The Videogame Corner: Far Cry Primal

Game: Far Cry Primal
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Genre: First-Person-Shooter
Releases: 2016 (PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One)

When I start writing reviews for a gaming franchise, I have the goal of eventually finishing it in its entirety. It happened before, with series like “Borderlands” or “Just Cause” having an entry on this blog for every single game in the series. Which brings me to my current long-term project: “Far Cry”. So far, I have played, reviewed, and rated four titles the series has to offer and since its been a while since I last played an action-adventure-like game with lots of enemies to shoot and things to collect, I thought it might be time for another entry. Which brings me to “Far Cry Primal”, a sort of offshoot of the main “Far Cry” series since the premise plays in 10.000 B.C., back when civilizations started to form and sabretooths and mammoths still lingered around. It is an interesting departure from a game series that has gun usage as a core mechanic, but whether the transition into prehistoric times works is something that I will explore in the article to follow.

The Videogame Corner: Dark Souls III

Game: Dark Souls III
Developer: From Software
Genre: Action Role-Playing Game
Releases: 2016 (Playstation 4, PC, Xbox One)

With both “Dark Souls” and “Dark Souls II” taken care of, it was only a matter of time until I gave the (currently) last entry of the series a go. Yes, I know that the storyline of “Dark Souls” is finished with the third entry of the series, but that never stopped a videogame developer from producing more games. The third entry of this popular series happens to bring some minor changes to the formula, but the challenging difficulty level and tons of options for the player to build their character with are still two of the main pillars of gameplay. And it reverted some of the changes from “Dark Souls II”, for example in form of completely removing the idea of Adaptability; which I as someone who grinded for around nine hours to get a decent dodge roll in that game can appreciate. Now, this does not mean that “Dark Souls III” is therefore a universally loved game, with one voice loving the first installment but dreading the third being fellow blogger Frostilyte, but that might just be another reason to talk about the game on my blog. So, here are my experiences with “Dark Souls III”.

The Videogame Corner: Zeno Clash

Game: Zeno Clash
Developer: ACE Team
Genre: Beat’em-up/Fighting Game, First-Person-Shooter
Releases: 2009 (PC), 2010 (Xbox 360)

Here is another game review for a rather unique title for Blaugust 2022. In an ocean of videogames on the market one strategy to garner people attention and interest is to do something … different. Think of “Katamari Damacy”, which uses a rather silly premise about the heir to the throne of the entire cosmos rolling things and beings into balls that are later on made into stars; you know, weird things. That title was a hit for various reasons, and another game that takes the “weirdness” approach to game design was displayed on my monitor just a few hours prior to writing this article: “Zeno Clash”. This mixture of a fighting game paired with shooting mechanics and art design that was compared by lots of reviews to the works of Hieronymus Bosch or M. C. Escher is certainly unique; but whether it is actually playable is something that I want to talk about in this article.

The Videogame Corner: Rogue Legacy

Game: Rogue Legacy
Developer: Cellar Door Games
Genre: Platformer, Rogue-like
Releases: 2013 (PC), 2014 (Playstation 3, Playstation 4, PSP), 2015 (Xbox One), 2018 (Nintendo Switch)

Platformers are not really my thing. I can understand why people are playing games of the genre, do not get me wrong, but I tend to grow frustrated by the difficulty of near-impossible jumps are rather than becoming motivated enough to keep trying. However, there is still some DNA of those games in titles that I genuinely enjoy. One example is “Rogue Legacy”, a 2-D platformer with a grinding component in which you take on the challenge of a massive dungeon in order to clear the name of your family; all while collecting money to improve your character(s), die during the run, and then try again with the offspring of your former character. The game is pretty challenging, but the fact that every try helps a little to make things go smoother next time is enough motivation for me to keep the runs going; and eventually succeed at killing the man that tarnished the family name in the first place. So, for the twentieth post this (Bl)August, let me tell you about “Rogue Legacy”.

The Videogame Corner: Poker Night at the Inventory

Game: Poker Night at the Inventory 1 & 2
Developer: Telltale Games
Genre: Card Game/Poker Simulator
Releases:
– Poker Night at the Inventory: 2010 (PC)
– Poker Night at the Inventory 2: 2013 (PC)

Ah, Telltale Games, the dream of a game studio producing Adventure Games that turned into a crunch mode-nightmare. What started with the idea of making Adventure Games appealing again for a modern market by streamlining choices in the “X will remember that”-style became more and more about growth, revenue, acquiring more franchises, pushing more product, and therefore caused a blandification of their games and the eventual shut-down of the company as a whole. Now, it is easy to read from these lines that I am not a fan of Telltale’s works; but then again Adventure Games as a whole are not my forte, so I am probably not the best source to talk to. However, even Telltale Games managed to produce titles that I find charming in an odd way, even though they have little to do with choices in dialogue, and more with choices in rational thinking and gambling. Early in the studio’s life, the team worked on a poker simulator with the name “Telltale Texas Hold’em”, using generic characters around a poker table to play against. Then, on May 15, 2009, Telltale Games started a survey with the goal of potentially reviving that franchise, but using characters from the various franchises they had the rights to use instead of producing some no-name face across the table. Thus started the existence of the “Poker Night” games, a subject that I would like to cover today on the 19th day of Blaugust 2022.

The Videogame Corner: Firewatch

Game: Firewatch
Developer: Campo Santo
Genre: Adventure/Walking Simulator
Releases: 2016 (PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One), 2018 (Nintendo Switch)

The debate about whether videogames are also a form of art has various arguments on either side; but if I as a layman in all things artsy would have to point to an example for what art in videogame form could look like, I would probably point to “Firewatch”. I am sure that some readers will see the “Walking Simulator” in the genre section and are already over the hill by the time I finish this sentence, but while it is perfectly okay to not play certain genres or gametypes I can only urge people to give this title a go. This was a recommendation from schreppybroepke that I placed in the waiting line for far too long but it is an interesting story about humans, communication, and problems that you have no power over and cannot control changing your life. I will try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible since it is best to experience the title on your own, but for Blaugust 2022 day 18 here are some of my thoughts about “Firewatch”.

The Videogame Corner: Eden Rising

Game: Eden Rising
Developer: Nvizzio Creations, Meridian4
Genre: Tower Defense/Action-Adventure
Released: 2018 (PC)

Our Discord group constantly searches for games that we can play together; and as I have said back in the “Gunfire Reborn” article, that is not as easy as its sounds. With various players in the group refusing to give certain genres a go, we often have to work with what kind of fits the bill for everyone. Cue “Eden Rising”, a Tower Defense game of all things that had one major argument going for it: It’s free. Well, at least to a certain extend since it will ask you for some money to unlock the full content after a certain amount of time. But with the only commitment to the title being time, we all downloaded “Eden Rising” one Wednesday evening and gave the thing a go. So, as yet another gaming-related article for Blaugust 2022, here are my thoughts on the game.