Key

First Impressions Are Important...Especially When They're Good.

This has been a game i've been waiting for, for a while. It was finally released a few days ago, and i've put in a good solid 2 hours of gameplay. There's been a few things that I've already talked about in the game thread, so I won't be touching on those in here. I'd like to talk about a lot of the other things that I've run into both good and bad that have made this a overall good experience so far. So here we go.

When I first heard about SOMA being released, I honestly didn't know what to expect other than it was going to be a game by the same people that did Amnesia, so that was exciting. As the development process went on, more details were released about the game both with who the main character was and how the story would work in this game. From what I've seen so far, the story seems solid. I'm actually getting immersed into it a lot more than I was expecting, but that's probably more due to the fact that they went with a topic that a lot of people fear may happen to the world as we know it today. The whole idea of robots picking up on human traits and living underwater and it's interesting to hear the story and think "man, it's almost possible for something like this to actually happen." Makes you wonder what it'd be like if something like that were to happen.

As I've seen the game so far, it's been underwater. I don't think i've ever played a game where most of the gameplay is running across the seafloor from place to place, but admittedly, it's one of the best ideas that the developers came up with. It works really well and fits into the story quite nicely, and it adds an almost unsettling atmosphere, If you're like me and you like to have the gamma pretty low for horror games, you literally can only see arms length in front of you while you're walking on the sea floor, unless you use your flashlight, but it doesn't really do a whole lot of good. What make this even more terrifying is there are robots trying to kill you while you're walking the seafloor, and so at any point in time, you'll end up needing to run in any direction that'll get you away from certain death. Keep in mind, if you have the gamma low enough, you have no idea where you're running to or even if you're on the right track to begin with. That mixed with the sounds that seem to come from far away from where you are, it just adds to that unsettling nature that I spoke of earlier. But again, it adds such a unique and interesting environment for a game like this, and I quite like it a lot. Along with that, you really do feel a sense of exploration as you're going from place to place, because the world just feels huge, and that's probably more due to the fact that you can look up, and it's endless.

One of the cool things this game has that I really like a lot is being able to listen to data buffers that have been prerecorded. You can basically hear of the people that were in the places that you've been to and sort of listen in on conversations or events that took place. Sometimes you can even hear about a catastrophe that took place and it brings all the questions together and answers them right there. It's sort of like the "notes" in Outlast, but this way you're able to listen to them and not really have to focus on reading them. There are notes and pictures that you can look at that are scattered throughout the game, but the data buffers from what I can tell are the most interesting.

Horror games to me, are some of the best games to play, and what makes a lot of them great is when you decide to play them in the dark. SOMA does a really good job at making you want to play in the dark. I actually did a little test and I noticed that I was actually more immersed in the game as I was walking through the seafloor when I was playing in a dark room. There's something about the noises and the environment around you in the game and in real life that makes you sort of feel like you're the one in the game. For me, being trapped underwater would be terrifying, and this game really showcases that fear.

I've mentioned this before, but I really do have to mention it here again because it's definitely one of the biggest flaws that this game has. The voice acting. Seriously. The voice acting is absolute trash. When the trailer or teaser was released, and you got a taste of what the main character was going to sound like, it was cringe worthy. Playing through the game now, it's still cringe worthy. What makes it worse is that none of the other voices in the game step away from being cringe worthy. I've actually found myself laughing a few times because of how bad the conversations sounded between two people because of the way they spoke and sometimes they'll even repeat what the other person said. I know it's not fair to nitpick on such a silly detail, but it does a good job at taking away from the experience with a game like this. The reason Amnesia: The Dark Descent was so good was because you never really had a person telling you what to do or where to go, you were basically speechless and on your own for most of the game. I know it's just something i'll have to get over. It won't ruin the entire gaming experience for me, obviously. But I do hope that if Frictional Games decides to do voice acting again, they decide to do it...well...better. Then again, there's really no way for it to be worse.

As I haven't played much more, I suppose that's all i'll be writing about, but again, these are just my first impressions, so i'm sure i'll be talking about this game more as I get more playtime into it. As it stands though, I think this game is certainly going to be a good game. I don't want to get my hopes up thinking it's the best thing that has come from Frictional Games, because it's not. I've mentioned before a few of the faults that take away from it being an amazing game, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have the potential to be amazing. Definitely do give it a shot if you're interested, because I am having a good time with it.

