beard ひげ @beardalaxy@gameliberty.club

you guys think we'll get hytale, gta6, or half life 3 first?

no nomination for silent hill f? dk bananza? no mario kart world? all of these games have amazing art direction, regardless of what you think about the games in general.

original game, sequel, sequel, sequel, sequel.

there really needed to be more variation in this list.

this is one of the best youtube channels out there lmao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruh-OxKTWuY

lore-accurate hinako

i recorded this to try and diagnose a problem but the problem didn't happen so here it is anyway lol

tangential thought, why does this dude look like asmongold

catholics having a real one again, huh?
there is no true church, only a true God.

For the most part, this game didn't spook me much but it had a lot of great set pieces and inventive ideas on how to scare the player and build tension. I was impressed a few times with how much the game got to me though, particularly a specific segment towards the end. Rather, it was the lead up to the main segment that got me rather than the actual part itself.

That's something that this game does struggle with a little bit. There will be a lot of tension building up through atmosphere and story over a long period of time, and then the scare finally happens and is pretty good, but then it just keeps doing the scare over and over again to the point where it is just no longer scary.

It is definitely more of a "haunted house" type of horror game than it is a survival or psychological horror game, I would say. For that type of game though, it is the best I've seen by far. The developers really knew what they were doing with the type of game they wanted to make and I do respect it.

One major gripe I have with the spook factor of the game is that it is CONSTANTLY playing these random scary sounds like doors creaking, things being tipped over, thunder, etc. and you just KNOW they are sound bytes programmed to play at random intervals. Listen, it's not scary when it is happening all the time and there is literally no threat. You'll hear a door opening next to you right where a wall is. Stuff like that really takes AWAY from the atmosphere for me, and the game was at its best when it was dreadfully quiet.

MADiSON is also heavy on the puzzles, and they can be a little bit convoluted but are mostly really good. I have a whole notebook page full of puzzle notes which is a REALLY good sign! The puzzle solutions are all randomized for every playthrough too, so although you can look up a guide to help you know HOW to solve the puzzle, it won't be able to straight up give you the answer. This almost killed the game for my friend and I though unfortunately, because we missed a puzzle clue that could only be found one time and we just didn't find it in the right way. We basically just tried a bunch of random stuff because it would have been REALLY hard to brute force it, and thankfully we got it within like 30 minutes.

The story is also pretty interesting too. It has to do with demonic possessions and rituals. While you're playing, some parts can seem like they come out of left field entirely, or it feels like there are completely separate stories going on at once, but after thinking about it a little bit once I had finished playing... it is all connected in a pretty good way. There is one small plot hole that is never technically explained, but it isn't too egregious and you can understand everything else relatively well.

The main character's voice is extremely gay, and you can turn it off, but we chose to left it on because it was kind of funny to listen to. I can imagine they added the setting to turn it off because people were complaining it was breaking up the atmosphere, which is completely understandable.

Anyway, as far as horror games of this nature go, they aren't my favorite things in the world but I did enjoy it and it did genuinely spook me out a few times. I went into it thinking it was going to be more or less indie horror slop but was pleasantly surprised. Give it a shot if you're looking for something spooky!

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Finally switched my calendar over lol. Cunny month! Maybe I'll play frontiers some time soon.

music that plays when you enter the abandoned mansion...

A simple but extremely fun metroidvania that uses the aesthetic and foundation of the original Castlevania to make something super expanded. For a metroidvania, especially in the modern day, it is quite short which is actually a positive for me! Still, it is a lot longer than the original Castlevania if we're not counting how many times you'd have to replay the same levels because you keep dying and there aren't any passwords or save files in that game.

This fan game rearranges all of the levels into different rooms and areas in a much larger castle that can be freely traversed through. There are tons of power ups and different whips (with 8 directional action!) that don't just unlock different routes but also can fundamentally change the way you play the game. It is very well designed and I never found myself getting lost. Because of how relatively small the map is when compared to modern metroidvanias, it was pretty easy to make an entire trip around the castle to find what I was looking for.

The game also features a card system that lets you purchase cards with the money you collect throughout the game from various enemies and candles. You can only equip three at a time, but they will enhance your moveset or survivability. I went for a build that was solely focused on surviving and only saw one game over, so perhaps the game could be a little bit harder, but I'm also fairly decent at Castlevania so maybe it is a bit harder for newer players. There is a card that makes the game harder, which might be a tantalizing option for another playthrough.

I'm actually a really big fan of the original Castlevania. It's on my top 100 games list! Seeing the game remade into something way more feature complete with a map and everything was like a dream for me and I loved every second of it. The pace never felt like it was going too slow, the vast majority of the rooms weren't annoying to deal with despite revisiting them several times, and I never ran into any bugs whatsoever.

I do wish that the game gave me a little bit more incentive to use other items. The healing item was so good, especially when I had been pretty meticulously going through and collecting all of the secret items (which the game graciously marks on the map), that I didn't want to get rid of it to use something else in fear of not being able to find it again in the future. Given that hearts can be collected all over the place, perhaps they should have reduced the amount of hearts you can have at any given time or made the healing item only available towards the end of the game. They could have even done something where the healing item was just separate from the heart function entirely, but I can respect the choice to keep it simple and closer to being in line with the original.

It was also pretty annoying that you would auto pick up any item you walked over. I know that's how the original game is, but a lot of hacks have done away with that feature so that you have to more intentionally pick up items. It's always annoying to accidentally pick one up and then you have to wait for the cooldown to pick up your original one that got booted out.

I can also appreciate the creator's restraint when it comes to not adding tons of content that would have not appeared in the originals outside of the powerups. However, it does mean that the game ends up feeling a little bit lacking as a brand new entity and it does feel a lot more like a hack. That is genuinely a good thing still, but I can't help but feel like something is missing.

In any regard, I'd highly recommend checking this one out if you like metroidvanias, and especially if you have an appreciation for the original Castlevania. You'll love it!

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