Author Topic: Shocktober V: The Dream Child  (Read 4869 times)

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Offline M.K.Ultra

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Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« on: October 01, 2024, 12:17:18 PM »
It's Shocktober again and time for our slightly spooky version of a "what have you been playing" forum topic.

When does this start?

Shocktober begins right now, and will last the entire month of October, ending after Halloween night.

What should I play?

Anything that falls under the classification of a "scary" game. Survival horror, action horror, a horror-themed FPS, anything with zombies, etc. In the interest of having fun, this can be more of a loose definition of what defines a scary game, and constitute anything that is more-or-less "spooky themed". Here are a few scary games that have recently come out or will come out this month:
  • Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
  • Luigi's Mansion 2 HD
  • Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
  • Until Dawn (remake)
  • Silent Hill 2 (remake)

You don't have to pick up a new game to get into the Halloween spirit, consider playing some Luigi's Mansion multiplayer, a spooky course in Mario Kart or Mario Party, taking part in the Animal Crossing festivities, or just putting on a spooky in-game costume and sharing a picture on the forums.

If you're not sure, just check out the previous years' threads
[2023][2022] [2021] [2020].

You can think of this as another Backlaugust if you want -- You've probably got horror games in your backlog, and it's time to play them. How many games you want to play is up to you, whether that's just one game or a few games. Any platform, doesn't matter. They can be new games, old games. Even horror games you've already beaten long ago and want to replay. You don't have to choose all of your games up front; you can if you want, but it's fine to just take it one-game-at-a-time.

Who should participate?

Do you:
  • Enjoy scary games?
  • Have at least one horror game in your backlog?
  • Plan on buying a new horror game?
  • Really love Halloween?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you should do this!

The purpose of this is a little less about seeing how many games we can beat, but for everyone to share in the experience of playing something scary. A good horror game can be a tough thing to get all of the way through to the end, but with some moral support from the rest of the community that's going through the same thing, maybe we can all make it back into the light by November! That's what it comes down to -- having fun, and being scared shitless. And being scared shitless is a lot more fun when being scared shitless as a group.

One last thing -- for your fellow NWR-er who hasn't played every game, try using spoiler tags whenever possible for anything major that's story-related, or just in general anything that should not be spoiled.

Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2024, 11:30:06 AM »
I decided to get Shocktober started with a replay of one of my favorite games, We Happy Few. I have been playing this on PS4 and according to the PS app I have clocked in around 160 hours in the game total. This year I have been revisiting the DLC to collect the last few trophies, which are now at 100%. This week I went back through the third DLC, We All Fall Down.
The setting for the game is a retro-futuristic dystopia, Wellington Wells, where mandated drug use (Joy) has led to the downfall of society. We All Fall Down explores more of the background behind the use of Joy and ultimately provides closure to the story in the main game. There are three main collectibles that eluded me in my previous playthrough; The standard lore notes, contraptions that serve as currency for upgrades, and TV monitors that you need to shoot with you dart gun. As I get more and more excited for Compulsion's upcoming South of Midnight, I am also reminded I still need to play Contrast, and yet I just feel like going back to Wellington Wells for another stroll.

Offline broodwars

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2024, 01:07:53 PM »
Probably won't be anything from me until late into the month, if at all, when Alan Wake 2's physical edition comes out. I played a lot of horror games in August, and my copy of Rain Code's been delayed till near the end of the month. Closest I have to anything to contribute would be all the TimeSplitters: Future Perfect I've been playing lately. Granted, it has several levels devoted to tongue-in-cheek horror movie homages, but the game as a whole is a pure comedy over a variety of settings. It doesn't really count.

The game is still pretty damn good, though, and the PS5 port/remaster looks pretty great for its age. It's way more consistent than TimeSplitters 2 is, which I replayed last month.

