off so for the case of someone watching him, there was a possibility of him throwing them off. 

But any want to not get caught and have the element of surprise immediately left his body when he heard gunshots down the end of the hall. He ran as fast as he could and slammed the door open, gun ready to shoot. But when he got there, he saw that Dr. Lewis was already bleeding out on the floor, but still reaching for her own gun. As he approached the woman, he looked around and saw Y/N laying on her stomach, gun on her non-dominant side, in a corner. And as much as he wanted to check on her first, he ran over to the doctor and kicked her gun as far away from her as possible. 

He kept his gun up and stood over Lewis, the barrel of the gun pointed at her head, daring her to do something. But all she did was laugh before coughing up blood. “You...you really think this...this will be...be the e-end? You...you killing me? Think it...it will bring that little b-bitch ba-ack.”

He knew he was supposed to bring her in alive. So they could question her. But Leon just couldn’t. He knew she had been experimenting on children more than she ever had with adults. The information Y/N had found and sent in before she went dark proved it. And something, some part of him, felt like no one who did that to kids could live. Maybe it was his belief that he still was doing this for Sherry. He knew she was an adult now and that she doesn’t need his protection anymore, but it didn’t stop him from making it his main reason. 

With his gun still smoking, and Lewis’s eyes going blank with death, he pulled it down. “Still stops you.” He looked up when he heard the sound of an alarm going off and his vision was encased in red. He should have known that killing the head would do this, but he didn’t give a shit. All he cared about was saving her. He ignored the blaring alarm and robotic voice saying that the building will self-destruct in 10 minutes.

He turned to run back to where Y/N was lying. As he got closer to her, he could see she was slipping in and out of consciousness. When he reached her, he placed a gentle finger where her pulse would be, he knew he should have kept his eyes trained on Lewis, in case she turned herself into something, but he didn’t. His eyes were trained on Y/N. She was covered in sweat and blood, hair clinging onto her. Her breathing was labored and she barely was able to keep her eyes open. He turned her to her back and immediately saw what the reason for the bleeding was. 

A large gash that went down her sternum. There was dried blood all around it and he saw that shittily done bandage that had moved. It was surely infected and was probably the reason for her sweat. He grabbed his device to call Hunnigan and requested a medical evac. He found Y/N and she was alive. They were in the building, but he was going to try and get her outside. Hunnigan informed him that she already sent one the moment he said the rest of the team was dead and they were 5 minutes out.

The moment the call ended, he gently moved one of Y/N 's arms around his neck before putting his arms under her body. Placing one securely under her knees and the other behind her back and under her other arm. He heard her groan in pain as he started to carry her out. Trying to figure out how to get to the roof.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Y/N/N.”

“Leon?” Her voice was hoarse, barely there.

“Yeah, yeah it’s me. I got you. Medic is 5 minutes out, okay? I’m gonna get you out. You’re gonna be okay.”

“Leon, please, just let me go.”

He shook his head, “No. I’m not doing that. I’m not letting you go. Not anytime soon.”

“But it hurts.”

He looked down at her and saw her eyes were closing again, “I know. I know it does. But I need you to keep your eyes open for me, alright? I know it’s gonna be hard, but I need you to do that.”

“But it feels better that way.”

He kicked a door open that led to stairs, “I know it does Y/N/N/N, I know. But I really need you to keep them open. Just until the evac gets here. Once they get us, you’ll be alright. You can close your eyes. Just keep them open till then.” Y/N/N/N. A nickname he came up with once when they were both drunk and abnormally clingy to one another. A nickname that he only used around her when he was close to breaking.

But she nodded, “Okay, I’ll try.”

He smiled down at her, “Good, try.”

He knew if she wasn’t injured and delirious, she would be yelling and screaming at him. So a part of him was happy she was, but most of him was scared that they medic wouldn’t get here in time and they would be fucked. That the team wouldn’t get there and he would lose her. But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t lose her. Not yet. Not now. Not when he had so much apologizing to do. 

So when he made it out of the maze of a building, he let out a breath of relief when he saw the helicopter landing. Never in his life did he think he’d be so grateful that living Agents were top priority. That they’d rather lose the dead bodies and explain to the families that there was no body than possibly lose someone that could still be of use to them. Of course, he knew there was also the likelihood that they had sent two helicopters.

As he got to the Helicopter, he passed her body to one of the Agents in it before jumping in himself. And as they flew off, he helped close the door that he had jumped in from. For a moment, he stared at the window to see the sun coming up in the distance as the building exploded. But only after a second, he turned back to see the two medics already hooking Y/N up and getting her the help she needed.

He slumped down into one of the small chairs, leaning his head against the cool metal and silently watched as they flew to a hospital in Vancouver that was used to STRATCOM and the BSAA. 

[licantropa]

What's your favourite horror film and game?

the worlds toughest question ever 😭

less a favorite film and more a favorite sub-genre.

I’m such a sucker for creature features!! The Descent, The Thing, Lake Placid, Cloverfield, Black Water, Deep Blue Sea, Crawl, i could go on….are all of them good? hell no! but I like em anyways!

outside of that specific genre I’d say I really enjoyed The Call, Se7en, and Final Destination 1 - 5 (excluding 4). but man I really like just creatures in my movies. Especially if it’s like a regular animal that���s like waaaay too big to realistically survive, fucking two-head sharks? sharktopus? an alligator? the meg? amazing. beautiful. astounding. truly peaked with cinema here.

when it comes to games, it’s a four way tie between Resident Evil 1 Remake, Signalis, and Inscryption, Bioshock 2. I’ve replayed all these games over and still enjoy my time with them!!(except bio2 it keeps crashing on me smh)

I really enjoy the silent hill (whole game series), bloodborne, rule of rose stories but I wouldn’t put the games as my favorite because I haven’t played them and I don’t know if I’d enjoy them mechanically as much as I do their lore.

RE1 remake has this unfortunate habit that whenever I see people give their opinions on the game I turn into a toxic gamer. I fully understand that fixed camera angles aren’t popular anymore but that doesn’t mean that it is an inherently bad thing to have in a game. Just because you as an individual couldn’t beat the learning curve doesn’t make the game itself bad, the horror elements would not work with the more modern over the shoulder camera angles and I don’t think a lot of people that have negative things to say understand that. The game still to this day holds up graphically, the scares (if you don’t know they’re there) are scary, the music is phenomenal!!! Some games aren’t for some people and that’s okay! That doesn’t make them poorly made or bad or unnecessary, it just wasn’t for you and that’s fine. I don’t see the point in remaking it in the modern RE engine I think it’s fine! “Oh but if they re-remake it you’ll still have the old game🙄” shut uupp!! it’s not about whether or not it still exists, it’s about which one will be taken into consideration when talking about the series and— sigh, it probably would’ve just been easier to say skill issue.

thank you for the ask!

[rex101111]

Baiken, Anji, and Delilah as Gym Leaders

(because none of you can stop me)

Delilah:

- Psychic Type, obviously. Runs the gym with her brother, and depending on which version you have you either fight her or him. In the version where she’s the Leader Bedman is too sick when you first arrive in town to fight you so Delilah refuses to operate the gym without him. The mini-plot of her city has you convincing her, through stopping the resident Evil Team(TM) and some supportive words from Bedman, that she can do this on her own and Bedman won’t see it as her trying to get out of taking care of him.

- Gym layout like a funhouse, mirrors teleporting you to specific locations annotated by the color of the mirror border. Player needs to press switches in certain spots to make mirrors switch colors until they reach Delilah at the back. 

- Team: 1)Duosion 2)Gothorita 3)Beldum 4)Gardevoir. Awards you with The Broad Mind Badge!

Anji:

- Fairy/Bug Type, as in all of his pokemon are either Fairy Bug or both. Early game gym leader, either the very first or second one the player meets. Makes an impression by constantly running off from the player before they could ask him why he isn’t at the gym and only giving them vague hints that lead the player all around town, seeing all the sights. And, coincidentally, running into the Evil Team(TM) mid plotting and getting them to run off. When confronted he simply laughs and says, “who? Me? All I did was run around! You were the ones doing clean up, good job on your initiative!”   

- Gym is a dense forest with multiple paths branching off from each other. Player needs to find which ones lead deeper in and which simply loop back to the entrance. Each real path has a mark that’s easy to miss unless you’re looking very closely. Every time you loop back to the entrance you get a mocking call from Anji through the megaphones around the gym.

Team: 1)Venomoth 2)Dottler 3)Mawile. Grants you the Gossamer Badge!

Follows the player around even after they complete the gym, and is key in unraveling the plot of the Big Bad(TM). Eventually reveals himself to be part of the Elite Four, where he apologizes for giving you the run around and for not being honest, “I trusted you to be fine on your own thus far...now, you’ll have to prove that you can make it even further!”

Team 2: 1)Togekiss 2)Scolipede 3)Grimmsnarl 4)Vivilion 5)Volcorona

Baiken:

- Steel Type, last one before Victory Road. On the route before you enter her city a bunch of Evil Team(TM) grunts gathered right outside...and refusing to go in, trying to get their nerve back by fighting you. When you get into the city most of the people there only have nice things to say about their resident Gym leader, though every thing nice they have to say ends with a comment about how scary she is. A few older ones wonder how long she’s been a gym leader since they’re pretty sure she’s been in that position since they were kids. You find Baiken chatting in a cafe with Anji about the Plot and she’s yelling at him for being a sneak and lying to her and Dellah about what he’s doing. She sees the player and goes, “tch, so you’re the one Anji’s been jerking around? Fine, meet me in the gym when you’re ready.” As she walks off Anji bids you good luck and tells you, cryptically, that you’ll meet again soon enough.