Key

A part II, because why the **** not, right? Anyway, let's talk about some more characters.



Talking about Binding of Isaac in one my previous posts, it got me thinking about some of the characters and enemies that I really like from the game, and one always stuck out. "Mom". Mom, is basically the reason you're descending from level to level to get to the end, as in the story, your mom is told by God to kill you (her son). You eventually fight her and if you're strong enough, you kill her. It's a pretty easy fight, one of the easiest in the game even.



I'm a pretty big sucker for mysteriousness when it comes to characters in video games, and Slender man does it really well. The suit and faceless...er...face is such a cool idea that I almost wish I thought of it.



I remember playing Dishonored for the first time and absolutely hating the **** out of these guys. They can teleport around the area you're in and basically **** you up if you're not prepared. Really cool design for an enemy though, and one that I could see people cosplaying really well.

That'll be it for the characters, mostly because that's all I can think of.

Key

As horror month is reaching it's end, I still have a lot of stuff I'd like to talk about. Perhaps I'll keep posting horror related things in October, but it won't necessarily be on a schedule as things have been this month. One thing I would really like to talk about is some of the more creepy and depressing moments that you can find in video games. These aren't strictly from horror games, but I feel like this type of thing fits into horror month quite nicely. And yes, the picture I used above is of Tenpenny Tower, shut up.

Anyway, coincidentally, the first thing I'd like to talk about is finding the remains of the White House in Fallout 3:



Fallout 3 continues to make a good impression on me the more I play it. I haven't been playing too much of it recently, but i'm finding myself wanting to play it again, and it's a lot of fun. The reason I wanted to put this here is because it showcases how Bethesda have gone about making a post-apocalyptic Washington DC. There's a lot of things in the game that you'd find that showcase their brilliance, but the fact that the White House is basically...gone, it really adds a sort of depressing feeling to the rest of the game. Knowing that the government no longer exists to wondering how the survivors felt when they realized that one of the most famous buildings in DC is now in ruins. Just thinking about it gives me the chills. They probably could have done more with the White House in this game, but for what it's worth, it's still creepy.

Onto the next game, one we have been talking about a lot this month, but I haven't really touched on one of the creepiest things in the game...the hospital, known as Mount Massive Asylum:



If you've never played Outlast, basically Mount Massive Asylum is where all the **** goes down in the game. It's your place for exploration and terror. When I first played this game, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I started. All I knew about the game is that it's meant to be scary, but I knew nothing of the story or where the game took place. When the camera shows the asylum in close distance, and the only way to walk was towards the asylum, I instantly felt a sense of "oh crap, this is where I die". The game itself is terrifying on it's own, but add in the fact that you're exploring an abandoned mental asylum just makes things so much more terrifying. Makes you wonder what the hospital was like when it wasn't infested with disgusting and ****ed up characters.

Here's another game that isn't exactly part of the horror genre, but it really hit me hard when this happened:



If you're unaware of what this screen cap, well...unfortunately for you, you've never played Dishonored. Basically what happens here is the beginning of the game where you're being falsely accused of murder. Unfortunately you're unable to prove your innocence and you go through the entire game either trying to prove your innocence, or wreak havoc on all that have wronged you. The reason i'm mentioning this is because when I played this game for the first time, I didn't even know what to expect. To find that the story is based on a falsely accused murder caught me off guard, and really got me into the game right away. It had no BS, it put you right into your role and made you figure out how you wanted to play. Fun game if you're ever interested. Great story too.

Anyway, that'll be all for that as I can't really think of more to put in here. Who knows, maybe i'll think of more in October and there'll be a part II. For now, this is the second to last entry for Horror month, and the last entry will be up tomorrow.

Key

Unfortunately, yes. This is the end of horror video game month. I wasn't exactly sure how to do the last post for the month, so I decided to go with something simple. Firstly, thanks for reading all the posts that have been done this month. This is actually the first time in any journal that I've been able to make a post every weekday throughout the whole month. The reason I stayed away from posting on the weekends is because that's when I would do the writing for the posts that would be coming in the next week. It's been a lot of fun doing this, and I plan to do more monthly events that take place in this journal. It's pretty obvious by now hopefully that horror games are a pretty big passion of mine, and as we move into October, i'll probably continue to talk about them. Not regularly like I was doing this month because honestly, I need a bit of a break for a little bit. I'll be posting here and there for a little while, and keeping up with the roast thread, but i'll probably stick to 3-4 posts a week for a little while. Maybe more if I feel like it.

