Category: Polygonal Prescriptions

Piling it On: DOOM 2016

By Cyrus Kingdom October 16, 2018

A missed opportunity

When your first computer was a Macintosh that could hardly run Pajama Sam, you don’t get much experience playing “classic” shooters like DOOM or Quake. The only one of these I played was Star Wars: Dark Forces, an admittedly excellent “DOOM-clone,” but that was on the Playstation. By the time my family upgraded to a Dell in 2000 or 2001 (can’t remember), those games seemed woefully outdated. I was already able to play games like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and No One Lives Forever, which had fleshed-out narratives, 3D character models, and linear, “real-world” resembling levels. Watching shows like XPLAY on G4, I came to understand where my favorite gaming genre had come from, thanks to id Software. In turn, I developed a reverence for id Software’s games, but no real desire to try them out.

Fast-forward to Bethesda’s E3 conference, unveiling DOOM 2016, and I was excited. I saw an opportunity to jump into that “old-school” world, while still enjoying the creature-comforts of modern gaming. I was actually very lucky that I accidentally missed the boat on purchasing this during the summer sale. Bethesda later held “Quake-con,” and Steam obliged with a timely sale of all the games I had failed to purchase before. I ended up getting DOOM for ten bucks, five cheaper than I had anticipated! It’s been a wild ride, but I have to say, this was a worthy purchase for the price.

To begin, the game definitely felt very polished. Of course, this is likely because I wasn’t around during its initial release, when there were almost certainly more bugs than there are now. In total, I believe I ran into only one or two gameplay-breaking bugs, where I got stuck or otherwise couldn’t do anything. Other than that, the game felt solidly built. Even on a laptop at medium settings, the framerate was very smooth, with few hiccups.

Onto gameplay, DOOM is truly an exhilarating experience. Enemies have been well-translated into the modern age, each with their own strengths and weaknesses: Imps are numerous and incredibly mobile, but also squishy. Demons of Hell and Hell Knights, some of the bigger hitters, are a joy to fight, forcing you to jump and weave between smaller enemies as they lumber towards you, attempting to crush you with downward area attacks. I loved bullfighting the “Pinkies,” which take virtually no frontal damage, so you have to “toro” them into a wall. When fighting in conjunction with each other, each firefight is a chaotic gore-fest, and I got so much satisfaction in landing a quick snapshot or splash-damage to take ‘em down. One weird issue I had a few times with enemies was their occasional standstills, where they were too far away from the fight to chase me, all the while electro-metal is blaring as if something crazy is still happening. The best bossfight was the first, and it took me several tries. It was of course frustrating, but it reminded me that “normal difficulty” shouldn’t be a cakewalk. The final boss was honestly disappointing. I don’t know if I was just too well equipped and upgraded by the end, but I think it only took me two or three tries to beat it. Unlike the first boss, I feel I wasn’t really tested on my movement skills, and that’s a shame. I only had to maneuver in a few segments and otherwise did the ol’ “circle-strafe shuffle” until I won.

The combat, of course, would be nothing without its level-design. This is certainly one of the aspects of this game which gives it that “classic” feel, but it’s also the perfect way to both utilize the game’s steady, tight movement control, as well give players a way out, should things get too dicey. This also organically leads to finding more ammunition, tucked away in the underpass of a sci-fi bridge, distinctly lacking in OSHA-approved handrails, for example. The platforming always felt rewarding, especially in the middle of combat, and I felt proud to be able to keep a cool head while under fire and move to a better position. It never felt shaky, like I might clip off the side and slip down.

DOOM wouldn’t be the same without its weaponry, and beyond the surface-level fun, almost every weapon has its value. Although I found myself sticking to a few stand-bys, such as the pulse and assault rifles, the heavy-hitters all had their moments to shine, whether for crowd-control or taking down heartier enemies. Only the chain-gun was disappointing, as it burns through the same ammo as the assault rifle, and the damage output could never really justify its use. I’d rather fire mini-missiles or get headshots with the scope. Another gripe with the weaponry I had was how long the games keeps you at only two weapons. Getting the pump-shotgun was fun at first, but it felt like it took forever before I got something new. Also, with such a large arsenal at your disposal, it can be somewhat awkward to go through the number-keys or scroll-wheel to cycle weapons. There is a weapon-wheel which slows down time to allow you to choose, but I felt it broke up the action. Ultimately, that’s just a personal grievance, and one I can get over with some practice.