- Gym is a Dojo with multiple wooden panel doors between the exit and the back. Each door only opens if you insert a sword with the correct color into a scabbard on a nearby wall. Each door has two trainers that will give you one of two swords of different colors, but won’t fight you unless you talk to them. If you pick a fight with one after getting the right sword they’ll chide you for wasting your strength on fights you don’t need to have.

Team: 1)Aegislash 2)Scizor 3)Bisharp 4)Metagross, tosses you the Blade Badge! Tells you she’s impressed, and that Anji is as clever as he is sneaky. Waits for you at the entrance to Victory Road to open it for you. When she does a bunch of Evil Team(TM) grunts show up and she tells you to go ahead, she’ll clean up the trash.

[blue-flare10]

correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Suzi Hunter, the famous Resident Evil lover also comment on her analysis of RE4R how she loved 4 remakes older brother Leon archetype?

Also the VAs that played also seem to vibe with the platonic bond these two have formed from what I've seen on twitter.

If people don't wanna read these two as siblings or whatever then that's fine but to claim how it's objectively true that they were supposed to be romantic while at the same time getting salty for someone that thinks otherwise has to be the biggest hypocrisy and agenda gatekeep i have seen yet. And I'm pretty sure by now you know which blog in particular does this smh

I believe that Suzi did! Though admittedly, it has been awhile since I’ve watched her analysis, so I’m not absolutely certain.

Yeah, I’m willing to bet money that I know exactly who you’re talking about. I’ve seen them around the fandom here and there before they blocked me. You’re absolutely right that behavior like that is extremely scummy and frankly, rather toxic. I don’t want to go into a whole rant since I don’t want this to turn into a call-out post, but I do find their behavior to be a massive red flag. It’s one thing to just not like a certain ship or to see a relationship as romantic, but to openly shame people for seeing a relationship as platonic, especially one that has been confirmed by the devs to be so, is just not acceptable.

[rosewood-writes-and-reviews]

So after I saw the trailer of Resident Evil 4 Remake, I have a lot of positives about the game so far from the story trailer and gameplay showcase.

Positives:

Ada’s true colors being shown. I loved how she remained the same from RE2MAKE and straight up told Leon that Ashley was too far gone and told her to leave her behind.

Ashley’s design. It’s five times better than what we got from the original. I’m happy not too much was changed because I had no problems with her colors surprisingly enough. It was mostly how they were being used.

Plagas Ashley being mind controlled to attack Leon? I hope that’s the case because I felt like that element of Plagas Ashley was missing.

Which brings me to my next point: the way Plagas looked on Leon, Ashley and the Villagers.

Leon, Ashley and Ada ALL interacting. It was really weird seeing Leon and Ashley interacting then Leon and Ada interacting, because there is no way Ada and Ashley just don’t interact with each other at all.

The dark atmosphere of the village. It fits just how far gone the entire village in Spain is in the game.

The good redesigns. I already discussed Ashley, but what are my thoughts on Ada, Luis and some of the villagers? Solid. Ada always had great designs, so you would have to try really hard to mess that up, Luis’s fashion is significantly better, and the villagers at least from the glimpses I’ve seen are all looking creepy. Especially the cult who were holding Ashley hostage.

The action is staying. Thankfully.

You can counter the chainsaw attack with your knife. Is it unrealistic? Yes. Is it awesome? Also yes.

Negatives:

The character voices. Specifically Ada and Luis. Leon and Ashley are fine, but I was so distracted with how Ada and Luis sounded. Also, Luis looks like he’s Heisenberg’s equally smug little brother.

No Krauser yet. Hopefully they didn’t change him too much for his redesign because his old design was perfect for the type of character he was.

Barely any glimpses of the villains. Salazar and Mendez were shown in the trailer, but in a blink and you’ll miss it manner.

Not too much changed on Leon’s design from what I’ve seen.

Overall, I think RE4MAKE has the potential to be the better Resident Evil remake and actually improve upon the original aside from design and gameplay, but that’s just my hopes and dreams. Alternatively, it could be similar to what happened with the previous RE Remake with RE3MAKE where specific content got cut or the inconsistent writing could come back in a different way. Or there are barely changes to the story. 🙃

But either way, I will play this game. It’s been a while since I was hyped up for a few games like Bayonetta 3, RE4MAKE, and Silent Hill 2 Remake. Not to mention that the graphics for all three look amazing.

[maxwell-grant]

Bingo: Rohan Kishibe

I think there’s basically two Rohan Kishibes: one is the hilariously self-centered jackass freak who plays a wonderful and much needed role in Part 4 as the resident asshole / That Guy / Squidward of the Duwang Gang, and the other is the protagonist of a whole lotta mystery-horror-detective one-shot stories that Araki puts out periodically when he wants to do something that has nothing to do with JoJo outside of what little it needs to qualify as a JoJo spin-off. I really like the first Rohan, but I can’t say I care much for the second one.

I don’t dislike the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan stuff by any means, I’m actually glad it exists. It’s Araki outlet to take a break from JoJo and experiment with the kind of horror-mystery-detective stuff he really enjoys writing and has to get out of his system every now and then, it’s basically just like all the other one-offs he’s been doing over the years except it’s got the JoJo brand attached, which doesn’t hurt sales. I haven’t read most of the Rohan one-shots past the first ones, I’m sure they’re fine, the ones I read were fine too. But they just really don’t interest me.

It’s not that I don’t like Rohan as a protagonist, I actually really like the Cheap Trick arc almost exclusively because it was a decently funny/horrifying Stand battle idea elevated by it happening to the funniest person it could have happened to. The fact that Rohan’s got that asshole genius personality Araki likes so much, on top of being a world-traveling mangaka which means Araki gets to write a lot from experience and throw some digs at the industry / himself and his own work, as well as having a really cool and fun-to-draw Stand that allows him to eventually get out of any narrative problem, makes it no surprise that Araki goes back to him again and again. Contrary to what fandom says (even if the jokes are funny), Rohan isn’t Araki’s favorite character, and he isn’t his self-insert either and he’s kinda spoken out against that idea a bunch of times, but it’s no brainer that Araki keeps coming back to him as an outlet for personal expression. I think it’s a very effective thing that he’s done with this.

My biggest problem with Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan is that they are comics about the guy on the right, a superpowered mangaka who gets into trouble and does witty and underhanded things to get out of it, and not about the spider-licking sicko on the left, even though in theory they should be. I’m not against the idea of these kinds of antagonistic/asshole neighbor-slash-rival characters getting solo outings divorced from their original cast if they have interesting things to offer in return (Wario, and the creation of WarioWare in particular, pulled this off), but there’s that part, you gotta offer something in return for stripping the character of that dynamic they were created for.

A Rohan Kishibe who isn’t making a huge ass of himself punching sixth graders to win at rock-paper-scissors and letting his cartoonishly expensive house burn to the ground so he can catch Josuke cheating at dice is just not a Rohan Kishibe I want to read about. I really love Rohan, he’s the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure equivalent of Newman from Seinfeld and Part 4 absolutely needed to have a character like him, a concentrated This Fucking Guy to hang around with the heroes and even be one of them even if they’d rather rely on someone else. It’s just that his spin-offs to me are kind of like having a Newman tv series spin-off without the rest of the Seinfeld gang where he’s just some bumbling funny mailman and not anyone’s nemesis/partner in crime and “pure evil”. It’s just kind of a waste, y’know.

[joels6string]

https://twitter.com/naughtyndc/status/1612329959003160577?s=46&t=kmiEsAGDB7ARCUEr_uG3mA

so the removal of the spores made me mad af and made me not want to watch the show, but honestly this explaination does makes sense

I mean they’re always gonna try and rationalize 😂 It doesn’t work for me, this is a fictional a show, the fungus is based on a fungus that has spores, if we’re grounding the whole plot in reality there are no vaccines for fungal infections… They’re choosing which aspects of reality they want to bend that fits what they want, and that’s fine, but you can’t rationalize stuff like this by saying “science!” when the entire goal of the plot is destroyed by science. It’s pretty easy to say “you need a very highly concentrated dose of spores to be infected” and only have spore scenes underground where there’s no air flow and the hole is closed.

Tendrils are a mechanic used in Resident Evil and they really should have found something that didn’t group them with the other large zombie video game franchise if it was actually that big of deal. Spores are what set TLOU apart and losing that defining quality still sucks. Also hard to call this “the most accurate adaptation” when you took away one of the biggest aspects and replaced it with one that exists in other similar media.

I’m just glad they’ve truly separated this story from the real one with a time change. There’s the 2033 version and the 2023 and everyone can live in whichever one they want to. I have to watch 4 episodes for work and likely won’t be going beyond those 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m just content with the story and characters I already have, I don’t need a new one. And other people are excited to see this modified version. Everyone is different and that’s okay. I’m sure it’ll be a good TV show even if the source material is butchered a bit and get all the attention everyone is hoping for.

[ixcaliber]

Games I Played This Month October

It’s the spooky edition.

I played some horror/horror adjacent games.

1. The Spirit and the Mouse

Technically I played this last month, but I only finished it at the very very end of the month after I’d already made my post, but it’s a cute game and I wanted to make sure to mention it.

