Interview: Screaming Villains Talks Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition
It wasn’t an hour after the announcement trailer hit online that I knew I had to talk to people behind Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition. Tyler, owner of Screaming Villains (the developer behind this project), was kind enough to sit down and chat with me about the upcoming release.
Outlast 2 Review
Outlast 2 is a truly unsettling game. No matter what you are doing at any one moment, there is sure to be something unpleasant about the situation, even when it’s more game design than content. The follow-up to Red Barrels’ 2013 take on the horror genre demonstrates what you want out of a sequel by taking everything up a notch. Along your path you will be jarred, challenged, see things you wish you hadn’t, and even feel helpless. It also improves upon the flaws of the original and provides countless visuals that I fear may have made me more desensitized to brutal violence than ever before. If you want controversial topics, this game has it in stride from the inhuman, to unthinkable tortures, and even a strong anti-religious undertone. Then again, making you flinch is the entire point, isn’t it?
If Outlast was a haunted house, Outlast 2 is the spook walk. The setting changes drastically, moving away from the confines of a lowly asylum and into Arizona’s Sonoran desert, where a married couple are investigating the mysterious murder of a young pregnant woman. Things quickly escalate when their helicopter crashes and the wife, Lynn, goes missing and you take control of husband Jacob in search of her. Where the original Outlast tended to use confined spaces to build tension, Outlast 2 thrives in large, open environments where you could find anything among the foliage from intense danger to nothing at all. It truly becomes more of a stealth title than anything else and dare I say reminded me more of the first half of Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth than anything else. Rarely do you see the same scare or scenario play out, which is a welcome change from the redundancies I experienced in the original and kept me far more in focus. The storyline baits you to keep moving forward more than anything else and your handy camera is no longer simply night vision but also a journal that documents the plot points along the way, which can be reviewed at any time.
GHX Ep. 7: Modern Retro Show
It’s just Fred, Trees, and Jam this episode, but with a slew of great listener mail and plenty of solid topics the show most definitely goes on. Jam is looking back on console killer apps, Trees is reminiscing about Disney Infinity‘s legacy, and Fred is wondering if the Scorpio even has a chance.
Link to the Zelda YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ySSq2d5mKE
Podcast: Navigating Retro Gaming
Jam has officially returned and this week he and Fred are getting into the basics of retro gaming. It all starts with the best televisions, cables, and ways to hook up your retro consoles along with a good explanation as to why old systems look rough on HDTVs. Then the discussion moves on to hunting down games before concluding with questions from the community.
Podcast: The History of JRPGs Coming to the West
This week Fred is again solo, but fear not because he will have his faithful companion Jam back for the next episode. This week he’s discussing the origins of the Japanese Role Playing Game or JRPG and the genre’s eventual journey to the West. From humble roots in the early 80s to the powerhouse genres of the 90s, it’s a wild and crazy road.
GHX Ep. 6: Are We The Target?
Fred and Trees welcome Jam on as the official third host and his triumphant return, and are also graced with the one and only Jen from the Future Monkeys podcast. Oh, it’s also Jen’s birthday so be sure to wish her a good one! This episode the discussions focus mostly around the generation gap and how it’s quite nice to be a gamer in your 30s and 40s today.
Podcast: The Legend of Fred the Frog (Blaster Master)
Fred files solo to discuss the Blaster Master franchise. In a drastically different tale depending on whether you play in the East or the West, Sunsoft’s genre-blending series that constantly tries to capture the magic of the original offers more than you may expect.
GHX Ep. 5: Think Positive
This week Fred and Trees have guest Andy from 42 Level One on to discuss yet another trio of topics, an enlightening “just stop” for Fred, and then some random talk to wrap things up.
Podcast: The Shepard Legacy (Mass Effect Trilogy)
This week Fred and guest Matt Bradford re-visit the Mass Effect trilogy. Although GH101 tackled this with a previous episode, it was time to go back to the well and delve a bit deeper into the mechanics, evolution, and critical opinions placed upon one of the most significant series of last generation.
The referenced Annotated Symphony of the Night can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFmpodGI3Jk
The Crow’s Eye Review
A storm rages outside, the unsettled abandoned buildings keep making noises as they groan into settlement, and I’m alone with nothing but a lighter to guide me. I turn a corner and gasp loudly. It’s my worst nightmare: another box puzzle. The Crow’s Eye is a crafted puzzle experience that doesn’t just focus on keeping your problem solving skills in check, it has ulterior motives. Despite some design choices that can dissuade you from continuing the experience, there’s no denying that the world set before you has been carefully crafted and even comes with a story to compel you forward.
You play as a young man who awakens in the abandoned Crowswood Medical University, seemingly as part of someone’s twisted experiment. It’s been nearly twenty years since the disappearance of four students ignited a massive investigation that saw several more people go missing until eventually the facility was shut down by faculty. Now you wonder the halls of the abandoned buildings with nothing more than a lighter and the items you find in the environment as you attempt to overcome the challenges set forth by a sadistic puppet master. It’s honestly a heck of a setup for what could have merely been a series of puzzle rooms thrown at you in succession and instead becomes a cohesive adventure. If you look at these screen shots you may notice the game borrows some aesthetics and HUD elements from another popular first person franchise, but aside from the look the comparison stops there. I’m actually okay with this given that it’s a sense of familiarity that invokes the same type of mindset without having to be told. In that game I picked up audio logs and focused on any shiny piece of paper that could offer information vital to the story, and the same is true here without having to be given so much as a hint. The way the story unfolds in these journals, letters, and well-acted audiologs is also commendable and assists in the atmosphere that’s critical to keeping you in tune with the story. There’s no doubt that the world of The Crow’s Eye and the story embedded within it is quality, but you won’t be calling this a “walking simulator.” It’s a puzzle game with some adventure elements.
Gaming History 101 