Recently, one of my coworkers was out, having surgery to remove a kidney stone. It’s a process I hope never to have to go through (though, surgery almost sounds better than passing one naturally), but it does bring us to today’s word.
ptyalolith, noun – the hard buildup of minerals inside the organs or ducts
Learned from: Vigil: The Longest Night (PC, Playstation 4, XBox One, Nintendo Switch)
Developed by Glass Heart Games
Published by Neon Doctrine (2020)
As the title would suggest, Vigil is a dark game. It’s a 2D platformer, with a heavy emphasis on exploration, that casts you as a member of the titular Vigil, tasked with fighting against an encroaching darkness that seems to have enveloped the world. It would seem you’re not terribly good at your job, but all you can do is your best. Even when your best includes consuming the kidney stones of a dark god to increase your abilities. The Ptyalolith from the Other God feels like an item that would be more at home in Bloodborne, or Blasphemous (both games I’m sure I’ll post more about in the future), but it’s far from the strangest item in the game–you can end up wearing a grapefruit rind on your head, while dressed in a nun’s habit and wielding a broom as a weapon. While it’s a beautiful game, there are times it really doesn’t know what tone it wants to have. Still, there’s a lot of equipment, and a variety of play styles (some of which are pretty broken for a lot of the game), so it’s worth checking out.
Even if the title card does make it look like one of those “find the hidden object” games from the mid-2000s.
I was working on making dinner today, when an onion I was slicing up slid under my hand, and I ended up doing the knife-equivalent of whacking my thumb with a hammer. For such a relatively small wound, it bled a surprising amount. Which brings us to today’s word.
imbrued, verb – past tense of imbrue, to stain, particularly with blood
Learned from: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Playstation 4, PC, Switch, XBox One, mobile)
Developed by ArtPlay, Wayforward
Published by 505 Games (2019)
When I found my first Imbrued Skull, I thought it was a typo of “imbued.” But the rest of the translation had been pretty solid, and nothing in the item’s description suggested it was imbued with anything (except perhaps blood). So, on a whim I looked it up, and yeah, it’s just a very tongue-in-cheek play on words, considering the game it’s from.
I actually kind of respect that, because while <i>Bloodstained</i> is <i>Castlevania</i> in everything but name, it’s got enough self-awareness to give it a slightly playful identity all its own. Sure, there’s themes of human experimentation, and demonology, and all that, but you’ve also got a bumbling villager who keeps getting lost, despite all your efforts to help him get home, an old lady who just wants to eat all her favorite foods one last time before she dies, and the occasional fourth wall-breaking joke. And somehow, it all works.
What a terrible night to have a bloody hand injury…
Well, two days ago marked the official start of a new era in United States politics. That sounds a bit melodramatic, but the past four years have felt much, much longer. And I know the problems inherent in, and responsible for those four years won’t just go away overnight, but we can hope they were ultimately an aberration. Which brings us to today’s word.
ergodic, adj. – the tendency for a system to even out to a baseline value over time
Learned from: Oxenfree (Playstation 4, Mac, Mobile, PC, Nintendo Switch, XBox One)
Developed by Night School Studio
Published by Night School Studio (2016)
Disclaimer: The definition above is significantly simplified. The exact meaning is rather technical, and seems to vary slightly depending on which dictionary I use to look it up. This is perhaps fitting, considering the term in the game applied to a theory of thermodynamics.
Oxenfree is an interesting horror-themed adventure game. Sort of a sci-fi, coming of age, ghost story…kind of. You play (mostly) as Alex, a girl who gets invited to a party on an abandoned island one summer. Once you’re there, you and your friends accidentally make contact with…something through your portable radio, and end up in a struggle for your lives against the entities on the island. Much like today’s word, this synopsis is over-simplified, but I don’t want to give spoilers, because the narrative really is good, with dialogue choices that seem to matter, and some really neat twists.
Anyway, at one point, you discover the notes of someone who was researching the entities, and it’s in this person’s study that you find, among other things, books on ergodic thermodynamics. You know, just a bit of light reading while your friends are getting possessed, and reality itself is warping around you.
Damn teenagers, always on their radios, opening rifts in space-time…
To say that it’s a stressful time in my country is a criminal understatement. In under two days, we’re going to be ushering in a new president, and while that’s been little more than a formality every other time it’s happened, so long as I’ve been alive, this year is…different. There have already been acts of violence in the past few weeks, and I’m worried something worse is going to happen on inauguration day. On a more personal level, I’m not even going to be home to see it, if something does happen–my job is opening its doors to the public again, starting tomorrow, in a decision that was made rather suddenly. Beyond the anxiety over being stuck at work and potentially missing historic news as it unfolds, I really wish they’d waited until my coworkers and I had gotten the vaccine. All of this brings us to today’s word.
potation, noun – a dring; particularly: an alcoholic drink
Learned from: Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, PC)
Developed by Aquaplus
Published by Atlus USA (2017)
I’m generally not big on visual novels. If they offer you choices in dialog or action that affect the story, that helps a bit. If they offer puzzles or combat, that helps more. The Utawarerumono games do offer Fire Emblem style battles, but they’re few and far between, and the narrative portions that make up the bulk of the game are often tedious and hard to suffer through. There’s always a good story there, but it’s always buried under fanservice, mixed attempts at humor, and side events that often contribute nothing to the plot.