You are a cute mouse on the streets in a stormy night and somehow you end up with the abilities of a helpful electricity spirit that was sent here to help the people of this little french town. It can only go home again if you take its place and help out the various townspeople with their problems; pretty much all of which are caused by faulty electricity.

It’s a cute game with a good concept and a nice aesthetic. Most of the game is exploring and collecting and solving little exploration puzzles in order to help out the townspeople. The puzzles are all fairly straightforward, the real focus of the game on the cute dialogue between the mouse and the spirits and the overall atmosphere as you explore this little town.

2. Vampire Survivors

I played this earlier in the month before the 1.0 release and reached what was very clearly a final boss so, even though I haven’t really dipped back in since the big update I’m still putting it on here.

It’s a pretty good game, a great game for engaging the part of the brain that likes to see numbers go up, and like a really good game for listening to podcasts with. Due to unrelated circumstances I ended up getting into Collegehumor/Dropout stuff recently and spent a lot of my time playing Vampire Survivors listening to a LGBT podcast hosted by Ally Beardsley. This isn’t really relevant to the game just like, idk, this is what my experience was largely fuelled by.

I mean I think it’s kind of relevant because I couldn’t play Vampire Survivors without some kind of background thing to focus on. Without another component this game would not hold my attention, and I think that’s fine.

Just on the off chance that I’m the first person you’re hearing about Vampire Survivors from. It’s a game with very simplistic graphics where you defend yourself from endless hordes of monsters using auto-attacking weapons for up to 30 minutes (generally). It’s very light on narrative though now in the most recent update it does have a bestiary that adds a little context to the game. It’s not quite an idle game you definitely can’t just leave it to do while you do something else but it’s a low attention game. You only really need to fully focus on it now and then when you pick new weapons and items or if you’re dealing with a particularly tricky kind of enemy.

3. Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 is a racist mess. Lets just take that statement for granted. I’ve seen arguments that try to write it off as ‘oh its just that its set in africa. if there’s an outbreak of whatever biohazard this game is about naturally lots of black people would be infected because thats the people that live in africa etc’ and ‘its not racist its essentially the same thing that resident evil 4 did with eastern europe’ and the arguments are fucking stupid.

This game is racist. Resident Evil 4 was leaning on tropes of gothic horror, what tropes what ideas are being utilized to fuel the horror in this game? Fear of the native, fear of the primative, fear of black people just in of itself. Like there’s a chapter where all the infected are wearing extremely stereotypical tribal clothing and it sucks so bad.

Spoilers for the rest of the month but I also played Resident Evil 6. In that there’s an outbreak in a fictional chinese province and you don’t see asian stereotypes trotted out. The problems of RE5 cannot be solely attributed to ‘it’s set in africa’. They don’t use africa as a setting so much as africa itself becomes the theme, the flavour of the horror.

I played through mostly for grim curiosity and also because I wanted to watch a pair of videos (one by Noah Caldwell Gervais, one by Sophie From Mars) about the Resident Evil series as a whole and so I needed to finish off the couple of mainline series games I hadn’t managed to before.

I played it on my old xbox 360 copy that I bought back when it came out because I’d loved Resident Evil 4. I remember playing like two missions and then I didn’t touch it for 10 full years. There are PC ports or more modern versions that I could have played that might have felt less stodgy, where I might have felt capable of aiming and shooting without feeling as though I was dragging myself through molasses, but fuck giving anyone any more money for this terrible video game.

4. In Sound Mind

In Sound Mind is a really neat game. It’s a survivally horror actiony kind of game. In it you are a therapist trapped in your own warped mindscape and forced to enter the mindscape of some of your former patients, fight against some of their fears and insecurities made manifest and try to figure out why and what is happening in the first place.

I had this from PS Plus/a bundle I got a while back and the main thing that enticed me to play was some of the screenshots from the steam page. The game has some really interesting aesthetics, each of the different mindscapes you end up going to has it’s own colour palette and theming and it just generally has a lot more going for it than I might have expected.

There’s just some really creative stuff, like your melee weapon when you obtain it is a broken shard of a mirror, which also serves as a sort of difficult to use radar. You can hold it up in front of you and enemies or important items or collectibles will be glowing slightly in its reflection. Difficult to use because of course it’s showing you the area behind you so it still requires some thought to make good use of it.

Each level has a sort of central presence, an embodiment of the insecurities of that person and each manifests in a very different way and requires different kinds of behaviour in response.

My only big issue is that, after you’ve defeated whatever boss enemy is in a mindscape you’re then free to roam the level and pick up any collectibles you missed in safety. I learned this from the first level and so in the second level I didn’t meticulously comb for collectibles before defeating the boss of the area and then found out there were certain items only accessible by using the boss’ attacks as a puzzle solving mechanic. I ended up having to replay that entire level to get to the one item I was missing. It does allow that option though, so it’s not a game breaking issue or anything like that, just a sort of mismatch or miscommunication between my expectations as they were set by the end of the first level and then the reality of the second.

5. The Other Side

A short game about living in a sealed off industrial world, where nobody ever leaves. Discussion of the outside world is a crime punishable by death. Through some unlikely chance you caught a glimpse of an outside world and managed to slip through the cracks and you’ve been plotting how to make your escape.

The game boils down to operation of a drill in order to cut through the outer walls. You have to perform various maintenance on the drill, such as recharging its batteries, refuelling it, changing the broken drill bits and this whole process comes with a certain amount of tension. A feeling that you could be discovered at any moment and killed without question. Its an interesting mechanical experience, a sense of you must perform these actions perfectly or fail, though I’m not sure how much of an allowance there is for hesitation, or confusion, for forgetting a vital step.

It’s neat, it’s just a little game but it is pretty interesting.

6. Alleyway

An extremely short horror game with ps1 era vibes. It’s a game where you walk down an alleyway and god only knows what its implied larger narrative is. Has a little bit of jumpscare kind of horror in there but primarily I was mostly enjoying the tension and ambient feeling of wrongness that works so well with ps1 style graphics.

7. Sally Face - Episode One: Strange Neighbours

I was sort of hoping that this one would give me similar vibes to Fran Bow or Little Misfortune. It didn’t really. It’s an adventure game with a child protagonist getting into some messed up situations but it hasn’t really clicked with me so far. I admit I only played the first episode, it was all that was part of the itchio bundle for Reproductive Rights I got earlier in the year.

It follows Sal (Sally Face appears to be a nickname based on the mask he wears) as he recounts one of the first times he saw a dead body. You explore the apartment complex that you have just moved to and meet a number of weird and unpleasant characters. Solve a couple of inventory puzzles you know how this kind of thing goes and solve (?) a murder. There’s the implication that something worse and darker is going on behind the scenes but it’s mostly just an implication at this stage in the narrative and I don’t know where it goes just yet.

Don’t know whether I’ll follow this one up. It didn’t really grab me like the previous games I mentioned and I’d have to purchase the full game in order to see where it goes from here.

8. Zombie Admin

Fun little arcade game where even though it’s the Zombie Apocalypse you’re still expected to go to work and perform your tasks. Fight your way through I think about 10 different procedurally generated levels, completing tasks and fighting zombies and it’s a pretty fun time that gets really difficult towards the back half. Especially if you’re just playing alone. It does have multiplayer functionality though. It’s not bad for a little silly top down shooter kind of game.

9. Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs

I’d been so excited to play this one for a long time because I was convinced, solely by the name, that this was going to be like Victorian Saw or something. It’s not that.

I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that it plays very similarly to the first Amnesia game in terms of exploring, finding notes and hiding from monsters. This is a victorian manor with an enormous industrial factory attached to it rather than a decrepit gothic castle. The major mechanical difference is that you don’t have a limited number of matches, i.e. a finite amount of time where you are permitted to see what the fuck is going on. And like there is more of a set path for you to follow in this one. In The Dark Descent sometimes you would get a moment where to progress you’d need a couple of different things and you could tackle these different areas in whatever order you pleased. That never happens in Machine For Pigs. I think that there might also be less actual interactions with the monsters and less of a variety of monsters, but it’s been too long since I played The Dark Descent and I immediately forgot everything about it when I was done.

I should say spoilers ahead though like I should be clear that I’m reiterating things from my understanding of them which is shaky at best.

A Machine For Pigs, the narrative is that your character went on some vision quest to South America (?) I think, and had some sort of lovecraftian encounter there where you came to the conclusion that all humanity is filth and failed and deserves to be wiped from the planet so you came back and built an enormous meat factory to turn people into pigmen so you could unleash them and destroy the world or something. But maybe as you get close to enact this you get cold feet and then amnesia and so the physical embodiment of the machine you built keeps phone calling you telling you to go down and turn the machine on and god the narrative of this game is so shaky to begin with but all of it is told with victorian era language that is tricky to parse and I feel like so much of it is told through implication or maybe as an environmental detail. I didn’t jibe with the story of this one at all unfortunately. I mean I didn’t super jibe with The Dark Descent either. I don’t know why I am still playing Amnesia games, except for, you know, the misunderstanding about this being a Victorian era Saw game.

10. Resident Evil 6

(pictured above: chris redfield, and his good friend piers, in the middle of an outbreak stopping to sit on a children’s springy toy thing at a playground (i.e. the only moment of joy in the entire video game))

For the first of the four campaigns in this fucking overlong video game I was convinced that I was going to become the RE6 apologist. After coming off of xbox 360 era Resident Evil 5 it felt so good to play. The controls were responsive, like the actual moment to moment feel of the game was good. I wasn’t fighting for resources against my AI partner any more. The zombies were back and were fun to fight. The narrative mostly worked, or at least made internal sense. And then it was all downhill from there.