The game does a decent job of making certain ammo-types scarce enough that you are forced to try other weapons, or otherwise manage your usage to save it for the right moments. I gradually learned the weaknesses of certain enemies, and this encourages variation as well. As you gain more upgrades, such as ammo capacity, this becomes less of an issue. I felt there was a gratifying amount of progression in this regard. Couple this with the attachments you find along the way, and every gun has multiple uses, something I’ve always been a fan of. The assault rifle’s mini-missile launcher is great for tagging durable or fast moving opponents with its homing ability, while the scope lets you plink high-damage headshots at range. The gauss cannon’s charge-up scope will make quick work of the biggest enemies in only two or three shots. Once I had unlocked all the upgrades I thought I wanted, I was pleasantly surprised with ones I’d passed over earlier in the game. For instance, the pump-shotguns three-round burst attachment is wonderful for smaller enemies that need to be deleted quickly, allowing you to move on to others.

Unlocks and secrets were easy to find in the best way possible. Weapon upgrade points can be earned with fun challenges, such as killing 20 Imps with a shotgun in a level, while secrets will appear on your map if you pass nearby. They’re still difficult enough to get, as you will have to find hidden or alternate paths to reach them. I had no interest in fully completing the game, but I always got a kick out of finding a hidden “Doomguy” action figure.

Aesthetically, the game does a decent job of portraying its various environments. The indoor sequences of the facility were suitable enough, with smooth, sleek architecture typical of any sci-fi fare; nothing to write home about, but it’s clear the designers were more concerned about the layout for gameplay than anything else. Hell looks… hellish, and the blood and gore is about what I’d expect, perhaps a bit too “jello-y” (F.E.A.R. is still a major benchmark for viscera, in my opinion). Honestly, the surface of Mars was my favorite, as it serves to foreshadow the descent into the underworld that was to come, with red sand and a desolate landscape. Overall, the use of color and lighting was the best part of the levels for me, visually.

The music is fantastic, with its electro-metal beats pounding, giving me the energy to fight hard and fast. It really reflects the ruckus you bring as the player. The story, on the other hand, is… there… and as DOOM-creator John Carmack once put it, it’s “like a story in a porn movie. It’s expected to be there, but it’s not that important.” Still, I will admit, it was interesting to see Doomguy being caught in the middle of a clusterfuck he wanted no part of, and in fact was hoping to prevent. I can only imagine how angry he was, beyond his usual “too angry to die” baseline.

Overall: I had a lot of fun on my first playthrough, way more than I expected. Admittedly though, while the campaign was short enough, I still had moments where I wondered how close I was to the end. Once I had all the weapons, upgraded my armor and health, etc, I felt I had settled into a routine. There was a method for killing everything, and I was kind of “going through the motions” by that time. There was only so much that could make the game feel refreshing again.

Still, the ennui came on much less strongly than I anticipated, and there’s so much to love about this title; id Software should be very proud. They have managed to capture that “classic” shooter feeling, rewarding efficient aim and quick thinking and movement, in the face of legions of demonic jerkwads. There is a satisfying “crunch” to almost every kill. Combine that with a measured acceptance of modern conventions, and it feels authentic without being too purist.

Buyer’s Remorse? Having seen the gameplay for DOOM Eternal, I can tell they’ve gone to great lengths to improve movement even further, and that’s exciting. New weapons have been added, and old ones have seen some alteration (I’m especially excited for the hookshot on the Super Shotgun). That said, I’ll probably sleep on it for a good while; The Pile is still quite large at the moment.

Otherwise, I have no regrets on my purchase. If a two-hour movie ticket is any metric, I got my money’s worth and then some with DOOM 2016. Could I justify paying more than twenty bucks for this or Eternal? No, but only because this isn’t my usual cup o’ tea. Still, I was marvelling at how much fun the game is when I came back to it to collect screenshots (I gotta remember to do this stuff during my playthrough…). The game plays so smoothly, aiming is silky, and it’s just fun. I might have to try a new game plus, having played around again. If it goes on sale again, definitely seek it out. You will not be disappointed.

Blog Posts Polygonal Prescriptions

The Challenge of Challenge in Games: Role-Playing Games

By Cyrus Kingdom September 18, 2018

On Difficulty in Games

I’ve come a long way since I was a kid, when I used to choose “easy” every time I could. My first forays into gaming were on the SNES. Obviously, there were few opportunities, back then, to choose how hard it was. That changed when I got a Playstation. As my PS1 collection grew, I came across more and more games with a difficulty select screen, before starting a new game, or in the options. It was truly a revelation for me. When I was very young, a game suddenly spiking in challenge was kind of terrifying, for lack of a better word. A sudden swarm of enemies could ruin my session instantly. This mostly only applied to horror games, but I was somewhat of any game, when it got too hard. It gave me security in a time before I knew how to beat a game at all. This extended well into the PS2 era, but things were already changing.

