BlueDemon's Archive

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is an existential horror game, developed by The Chinese Room  and published by Frictional Games in 2013. Started development as a mod and is an indirect sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descen t, set in the same universe, loosely tied together via references to its internal mythology. /// Premise You take control of Oswald Mandus, a millionaire industrialist from the late 1800s, after a bout of bad fever and memory loss, Oswald wakes up with his children missing while rumblings shake the walls of his mansion. Following the instructions of a mysterious man on the phone, Mandus will venture deep into the underground complex of the machine he has no memories of building, bringing its gargantuan mechanisms back to life in order to save his sons. /// Gameplay What do you mean? There is no gameplay, I'm only partially joking. Ok, let's get this out of the way, at its core, A Machine for Pigs is a narrative-driven game. In one fell swoop, it removed, inventory...

Bulletstorm is a first-person shooter developed by People Can Fly (the same studio behind Painkiller ) in collaboration with Epic Games . Published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Later remastered and re-released in 2017 by Gearbox Software under the title Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition which is the version played for this review. /// Plot Bad boy black ops soldier Grey turns into a space pirate and swears revenge after being tricked into killing civilians by a comically evil, space confederate General Serrano. Years pass and Grey crosses paths with Serrano's capital ship, the situation goes south, leading to an emergency crash landing on the planet below. His friend gets injured, turned into an unstable cyborg, and off they go to enact revenge on the General, and maybe find a way out of the planet. It's a clichê fest and the game is aware of it. File it under Carmack's porno plot rule, expected story to be there but not the main draw. Als...

Homefront is a modern military first-person shooter developed by Kaos Studios and published by THQ (the old one) in March 2011. /// Premise The year is 2027. The world has suffered a decade-long energy crisis, and economies have crumbled. Reduced to a mere shadow of the superpower it once was, the United States became the target of a North Korean takeover. American malls, suburbs, and city streets are now battlegrounds as the civilian resistance fights for freedom. (Side note) THQ 's marketing said the script was written by John Milius (of Apocalypse Now ), a blatant lie. In a report by Gamasutra later corroborated by Kotaku , former Kaos employees confirm Milius never wrote a single word of the script, affirming C.J. Kershner is the true writer, and that Milius's role was nothing more than a consultant. /// Overview Preamble: The COD comparisons. It is inevitable to talk about Homefront without mentioning the Call of Duty games. Regardless of the series current quality,...

State of Mind is a graphic adventure game developed and published by Daedalic Entertainment, released in August 2018 running on Unreal Engine 4. /// Premise Berlin 2048, following a hazy accident, journalist Richard Nolan wakes up in a clinic with selective amnesia. After heading home, he learns that his family is mysteriously absent. Setting off to do what he does best, investigate, Richard gets sucked into a conspiracy larger than he could've imagined. /// Structure and gameplay State of Mind is broken up into five chapters. Playing from a third-person perspective, our main protagonist is Richard Nolan, roaming the rainy, neon-drenched streets of Berlin trying to put the missing pieces of his memory together. The game focuses primarily on storytelling, with no combat system of any kind I guess the most simplified mainstream descriptor for its gameplay would be a "walking simulator," but I dislike using the term as it's too dismissive. Character motivations. Interper...

[This is a Mini Review, shorter and more direct] Penumbra: Requiem is a first-person, adventure puzzler expansion for Black Plague. Developed by Frictional Games, published by Paradox Interactive, and released in August 2008. Six months after Black Plague's release. /// Premise An expansion pack focused on strict puzzle-focused levels, absent of survival horror mechanics, with bits of lore that further explore some underdeveloped side characters. /// Is Requiem is Episode 3? I gotta get this out of the way. People often confuse Requiem as Penumbra 3, or Episode 3, when it is just an expansion DLC for Black Plague. "Requiem won't be the 'third episode', though. It's less the series conclusion, and more the epilogue. I consider the story to have ended with Black Plague" - Tom Jubert, lead writer of Penumbra series. 2008 interview with RPS. /// Structure Penumbra: Requiem is an abrupt switch from the survival horror genre to a horror-themed puzzler. It consis...

[Consider this Part 2 of the Penumbra: Overture review ] Penumbra: Black Plague is a first-person, horror game developed by Frictional Games , published by Paradox Interactive , and released in February 2008. Running on Frictional's in-house HPL Engine . /// Premise Picking up immediately where Penumbra:   Overture left, right after leaving the mines behind and entering the secretive research facility, Philip finds himself knocked out and imprisoned by unknown entities. After a hasty escape and possibly being infected with a Xeno virus, Philip must find a cure, while piecing together the truth of this place and his father. /// Structure and pace As the direct sequel to Penumbra: Overture, the two are intrinsically linked. I will be skipping over the more basic mechanics that have stayed the same, focusing on what has changed or improved instead. For a more detailed overview of the basics, I suggest reading the Overture review, as the bulk of its core mechanics have carried over t...