Which like isn’t to say that Leon and Helena’s campaign was flawless. The opening cutscene where the zombie president shambles towards him as he struggles to bring himself to shoot is pretty silly. The early game is pretty slow. When you do get to the church (your first primary objective) the puzzles you have to solve to get to the secret lab underneath felt extremely arbitrary and just weren’t fun. And the less said about Helena’s sister turning into a sexy spider monster the better. And yes I hated every section of the game where I had to fight against the ever respawning rakspalajes or whatever they were called. And that’s to say nothing of the fight against Fucking Derek which went on for an absolutely interminable length of time. So like, yeah, there are some flaws but Leon’s campaign is still the best the game has to offer.

After that Forgie accompanied me to play through Jake and Sherry’s campaign (we went out of sequence at her suggestion so as to ease me through the game as painlessly as possible) and it is... well... Jake and Sherry’s campaign is a fucking mess. They spend most of their time getting captured and then rescued by Chris and having the same boss fight again with the game’s piss poor version of the Nemesis, the Ustinak. Their campaign the most feels like it was written last, like it was just the flimsiest justifications for them being in the spots where the campaigns could overlap that the writers could be bothered to come up with. They’re being hunted by the Nemesis equivalent (I think the justification is supposed to be because whoever sent the Ustinak after them wants to wipe out Jake’s C-Virus immune genes) and they spent six months held captive somewhere and all I can think of is what the fuck the Ustinak spent doing for those six months. Making the long journey from whatever vaguely eastern european country they first encountered it in to china on foot I guess. Oh and they have ‘romantic tension’ and it sucks.

Oh and Jake is supposed to be Wesker’s secret son and he and Chris have this fucking stupid scene where Jake’s pissed that Chris killed the dad he’d never met and wouldn’t have gotten along with anyway because Wesker was a fucking psychopath.

And it’s full of terrible gimmick levels. Like the terrible snowmobiles section and a bit where you need to drive a motorbike. Awful enforced stealth sequences where you essentially need to perform an action and then run back and hide in a bin again and again and again. This is a trend that continues in Chris’ section including a bit where you have to fly a fucking plane. In resident evil.

Forgie attempted to accompany me through the Chris campaign also, but bounced after a single chapter because good god it’s terrible. It’s an absolute slog of a campaign where the game is just like ‘what if we were call of duty with monsters’ and then stretched each individual level out to absolute breaking point.

It does this really stupid thing where Chris has amnesia (unclear just how much he is supposed to have forgotten) and you start the game in the chinese outbreak and then have a level that flashes back to the repressed events of six months prior where Chris’ team was killed by evil ada wong in a blue dress. It’s so nothing. The whole narrative is so nothing. I think it’s situated where it is to try to break up the interminably long adventures of Chris Redfield in China, but it comes too quickly in the story, making the entire amnesia subplot look completely pointless and it’s not interesting or impactful enough for it to come as a revelation or to be the motivating factor for Chris for the next four to five hours.

Finally in Ada’s campaign it’s revealed that Ada in a red dress who is generally helpful (ish, she still doesn’t ever explain what is going on) and Ada in a blue dress who is evil are actually two different people and some fucking nonsense about Derek using a virus to turn people into Ada clones because he’s fucking horny for her or something. Ada’s campaign also feels like she’s just being whiplashed back and forth to wherever the plot needs her. Oh she was here helping Leon and Helena fight Helena’s sister so she’s gotta be there and oh she was here sniping while Jake and Sherry run away from a random fucking super enemy that has a flesh and bone chainsaw for some fucking reason I guess she’s there now. It’s supposed to be the campaign where you find out what’s actually been happening for the rest of the story but it’s main revelation is that Blue Ada and Red Ada are different women, a reveal I guessed the moment after I watched a clip of Blue Ada being born from a virus pod back in the Leon and Helena campaign. It also has some fucking awkward forced stealth sequences but overall is not as intolerable as Chris’ awful campaign. The worst part of Ada’s campaign is having to redo half of the Derek boss fight all over again because well I guess she was there so just do this again.

In summary I hate Resident Evil 6.

11. Murdered: Soul Suspect

Murdered: Soul Suspect is sort of a spooky game. You are a ghost. There are other ghosts. There are some ‘demons’. It’s spooky. It counts.

It’s a game where you are the ghost of this cop and you must solve your own murder in order to move on. I started playing this game back in 2015 and then got distracted for seven years but I finally came back and it was pretty okay. It’s kind of janky. The way you solve the mysteries is kind of like ‘guess what the developer was thinking’. And like there’s kind of not a lot to this game. I accept that it’s not like a masterpiece or anything but I find this game to be charming.

The game has some good visual design, like the design of the main protagonist is very distinctive. The world that you traverse as a ghost is a hybrid of the physical world and the spiritual world. In the physical world only the outer walls of buildings stand as barrier to you, but there are spiritual ruins, the ghostly remains of fallen buildings, that you have to navigate around. It makes kind of a confused environment to explore, one that doesn’t always work.

There are side missions, you can meet like four or five different ghosts who need your help as a detective to figure out how they died or something similar. They’re sort of interesting if extremely shallow experiences, but they’re so few in number and so simple to solve.

Without going into in depth spoilers of the game, the final reveal did have some elements that I hadn’t anticipated. The funniest part of the game for me was that okay this is a game set in Salem. There’s been a string of murders and like one of the girls was burned at the stake, one was drowned with a ducking stool etc etc and it takes so so long for anyone to go ‘hey we’re in Salem the place where the witch trials happened and these sort of have similar vibes going on, maybe that’s something’ and you even have to go around the Salem Historical Museum before anybody can make the connection.

12. Resident Evil: Revelations

The first resident evil game I’ve sort of enjoyed this month. It’s a side story set in between 4 and 5 and it’s all about the destruction of a floating city called Terragrigia and that’s kind of a fucking wild idea to introduce in your side content.

The game is mostly set on an adrift cruise ship, empty except for the infected that roam its halls. It’s a really neat setting that really suits the resident evil format. This has a blend of styles, with combat that feels like one of the mid series games but puzzles and exploration that feel closer to an earlier resident evil. And it’s mostly focused around Jill. Occasionally you get a chapter where you play as Chris and regrettably there are times you play as a pair of weirdos called Jackass and Grinder who feel like they’ve fallen out of a different game series altogether.

These side missions, whenever the game leaves the ship, are kind of the worst parts of the game. There’s a couple of flashbacks to the fall of Terragrigia and you play as Parker, a former agent for a different government organization that is supposed to respond to biohazard situations, and both of these are kind of intolerable. Especially the one right at the end of the game, after you’ve faced what already felt like a final boss fight and you have this awful war of attrition against seemingly endless hunters with not enough ammunition and an incredibly slow moving npc to support.

Overall the biggest disappointment of this game is that you never get to visit the half sunken Terragrigia. Not really. Only in flashback. Its a concept that holds such promise, an entire city half sunken and potentially full of infected. The Queen Zenobia is great and I loved exploring it but it was something of a let down that this concept goes unexplored and, like the rest of Resident Evil’s middle period, will not be revisited.

13. Scorn

I wish I’d been able to enjoy this game. It’s a recently released game, available on Game Pass if you’re at all interested. It’s main selling point is it’s art style, inspired by the works of HR Gieger, everything is fleshy, visceral, unpleasantly meaty. I saw a trailer for it back in like fake E3 earlier this year and came out of it like ‘oh a weird shooter game with an aesthetic that I kind of hate to look at’ and didn’t think any more on it until I heard people describe it as like ‘Myst constructed out of flesh and goo’ or something. I don’t know how to find the tweet that I saw now. Later I learned that it does in fact have combat as well and wow it really shouldn’t.

I like the puzzles of the game. They really do have that feel of operating a machine. For the earliest one in the game you wander this large space with various rails and switches and things you can operate and slowly you piece together how the machine works and do so.

I even enjoy how it presents items to you, with very little context and its only through experimentation that you work out what does what. This is all stuff that I enjoy.

Then combat inevitably has to happen. It sucks. And granted its not supposed to be a fps game but its not as though you can opt out of combat, it is something you have to engage with to a greater or lesser extent. Honestly it’s not even that I’m opposed to having combat in the game, it just feels like the numbers are off.

Like eventually you gain a melee attack. It’s this weird piston punch that hits enemies only right in front of you, and it has two shots before it has to do a long cooldown. The weakest actual enemies take at least three shots before they go down, and for a long time the melee attack is all you have. These things can very easily hit you, at range, and the other big problem is that healing is such a scarce resource in this game. More so than probably any other game I’ve played. Whenever you find a healing recharge station it gives you like four charges. Each charge replenishes two of ten health points. There’s like I’d estimate about ten healing recharge stations in the game, maybe slightly more but not much more. Your health doesn’t recharge, the stations don’t recharge. You have an extremely finite amount of healing you can do in this entire game.

It’s so easy to end up checkpoint saved in a situation where you’re a single hit point from death and there’s nothing you can do about it except load an earlier save game (one at the start of every chapter so maybe about up to an hours worth of replaying) and hope you do better this time.

This is all to say nothing of the terrible boss fight that caps off the video game. Ultimately I had a worse time with this than with Resident Evil 6, which is fucking saying something.