By that point, many designers had swung back, downgrading a difficulty-selector from game-design necessity to choice. As the Youtube legend Videogamedunkey points out, having only one difficulty is great because it’s a definitive experience. There’s just less urgency to playing, no feeling of having had a “false” gaming experience, because there wasn’t enough “challenge.” On the other hand, there are certainly benefits to tweaking the difficulty exactly to one’s liking: An easy game is great when you just want to unwind and feel like a badass, and the hardest experience is there when you want to hone your skills. Ultimately, I feel the genre has a lot to do with how difficulty is arranged. I aim to go through the genres I am most familiar with, pinpoint specific games, and describe what difficulty means for each of them. I will also offer critiques where they apply.

RPGs and their (mostly) built-in difficulty

RPGs pose an interesting challenge to this analysis, because they are probably the easiest genre to adjust the difficulty while in development, but also one which gets it wrong quite often in execution. In part, it’s easy, because most of the actual difficulty tends to be in how well the player-character’s statistics stacks up against the enemy’s. “The wolves in the starting area are easily killing a level-1 player? Let’s tone their attack power and health down.” Even so, that kind of simple adjustment can be buried by disproportionately powerful or feeble enemies later on.

Disclaimer – Unless I state otherwise, assume I’m playing these games on “Normal” difficulty.

Oblivion and Skyrim

These two are the RPGs I’ve spent the most time playing, and also the ones with the strangest dynamics when it comes to their respective challenges, so I have written quite a bit more for them than the others.

There are few roleplaying games that immerse me like The Elder Scrolls series does (shocker). Since I first got Oblivion, I was fully invested, my imagination captured. That’s pretty impressive given I was a teenager by that point, and thus had lost much of that “lose yourself” feeling from childhood. Since then, I have come crawling back to Oblivion and Skyrim (and Fallout 3 and New Vegas) for more adventures, over and over. Naturally, I have had some time to reflect on the way it structures itself, including its difficulty.

As I stated before, a perk when designing most RPGs is that, as your character progresses, developers can make the hardening of future enemies feel somewhat organic, because the story advances at the same time. It “stands to reason” that in your fantasy world, there are more dangerous areas to traverse than others, with nastier baddies. Eventually, you will have to venture there to advance the plot. Since Oblivion, Bethesda Softworks has instead implemented a system which beefs up enemies throughout the entire in-game world, with mixed results.

In Oblivion, the scaling was well out of wack, with enemies becoming as durable as T-1000s. As a result, you’d have to slash, and slash away at them before they went down. Because the game had weapon durability, it was vital to bring a golfing-bag full of weapons just to get through a dungeon. The only way to avoid this was to deliberately avoid leveling up, working on “minor” skills for while. Skyrim, on the other hand, attempted to rectify this, but perhaps a little too much.

The issue I always run into with Skyrim is becoming too powerful. At around level 10, enemies are dangerous, and certain ones actually put the fear of the eight (nine) divines back into me. I remember when I first came across a snow-troll guarding a mountain pass on my first playthrough. It took several tries, some running away, lots of swearing, but I defeated it. That experience will always stay with me. Fast-forward to my character reaching level 30 or so, and a Draugr Deathlord fails to present a truly harrowing fight, even with its cronies bursting from other coffins to fight you.

There are a few causes for this dissonance. Mainly, the scaling is still broken. To me, it feels like Bethesda crafted the experience to cater to shorter-lived characters, which do a few questlines and finish with the main storyline. You could probably finish with a character comfortably by the time you reach your mid-20s in level.

Also, there are a great deal of “outs” for the player. The meme of eating twenty potatoes mid-fight rings quite true, and that’s a huge flaw. A game like Dark Souls makes you think twice before you heal, as drinking your Estus takes time and leaves you vulnerable. Heck, even Fallout: New Vegas featured a “hardcore” mode which made stimpaks heal slowly. I’ve mitigated this a little with mods which require you to eat to live, so food is too valuable to heal with. Still, potions can be chugged instantly, as usual; In a flash, I’m relatively out of danger. Few enemies drink their own potions, though a decent number try to heal themselves (mages and spriggans, for example).

Certainly, it’s possible to choose the difficulty in the settings (I used to do that for Oblivion when the scaling got too out of wack). The problem is those just make the scaling even worse at times. Make it easier, and you become indestructible, while the enemies turn into paper. Make it harder, and you’ll swing that sword forever just to kill a common bandit.