As for We Happy Few, I tried playing that around the time it originally released, and it just didn't click with me. I got as far as re-entering proper Joy-fueled society with the 1st protagonist, and I ended up bailing out of boredom and frustration with all the jank.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2024, 01:10:30 PM by broodwars »
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Offline Evan_B

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2024, 04:26:35 PM »
I'm going to attempt my first Fatal Frame in Maiden of Black Water, and then try to finish out the month with Crow Country, which looked delightful when it was released on other platforms, but now I get to play it! Ha ha!
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Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2024, 01:02:53 PM »
As for We Happy Few, I tried playing that around the time it originally released, and it just didn't click with me. I got as far as re-entering proper Joy-fueled society with the 1st protagonist, and I ended up bailing out of boredom and frustration with all the jank.

That is very fair. The game is quite janky and is a slow burn. I almost fell off it myself but at some point it got its hooks in me and over time it has become a favorite.

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2024, 01:03:56 PM »
I'm going to attempt my first Fatal Frame in Maiden of Black Water, and then try to finish out the month with Crow Country, which looked delightful when it was released on other platforms, but now I get to play it! Ha ha!
Maiden of Black water is one of my favorite Wii U games. I am actually playing another Fatal Frame game now and will say more about it later.

Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2024, 01:16:14 PM »
Last week I completed Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on the XBox Series X. With the sequel having been released this year it felt like time to finally play the original. The game is quite creepy and perfect for Shocktober. In addition to the grim settings and enemies, the game really plays tricks on you mentally, on account of the eponymous Senua's mental psychosis. That kind of psychological scare that makes you question what you just saw gets me more than a jump scare or gore. The game is nice and short with a complete run taking me about 10 hours. You can also get all the trophies/achievements pretty easily with only one of them requiring extra effort. There are Lorestones hidden throughout the game and finding all of them is the one optional achievement. I was able to find them all without a guide since the game tracks how many are in each level and lets you replay a level to find more. I was not blown away by the audio or video quality like I thought even with the Series X upgrade, but maybe that is because of having seen footage of the newer sequel recently. This game is definitely not for everyone, but I found it to be original in quite a few ways and applaud the devs for taking risks. I will definitely check out the sequel at some point. Also, the game includes a "making of" featurette like they have in the special features on a home video release. As the game mentions, this does contain spoilers and should be viewed after playing the game. I thought it was a nice addition and wish more games would have something like this.


Offline broodwars

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2024, 10:21:29 AM »
Well, a bunch of stuff I was looking to play got delayed throughout the month (my copy of Rain Code+ just got delivered, Alan Wake 2 got pushed back a few days, & Ys X is practically arriving in November), so to kill time I played through Little Nighmares 2 from my backlog and...I hate it. I'm a big fan of the first game, and I have no idea what happened here, but the devs completely lost the plot. The first game was clever and unsettling, and this prequel is just constant trial & error bullshit as you run through gauntlets of "gotcha" death traps designed to kill you until you memorize their exact positions and timing. And that's when you're not also fighting the game's camera to figure out where objects are in the world relative to your character.

Yeah, the 1st game's emphasis on cat & mouse stealth could get annoying at times (and that trophy for beating the game without dying is legendarily difficult. No, I don't have it), but this was not the right direction to go instead. Apparently, there's a 3rd game coming, and I can't say I'm looking forward to it after this.

In the last month, Sony added their extremely unnecessary, unwanted The Last of Us PS5 "remake" to the PS+ tier I temporarily have access to, so I figured I might as well give it a try. It's been probably a decade since I played the original game. Put a few hours in, and it's reminding me that there was once a time when I didn't hate this franchise and the homogeneity its success led Sony to embrace. The original Last of Us is a special game, and this is a good-looking "remake". It still shouldn't exist, but if you've for some reason never played the original Last of Us, it's definitely the best way to do that.
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Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2024, 02:33:10 PM »
Well, a bunch of stuff I was looking to play got delayed throughout the month (my copy of Rain Code+ just got delivered, Alan Wake 2 got pushed back a few days, & Ys X is practically arriving in November), so to kill time I played through Little Nighmares 2 from my backlog and...I hate it. I'm a big fan of the first game, and I have no idea what happened here, but the devs completely lost the plot. The first game was clever and unsettling, and this prequel is just constant trial & error bullshit as you run through gauntlets of "gotcha" death traps designed to kill you until you memorize their exact positions and timing. And that's when you're not also fighting the game's camera to figure out where objects are in the world relative to your character.