14. Resident Evil Revelations 2

Me and Forgie once tried to play this game co-op like a couple of years ago. The co-op system in this game is interesting in concept. There are two sets of protagonists. Claire Redfield and Moira Burton, and the other set Barry Burton and Natalia. Claire and Barry both play like typical resident evil protagonists. Moira and Natalia are much more limited in what they can do. Moira can shine a flashlight around and find hidden items, and potentially use her flashlight to blind and disorient enemies and even do a melee attack. Natalia on the other hand is like eight. She has psychic abilities and can see the auras of enemies from a distance, and point at hidden items in the world to make them collectible.

It’s interesting this asymmetrical co-op, at least in theory. We gave up after a single episode after it became clear that one of us was always going to have extremely little to actually do.

To be fair, Natalia does sometimes have useful abilities in her psychic vision. There are enemies called revenants that won’t die until you shoot their hidden core, hidden most often on one of their legs or their head. Natalia can see where it is located so you can focus your fire there as Barry and thus save ammunition. And later you encounter the Glasp, completely invisible and instant death if they touch you, but Natalia can see them and point them out. Sort of interesting concepts but they do not work in practice.

Overall this game is. Okay. More tolerable than 5 or 6. Not as interesting as Revelations 1. Its set on a mysterious island and it has a little bit of a deathgame vibe, at least towards the beginning. Claire and Moira wake up in an abandoned prison and they have these mysterious bracelets on, and a voice keeps talking to them as though they are part of a game or an experiment or something. Its not a consistent vibe and I might be mostly projecting that onto it.

The game wants to talk about Kafka a lot. Each of the chapters makes reference to one of his works. For a game that is obsessed with Kafka it really doesn’t seem to understand the vibe though. Kafka is all about absurd and cruel things happening to the protagonists or reasons that will never be known to them if they do exist at all. I think in order to have that kind of vibe you can’t really have a character who isn’t capable, at least not in the way that would deliver them from their situation. I’d love to see a video game that did lean into this influence in a more concrete way. It’d be tough to do but not impossible.

I also played through the two DLC stories. They were both uniquely terrible. The Struggle is all about surviving off the land for a year as Moira. Its worst feature was the necessary collection of rations to serve as your tries on missions, coupled with the idea that if you ever ran out of these tries your game and progress would be erased. But its worst worst feature was the forced stealth of the third mission which straight up did not work. This was not designed first and foremost as a stealth experience and it just didn’t work. I tried avoiding enemies, I tried killing enemies with stealth attacks, ultimately I just had to be detected and run through the level as quickly as possible to reach the exit and give up on getting any rations for the upcoming horde fight in the last mission. It sucked. The worst video game experience I’ve had all month.

Little Miss was comparitively fine, even if it is a story about Natalia looking for an evil version of her teddy bear while doing more awful stealth sequences. At least it never threatened to delete my progress.

15. Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County

You might think that this breaks the trend of spooky games, but let me assure you there is a ghost in this game so it’s perfectly in keeping with this month’s theme.

I love the Frog Detective series. It’s such a wholesome series of games. Short and cute and with a great sense of humour. This one is just as good as any of the others, with a little extra drama to end the trilogy. A great game. Very spooky and seasonally appropriate.

16. a pet shop after dark

The most recent (i believe?) game from npckc, the creator of the Year of Springs series of visual novels. This is a point and click adventure where you’ve been hired to watch a pet store for a night and a day and you’ve been given very simple instructions. Feed the pets, water the plants and don’t turn off the lights.

The puzzles in this game are pretty neat, and there’s a good in built hint system to help steer you towards the correct answer if you need it. And there were a couple of times where I needed it. Once where I’d messed up a puzzle and it wasn’t clear that I’d made an error and needed to reset it and once where there was a secondary element to a puzzle that I wouldn’t have reached the correct conclusion if I’d spent all week trying to figure it out.

It’s a little creepy and the narrative is left a little ambiguous even at the end, but overall it’s a fun little experience with some interesting puzzle design.

17. Adios

Adios is a game about being a farmer who disposes of dead bodies for the mob, and you have decided that you want out. It follows you as you have the difficult conversation with your contact and as you carry out your chores for the day. It’s a really strong narrative. I enjoyed it a lot. The only thing that I thought kind of let it down was it could have had more engaging activities for you to be doing.

There was one scene where you play horseshoes with your contact and that one is neat, but most of the rest of them only require like a limited amount of effort. Like there’s one where you’re moving some manure and you only move a single wheelbarrow full before the game refuses to let you engage with the mechanics any more. Either tailor the conversations to be the length of whatever little interactive thing I have that I can do, or give me the opportunity to continue doing things as we talk.

Idk I just have adhd. I just want to be doing a little thing. Really good game otherwise.

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 260, Replies Part 1

1) “Anyway, where were we… Oh right, the pillar men were about to deliver the beating of a lifetime, so, let`s get started with Chapter 260: Life`s Work.”- Huh, I don’t actually recall this page when reading the manga the first time. Must be a volume edition. But yeah, anyway, here we have the two principal locations and protagonists for the different phases of the operation, the muscle and the brains working in concert to cut the PLF’s retaliation off at the knees. After a certain fashion, you could say everything they’ve done throughout their entire lives has lead them here, as the culmination of their lifetime of hero service, and now it’s all going to be put to the test…

2) “…

This is not the Mountain-side hotel of doom. Horikoshi, why must you betray me like this?

But that`s fine, because it only means we`ll see the jojo reference taking place before anything else. Hori knows what we`re here for after all.”- Well, it seems this chapter will be focusing more on the hospital of doom instead, which is an appropriate name, considering how Maruta managed to hide an entire Resident Evil-style lab full of Nomu creations underneath there just prepared to launch straight at his enemies with the click of a button, no matter what rooms were in the way. That is not good healthcare service 3) “Oh yeah, you ain`t getting away from this reference, there`s no escaping the jojo references my good doctor.

there is no escaping them

I tried”- This entire chapter is just Maruta getting hope spot after hope spot and believing he’d managed to outwit the heroes and secure his exit/victory, only to get outplayed at every turn despite his precautions. 4) “Oh, nullifying already Aizawa? Good catch there, the file said he was quirkless but there`s no saying what might actually be his quirk, and it seems like you weren`t willing to take the risk of a wrong info ruining everything.”- Since Aizawa’s quirk is activated by glaring angrily at the opponent, he’d probably had it on active involuntarily just thinking about Maruta and what he’d done to his friend from the moment he entered the hospital. He might be rational and keeping very firm control over himself, but make no mistake, he’s pissed, and just itching for an excuse to vent some catharsis out of Maruta’s hide. 5) “oh jeSUS FUCK that`s creepy. Alright, so he was either able to shapeshift to a certain extent to look more friendly, or his quirk was to keep himself young. Either way, that mask is out, now we see the true shadow within.”- And this means there’s another reason for Maruta to fear Aizawa’s presence, because if he’s turning off his quirk- which apparently delays aging to the point that AFO was using it as his temporary placeholder before he found a quirk that would grant him actual immortality- then depending on how old he actually is, if Aizawa keeps the glare going, Maruta could go the way of Donovan from the last Crusade.

And it’d be awfully bad hygiene to have so much dust in a hospital. 6) “Phelps your sources suck, have I told you that? But anyway, it seems like it was the latter rather than the former, his quirk was literally to not age, and, more importantly than that, AfO also had this quirk…”- There was actually a big hint dropped before that the Doctor was far older than he seemed. Back when he was prepping Tomura for his surgery, he says that he’s the one that actually named the ‘Quirk Singularity’ theory, and that nobody but All For One actually considered his theory had any factual basis at first. 

However, back during Bakugou and co’s second Licence exam, we were first introduced to said theory by Shishikura, a student, showing that the quirk singularity theory has long since caught on in the public domain, with more and more evidence popping up to support it in the younger generation and the stronger quirks they possess. 

In hindsight, this was showing how he’s been the top-most researcher into cutting-edge quirk science for at least a century or so, long enough to have developed the kind of mentality that could figure out how to ‘clone’ quirks or artificially duplicate them, as well as be able to come up with the concept of the Nomu and how to remodel the body to withstand the power of such abilities. 7) “Oh, fair enough, so it is exactly that, they have been cloning quirks with ease, and considering the bomber nomus we`ve seen in Vigilantes, that process has been going on for quite a while now, Fuck`s sake man, what else can Trigger do?”- Not only is Maruta’s research the primary resource and foundation of a lot of All For One’s plans, but his own duplicated quirk is likely the source of All For One’s extended age, his stopgap support allowing him to almost become immortal, depending on how far it slows down the aging process or has since been amplified, meaning that he’s literally the reason why All For One’s plans were able to be as far-reaching and destructive as they were with the Nomu as well as the reason his evil was able to exist long enough to reach Izuku’s generation.

8) “That`s pretty much the same thing Phelps, it`s more of a matter of semantics there, unless you`re thinking on the possibility of literally creating a new quirk from scratch, which, being honest, I could see Trigger being able to do.”-So far, that ability seems to be limited to something All For One alone can do, with his unique ability to interact with quirks themselves, hence why One For All was created in the first place, but by now, Maruta must be close to artificially duplicating the same process. At the very least, since he can demonstrably clone quirks, they’ve got a lot of ‘disposable’ powers to experiment with to see if they can reliably duplicate All For One’s combination process. It seems in exchange for lacking the power to do anything itself, All For One’s quirk is capable of doing stuff with quirks that the science of the future can barely scratch the surface of, which is pretty impressive when you consider it’s still a first-generation quirk ability. The only person who rolled a higher number than All For One on the quirk lottery was his brother, and his winning power was one that took literal centuries of effort and tireless work to bring forth its full potential generations later.