Really, the only reason I’ve played two of these games so far, is because the next Dokapon game is a cross-over with this series (for some reason), and I wanted to be familiar with the characters.
One of these characters is Maroro, a court magician with a very…over the top personality. He’s dressed in garish robes and face paint, his mannerisms are downright foppish, and his speech is positively purple. He’s also kind of a sad sack, who always gets taken advantage of by people around him. Following one of these incidents, Maroro ends up at a bar, drowning his worries in potations he probably can’t afford, and pouring his heart out to you in a litany of flowery prose.
Maroro’s kind of insufferable, but it’s hard not to feel a little bad for him.
I think we can all agree, this has been a terrible year. Does anyone even remember that things started off with a huge chunk of Australia being on fire? Or that the rain forests of Brazil followed suit? When practically half the planet is engulfed in flames, and it somehow faded from the public consciousness, you know it’s been an utterly abysmal year. Which brings us to today’s word.
septage, noun – sewage, human waste, especially: the contents of a septic tank
Learned from: Remnant: From the Ashes (Playstation 4, PC, XBox One)
Developed by Gunfire Games
Published by Perfect World Entertainment (2019)
I recently decided to pick this game back up, after close to a year. Back then, I’d been trying to talk some friends into picking it up to play through the campaign together, but they were too focused on Destiny 2, and later The Division 2, to have time for another game. At the time, I was kind of frustrated by this, so I set the game aside, until this past month, when I decided to just try to soldier through it on my own.
This was a mistake.
Remnant is a perfectly fine game, if a bit light on setup/story. The procedurally-generated levels randomize more than just the maps, but also quests, and even bosses…and this is where things fell apart for me. I was playing a long-range character, and the first boss I came to relentlessly charged in, giving me no room to breathe or set things up. Worse, he periodically spawned other enemies that charged in at me…and these guys explode when they get close. It was a nightmare…for one person. And I realized, Remnant is really designed for multiplayer, but the friends I have who are into these sorts of games probably wouldn’t be satisfied with the loot system (enemies don’t drop anything but money and ammo, meaning you’ll never randomly get a better weapon unless you find one on the map…and items don’t reset once you’ve picked something up), or the slow burn it takes to get any cool gear. Faster-paced games have spoiled them.
But, who cares, right? Where’s the word? Well, the loading screens (which I saw a lot of, from dying so much) cycle through item descriptions, mostly for things I never found, because I didn’t get far enough. One of them was some sort of “calling bell,” the description of which described an alien race whose young were incubated in “holy septage” or something like that. I have no idea what these creatures are, or what story significance this has, but it sounds interesting as heck…so I’m a little sad that (at a respectable difficulty setting at least), I’ll probably never experience more of this world. Maybe one of these days I’ll swallow my pride and try again at “normal” or even “easy” difficulty, but that feels wrong, somehow. Right now though, it’s all too frustrating.
Much like this year, and the way my country has handled the pandemic. May 2021 be less shitty.
This is Gorefist, who kept wiping the floor with me. The fact that he sounds like a rejected Rob Liefeld character may be the crappiest thing of all….
December is chock-full of holidays, and regardless of their individual religious connections, there’s a very good reason for that: the winter solstice. During the darkest time of the year, when the days–let alone the nights–are freezing, and light seems to be fading from the world, people needed an excuse to be happy. Even before 2020. Today’s word isn’t the happiest, but it does fit, thematically.
fuliginous, adj. – sooty, smoky, dirty
Learned from: Darkest Dungeon (PC, Mac, mobile, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Switch, XBox One)
Developed by Red Hook Studios
Published by Red Hook Studios (2016)
I have a certain fondness for games that are punishingly difficult: Dark Souls and its ilk, the Shin Megami Tensei series, etc. Darkest Dungeon is no exception. Your characters are as likely to go insane from the stress of exploring your family’s estate, as they are to die of actual physical damage. Pathological fears, obsessive compulsions, and strange fixations can cripple them more than any injury or disease. And sometimes when one of them succumbs to this stress, they have some colorful, almost H.P. Lovecraft-level purple prose to accompany it–such as the occultist who cried out about the pull of the “fuliginous abyss” calling to him, or something like that, before he lunged for the clearly evil altar in the middle of the room.
So yeah, your characters will occasionally do things that are outside your control, and those things can sometimes lead to the death of your entire party, like when they activate a ritual to open a rift in time and space, and some tentacled horror picks them apart, one by one. As long as you don’t mind setbacks like that, it’s an incredible game.