Yeah, the 1st game's emphasis on cat & mouse stealth could get annoying at times (and that trophy for beating the game without dying is legendarily difficult. No, I don't have it), but this was not the right direction to go instead. Apparently, there's a 3rd game coming, and I can't say I'm looking forward to it after this.


It's a shame to hear Little Nightmares 2 did not improve upon the original. I only like the first game and did not love it. I prefer Inside and Limbo personally. I forgot to use my Pac Man amiibo to get that costume so I plan to replay it at some point just to try that out. I had the second game in some wishlists and it even dropped to around $25 US but I never did get it.

Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2024, 02:40:51 PM »
Nintendo has a bunch of Shocktober games on sale right now as part of the Screaming Deals sale. Check out the site for a full listing.


Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2024, 12:18:41 AM »
Alrighty. So, recently wrapped up my time with Link's Awakening that was remade for the Switch. I rarely see the need for a hard mode but, in this case, I'd sort of recommend it especially if you've played Link's Awakening before. I'd beat it on the normal difficulty at first but had made a couple mistakes resulting in three deaths by the end of the playthrough. One of the mistakes being that I thought having a fairy in a bottle would automatically bring me back to health but not this game. You have to actually release the fairy to get its benefits. So, thought I'd then just do the Hard Mode and also beat the game that way but it definitely changed the way I had to play the game for the first half. Great Fairy locations suddenly had real importance and even left dungeons a couple times just to get healed and then re-enter. In the end, I wrapped it up by also playing through all of the Dampe challenges along with acquiring all hearts, seashells and chamber stones so that is the end of that game all done and dusted.

But it did get me craving more Zelda action. Having not acquired Echoes of Wisdom yet and wanting to go back and replay Link to the Past for some time, I finally booted up the game in the Switch SNES app to revisit it. I've only played a Link to the Past once and that was by borrowing a friend's GBA copy of the game. It was the first time I played a Zelda game and after that I then leaped to Wind Waker and was even more blown away by the series. Anyways, it's been maybe 18-19 years since my only play through of the game. Coming back to it after Link's Awakening Switch has been a bit eye-opening in how the series was still figuring itself out. Link's Awakening really helped codify more elements of the series than I realized. Not having a button for the shield because its supposed to always sort of be there is weird. Looking for a big key in dungeons that will open things like the treasure chests with new weapons / items and some doors along with the dungeon boss is odd. Also surprised at just how much one can acquire from the start of the game. Like, before I got the Master Sword, it seemed like I'd been able to traverse like 85% of the map and had 9 items along with a lot of enhancements like the Zora Flippers and Pegasus Boots. Up to 9 hearts now. It seems like the game would be half over with just the Dark World now to get through but there's got to be like 5 dungeons there or so which suggests I'm not quite at the halfway mark. The only key items I'm seeing are the hammer and hookshot along with a stronger ability to life rocks for the dark green ones I can't pick up. Can't see much beyond those for anything to hold back my progress in fully exploring the land at this point. Some items just seem pointless. Got the ice rod early on after being told about a cave to explore after the first dungeon but have seen no real use from that thing. Just seems like there are items thrown in for the sake of having more items to collect.

Anyways, both games have skeletons and cemeteries and ghosts so that's two games that can classify here and have got me doing some gaming again this year after a pretty long draught of doing much in this sphere of entertainment.
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Offline broodwars

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2024, 12:29:35 AM »
Wrapped up The Last of Us PS5 so I could get it off my HDD. Nothing new to say about it.

Making my way through Rain Code+, and man...that game's a wild one. I go back and forth as to whether I like it, especially as a big fan of the Danganronpa & Ace Attorney series. It certainly doesn't help that the game  starts out on a truly awful note with a 3-4 hour long "Chapter 0" where you're basically thrown into the insanity & mini-games with very little story & character setup. Once the game settled into more of its groove with Chapter 1, I started liking it more but these Mystery Labyrinths...well...they are and they aren't the Class Trials all over again with the serial numbers filed off, and not for the better.