Finally, the game is simply an “action-RPG,” and there’s just so many ways to “cheese” enemies. Some enemies can’t follow you if you stand on a tall rock, so why not just shoot arrows at them until they die? Shot an arrow at someone while sneaking? Well, be sure to fire from far off and crouch-walk as far away as you can. Eventually your mark will decide they were impaled with an arrow that was whipped around by the wind. In a cave. Yup… This is the fatal flaw of many games like this. In giving the player more control over their movement and so on, they open the door to exploitation, which breaks immersion, something Bethesda RPGs do so well otherwise.

***I must add, certain zones of Fallout 3 and New Vegas (with its “hardcore” mode) were genuinely challenging, and their overall experiences are better for it. From the supermutants on the DC Mall, to the Deathclaw Matriarch in the quarry of the Mojave, there were places that felt genuinely dangerous for a low-level character. The games still scaled their enemies, but it was a nice balance, I thought.

Knights of the Old Republic/Dragon Age/World of Warcraft

Conversely, “classic” RPGs like these take a good deal of control away from the player. You’re much more reliant on your build and its associated statistics, abilities, and equipment. There’s much less “cheese” to work with. It’s more about building your character than your own skills. In turn, the enemies you face are generally difficult in an “upfront” way. You will know very quickly whether you have what it takes to win the fight.

That’s not to discount the entertainment value of such games. It’s certainly a gratifying experience reach a point where you can defeat those enemies, and secure their more valuable loot. Still, that “grind” can be such a drag. One of my most distinctive gaming memories was my decision one night to grind through the final segment of my XP bar in “Vanilla” WoW to reach level 40 (nevermind my lack of funds to get an actual mount and training to ride it…). For a sixteenth or so of that accursed bar, I had to absolutely depopulate Stranglethorn Vale of its Mistvale Gorillas. It felt like I was in Purgatory. I can’t say that was fun. That was work.

The other pitfall in games like these is the higher potential for a sudden difficulty spike. Bioware has been, in my experience, quite guilty of this. It seems like every bossfight in Dragon Age: Origins was a steep grade of a climb. It didn’t help that my party members were impossible to wrangle, casters running into melee range, with minimal scripting to keep them away. Still, it always felt like such a disparity from the mobs you fight along the way to the end of the quest. Knights of the Old Republic, to a lesser extent, had this problem as well. Unfortunately, I can’t offer an honest opinion on that game’s difficulty, as I’ve replayed it enough times to breeze through it, even the unfair duel with Darth Malak at the end.

That does get me thinking, however, on what can make or break the “fun” of an RPG playthrough. In KotOR, I can power through it easily because I have learned to optimise my character and my companions’ builds, maximising their effectiveness in combat. I know what powers and moves work best, and what base stats are most useful. The first time through, there was a real challenge, but I made it through, running in circles away from Malak and healing myself. I must admit, however, I have yet to beat Dragon Age. That initial playthrough’s challenge has left me stuck. I built my character incorrectly, choosing to be a “tank,” when I should have probably went with “DPS” instead. Sadly, I’m so far along now that I just don’t feel like starting over. It’s a real shame. Maybe one day I’ll finish it, but I’ve been so far removed from it that it seems unlikely. This unforgiving nature is what makes me most hesitant towards trying other “classic” RPGs.

Mass Effect

To me, the gameplay of the Mass Effect series was never seriously challenging at any point, and that’s okay. This may be especially true for me because I’ve played a great deal of shooters in my time, and that certainly makes it easier. Just like Skyrim, it is very action-y, though in different ways. The movement is distinctly “Gears of War,” while keeping some RPG progression intact, upgrading weapon damage and effectiveness of powers. Still, at the end of the day, the enemies maneuver quite slowly, with no real tactical prowess whatsoever, so it’s a pretty simple task to orient yourself safely and unload on ‘em.

Really, what drew me into that game in the first place was its amazing universe, plot, and intriguing characters. The dialogue choices and determining the fate of the galaxy had genuine wait to them, and the fleshed-out societies and species felt at-once realistic and like an artistic extension of the human condition. It’s a universe I’d want to live in (minus the harvesting people every 50,000 years part). It doesn’t really matter how challenged I felt while playing, so long as I experienced rich character arks and plotlines along the way. This bleeds into games like Skyrim too, where immersion is a major factor.

Darkest Dungeon/XCOM

As a quick aside, I wanted to touch on the use of brutal difficulty to heighten the narrative, aesthetic, and overall gameplay of an RPG. Yes, that applies to a certain game we all know and love/hate, but I am purposely leaving that one out of this part of this series.