9) “Mic: dinosaurs, turning people into, it`s not rocket science. They want to destroy the world, they have no qualms about the methods to achieve that ending, as long as they get there. Yeah, Shirakumo was just another test subject, another stepping stone on their path to victory, you`re not going to find some reason or logic behind it, it was merely convenience.”- Mic’s patience, restraint, and his shades are very nearly at the breaking point.

10) “Really dude, you`re gonna step in front of a bunch of pro heroes, one of them being the current number one and certified hardass Endeavor? Really? You must reaaaaaally admire this man because I`m sure as fuck wouldn`t step in front of Stallone if he was roughing up my chiropractor.”- This is basically the equivalent of Arnold Schwarzenegger roughing up Ghandi on a good Samaritan visitation. To this doctor, it doesn’t matter how much of a respected and well-known public hero Endeavour is, his work situation has brought him into much closer contact with Maruta, and thus he mistakenly believes he ‘knows’ the doctor better than the heroes, do, which just gives a glimpse into how thoroughly and efficiently Martua’s been able to hide his real self from those around him, as well as the lengths he’s gone to, to appear to be the exact opposite kind of person on the surface than he really is.

11) “Well, the patients certainly are having a blast, its like the actual avengers showing up to your room, but they pretty much kidnap you instead of taking pictures by your side. Bonus points for the guy squeeing over being carried by Tiger, he`s our current audience stand-in.”- Oh hey, that hero carrying the other patient next to Tiger is Gentle’s old school classmate who made it successfully as a hero.

12) “Yeah, sure, that`s exactly what`s going to happen, now that you tempted fate. Sorry bunnybakugo, but it`s not a matter of of someone is going to die, but who.”- Well, that’s good news for her, because bloodshed and death is exactly what Miruko was looking for when she signed up for this mission, along with pretty much every other instance of hero work she does. @thelreads​

[44gamez]

Diablo 4 season 3 patch brings quality of life changes, a custom robot

Diablo 4’s first season of 2024 is right here: Season of the Assemble. This season is all about evil, demonic robots and guarantees some new options we haven’t seen but in Diablo 4. However, like all seasons, season 3 additionally brings some thrilling adjustments to the sport as a complete, along with new content material. Right here’s a have a look at the patch notes for Diablo 4 season 3, which is able to hit the reside sport on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

What’s new in Season of the Assemble

Picture: Blizzard Leisure Season of the Assemble sees the resurrection of some historical robots who plague Sanctuary in a wide range of new actions. There are Vaults, that are elaborate dungeons full of traps. In case you’re capable of get in and keep away from taking harm, you’ll obtain bonus loot on the finish. Then there are the Arcane Tremors, a brand new outside exercise the place you'll be able to chase down and beat up a bunch of possessed machines. That will help you in your quest, you’ll get the Seneschal, just a little robotic companion who follows you round and does your bidding. You possibly can improve this little man with highly effective weapons and instruments, making it an increasing number of highly effective because the season continues.

Season 3 adjustments: Helltides are actually all the time up

Along with the brand new content material, there’s additionally some large high quality of life updates in Diablo 4 season 3. A type of updates is for Helltides. As an alternative of taking an hour-long break between Helltides — the way in which it’s been since Diablo 4 launched final yr — Helltides will now be out there practically on a regular basis. Helltides will function like regular, then there might be a short 5 minute break to reset the zone, inflicting a brand new Helltide will seem some place else.

WASD controls come to PC

Diablo could have began as a point-and-click sport, however Diablo 3’s introduction of controller assist modified how gamers have been capable of transfer world wide of Sanctuary. Diablo 4 launched with controller assist for console and PC, however now it’s additionally getting WASD keyboard assist for those who choose to not plug in a controller or simply don’t have one out there. This new management possibility ought to assist PC-only gamers fine-tune their motion a bit higher.

Simpler class respecing is right here

Picture: Blizzard Leisure Every character class in Diablo 4 affords a large ability tree the place you should purchase new skills and spend money on completely different playstyles. The issue is that this ability tree has been very laborious to undo in the event you ever resolve to respec your character and play a special construct. Beginning in season 3, Blizzard has added some new methods to refund your total ability tree or small teams of abilities at a time, which ought to make altering your character’s construct a lot simpler.

Class buffs and reworks

Each season of Diablo adjustments up the meta considerably. Not simply from the addition of a brand new seasonal characteristic just like the Seneschal, but in addition from rebalancing the courses by altering skills and updating objects. Season 3 is not any completely different, and brings large adjustments to a lot of the courses within the sport. Every class can be getting a brand new Distinctive and a brand new Facet. For the whole breakdown of sophistication adjustments, examine the patch notes beneath. Listed below are the official patch notes for Diablo 4: Season of the Assemble, coming to the sport on Jan. 23.