One of my biggest issues with the Danganronpa games has been the increasing reliance on gimmicky mini-games as a crutch to pad out the class trials. Well, Rain Code dispenses with the pleasantries of even pretending to have the player do deduction and detective work by answering questions and just asks "what if EVERYTHING was a mini-game?" And outside the Crime Scene Reconstructions they're all very familiar. "Reasoning Death Battle" is just a more active version of the Non-Stop Debate, "Shinigami Puzzle" is just the latest attempt at trying to make "Hangman's Gambit" work (and it doesn't, for the same reasons that minigame never worked: you have to spell the mystery word in order and it's difficult to guess what word the devs want you come up with when you have no data); and "Deduction Denouement" is just "Closing Argument" with absolutely nothing changed.

I will say this, though: "God Shinigami" is by FAR the best incarnation of the various rhythm-based mini-games the Danganronpa games had where you had to shout down a culprit who's gone nuts. Those minigames universally suck, and God Shinigami is both legitimately enjoyable and better worked into the overall gameplay since you have to present evidence along with jumping over or bashing through obstacles.

Speaking of Shinigami, besides the massive performance issues the Switch version of Rain Code legendarily had, the one thing that the reviewer community seemed to universally agree on is that Shinigami is fucking annoying. Midway through Chapter 2, I see no reason to disagree with that opinion. She is unbelievably obnoxious.
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Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2024, 12:27:13 PM »
Anyways, both games have skeletons and cemeteries and ghosts so that's two games that can classify here and have got me doing some gaming again this year after a pretty long draught of doing much in this sphere of entertainment.

Not to mention that in Link's Awakening you really are The Dream Child!  I am impressed with your completion of Link's Awakening and agree with your comment on Backloggery that it would be considered "Mastered".

Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #13 on: October 26, 2024, 05:40:15 PM »
Lot's to report on this week...
I mentioned at the tail end of Backlaugust this year that I was close to a stopping point with The Witcher 3 on PS5. I did manage to finish the Blood & Wine DLC quests. This second DLC is so big it feels like it could have been a full on sequel. There were plenty of Vampires and other spooky monsters to make this a true Shocktober game.
My goal was really just to finish all the official quests in the game. Once the DLC was complete, the last quest was to collect all the Gwent cards in the base game. This is actually pretty challenging as many of the cards are won from NPCs. Once you find the NPC to play, you have to beat them in Gwent (though most are easy), and then you randomly receive a card. Of course the cards could be duplicates so there is a meta-game of saving before playing them, then reverting to the save if given a dupe. There are a limited number of NPCs and you can only get one card from each so we came pretty close to running out of people to play, but managed to get the full set. Of course a witcher's work is never done, but after 156 hours and 57/79 trophies, it is time to give ol Geralt a rest.

Like Evan B I was also playing a game in the Fatal Frame series, specifically 零ļ½žęœˆč•ć®ä»®é¢ļ½ž, better known as Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse on Switch. Folks might remember my trip to Japan last year, well this was one of the games I picked up in Akihabara. Since the Switch is region free the game started up just fine on my US bought Switch. I figured since there was an English language version in the North American eShop, that the Japanese cart would have an English language option. Well buy beware since those two versions are not linked and there is no way to play this cart other than in Japanese. It is just as well since I am studying to take the JLPT in a few months and need all the practice I can get.


This was my second Fatal Frame experience, having played Maiden of Black Water on Wii U back on 2021. I really enjoyed most of the game as it is plenty spooky, offers a nice set of three parallel storylines, and encourages completion. The main collectible I focused on were the Hozuki dolls. There are 79 of them to photograph in the game and I think there is one in each room. I only realized halfway through my game that you can buy an ability so that a sound plays when you are near one. I strongly recommend buying this as soon as you can if you are attempting to find them all. I only managed to find 72 of them, but I think that was pretty good considering how much searching I did on the natch. One issue with completion is that many of the spirit photos are QTEs and it is easy to miss some of them. Saving is manual and reverting to saves every time you miss one sounds tedious. I think I will replay Maiden before revisiting this game.

Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #14 on: October 26, 2024, 05:50:10 PM »
Quite a few games are having Halloween themed events this month so it is no surprise to see the return of Splatoween - the spooky themed Splatfest in Splatoon 3. The event is happening this weekend and invites players to choose between Wizards, Knights, and Ninjas for whom they would want to be in a fantasy world.