Darkest Dungeon is unbelievably difficult. Fighting ghouls, monsters, and other hellish beings is nothing new, but the game’s Lovecraftian aesthetic is taken beyond the superficial. In the game, you are the unfortunate heir to an aristocratic estate, built over a newly reopened portal to Hell. As your hapless sell-swords are exposed to more and more horrors, they aren’t just injured and infected in the depths. As expeditions get more dire, the mental state of any adventure-party begins to deteriorate, and it’s difficult to recover from mental wounds, even after the action is over.

This can cause a situation to go from bad to worse very quickly. If one of your party suffers a mental breakdown, it will wear down the psyches of their compatriots, as they scream insults to them, or bellow portents of doom. It can snowball quite quickly. DD is the first game in a very long time that I’ve had to try on an “easy” setting (“Radient,” instead of “Darkest”). Still, that brutality the game seems to express towards me is what makes it feel endearing. Its “unfairness” is perfect for the setting.

The same goes for a game like XCOM, which, while mostly a strategy game, does include some RPG elements for its characters. It’s common for players to form an attachment towards their soldiers as they make their way through a campaign. Sometimes, the RNG just doesn’t give you the shot you need to land, even on normal difficulty, and that can cost your soldiers’ lives. If you’re someone like me, who tries to roleplay a little and take losses seriously. It’s a pretty solemn thing to lose a soldier in that game, and the game’s unpredictability can put stakes quite high.

"Good Ending/Bad Ending"

Truthfully, I wish I had more experience in other types of RPGs to make this entry a little more well-rounded. There are so many sub-genres I have yet to explore, and I have been meaning to branch out for some time. Still, I hope this was a decent window into what gives me satisfaction in playing games like these. The next entry in this series will be on stealth games. Thanks for reading!

Blog Posts Polygonal Prescriptions Portfolio

Piling it On – Summer 2018

By Cyrus Kingdom July 20, 2018

Steam only has a sale four times a year, so it’s beyond imperative I take advantage of the 2018 Summer Sale. Thing is, I already have a library that, at this point, has more than a few games I’ve only played for at most a couple hours. I call this “The Pile,” as coined by a friend of mine. It’s pretty effective because it reminds me that, were the games in my library physical copies in their cases, there would be a rather tall stack of them that I’ve completely ignored. The Pile has been chiseled at, just a bit, but I find myself going back to comfort zones, such CS:GO, XCOM (1&2), or the Total War franchise. Obviously, I just really need more games, so let’s see what I’m considering.

See? I’m responsible! I know I have some time before the sale ends, so I can really weigh my options before buy approximately 70% of what I was considering. Here are my summer jams to pile onto the… Pile…

I’ll be explaining what held me back from purchasing these games upon or (before) release and what kept me eyeballing them all this time. After the sale is over, I’ll publish an updated list of what I chose to buy in the end, and what I think about them now I’ve played them.

Nidhogg 2 - $7.49 (50% off)

So, I cheated on this one, a little, as I’ve already succumbed to the peer-pressure of my closest friends into buying it. No speculation needed here, this game is definitely worth full-price, let alone half off. I knew after playing the first one how much of a ruckus it could generate as a game, but I could never justify it before it really went on sale, so to speak. My friends and I have joked, but this game really might deserve a spot at EVO next year.

The frantic combat is what made the first one, and against my worries, the second has kept the essence of its “game-feel’ intact. The changes are entirely positive, especially the variation in weaponry. This of course can lead to moments where I exclaimed “oh, bullshit,” but overall, there’s quite a lot to learn, and plenty of room for different playstyles. For instance, I initially shunned the bow, but after learning how to use it, I can achieve timely killstreaks to advance my character through a level, using lots of movement feints to leave my opponent exposed. One of my favorite moves is to fake a jump-over, only to land back, and slide under my opponent’s attack, followed by a quick shot to the back of the head. I squeal with joy every time I nail that one; Waltzing through an entire room unscathed just feels so damn good. Really, when I gripe while playing, it’s only because my sense of competition is super-heightened. I just wanna win, man. Also, it’s kind of ridiculous how good the music is. With artists like Mux Mool and more, there’s plenty of lofi beats to keep me happy, and add to the atmosphere.

Purchase Prediciton: Already Purchased! Instant Satisfaction!

