The Batlord

Cause at the end of the day, isn't that what we all really want?

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Trollheart

This of course I assume includes the authentic experience of hearing muffled shouts and banging coming from the rear of your truck, opening it and finding twenty Syrian migrants crammed inside? (I shouldn't laugh, but what the hell?)

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Key

It's awesome for what it is, but I see every reason to laugh at it :P

Anyway, sorry for the lack of entries this week, i'm getting ready to start Horror month which officially begins on the 1st of September. I've got many many ideas.

Key

I figure while I wait for the next day or two to pass until Horror Month begins, i'll take a trip down memory lane again and see what games I've been playing the most according to Steam. Hopefully this list turns out to be more impressive than the last, but we'll see. Obviously there'll be repeats but oh well.

So let's see here:

7 Days To Die: 22 hours of gameplay
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth: 63 hours of gameplay
Bioshock: Infinite: 10 hours
Borderlands 2: 25 hours
Dishonored: 16 hours
Don't Starve Together Beta: 11 hours
Fallout 3: 23 hours
RIFT: 26 hours
Rocket League: 32 hours
Team Fortress 2: 281 hours
Torchlight II: 24 hours

It's crazy to look at those numbers and think that over 500 hours of my life at least has been spent on video games. And keep in mind, most have these have recently gotten to where they are, more specifically Rocket League and Fallout 3. You're probably wondering where I get all this free time? Well, honestly, most of the free time that I have after work and on the weekends is usually spent at home playing video games. I honestly don't really go out that much, and when I do, it's just to get groceries or get some fast food, but other than that, i'm either at home playing games, or i'm watching tv. I really don't listen to a whole lot of music these days because my time is more spent playing video games. I really don't think of it as a bad thing though as most people would. It's pretty much the same thing as when people say they listen to hundreds of hours of music a week, I play hundreds of hours of video games a week, give or take. Whether or not it's healthy I don't really care. I work a physical job, I eat pretty well for the most part, and I stay in shape. Can't really complain, honestly. I have to spend my money on something, so at least I'm spending it on something productive.

Key

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

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Instead of having a long drawn out introduction to something that you already know is happening, i'm just going to jump right into things. So, I want to start off by saying if you're easily frightened or are not a fan of the horror video game genre in general, this isn't for you. Now, I want to talk about a game that left me sort of speechless as I completed it.


Outlast

Outlast is a survival horror game based inside and around an abandoned mental asylum. Now if that doesn't give you the heebie jeebies, try playing the game. Basically, when the game was being teased before it's release, my only other experience with the horror genre was Amnesia: The Dark Descent (which I will be talking about this month as well), so I wasn't entirely too sure what to expect, but man did the trailers get me excited and freaking out at the same time. The thing about Outlast (at least for me) is that the jump scares aren't really the only thing that made me jump, but man when they happened, they definitely made me jump. No, what really made me scared for my life was the atmosphere of the game. Being locked inside of an abandoned mental asylum with people who don't look human either just walking around acting mutual or talking crazy, or just straight up out to get you. I don't want to spoil anything, but this game certainly has a twist towards the end, one I really wasn't expecting but was not underwhelmed by any stretch of the imagination. The thing I liked about the ending though is that it sort of brought everything together and closed some doors that were opened throughout the game. So not only is the game scary, it's got a pretty good story. I wouldn't say it's the best story i've ever seen in the game, but it's definitely up there with being one of my favorites and one I really got into. The characters were really interesting too, one of which I have featured in this journal before, and he goes by...



Richard Trager. Richard Trager or "Doctor Trager" is one of my favorite characters in this game by far mostly due to how insane he was. You would hear him talking to himself, or when he found you, he'd call you his "buddy" and try to be "friends" though you knew deep down that the only outcome was your death. His character model is really cool too, with the whole "my skin is gone im a zombie" type deal.

The game as a whole is definitely great, and the Whistleblower DLC is even better. I haven't actually finished the DLC yet but it gives you the backstory to the original game, which is really neat. Basically, the DLC revolves around the guy who sent you the email in the original game telling you to check out the mental asylum. I won't get into much more detail other than that since I both don't want to spoil too much, and I don't really know a whole lot more about it other than that and a few other things. But, in time i'll get back to it and finally finish it.

So, if you haven't yet, and your a fan of the horror genre, this is a must have.

Key

Let's Talk About...Five Nights at Freddy's
Part I: First game success

I would hope by now that we have all heard of the Five Nights at Freddy's game series. If you haven't, I would suggest playing the first one...and that's pretty much it. You want me to explain myself? Well, i'm going to.

So, Five Nights at Freddy's is a somewhat survival horror game based around a security guard watching over a "Chuckie Cheese"-ish restaurant with animatronics, except in this game, the animatronics come to life and try to find you and kill you. I love the concept, I love the art style of the game, and the voice acting and everything about it are pretty good. I won't lie though, this game definitely grew a lot of popularity really quickly especially with every Youtuber known to man playing the **** out of it. I can't deny it though, it's definitely worthy of the attention that it got. I don't think I've really seen many games go with a concept like this and actually make it work like it did in this game. I think one of my favorite things about it though was the ability to switch the camera views to look around the restaurant. Yeah, it's a pretty simple mechanic and i'm sure there could have been more done with it, but the way it was done in this game made my skin crawl a little bit because there was that chance you'd see this pop up on your screen:



The camera mechanic (at least for me) puts you on the edge of your seat from the get-go. It basically says "hey, you can see these animatronic animals walking around, but there's really nothing you can do about it." To me, that's just terrifying. I like to play horror games, and when horror games do a good job at putting me at the edge of my seat right away, it's a definitely two thumbs up from me right away.

Other than that though, there's really not a whole lot to the game other than just surviving as long as you can before the animatronic animals find you and get you. It's a really simple game like I mentioned but there are little things you'll find throughout the game like with the battery life of the building, to the changing cameras, that really make it something unique and somewhat fun to play. Also, do yourself a favor and watch some Youtubers play this game, and watch them freak the **** out. It's probably the greatest thing you'll ever watch.

The Batlord

That's pretty good, but it's Slender that's Youtube gold.

Markiplier


Pewdiepie

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Key

^both games are pretty YouTube fodder-ish. I don't disagree with you though.

The Batlord

Slender honestly doesn't even look like fun. It just looks like self-abuse.

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Key

just a quick note: horror month will be mon-fri until the end of the month. i'll probably use the weekends to post off-topic stuff, or just write more posts for later in the month