So which team are you playing on?  I off to support team Wizard right now  8)

Are you playing any other games with special Halloween seasonal content? Sound off in this topic!

Offline Order.RSS

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #15 on: October 26, 2024, 06:59:26 PM »
Like Evan B I was also playing a game in the Fatal Frame series, specifically 零ļ½žęœˆč•ć®ä»®é¢ļ½ž, better known as Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse on Switch.

[...]

This was my second Fatal Frame experience, having played Maiden of Black Water on Wii U back on 2021. I really enjoyed most of the game as it is plenty spooky, offers a nice set of three parallel storylines, and encourages completion.

How would you rate Fatal Frame IV compared to Maiden of Black Water? Better/worse/about on par? I had a decent time with the Wii U game, didn't find it very scary but it was good at setting an oppressive mood. I do recall it got repetitive since you go through levels several times.
Would you say it's worth playing Fatal Frame IV, or are they very similar games? I want to play something spooky for Halloween, and noticed it's on sale currently.

Regarding the Japanese cart - there does appear to be an Asian English cartridge out there as well if you want it physically and in English.

Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #16 on: October 27, 2024, 08:57:51 AM »
How would you rate Fatal Frame IV compared to Maiden of Black Water? Better/worse/about on par? I had a decent time with the Wii U game, didn't find it very scary but it was good at setting an oppressive mood. I do recall it got repetitive since you go through levels several times.
Would you say it's worth playing Fatal Frame IV, or are they very similar games? I want to play something spooky for Halloween, and noticed it's on sale currently.

I would say it is on par. This game is also good at creating a spooky atmosphere but I wouldn't say I got scared, though I don't really get scared easily. There is some repetition and backtracking here as well. I think I enjoyed it more because of previously playing Maiden of Black Water, so I knew how the game worked and what I was in for. I did find myself hitting a game over more often with Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. I think it is harder just being an older game. You can only save when near the save points but do that as often as possible. I feel like you could save at any time with Maiden of Black Water? So I think they are very similar games but I found it worth playing personally.

What are the other options you are considering?

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #17 on: October 27, 2024, 09:28:03 AM »
The constant backtracking up and down the same 2-3 areas in Maiden of Black Water (plus the constant defense segments) really killed that game for me. Curious to try out Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, but not at the price they're offering it with no physical version.

I finished Master Detective Archives: Rain Code+ last night, and...I'll more thoroughly write-up my thoughts on it later. Suffice it to say, the game's not great. I liked it overall, but it should have been so much better. There is a baffling amount of incompetence on display considering the pedigree of the team that made it, particularly when it comes to the writing.

Also, it is incredible that they had the nerve to charge $16+ for those DLC chapters back on the Switch, 5 minute-long DLC where the player barely even touches the controller for the most part.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2024, 09:30:17 AM by broodwars »
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Offline Luigi Dude

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #18 on: October 28, 2024, 06:26:53 PM »
OK so now I finally got some time to post what I've done.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Seriously, we finally got a new 2D Zelda so I had to get this one at launch.  I was still playing it the first 2 weeks of October, but like Kush said with Links Awakening, Zelda games have things like Skeletons and Ghost, so there's enough spooky things to still make them count for Halloween.

Anyway, I really liked this game.  I'd say this game has the best Overworld in a 2D Zelda game.  There's a lot of optional content to find, and most can be accessed pretty early on.  I actually explored almost the entire world before even going into the 3rd Dungeon because I was so hooked.  I really like how there's even some unique mini-bosses to find that are pretty powerful, and once you get their Echoes they really help with taking down enemies fast.  Also a lot of the rewards for exploring and doing side quest are things that'll allow you to stay in Sword fighter mode longer, and make the Sword more powerful while in that mode.  So all you people who complain about not being able to use a sword all the time have a good reason to want to explore the map and do side quest because that's what literally allows Zelda to actually use a Sword more often.

The dungeons on the other hand were just ok, with some cool idea's at times, but none of them really increased the complexity to what the series is known for.  I know some people will say Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were like that but I disagree.  BOTW and TOTK are still filled with a lot of moments that make you wonder what you're suppose to do, and require you to experiment a lot more to achieve what you need to do.  In Echoes of Wisdom, they make it way to easy to solve almost every puzzle with the same set of Echoes over and over again.