Doom - $14.99 (50% off)

I have to admit, I was probably sold on this the moment I saw it presented at E3, but I also knew it was going to be in serious backburner territory for a while. I definitely couldn’t justify a $60 price tag, as it was a franchise I never had much of an interest in. The closest I got to it was the Star Wars Doom-clone, Dark Forces. I didn’t even catch the wave of the early 2000s revival with Doom 3. That may have had to do more with my avoidance of “spooky” games as a child, but I still don’t feel like I was missing much, in retrospect.

Now, at 15 bones, I am more than excited for some mindless, frantic blood and gore. Seeing early gameplay trailers reminded me of simpler times as a child, when FPS titles lacked the “sophistication” they have now. DOOM looks like so much fun, because I don’t have to think about anything; Not the plot, nor its mechanics, nor for hidden upgrades or collect-a-thons, nor for any deeper meaning. Just classic shooter mechanics, satisfying “gun-feel”, and killin’ demons harder than Alex Jones could ever dream.

Purchase Prediction: Very Likely

Firewatch - $4.99 (75% off)

Games like this are definite write-offs for its base price. I know I’ll knock this one out in a day. My friend who recommended it me explained that even if I was thorough (which I am), I could maybe squeeze five hours or so out of it. With that, the $20 price-tag at base is pretty laughable to me. Yes, it’s kind of a ridiculous when you put it in perspective that the average movie-ticket costs about the same. That’s more than double the entertainment value, time-wise.

Still, I must admit I have trouble with games like these. A big issue for me is that I tend to fall back to games I know. I used to feel a certain restlessness only when watching movies or TV, but now, it seems that has pervaded into linear single-player games like this. I think CS:GO has sort of ruined me, with its instant action, and larger focus on technique over atmosphere. A slow-burn (pun so intended) like this might rekindle (I’m on a roll now) my love for the journey over the destination when it comes to games.

Purchase Prediction: Moderate to Likely

Rocket League - $9.99 (50% off)

Completely on the opposite end, here’s a multiplayer title with some serious allure. I have to say, just watching someone play this on Twitch is exhilarating. Even as a kid, I never shied from sports titles. I’m generally not any good at them, except for NHL. Still, not much compares to competing from the couch with a friend, strutting like a peacock in front of them when you score a goal/touchdown. Sniping top cheddar, bar-downski after a filthy coupl’a’ dangles, followed by a sick celly? That’s the life, eh?

Uh… anyhoo…

In the same vain as NHL, Rocket League is clearly loaded with potential for technique and unique playstyles, while still being fun and accessible to new players. The speed and movement look just thrilling, and I can’t imagine the ecstasy I’d likely feel the first time I score on a mid-air shot. I’ve heard less-than-promising things about the community, but it’s likely no worse than CSGO’s, and easily better than Overwatch, despite Blizzards best… “efforts” to eradicate toxicity. Overall, a cool title, to be sure, but one I might need to enlist friends in order fully enjoy it. Part of the fun for me is developing set plays with teammates who know the drill, just as in “real” sports. At ten big greens, we’ll see about this one.

Purchase Prediction: Moderate

Stardew Valley - $11.99 (20% off)

I never really thought I’d consider something like this, given that it’s, well, work, but with all the positive press it’s received, this might just suck me in, should I purchase it. Hanging out with friends in middle and high school, games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon weren’t uncommon obsessions. This is somewhat astonishing now, given that most of my friends in those days were guys, and almost none of them would give a game like The Sims a chance (the one gal-pal I had as a kid got me into that one, for what it’s worth). It’s promising to see how things like this have progressed, and gamers, regardless of gender, have opened themselves to new experiences.

Gender-politicking aside, this is still a tough sell, though it’s made my list. Games with a serious grind-aspect must mask the work involved with engaging gameplay, in order for me to not lose interest. Heck, the “management” part of games doesn’t scare me; Empire: Total War taught me to fall in love with financing my war-machine, and this carried over to other games like XCOM (1 and 2), as I maximize resources in order to crush my enemies. Good quartermasters win battles! But I worry Stardew won’t give me the same rush. “Had a good harvest this year, nice! Now I can… buy better tools and stuff… woo?” Combine that with only a 20% discount (yes, 12 buckeroos is still very reasonable), and I feel I might just wait on this until the price drops so low that I’d buy it as quickly as a gumball.