Anyway, if you've missed anything this month, i've gone ahead and create a list of links that will also be included in the introductory post of horror month:

Week 1: Sept. 1st - 4th

September 1st: Introduction & Outlast
September 2nd: Five Nights at Freddy's: Part I - First game success
September 3rd: Zombie Survival Games: H1Z1 / DayZ / 7 Days To Die
September 4th: Games That Are Scary For Different Reasons: Part I - Don't Starve Series

Week 2: Sept. 7th - 11th

September 7th: Five Nights at Freddy's: Part II - Too many god damn sequels
September 8th: Screenshots Galore: Horror Edition
September 9th: Why Jump Scares Are Awesome
September 10th: Games That Failed To Be Scary
September 11th: Let's Talk About...SOMA: Teaser trailers and what to expect

Week 3: Sept. 14th - 18th

September 14th: Left 4 Dead 2
September 15th: Games That Are Scary For Different Reasons: Part II - Limbo
September 16th: How To Survive & How To Survive 2 Hype
September 17th: My Experience With Dead Space
September 18th: Video Game Music: Horror Edition

Week 4: Sept. 21st - 25th

September 21st: Youtubers & Horror Games
September 22nd: Favorite Characters From Horror Games I
September 23rd: Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth Hype
September 24th: Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Possibility of a sequel?
September 25th: SOMA...First Impressions

Week 5: Sept. 28th - 30th

September 28th: Favorite Characters From Horror Games II
September 29th: Creepy / Depressing Moments in Video Games
September 30th: The End / Finale

Unknown Soldier

Great reviews over the last month and enjoyed most of them and I`m sure you´ll get around to doing a horror month 2 at some stage, if you do you should try and and play the Resident Evil series as this is pretty vital imo for the horror/survival genre and I know that the the legendary Resident Evil 2 is getting a remake as well. Worth checking out the first few Silent Hill games as these were really scary, as were the first few Alone in the Dark games and Parasite Eve.

I dont play anywhere near the amount of games that you do, but with more recent stuff The Last of Us is essential and again imo one of the best games I´ve ever played in terms of quality and the recent Evil Within which despite having a story that was a mess is still a great and scary horror game.

I´ve played all the Dead Space games and I think they`re good rather than anything special and the first two were the best.

A long forgotten gem is Dino Crisis made by the Resident Evil team and instead of zombies it featured well dinosaurs and it was a classic game when it came out.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Key

Much appreciated and will definitely be looking to play those games before the second installment of Horror month comes around. I've got a lot of games I want to play that'll be great for that as well.

Key

Part I: Pets

There will soon be a part II for this as I want to focus solely on pets from video games, but I do know that there are countless followers from video games that are worth mentioned. Don't worry, i'll get to them too.

We all know by now that in video games, companions can either be the best...or the worst part of a video game. And I don't mean worst in the sense that they're not great to have around, I mean more in the sense that they're annoying and don't do anything to help out. Fortunately, I've had more experiences with companions that turned out good more often than I have with the opposite. So let's talk about some.


Dogmeat from Fallout 3

It's pretty shocking to me that throughout all the Fallout 3 talk that I've been doing lately, I haven't really touched on one of the coolest parts of the game, having a dog companion. I don't know if it's the same for everybody, but I first found Dogmeat on accident as I was walking through a junk yard. I heard something whining and was curious of what the sound was and out comes running a dog. My first instinct was to shoot at it because I thought it was hostile, but thankfully a dialogue box showed up before I took the shot. I found myself loving the idea of having a dog alongside me because the wasteland felt extremely lonely up until that point. It's also really nice when you get the "Puppies!" perk because you can basically go forever without having to worry about losing a dog. The perk will give you the ability to spawn a new Dogmeat puppy if your current one dies. I wish that Bethesda would have gone with the companion idea that they went with in Fallout: New Vegas where your companion doesn't actually die, it becomes unconscious for a little while. But...it's still really nice to have a dog in the game. Gives your player something to care for except for yourself. Plus, it's just so gosh darn cute.