CLASS UPDATES

Developer’s Be aware: It’s vital to us that when a participant chooses to totally spend money on a Ability, the payoff is immense. In pursuit of this objective, a number of of our new Distinctive and Legendary objects are concentrating on Expertise which have but to achieve their full potential. We’re excited to see what gamers accomplish with our new Distinctive objects for Barbarian’s Rend, Druid’s Lightning Storm, and Sorcerer’s Meteor. We’re additionally concentrating on some urgent points for every Class. Necromancers with Cult Chief ought to see their Minions strike a bit tougher, Barbarians shouldn’t really feel that 3 Shouts are a requirement for his or her success, and Sorceresses making use of Weak with Lightning Spear ought to open new construct alternatives. There are additionally Class updates to objects and Expertise which might be underperforming, such because the Rogue’s Ranged Distinctive Gadgets, and the Necromancer’s Golem. All Courses New Gadgets Paingorger’s Gauntlets – Distinctive Gloves Damaging enemies with a forged Non–Fundamental Ability marks them for 3 seconds. When a Fundamental Ability first hits a marked enemy, the Fundamental Ability’s harm is echoed to all marked enemies, dealing 100–200% elevated harm. Facet of Adaptability – Utility When forged beneath 50% Most Useful resource, Fundamental Expertise generate 3 of your Major Useful resource, as soon as per forged. When forged at or above 50% Most Useful resource, Fundamental Expertise deal 40–80% elevated harm. Juggernaut’s Facet – Defensive Achieve 0.75 –1.25 Armor, however your Evade has 100% elevated Cooldown. Merchandise Updates Ring of Starless Skies The distinctive energy has been modified. Earlier: Casting a Core Ability reduces Useful resource value of your Core Expertise by 12%, as much as a most of 40%. Resets upon utilizing a non–Core Ability. New: Spending sources reduces your useful resource prices and will increase your harm by x10% for 3 seconds, as much as 40%. Offensive Facet of the Expectant Harm bonus now has a 5-second period for use. Melted Coronary heart of Selig All Stats elevated to 2x regular worth. Core Ability Harm modified to Motion Pace. Harm Whereas Wholesome elevated to 3x regular worth. Distinctive Energy Modified Earlier: Achieve 30 Most Useful resource. As well as, once you take harm, drain 3 sources for each 1% of life you'll have misplaced as a substitute. New: Achieve 60 most Useful resource. 75% of incoming harm drains 2 Useful resource for each 1% of Life you'll have misplaced as a substitute. Overpower Overpower assaults now achieve +1% harm, down from +2%, per 1% of your Base Life you've got in Fortify. Overpower assaults now achieve +1% harm, down from +2%, per 1% of your Base Life that you've got in bonus life above your Base Life. Barbarian New Gadgets Ring of the Ravenous Rend’s period is elevated by 2.0–4.0 seconds. Damaging enemies with Brawling Expertise applies 2 stacks of Rend’s Bleed. This impact can solely happen as soon as each 4 seconds per enemy. Facet of Sundered Floor – Offensive Each 25 seconds, Upheaval is assured to Overpower and offers 10–20% elevated harm. This timer is diminished by 4 seconds when Upheaval Overpowers a Boss or an Elite enemy. Expertise Cost Base harm elevated by 900%, from 0.25 to 2.50. Enhanced Cost terrain influence harm elevated by 150%, from 0.6 to 1.5. Energy Cost not requires a terrain influence to scale back the cooldown of Cost, and now charging a boss will cut back the cooldown by 6 seconds. Leap Base harm elevated by 30%. Passives Brute Pressure Overpower harm decreased from 15% to eight% per rank. Strolling Arsenal Period of every weapon bonus elevated from 8 to 10 seconds. Further harm from having all bonuses elevated from 15% to twenty%. Having all bonuses now additionally will increase assault pace by 20%. Unconstrained Berserking harm bonus elevated from 60% to 100%. Gushing Wounds Bonus bleed quantity elevated from 115% to 140%. Overpower explosion harm elevated from 70% to 85%. Weapon Experience Experience leveling has been lower by 50%. Paragon Marshal Glyph Now reduces the cooldown of each non-Shout ability by 4 seconds, as a substitute of each different Shout ability by 1.2 seconds. Merchandise Updates Useful resource Facet of Echoing Fury You now generate 6–10 Fury per second whereas any Shout ability is lively, as a substitute of two–4 Fury per second for every Shout ability lively. Offensive Facet of Limitless Rage Harm bonus now has a 5-second period for use. Veteran Brawler’s Offensive Facet Diminished bonus harm per stack from 15%–20% to six%–8%, as much as a diminished most bonus of 225%–300% to 30%–40%. Offensive Facet of Ancestral Cost Diminished bonus harm from 75%–125% to twenty%–30%. Offensive Facet of Encroaching Wrath Diminished bonus Weapon Mastery harm from 82–100% to 40–60%. Harm bonus now has a 5-second period for use. Ring of Purple Furor Harm bonus now has a 5-second period for use. Druid New Gadgets Unsung Ascetic’s Wraps Lightning Storm beneficial properties 1 further strike every time it grows. Lightning Storm Important Strikes trigger lightning to strike twice, dealing 10–20% elevated harm. Virulent Facet – Utility When Rabies infects an enemy, cut back its cooldown by 0.3–0.6 seconds. This cooldown discount is tripled when infecting Elites. Expertise Enhanced Rabies Most harm bonus elevated from 30% to 60%. Lacerate Cooldown diminished from 45 to 35 seconds. Prime Lacerate Modified performance: Lacerate hits Heal for 3% Most Life, elevated to six% on Important Strikes. Cataclysm Tornado harm elevated from 23% to 46%. Lightning harm elevated from 77% to 95%. Supreme Cataclysm Weak period elevated from 3 to six seconds. Passives Mending Further Therapeutic obtained elevated from 5% to six% per rank. Thick Conceal Fortify gained elevated from 6.4% to 10% per rank. Unrestrained Management Impairing Results period discount elevated from 3% to five% per rank. Elevated profit whereas over 50% Fortify diminished from tripled to doubled. Pure Fortitude Fortify gained on Shapeshifting elevated from 1.4% to 2% per rank. Bestial Rampage Required Shapeshift period diminished from 2.5 to 2 seconds. Assault Pace bonus elevated from 25% to 30%. Spirt Boons Prickleskin Thorns elevated from .15 to .6. (from 1,194 to 4776) Present of the Stag Most Spirit elevated from 10 to twenty. Avian Wrath Important Strike Harm bonus is now Multiplicative as a substitute of Additive. Paragon Tectonic Bonus Fortunate Hit Likelihood elevated from 15% to twenty%. Poise Barrier elevated from 5% of Most Well being to fifteen%. Period elevated from 4 to six seconds. Wilds Passive Companion harm bonus elevated from 80% to 120%. Merchandise Updates Facet of the Blurred Beast Earlier: Whereas dashing, Shred seeks out Close by Poisoned enemies immediately dealing 70–100% of the Poisoning harm to them. New: Whereas dashing, Shred seeks out Close by Poisoned enemies and offers 20–40% elevated harm to them. Facet of Metamorphic Stone Boulder Spirit Value diminished from 50 to 40. Facet of the Unsatiated Spirit Era and bonus harm elevated from 20–30% to 30–40%. Facet of Retaliation Bonus harm diminished from 20–40% to twenty–30%. Necromancer New Gadgets Mutilator Plate You might be Blood Lanced, and when Blood Lance would deal harm to you it as a substitute Fortifies you for 1–2% of your Most Life and has a 5% probability to kind a Blood Orb. Blood Lance offers 10–20% elevated harm. Shattered Spirit’s Facet – Offensive Casting Bone Spirit additionally launches 18 Bone Splinters in all instructions, dealing 200–400% elevated harm and producing 6 Essence per enemy hit. Expertise Iron Maiden Harm elevated from 0.2 to 0.3. Horrid Iron Maiden Bonus harm elevated from 20% to 30%. Corpse Explosion Fortunate Hit Likelihood diminished from 40% to 25%. Base harm elevated from 50% to 70%. Blighted Corpse Explosion harm decreased from 110% to 95%. Blight Harm over time elevated from 80% to 95%. Sever Preliminary harm elevated from 66% to 75%. Return harm elevated from 21% to 25%. Bone Spirit Harm is elevated by 4% per Essence spent casting Bone Spirit, up from 3%. Dreadful Bone Spirit Now restores 30% of your Most Essence, as a substitute of a flat 30 Essence. Acolyte’s Decompose Earlier: You and your Minions deal 10% elevated harm to enemies being Decomposed. New: Each 1.5 seconds, Decompose makes enemies Weak for 4 seconds. Provoke’s Decompose Earlier: Decompose Slows enemies by 50%. New: Decompose Slows enemies by 50%, and in the event you channel Decompose for at the least 1.5 seconds, you achieve 30% Motion Pace for five second after ending the channel. Dreadful Blood Mist Earlier: Blood Mist Fortifies you for 0.5% of your Most Life every time it hits an enemy. New: You achieve +10% Important Strike Likelihood for 4 seconds after Blood Mist ends. Bone Jail Pleasant gamers and Minions can now freely go via Bone Jail partitions. The performance of Enhanced Bone Jail and Ghastly Bone Jail have been swapped. Read the full article

[8bitsupervillain]

End of the Year: 2022 Worst of the Year

Hello everybody! It’s a new year as you know, so it’s time to look back and think about the media I’ve consumed over the course of the year. Instead of just the Best I’ve experienced I have decided to include some stuff I absolutely didn’t like because I feel like abusing Dragon Age Absolution some more. Unfortunately I didn’t really see enough bad movies/TV shows to justify an entire list of bad movies/shows (I like my lists to be a minimum of Five). So instead the two shows get to ride along with the bad games list. Which I’ll put after the jump so you don’t get the massive wall of text.

Worst of 2022

TV

Dragon Age Absolution

I went in to this series being pretty hyped for it. For reasons unknown to any rational or sane people I had found myself becoming receptive to the idea of Dragon Age 4. This show pretty effectively cured me of that particular well of optimism. In fact the sheer aggressive terribleness of Absolution here has achieved what very few pieces of media have done and has retroactively ruined the previous entries of this series for me. I was willing to endure the main character of the show despite her being a terrible shrew. However four episodes in to this garbage pile they decided to take a previously well written character and just throw him completely in the trash and make him a nonsensical mustache twirling villain. It's really unfortunate, for a brief moment in the third episode I thought the series was going to be a lot better than the initial two episodes made it seem. But then in the first five minutes in the fourth it just became unbearable garbage that firmly put the idea of replaying the older Dragon Age games into the ground.

Resident Evil the Netflix

Watching this series made me realized what it is about the live action Resident Evils I don't like. Despite bearing the name Resident Evil there are very few monsters from the Resident Evil games in ANY of these adaptations. It's always just zombies, one or two zombie dogs, and maybe one monster (two if you're lucky). There's so much more to Resident Evil than the zombies but every movie except for Apocalypse never utilizes them (and even that's debatable). I don't even care about the teen drama bullshit, the clones of Albert Wesker or most of the character stuff that JUST DOESN'T work it just bugs me that the live action Resident Evils ignore the monster part of the monster game franchise they're adapting!  While mentioning the character stuff I just have to say this series makes it clearly abundant that the writers don't talk to other writers on the same EPISODE they're working on much less the ones from other episodes. Don't watch this show. I didn't like Resident Evil Infinite Darkness but it's a masterpiece by comparison to this garbage. I feel that the decision to focus on two separate timelines really did this show a massive disservice. I doubt it would have saved it or made it any better, but I think it might have made it slightly better. Well whatever the case, I feel I should quit attacking the show that's already dead.

Games

Dishonorable Mentions:

Dying Light 2

Around mid-December I remembered the post I made in which I expressed sympathy to developers because of the seemingly fickle nature of the gaming public. Which then reminded me that I hadn't touched Dying Light 2 at all. I wasn't particularly enthused to try the game, but I was able to acquire it for a relatively low price, and I have been pleasantly surprised by other games I had no interest in this year so I figured I would roll the dice. It's probably a fine game, but I bounced off this game fairly quickly. Two hours and two minutes in, if Epic Games is to be believed. It was right at the time the world opened up, but I figured my time with the game was at an end. I'm not a big fan of open world games at the best of times, but if the story is good I'm willing to put up with it. Sadly I wasn't feel particularly gripped by the story that had been shown so far in Dying Light 2. I'll probably give it more of a shot during 2023, but as it stands I just don't particularly care for the game.

Diablo Immortal

Not exactly a controversial inclusion given all the hullabaloo this game has acquired over the year. I'm including it because I feel it's really just a boring nothing of a game. This is another one that I didn't make it particularly far in, so who knows maybe the game gets real exciting towards the endgame, but I doubt it. Served as a real shot to my hype for Diablo 4 though I'll tell you that. The only positive I have for Immortal is the fact that every time I tried playing it it made me reflect and think about the various Magic the Gathering sets set on Innistrad. I feel like that's a really backhanded compliment more than anything.

08: Multiversus

I have made multiple bad purchases over the year. I will do so again I have no doubt. My biggest regret was spending money buying a character for this terrible terrible Smash Bros. ripoff. Perhaps you'll play it and find it to be a rip-roaring good time, but I don't like this game. I don't care for the feel of it. Maybe I'm outside the target audience for it, but then again I really don't know what child out there was clamoring for a playable Arya Stark. Seems like I include a fighting game in one of my lists every year. I do believe this is the first time one got in the Bad Games list.

07: Trek to Yomi

I am waffling on making this be on the list of bad games. I don't honestly remember what really rubbed me the wrong way about this game, I just remember not liking it as I played it. Great visual style, really annoying to play from what I remember.

