August 2024 Channel Update – Where’d the Summer Go? (Patreon)
Content
Hey hey,
Hope you are in good health, in high spirits, and doing great in general!
This blurb usually takes me longer to write than the actual stuff about games, and today is one of Those Days, so I’m just going to give up 💀 In short: I’m alive, life is happening, video games are happening, it’s business as usual!
TL;DR
Finished: 1000xRESIST, Nobody Wants to Die, some first looks
Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3
Next Up: Metal Gear Solid 3
Finished Stuff
1000xRESIST: I gave thoughts on this in previous updates already, but it’s truly a one-of-a-kind narrative gem and one of the most vulnerable, authentic stories I’ve experienced. It won’t be for everyone, but if it’s Your Thing, it’ll be a hard-hitting one.
Nobody Wants to Die: A detective investigates a murder in a dystopian world where life is eternal via body swapping (think Altered Carbon). There’s some nice art direction and cinematography, but the narrative logic can get confusing and hard to follow.
We also had first looks of:
The Crush House: You are a producer in charge of filming the newest season of the hottest reality TV show around! It’s a cute concept but even just playing for an hour it felt like it was going to get repetitive fast: basically each day you try to film and frame your shots to appeal to the audiences tuning in (e.g. drama mongers love to see the cast having cat fights). The cast has randomly cycled dialogue, so while fun bizarre things like people getting together and breaking up within the day can happen, there’s little true narrative intention behind it.
Nocturne demo: An RPGMaker-style (actually made in Unity) adventure in the digital afterlife in a world where humanity has long gone extinct. The gameplay is rhythm-based (think Guitar Hero/Tap Tap) with some nice music. Some of the orchestral soundtrack reminded me of older JRPG style games too, not that I've played any lmao. The demo has presented some mysteries, although it’s too early to see where the story’ll go.
Dustborn: The latest game by Red Thread Games (previous work: The Dreamfall Chapters, Draugen) about a ragtag group rebelling against an authoritarian government in a world where people can manifest words as literal power. It’s an interesting premise and feels like a very technically polished product, but the protagonists weren’t too likeable – by design? The beginning bit felt intentionally satirical. It's also quite a busy game with lots of simultaneous dialogue & text, making it kind of hard to keep up.
Emio - The Smiling Man demo: A detective visual novel/adventure game from the Famicom Detective Club series where we investigate a murder of a schoolboy, strangled and covered with a paper bag with a smiling face drawn on it. It has an anime art style but is more grounded than stuff like Ai: The Somnium Files. Chapter 1 is a subdued start with introducing the systems but the general mystery seems intriguing.
And some reaction/thoughts videos on:
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (this one has some contentious story spoilers – would not recommend if you’d like to go into the game knowing as little as possible)
Current Stuff
Baldur’s Gate 3: …. I think this one is going to be in the “current stuff” section for a while so I might not have something new to say every time lmao. By now I’ve gotten a better hang of the systems and at least understand (mostly) the limits of what is and isn’t possible. Still enjoying it lots! I think I’m through at least the halfway point in Act 1 (of 3) now.
Upcoming Stuff
Sorry I haven’t gotten started on MGS3 mentioned in the last update yet! I’m hoping it will be Very Soon with my upcoming vacation (staycation) from IRL work. I’ve been working on setting up a comfortable KB+M control scheme since this one finally has mouse support for first-person aiming. I really, really don’t want to do that on a controller again lol.
BG3 and MGS3 will keep me occupied but I’ll be on the lookout for stuff for first looks here and there too. Trying to not think too hard about how the schedule will look once Dragon Age: The Veilguard comes out in two months… 🗿
That’s all from me for now! As always, thank you for sticking around and feel free to share with me with any comments/thoughts/suggestions below. Enjoy the last few days of summer!
Welonz