Next up, we have another dog companion, but this was one of the first experiences with traveling through a game world with a dog:


Dog from Fable II

So, this was the first time in the Fable series that the players were allowed to have a pet alongside you in your adventure. It was such a cool idea and I was so happy to see it work well in game. As the game hours started to rank up, the more attached I became of my little doggy pet. And it was just so much fun to have him around. Once again, in this type of game, it just gave you something else to care for, other than yourself, and that always felt really good. It also allowed you to get away from the seriousness of the game and just have a good time with your trusted companion. Certainly one of the best things that ever happened with the Fable series, even if the Fable series in it's current state isn't that great.


Pet cat from Runescape

Although Runescape has become completely forgotten in my mind, I still have fond memories of getting my first cat pet in game. It was actually the first time in video game history that I ever had a pet, and that made it even more difficult for me to finally decide to quit playing the game as it was become more of a sickness than anything. Although my account today has been left abandoned, whenever I feel a sudden urge to just check my account, I always know that my little cat friend will be sitting there in my bank as it has been doing for the past 10+ years. It's still one of the fondest memories I have of the game, seeing it grow up and fishing for raw fish to feed him, but unfortunately, the game has evolved to a point that I really see no point in playing it anymore, thus causing me to abandon the first game pet I ever had, which is a shame, but things happen.


Rex from Fallout: New Vegas

I've been watching Northernlion play Fallout: New Vegas a lot recently. Unfortunately, that means I really don't have a lot of playtime in the game myself, but I do own it, so I guess that counts. One of the coolest things in the game is the fact that eventually, you get Rex as a companion. Basically, he is exactly as he looks. He's part dog, part cyborg. From what i've seen, he can be extremely helpful in combat, and since Bethesda reworked the companion idea a little bit in the game, Rex never actually dies, not like Dogmeat does in Fallout 3. I feel like if I were to play through this game myself, I'd definitely want to be sure that Rex is with me at all times.

That'll be all for now, but i'm sure there's a lot that i'm missing. And once I think of more, i'll post them. As I always do.

Key

Part II: Humans

Yesterday we talked about companions (specifically pets / animals) in video games and how sometimes it's just better to have them with you instead of not having them with you. Today, we're going to talk about human companions that you can find in your travels in video games. There's a lot that I can put into this post, but I'm gonna have to split it up into different parts if I want to get through all the ones that I have on my mind. So let's get started then.


Kreia from Knights of the Old Republic II

Of course I have to put at least one of the companions found in the KOTOR games and I decided to choose the one that I feel had one of the best backstories in the entire game series. Kreia (or as you find out later, Darth Traya) is the first companion that you have team up with you when you start KOTOR II. She's a unique companion in the sense that she doesn't seem to have her influence effected in any way (in terms of aiming towards light side or dark side), but she does end up having one of the strongest bonds with your character over any other companion in the game. Some think that she's completely useless because of the fact that she loses one of her hands early in the game and she can't wield two weapons at a time like the other companions, but I always had a bit of comfort knowing she was in my team based solely on the fact that I always wanted to create a bond strong enough for her to describe her back story in detail. Definitely one of my favorite human companions in a video game.


Elizabeth from Bioshock: Infinite

Some find her annoying, some find her useless, and some find her voice acting to be atrocious. Honestly, I can sort of understand where people come from with those complaints, but I always found her to be there just solely for the story and not really much else. She does come in handy when you need locks picked and whatnot, but other than that, she's just a random voice that never really seems to do much more than make sure you don't die. I do like the fact that she throws you health and ammo whenever you need it. Not one of the strongest or most interesting human companions in a video game, but it made the story really interesting and still one of the best games i've ever played.


Cortana from Halo (series)

I know there are different variations of Cortana throughout the Halo series, so I just decided to talk about Cortana in general instead of trying to pin point each and every game. I remember my first experience with Halo was awesome, and part of that was because of Cortana. She added great dialogue and made for some great commentary between Master Chief and her. It's always interesting to think about the fact that she was basically living in your helmet the entire time, but I always felt like the game would have been extremely boring without her help.

The Batlord

You know the search box in Windows 10 is named Cortana?

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Key

Yes.