Purchase Prediction: Unlikely

Fallout 4 - $14.99 ($29.99 for GOTY, both 50% off)

Ah jeez, this is still a sore-spot for me and Bethesda. I love Todd Howard despite everything, but Fallout 4 was just… beyond disappointing at first. Initial reactions? Excitement, felt kind of unexpected, if memory serves. The more we learned, however, the less excited I got. I noticed this pattern ever since Skyrim, where Bethesda seemed to dumb-down a good portion of what made their games RPGs. This was almost entirely in the stats department, and while I enjoyed the changes of Skyrim from Oblivion, what I saw, in Fallout 4 was an abysmal deletion of anything related to building up a character. I tried playing it once, and my fears felt completely justified: it was a first-person shooter with inventory-management and perks. The shooting felt pretty good, and had I been playing on PC, I might have enjoyed the combat a little more. Still, after that, I was pretty well turned-off.

That sentiment began to erode as friends started picking up the title. We’d be chatting on Discord, and I’d be invited to watch them play through the game. I watched one of my friends play on hardcore mode, and I was genuinely engrossed by the combat’s intensity. The player-character was just as squishy as the super-mutants he was shooting at (as squishy as super-mutants can be, anyway). Top that off with needing to eat, drink, and sleep, and there’s some deep immersion I can get behind. It may not have the RPG elements I would’ve wanted, but there’s plenty there, for the price.

Purchase Prediction: Likely

Prey - $14.99 (50% off)

This was definitely a game that flew under my radar, already out by the time I’d heard of it. I wasn’t too enthused when I first saw the trailers. Ultimately, I’m probably joining the chorus: it presents itself as a more fleshed-out Bioshock. Where Infinite worked on its gunplay, Prey seems to be more concerned with improving the environmental action and abilities.

Good price, given how recently it came out. Otherwise, I’m unsure of how much I’ll enjoy the game. Yes, I had fun the first time I went through the first Bioshock, but there’s some lastability issues for me after that. Starting a new game, the veneer of the story’s shock-value had diminished, and I was more aware of how I felt just by playing. Bioshock feels downright clunky. Sure, the point was to play creatively, using powers, weaponry, and the environment to dish out punishment. That ought to be a knockout, right? Even at normal difficulty, yes, gunplay alone couldn’t save you, and I usually appreciate that. With Bioshock, I felt I had established my basic playstyles, with a few favored combinations, and that was sufficient. That’s the fear I have for Prey: a game teeming with atmosphere, but gameplay that doesn’t naturally evolve past a few optimum strategies.

Inspecting it again for this post, I learned it was developed by Arkane, the studio that gave us Dishonored. That certainly gives me some confidence. Maybe fifteen really is a great deal, even it’s a one-off.

Purchase Probability: Moderate

Cuphead $15.99 (20% off)

This makes the list for a number of reasons. I may not be too keen on difficult 2D platformers, but there’s obviously something to Cuphead that intrigues me. The animation is simply unbelievable, with its authentically hand-drawn characters and their noodly 30s style movement. Plenty of critical and public acclaim means I don’t have to think too hard on its worth…

That would be the case, if I wouldn’t consider my own preferences, of course. I know who I am, and I know that this game will frustrate me to the point where I put it down and don’t pick it up for maybe another year or more. I’ve watched friends play, and it’s definitely fraught with brain-farts, where you know the pattern of the boss, but you still make mistakes. It’s a little debilitating when you can quantify your chances of success, mid-fight, by how much health you’ve retained before reaching a certain stage. “Took two hits before he reached his 3^rd form? Aww yer in trouble, there.” There’s just too much of that, as far as I can see, especially given its current price. For all the hard work that went into making it, Cuphead totally deserves at least $20, but with only a 20% discount at present, I know I can just hold out another year for an even better price.

Purchase Prediction: Unlikely

Furi $7.99 (60% off)

Alright, this is my least professional take on any of the games here. I’m probably going to buy this game solely because it features Carpenter Brut. I’m not the biggest fan of top-down boss-rush/bullet-hell games, I’ll be honest. However, I know with a pounding synth soundtrack, I’d be exhilarated if the game involved nothing but delivering pizza. I’m only sort of kidding, as the soundtrack of Hotline Miami put it easily into my top-5 list of all the games I’ve played. That game, to this day, fills me with a manic frenzy unparalleled in other games. I’m listening to the Furi soundtrack as I write this, and I can feel the same tingling, primal energy just from the music itself (even the slow tracks!).

Soundtrack aside, there’s plenty of other aspects of this game that I’m a sucker for. For instance, its visuals are in that “cel-shaded” territory, and I’ve loved that since Sly Cooper. Gameplay? Well, the trailers make it look easier than my friends have reported, but man, it just seems to control incredibly tight, and it could very well be a challenge I am up for. I’ve played enough slow-paced games these days; this could be just the ticket to reminding me of a time when games made my heart race.

