Not A Game Review

I almost gave up on BioShock. Another one of my Steam sale acquisitions - yes, I bought it along with SOMA, if you were wondering - this was a game I had always wanted to play but never got around to actually playing it.                                                                                                     I also got the Remastered version bundled with the regular one - of course I opted to install the former. And turns out it had audio issues. I lost all sound after the intro. Apparently, it's a very common issue, but none of the fixes - that seemed to help everyone - could help me. I tried everything - from obscure forums to the Steam forums to random sites - and nothing worked. After two days, I uninstalled the gam...

I'll start by saying this- I'm not a fan of the horror genre. I hate the fact that I'm not brave enough to sit through horror movies, while almost everyone I know brags of doing just that. I hate the fact that horror has the potential to reward me with sleepless nights, even though I'm an adult and know very well that those "things" cannot get to me.  And yet, I ended up purchasing SOMA during a Steam sale. I don't know what made me make up my mind - the heavy discount (I got it for less than 100 Rupees (that's like $1.40 as of 10:44 pm on 16 Feb. 2019, in case you were wondering) or all the praise the game has received. In hindsight, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.                                                                   SOMA is a unique experience. It's the best atmospheric horror I'...

It's been a while since I played this (I played it shortly after I promised to write about it the first time), but it's a testament to the quality of the game that I'm attempting to talk about it after all this time. I usually avoid writing about games that I played a long while ago (that's why you don't see titles like The Wolf Among Us, Among the Sleep, San Andreas (the game, obviously) on this blog).  So, Hellblade. First off, it's gorgeous. I had a hard time believing it was an indie game (it's self-described as an "independent AAA game"). I loved every component of the game - be it slashing down enemies or aligning runes. And the performances - both voice and motion capture. Just amazing.                                                  I won't discuss the plot - it's much more fun when you go in knowing very little besides the fact that it...

I said I'd do Hellblade first but then thought of posting two rev...ahem, recollections of my experiences together - Hellblade : Senua's Sacrifice and D4 : Dark Dreams Don't Die. And guess what. I just "completed" D4 and felt I had to share my feelings right now - while they're 2 minutes old and fresh in my head - before I wake up less frustrated the next morning.                                                     I never really research a game in-depth before starting with it. Sure, I have a look at the plot and the general consensus, and then I dive right into it. And D4 felt like a good game; it had all the elements I love in a game.  (Looking back, that feels like a terrible strategy. But it's only so that I don't learn of any spoilers unintentionally.) It all began well. The first thing I liked was the graphic-novel style presentat...

I procrastinate. There, I said it. Although  I always deliver whenever there's an official deadline, I have found myself putting things off till the next day a number of times.  That changes now - I am about to write about the first episode of Batman : The Telltale Series - that's about, well, Batman - minutes after completing it. (I can write stuff like the sentence above, because I'm pretty sure no one's going to be reading this)                                             It was really sad to hear about Telltale, though. Man, it feels like forever since I played my first Telltale game (The Wolf Among Us) and did it leave an impression. I was new to the Telltale style, and it was a mind-blowing experience - I believe everyone would say this of their first ever Telltale game. So, in a way, Batman : The Telltale Series is me saying goodbye, but not r...

I'm back (as promised) to share my experiences with Virginia (2016) - the winner of the BAFTA Games Award for Music (2017).                                                 Though a short game (took me a little over 2 hours to complete), this is not one for people who want to spend an afternoon having fun. It's complex and mind-boggling, with some extremely well-crafted sequences; just as puzzling in the end as it's easy to play. The last time I got so perplexed was when I watched Mulholland Drive.                                                                                                         ...

I'd like to start out by saying that from this moment on, these are not going to be reviews.  Also, I've been gone a long, long time.  To make up for it, this blog will (hopefully) serve as a guide for players like me, who are looking for games with a greater focus on the story and the characters rather than repetitive action elements.  So, I'll begin with the one game that left a lasting impression on me. Like, literally. I threw up on myself 15 minutes into it.                                                        First off, I'd like to clear one thing up : I loved Half-Life. The incident was not in any way a comment on the content of the game, which was without a doubt revolutionary for the late 90s. This happened, in fact, three years ago. I have always had a thing with FPS games. I don't know what sets it off, but whe...