TWISTED BITS
Michelle Enelen
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
I’m going to start this off reminding you that Cyber Monday sneaks in right after the Thanksgiving Day sales. Prices will be fluctuating like a heart monitor in a horror show, don’t get zombified too early. Do a little homework and you will survive.
There are some great games in the horror vein to talk about, Lovecraft seems to be everywhere, creature love is going strong, and its freebie season! First, a bit of warning. The new Google Stadia; too good to be true when they said you would not have to shell out money for another console, or at least not so simple. It sounded like they said you’d only need their special controller and you could play nearly any game from any platform on any device with your new, special controller if you just paid for the FOUNDERS KIT. Then we find out that you still have to “buy” the games for the usual price, but since there is no console there is also no way to save a game should they decide not to support the platform for any reason. Let’s look at this; you pay for the Founders Kit, you pay for each game that you will never physically own, and you pay a monthly subscription fee to play. Forbes has quite an article by Paul Tassi (Nov.14th) about the Stadia and what it will/will not be able to do on launch day including not actually being available to all Founders!
KR: I’ll be able to try out the Stadia this week, so I’ll report back with my thoughts. There is an interesting looking horror title as part of the release schedule. I’m planning on providing a Kendall Review for Gylt as soon as I can.
If you were looking into Google Stadia you should check out Project xCloud right now. It’s the Microsoft offering that’s set to stream Netflix style across all devices. Next year’s Holiday Season 2020 is already promising Project Scarlett which will be arriving with Halo Infinite. It boasts a custom-designed AMD processor, high bandwidth GDDR6 memory and next-generation solid-state drive. Four console generations will be playable, and that is definitely exciting! Around that same time Playstation 5 should be arriving with Sony’s patented cartridge that’s believed to be an external SSD , an 8 core AMD chipset, 8K TV support, backwards through 4th gen compatibility and 3D audio. Sony’s keeping secrets right now, so we’ll find out more together next year. But I am very pleased to read that they’re keeping up with their awesome VR. Playing horror immersion games is a whole new level of creepy. My horror heart beats triple time.
We’ve heard the next generation of consoles will be the last because everything is going to be streaming. They better figure it out a little first. I know a lot of money goes into R&D then other companies take advantage of that and sell their own versions for cheaper, but it doesn’t always work out and things become obsolete. My friend bought a huge 3-D television some years back, paid $4000 for the beast. Now you can regularly find 65inch 4K for less than $400 (or you could splurge for Sony’s 17foot tall by 63foot wide 16K resolution. If that’s too rich, Samsung has a 219inch 4K and ya know 4K is still decent). Maybe Google could work the R&D a little longer and we would all benefit.
For now, here are a couple of PC games submitted for your love.
Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient: Wake up from your coma (DOOM?) and find out you’re in an abandoned hospital. You are going to want out, but something sure would like you to stay.
Visage: Keep yourself from going insane while trying to make it through a house of grisly happenings. How? Stay away from the dark and keep yourself medicated. You’ve been practicing this, right? Now if they add VR to this game, we are a go!
The following games can be played on X-Box, PlayStation, and PC
There’s a resurgence of Lovecraft coming at you with Moons of Madness. Your radio buddy, Orson isn’t responding, you have critical system errors and (surprise) tentacles abound. Another in the Lovecraft vein is The Sinking City. It is not new, but it is newer (June 2019) I love the way this one looks! You better be observant when playing. Oh, and you still must avoid going mad.
A Plague Tale: Innocence, is an action-adventure game that lets you and your sibling battle human enemies and some lovely plague-infested rats. Yes, it is a game revolving around The Black Plague so stay away from the sewers and distract your enemies with torches, unless you are really good with a slingshot.
The Blackout Club sounds like one heck of a party game. It’s a first-person cooperative, you can team up with four players to control a group of friends to thwart the evil that’s destroying their happy town. They say your best weapon is your cell phone though I prefer to ax questions instead of simply documenting them. Luckily, the game changes based on players progress, (procedurally generated) so you’ll be able to enjoy it more than once through.
If you’re into Nintendo Switch, they are offering up Luigi’s Mansion 3. It was released in October, but still hitting number three on sales charts (Behind COD Modern Warfare which unsurprisingly made itself at home in our game room the day it came out). Luigi has cartoonish fun and packs enough surprises to make you jump. Keep your batteries charged while keeping up with some family-friendly horror.
“Play with Your Childhood Fears” is the tagline of my favorite game in this feature. The trailers are fun to watch and though it’s a short game I think it’s worth your time to play it alone, in a dark room with the wind creaking through the walls and no-one there to hear you scream! Oh hey, I got carried away. So will you if you’re not careful. The bad guys dwarf you by quite a lot in The Little Nightmares. It’s a horror puzzle platformer that concentrates on stealth.
You play a tiny little girl named Six, who is trying to reach the top level of the ship she’s been stranded on. Being tiny is not her only obstacle of course. Giant, ugly humans don’t want her to escape this creepy darkness or her current life station. I suggest listening to Suicidal Tendency’s ‘You Can’t Bring Me Down” right before you play this. Maybe listen to it afterwards too so you can jump around in gleeful freedom; for now, because Little Nightmares 2 is coming at you in the near future.
This time around you’ll be playing as Mono. Now that Six has escaped the Maw you must help her gain access to Signal Tower. Cute can be creepy, remember Coraline, Chucky, and Toulon’s adorable Puppets? I’ve always been a sucker for Leech Woman and Blade’s had me hooked for years.
Before we part, remember to check out all the available video game extras coming at you for Christmas. Special bundles, incentives, free items like games and even an extra controller, and other holiday savings are everywhere at this time of the year. The Verge, and IGN are both good at keeping you up to date on new deals. One Black Friday special lists Xbox One S starting at $149. Red Dead Redemption (Horror Aficionados love this game) will be $30 as will the new Borderlands. You will scream if you miss the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deal, it is $1 instead of the usual $44.99. This includes Discord Nitro, six months of Spotify, and a bonus month of EA Access. YOU’RE WELCOME.
Kendall Reviews give you honest book reviews, plus! We have MOVIES, MUSIC, and GAMING all for the LOVE OF HORROR.
Michelle Enelen
Raised by Pentecostal preachers, horror was not a readily available commodity. As her love grew, her parents were occasionally summoned to school to talk about book reports and various projects that weren’t quite appropriate for her age. They were lost as to where she’d gotten such “trash”. Luckily for her, there was a librarian that understood her insatiable hunger for darker worlds. Even now, if she could, she’d live among the stacks.
Her penchant grew to include ghastly movies and music, which she’ll happily share with anyone listening. The love of horror continues with her favorite videogame, “House of the Dead, Overkill”. She’s not the best gamer, except when defending herself against the wrong monsters. Headshots are her speciality.
Twitter @falln468
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