Purchase Prediction: Very Likely

Root $0.99 (90% off)

I’ve got to admit, I met the developers of this one. The Florida boys at Skunkape were showcasing their next title, Denizen, at MAGFest in early 2018. I was impressed with the demo, but while I was sitting at one computer, my friends were playing the neighboring game, an incredibly colorful and fast-paced shooter. It was pretty distracting, to be honest.

First-person stealth being my favorite genre, I am definitely excited to give this one a shot. The neon colors are a refreshing change from the mostly grey corridors, and, much like the game mentioned above, it appears to be scored by pounding synth.

Purchase Prediction: Guaranteed

Hellblade $17.99 (40% off)

I am hastily adding this to the list, as it was recommended last-minute by a friend of mine, and so I decided to revisit the trailers. Hellblade is nothing, if it is not striking. The visuals are dark, brooding, offset by blinding beams of light, shining out of the gloom. The protagonist is incredibly expressive and compelling. I get the feeling a real-life actor did more than have their face scanned for this one.

The presentation is one thing, but the actual gameplay seems truly novel. Developed by the same group behind Heavenly Sword, I had expected a hack-n-slash. Instead, the game focuses on single-combat, fighting otherworldly opponents with the camera hovering to the side. One thing I liked about that was how cinematic it made the game seem, without going overboard and taking the actual satisfaction of fighting away from the player. The slashes and stabs are punchy, and every hit or parry carries weight. To me the one-on-one fights actually add to the game’s atmosphere. Fighting a bunch of grunts like it’s Dynasty Warriors would reduce the nordic folk-lore and biome to just another epic “viking game.”

There’s just a primal, brute-force aspect that ties it together for me. The price is fairly high, considering other titles I have to consider, and the potential I can hold off on this one. That said, I have to say, I admire a 2nd-party company breaking away by publishing their own game. In the age of authenticity, that really counts for something.

Purchase Prediction: Likely

Blog Posts Polygonal Prescriptions

What Captivates Me Most

By Cyrus Kingdom July 15, 2018

Is “Press Start” a Little on the Nose?

Yeah, video games are pretty cool. I like ‘em; they might become popular in the future… I’ve been playing since I was 3 years old, when my brother handed down his Super Nintendo. I have also been asthmatic since I was 2, so I didn’t go outside as much other kids. You can see where this is going. In my early childhood, with no way for me to play more active games and socialize, games took hold of me early. They gave me adventures to go on, allowing me to project myself into fantasto. I could run and jump, blam things away, and explore fantastical worlds. In school I could hardly contain my daydreams of Megaman X, Star Fox, or Perfect Dark.

There is simply no substitute for the immersion and tangibility I felt in playing games. No other medium, (though I learned to enjoy others as well) could keep me glued to it like games. It’s exhilarating to watch John Wick judo-shoot his way through Russian Mafia goons in a perfectly choreographed sequence, but it’s even more invigorating when it is you who tears through the baddies. In a game, you can do it in your own style, and learn how to fight them all your own. Making choices allows you to project yourself onto the world you inhabit, or, allow you to step out of yourself, acting like someone you never thought you’d turn into.

“These are the things you always hear when people tout games, right?”

Welp, yeah, and I totally agree with these platitudes.

Really, to me, explaining what makes games so entrancing is a serious challenge, because of how… deep (forgive me) they are. Yes, the platitudes still ring true, but the format is rich because of how much developers can pack into a game, and how many different forms of art are incorporated within it. Film, its closest cousin, shares much of this richness, and is a huge influence on games themselves, but even film does not quite go far enough, in terms of what it is able to feature. It’s not a very fun movie if it stops all the time to allow the audience to read a short story. That’s perfectly normal in an Elder Scrolls game, though. Even the relatively dungeon-oriented journals, which reveals clues about the current dungeon I was in, have been riveting: Another adventurer marks their influence in the hallowed cave. Finding them (dead or alive, usually dead) further inside is the physical proof, sure, but I felt the weight of their presence through the prose.

Epistolary stories are just one aspect of a dense game, and I could go on and on, but this introduction would be severely unfocused, and I would be eliminating potential subjects for this blog! Suffice it to say, I just really love a game that can tell me a story that I’m excited to live in. It’s true, I’m not a “purist” when it comes to game design, though I also catch myself admiring the hell out of games that go that route, certainly. It’s complicated, and I hope this blog will not only serve others, but myself, as I try to identify what it is about a given game I love, hate, or don’t care about.

Bottom line, I want in on this whole “videographic gaming television” business. From development, to criticism, to simply producing entertaining content within the realm of the genre. Welcome to Polygonal Prescriptions!