The boss fights are awesome though.  I was playing on Hero Mode and these bosses hit hard, with some having attacks that will take close to half your health if you get hit.  The game gives a good reason to want to explore so you increase your health and have lots of Smoothies, but bosses at least on Hero Mode don't mess around.

It took me over 30 hours to finish the game and 2/3rds of that was doing things outside of dungeons so the overall game was still amazing to me.  There's a good chance this will probably be my game of the year.


Lords of Exile

This is a classic Castlevania clone that came out earlier this year.  It's pretty much ripping off Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon with the main character looking just like Zangetsu from that game, right down to the red sprite and sword as a main weapon.  But I don't mind since the 1st Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is still my favorite classic Castlevania clone so somebody else just copying that game is good enough for me.  Plus the developers of this game were also able to hire fucking Yuzo Koshiro to compose some song for the game.  Damn, with all that going for it how can this not be a winner?

Well for starters, the level design could use some work.  The first few levels in particular are kind of dull and not very engaging.  Things do start to pick up by level 4 so the second half of the game is more fun to play, but even then, the difficulty never reaches the level of an actual Classic Castlevania or other varies clones.

The game also made the weird decision to have blocks in levels that require you to use a charge attack to destroy, but that's all they do.  So many times you just come to a set of blocks, need to charge up and attack to destroy them and move on.  It constantly stops the gameplay and literally adds nothing to the gameplay.  Also when you get the double jump, it's not the most reliable thing where there's several times where it just doesn't want to work and I'm not sure why.  This is why I hardly every use it except for moments where it's required.

The best part of the game is the boss fights which I found most to be pretty fun.  But other than that, it's hard to recommend this game to anyone, even other fans of Classic Castlevania.  The main game took me less than 2 hours to beat, and then I unlocked a second playable character that took another hour to beat, and then the boss rush took about 20 minutes.  It only took between 3-4 hours to do everything in this game.  There's so many other games in this stye at similar prices or less that are not only better games, but have more content as well.  Unless you're a big fan of Classic Castlevania that can get this game on sale for under $5 dollars , it's not really worth it.


Infernax

This game is pretty much if you combined Zelda 2 and Castlevania 2, and filled them with lots of gore and disturbing images, so it fits the Halloween theme very well.  So yeah I really enjoyed this game.  The gameplay is pretty much taken directly from Zelda 2, so I had no problem getting into it right away.  It started out rather challenging but as I got more upgrades the difficulty got easier toward the end, for the most part.  I got the basic ending for the Good path my first time though, which doing so gave me the password to unlock the rocket pack to give my character to now hover and fly around the air.  It's a good thing I did this first since when I went for the True Ending of the Good and Evil path, both sections have some rather BS area's and boss fights that probably would have sucked if I didn't have the rocket ability unlocked.  But hey, when a game has multiple endings I always like to see the bad ones first before getting the good ones, so I like that doing so gave me a reward this time that helped make getting the better endings easier.  Give a good reason to make people want to see the different endings this way.

Oh and I also got the hidden ending that just made me LOL the whole time.  I was not expecting that, but damn it was a perfect way to end things.  Of course doing so has unlocked a new way of playing the game that'll I'll come back to in the future, but right now I'd prefer not to get burned out on this game after ending on such a high note.


Crypt Stalker

Now this is another Classic Castevania clone except has an Egyptian theme.  It came out on Switch earlier this year but when I look it up online it looks like it originally came out on Steam back in 2020.  Now this is a game I originally bought reluctantly because it was being sold for $2 on the eShop and from a publisher that specializes in releasing a lot of shovelware.  But one of the Switch YouTube channels I watch that talks about new releases was praises the titles and heavily recommending people buy it.  So since it was only $2, I thought what the hell, even if it is bad at least it's dirt cheap so I'm not losing much.

Well I finally played it and it was actually pretty good.  The first 2 levels felt kind of basic so I started to worry if it was going to be like Lords of Exile again, but then it picked up in the 3rd level, and kept getting better as it went.  Unlike Lord of Exile, the later levels in this game had an appropriate challenge to them.