06: Les Manley: In Search of the King

Honestly I thought about putting this in with the "I have no strong opinions" category but when I saw this in the list of games I played/completed I remembered just how annoying I found most of the gameplay. It doesn't have a particularly strong storyline, and the game just plays like a sub-Sierra quality adventure game but with absolutely none of the charm of any of their entries. Even at their worst the Leisure Suit Larry games play so much better compared to this shambles. I have nothing positive to say about LSL2 for instance, but I would much rather play that over Les Manley any day. What I find most perplexing about this game that's about trying to wow women by becoming a rich guy is there's no big pictures of any women in the entire thing. Even LSL1 with it's VGA graphics that most definitely do not hold up today made sure to include some women. I'm still probably going to wind up playing the sequel even though I didn't like this one.

05: Shadow Warrior 3

I don't really have much to say about this game. It plays like a really low rent Doom Eternal pastiche but with basically none of the gameplay stuff that actually makes Doom Eternal fun. Also depending on your personal preference this game is annoyingly quippy. Just a lot of chatter from our protag Lo Wang and his various mission supports. It is also astonishingly short, which I guess is to its benefit. I recall disliking it a lot more back when I played it, but now it has just sort of dissolved into a vague memory of lazy disdain.

04: Disco Elysium

The story is good. The story is without doubt one of the best written in the industry, and I positively adore it. That being said, as a video game that you play this game is one of the absolute worst. There is just too much pointless dithering around waiting for things to happen. The actual investigation you have to do is extraordinarily aggravating to do. I wish there was more to actually do while playing the game. I can tell why people love it, truly I do, but you never hear anyone talk about the actual gameplay in this video game. You only ever hear people just suck off Disco Elysium's story and nothing else. I would remind you that video games are more than just their story. It is absolutely possible to have a game that has both an amazing story and good gameplay together. It is not a one or the other situation. I get the feeling this is another game like Prey 2017, everyone else just absolutely loves to death but I can't stand.

03: Serious Sam 4

Meanwhile this game I hate for absolutely straightforward reasons. I hate Serious Sam 4 because of the fact that the game keeps crashing to desktop every minute. It is impossible to get into a game when it decides to crash itself once a minute every single time. It's not an issue of whether my computer can handle running SS4, my computer far exceeds every single system requirement. For whatever reason the game will not run longer than a minute and a half before it boots me back to the desktop. It doesn't matter which version, Steam, GOG, they both kept crashing every single minute.

02: Magic Arena: Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate

I seem to be the only person who actually likes Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. It's a lovely set that I think is great, but people seemed to be down on it from the word go. When they announced that some of the cards from the set was going to be added to Arena in the form of an Alchemy set I thought hey that could be good. What should have been an absolute winner of a set turned into a massive disappointment. They took so many good cards from Baldur's Gate and just made them some of the worst cards possible. I can understand why Champions of Tyr lost its Myriad keyword, since Arena is strictly a one on one fight there's no need for it to have an ability that only works in a multiplayer environment.

They didn't have to change Minthara, but they made her strictly worse than her paper counterpart. Commander Liara Portyr and Duke Ulder Ravengard were given weak versions of themselves. The ones I think that got hit with it the worst are the ones with the "Specialize" mechanic, where it takes cards that were good and just utterly ruined them by trying to make them usable in practically every color combination. I lament every card that was ruined this way, but most specifically I hate what they did to Karlach and Wyll. These cards could have functioned just fine as is in Alchemy, but instead they got saddled with this bullshit mechanic and took some of the best cards and made them shit. Maybe they did this because they wouldn't add the background cards to the set and so they tried this. But I don't think they should have, you could just as easily removed the lines of text referring to the Background cards and had em work just fine. Lozhan explicitly mentions Commanders in the text on the card in Alchemy so I don't understand why they had to take away Karlach's ability to cause extra combats (WHICH EXISTS IN OTHER CARDS IN STANDARD) or Wyll's take advantage of dice rolls (especially since there are plenty of cards from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and indeed Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate that use dice rolls).

Why did Sarevok have to go from causing your opponent direct damage to a worse Tarmogoyf? Where the hell is Nine-Fingers Keene, in this set that features all the new gates? Surely she would have been a good addition for Alchemy, if not the Brawl format. Speaking of which why didn't they try to push for Baldur's Gate to just be a brawl set on Arena? So many of my issues could have been swept away if they just existed for the brawl formats on Arena instead of this. I have yet to see one single good thing about Alchemy since its inception and Baldur's Gate really made me despise the format. It's just shittier Standard, and I don't think there's anything redeeming about it.

01: Soul Hackers 2

Quite possibly my biggest disappointment of the year if I'm honest. I wasn't expecting an immaculate ten out of ten experience, and I even admit in the first few hours I was really liking the game. Eventually though the story started to take a turn for the worse and the gameplay I had been enjoying had started to become more and more tedious. It took characters I had been liking and just started making them become absolutely insufferable. Especially when you go out of your way to do the boring extra dungeon side quest to unlock more story pieces for the characters only for the game to completely disregard and act like the revelations you learned about them  simply don't exist. Which fine I can understand not having it acknowledge stuff from the optional bonus dungeon ("optional"), but perhaps you shouldn't put important character information in the optional category in this your story-based RPG!

It would give characterization to these people who desperately need something to make them even slightly more interesting. If you don't do the dungeon stuff you wouldn't know WHY Milady is so gungho supportive of the original Iron Mask. Also maybe if you decide that characterization gets to be an optional component you could make your DLC be about more than the single most annoying character I have ever seen in an Atlus production. It's very sad, I was looking forward to this game quite a bit when it was surprised announced only for it to be so incredibly disappointing.

The reason I put optional in those quotes up there, by the way, is because if you want the "Good" ending you have to do every single dungeon story just to have a chance to see it. Again I don't really have an issue with them putting a bonus ending behind optional extra activities, plenty of games do it. I know it's unreasonable to say it but this is a story that could have been saved if they just took another pass on it. Unfortunately it is what it is, and this is one of the worst MegaTen games I've played, and sadly the worst game I played all year.

[bmaxwell]

Game of the Year 2022: Not the Top 10

Best Music

Tunic

2022 had a lot of great games, and a lot of great game music. I had a hard time choosing a favorite, but I ultimately landed on Tunic. I went with the soundtrack that was most reminiscent of Fez, which I find to be an excellent tiebreaker. 

Also great soundtracks: Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Citizen Sleeper, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Shadows Over Loathing, River City Girls 2, I was a Teenage Exocolonist, Soul Hackers 2 Best Comfort Game

Power Wash Simulator

I play a lot of games as chill, second-screen experiences. Power Wash Simulator was a Zen, peaceful, primary-screen experience. There’s a beauty and a peace to completing a small, manageable task. Power Wash Simulator captures this feeling well. 

Also cozy: Across the Obelisk, Disney’s Dreamlight Valley, Arcanium

Best Early Access

20 Minutes Till Dawn

I’ve become more selective about how I engage with early access. I’ve noticed that I will sometimes burn out on a game in its early access stage, then when 1.0 comes around the excitement is gone. That said, I’m still a game junkie and I did play some fine early access titles. The best of them is my favorite of the Vampire Survivors-likes (survivors-likes?) that I’ve played: 20 Minutes Till Dawn. The game has plenty of characters and weapons to unlock, an oppressive color scheme that is mostly black, dark green, and red, and a bangin’ soundtrack. 

Also fine early access titles: Slime Rancher 2, Disney’s Dreamlight Valley, Demeo, The Iron Oath

Looking Forward to It

Resident Evil 4 Remake

An unnecessary remake perhaps, but I’ve tried playing RE4 and cannot get past the controls. It’s said to be the best in the series and one of the best games ever made, so if they put a fresh coat of paint on it and modernize the control scheme? I am here for it.

Also geeked to play: Sea of Stars, Hades II, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Like a Dragon: Ishin, Fire Emblem Engage, Octopath Traveler II, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Most Disappointing

Ooblets

I’ve been looking forward to this game since it was first announced in 2016. It’s a game where you run a farm in a small town and grow crops and talk to people and you collect little guys and engage in dance battles with them by way of a deckbuilding card game and holy shit. 

I got what was advertised, I just...didn’t connect with it. The only real complaint I have with the game is that the dialogue and item names are about 50% too twee and cutesy-wutesy for me. It certainly isn’t bad, it’s just another game that I have a perfectly pleasant time playing, and then I’m not drawn to pick it back up again. No reason to keep dragging myself back to a game if I’m not feeling it. 

Also disappointing: Stranger of Paradise, Sunday Gold

It’s not You, it’s Me

Tunic

I want to love Tunic. It’s such a neat thing, especially the way you’re collecting and referencing pages of a manual, lovingly crafted in the style of the NES manuals I grew up with. I should love this game, but I just don’t. My big hang up was frequently not knowing where to go. Unlike Fez the world didn’t feel too big, it felt too small. I had to backtrack and search and search to find new areas to visit. And while the stuff I’d find was frequently super cool, the ratio of searching to finding frustrated me. 

Also deserves better from me: Moss Book II, Pentiment

Old Game of the Year

Bravely Default 2

Holy shit I JRPG’d very hard this year. Bravely Default 2 miiiiight be my favorite of the bunch. The game’s class system and battle system are top notch, and it offers a ton of customization. I was initially turned off by the chibi look of the character models, but I ended up hooked on the game (enough that I put off playing newly-released Xenoblade Chronicles 3 so I could finish this game first). 

Also good games released prior to 2022: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, XCOM: Chimera Squad