BlueDemon's Archive

Cultist Simulator is an absolutely genius game. And it is absolutely not for everyone; it appeals to a particular audience. And no, it's not one of those ironic simulator games about building Kool-Aid tanks. If I had to summarize quickly: It's a game about maintaining a balancing act, spinning a dozen plates while taking risks and experimenting to further your goal of supernatural ascension, with the ever-looming presence of catastrophic failure knawing at your heels. I can easily identify all the aspects that would make someone hate this game with a passion. Obscured mechanics, ticking timers, and especially the lack of clarity. Most first-time runs of Cultist Simulator will be confusing and end abruptly. Death via overwhelming dread or fascination. And that's by design. It hands the player a few cards, some action tiles, and says: Do you want to ascend through powers unknown? Want to know how? Well, combine some cards and figure it out yourself. Good luck. Of course, the ...

Hey, it's me. I've been absent since... February?! Yeah, the plan for lots of reviews has gone down the toilet. You know the story. Seen it a thousand times before when it comes to online projects. IRL stuff and college took priority, and I had barely any energy left to write, or at least not enough to reach the quality standard I want. But now I'm on break and the Steam Next Fest is going on, so I took the chance to write about it. For those unfamiliar Next Fest is a week-long event with thousands of game demos to try out. So I wanted to list a few of the ones that caught my eye. Starting with... /// Agent 64: Spies Never Die Developer: Replicant D6 Self Published This one is a clear homage to the classic N64 Golden Eye, with the aiming system and everything. While familiar with it, I got no nostalgia for the N64 era, so even less for Golden Eye itself, but I had a fun time with the demo. /// Anger Foot Developer: Free Lives Publisher: Devolver Digital Anger foot is about ...

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...