The gameplay is similar to Classic Castlevania, with the main character having a whip, but she also carries a gun.  For the gun you collect ammo, and the equivalent to sub weapons changes the types of bullets it shots.  The main character also moves faster than Classic Castlevania games.  Because of her speed, and the fact you have a gun to shoot, there are times where the game feels like Mega Man as well.

Now the main game had 9 levels, which is already one more than Lord of Exile had.  But there's also the option to pick something called, The Lost Sequel, which is 6 brand new levels that have new bosses and a new ending as well.  Even though there's only 6 Levels, these levels are harder than what was in the main game, so it balances out to a similar length.  Then there's something called Handheld Mode, which is 4 new levels that are done in classic Gameboy visual style, and these 4 levels are pretty challenging as well, and this mode also has a new ending.  Then there was DLC that you can download for free that has a new campaign with 3 new levels and another new ending.

So in the end, this game is like 4 classic style games in one.  There's also a set of different challenge levels that added about another hour of gameplay.  I think I got about 6 hours of gameplay out of this game by the time I was done, which is pretty good when it only cost me 2 dollars, compared to something like Lord of Exile that cost my $14.  Seriously, it show that price doesn't equal quality when a game that only cost me $2, had better gameplay and more content, then something that literally cost 7 times as much. 

I'd heavily recommend this game for anyone who's a fan of Classic Castlevania games.  It's not top tier, but it's a solid 8/10 game.  The fact it's constantly on sale for $2 makes it a great deal for fans of this type of game.


Overlord: Escape from Nazarick

This is something I got over a year ago when I've seen several Youtube channels refer to it as an underrated Metroidvania title.  It's based off of some anime series, and it's filled with skeletons and other undead creatures so it fits the Halloween theme.  So is it really an underrated gem that some Youtube channels say it is?

No it's not.  The game does eventually give the main character some really good movements, where you can move pretty fast and swing around certain blocks like Bionic Commando.  The problem is the game doesn't really do much with the different abilities it gives you.  I mean there are some fun sections that do take advantage of your abilities, but they're pretty brief and then you're back to doing some pretty basic platforming and combat.  The combat in particular is dull, since you have a very small selection of enemies and they don't pose that much of a threat, and I was playing the game on Hard mode.  The boss fights are the only time combat gets fun, and some had a decent challenge that killed me a few times.

It took me about 6 hours to beat the main game, and another 3-4 to collect all the memories to get the True Ending.  Overall I thought it was OK, but nothing special.  It had the potential to be great if they would have done more with all the abilities they give you, and focus more on the tricky platforming challenges that where the best part, as well as increase the variety and types of enemies.
Iā€™m gonna have you play every inch of this game! - Masahiro Sakurai

Offline Order.RSS

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #19 on: October 31, 2024, 04:47:38 PM »
I would say it is on par. This game is also good at creating a spooky atmosphere but I wouldn't say I got scared, though I don't really get scared easily. There is some repetition and backtracking here as well. I think I enjoyed it more because of previously playing Maiden of Black Water, so I knew how the game worked and what I was in for. I did find myself hitting a game over more often with Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. I think it is harder just being an older game. You can only save when near the save points but do that as often as possible. I feel like you could save at any time with Maiden of Black Water? So I think they are very similar games but I found it worth playing personally.

What are the other options you are considering?

Nice, might just grab it for later then. My other option would be Crow Country which is a recent release and seems shorter, so that seems doable this weekend.

The constant backtracking up and down the same 2-3 areas in Maiden of Black Water (plus the constant defense segments) really killed that game for me. Curious to try out Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, but not at the price they're offering it with no physical version.

If you're open to importing, the Asian version has multi-language support, with English amongst them. Worth noting though how the Japanese cart does not support multiple languages.

Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Shocktober V: The Dream Child
« Reply #20 on: October 31, 2024, 08:33:10 PM »
With Halloween upon us Shocktober is almost over. I want to thank everyone for participating and sharing their scary tales of gaming. I hope everyone out there has a safe and happy Halloween.

Also congratulations to team Ninja for winning the Splatfest!