Earlier this week, a regional landmark suffered a terrible blow. August had been a pretty dry month up until the end, and the sudden heavy rains we started getting caused the roof of a local theater to collapse. To add insult to injury, a section of the roof over the stage had actually been replaced, just a few years ago (that section stayed up). It’s a huge amount of damage to what had been a beautiful old building. And the real kicker? An initial investigation suggests that the rainwater pooled because the drainage channels had been blocked by pigeons, of all things. Freaking pigeons. That brings us to today’s word.
collet, noun – a flange designed to hold a gem
Learned from: Blasphemous (Switch, PC, Playstation 4, XBox One)
Developed by The Game Kitchen
Published by Team17 (2019)
There aren’t many “normal” items to find in Blasphemous, and the Dove Skull certainly doesn’t break that trend. The actual skull of a bird, described as being “drilled as a collet,” it’s a trinket you can equip to slightly bolster your defense. It’s slightly morbid, but compared to a lot of the items in the game, it’s not that bad.
I’m not going to go much in depth on the game today, because the damage to the Vista Theater is still so fresh in my mind. The photo below really illustrates how bad the situation is, but if you find yourself wanting to help, please consider making a donation to try and help them start putting the pieces back together. Thank you.
Finally, perhaps we can take something positive away from this. If something as common and unremarkable as pigeons can collapse a brick and mortar structure with their nests, maybe there’s a chance that normal folks like you and me can change the world on a large scale as well–just in a more positive context.
I’m not going to say “happy Easter,” because most of the things that people seem to like best about the holiday are things that they really shouldn’t be doing right now. If you’re having an egg hunt, I hope it’s indoors, or that you have a fenced lawn. Much as you miss your families, you really shouldn’t have them over for dinner. And if you’re smart, you’re not going to church, because if there are a bunch of people clustered together, the virus doesn’t care where they are. It’s understandable if this makes you feel sad, frustrated, or even guilty, but staying home and staying safe is objectively more important than putting yourself and others at risk, simply because tradition calls for it. And in a roundabout way, that brings us to today’s word.
biliary, adj. – of, or relating to the bile ducts or gall bladder
Learned from: Blasphemous (Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, XBox One)
Developed by The Game Kitchen
Published by Team17 (2019)
Blasphemous is essentially Catholic Guilt: The Video Game. It’s a 2D metroidvania full of quasi-religious imagery, where everything joyful is a sin, and if a person is suffering, that means they’re blessed. It’s twisted and grim, and a perfect example of a Kickstarter project done right. You play as the Penitent One in Silence (there are other Penitent Ones with different burdens they carry), as he tries to atone for whatever sins he’s committed, by slashing his way through an oppressive world suffused with twisted faith. Your sword is gradually piercing its way into your own flesh, you regularly anoint yourself with the blood of your foes, and your health items are biliary flasks (that admittedly look more like they’re filled with blood than bile).
In short, the game is metal. Less short, it’s a beautifully realized world, with great pixel art, plenty of secrets to find, and gameplay that’s a comfortable challenge. So if you’re stuck at home today, and looking for something new to play, consider giving this one a shot.
I could make a “he is risen” joke, but that’s low-hanging fruit. Also, bad grammar.
For this entry, I find myself in the odd position of writing about a game that hasn’t been released yet. I’ll explain in a moment.
oniric, adj. – variant of oneiric: dreamlike or pertaining to dreams
Learned from: Iris and the Giant (projected platforms: PC, PS4, Switch, XBox One)
Developed by Louis Rigaud
Published by Goblinz Studio, Maple Whispering Limited (projected release: 2020)
So, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed today, and an ad for this game showed up, proclaiming it to be a “roguelike oniric deckbuilder”. I knew what two of those words meant, but I’d never heard the term “oniric” before. After looking it up, and perusing some of the screenshots on Steam, I can say it does look rather dreamlike. As a fan of deckbuilding games (100+ hours in Slay the Spire, and counting), and the randomness of roguelikes, I may have to give this one a shot whenever it comes out–I almost feel I owe it that much for already teaching me a new word.
I do love how indie games are willing to experiment with different art styles.
There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just go the direct route. I was going to do a Thanksgiving post, but around that time, my cat was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor that was dramatically lessening her quality of life. After making one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make, I haven’t felt terribly witty. She was a wonderful little creature, and I miss her every day, but at the same time, I know life has to go on. It just might take me a bit of time to get back into the swing of things. Baby steps, and all that. Which brings us to today’s word:
lacrimation, noun – excessive crying
Learned from: Remnant: From the Ashes (PS4, PC, XBox One)
Developed by Gunfire Games
Published by Perfect World Entertainment (2019)
A lot of people refer to Remnant as “Dark Souls with guns,” which is a disservice for several reasons. First, that title better fits Immortal: Unchained, and second, because Remnant is really more reminiscent of Diablo than Dark Souls. There’s a strong emphasis on loot (though it’s more crafting than finding), there’s a strong multiplayer component, and its levels are procedurally generated. It’s also a really good game, which makes it kind of a shame that it’s being largely overshadowed by Borderlands 3, which came out just a bit after it.
The story takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth, that’s been overrun by malignant, tree-like creatures called The Root. Exactly how they came to invade is revealed bit by bit, but in broad strokes, it involves experiments conducted on entities called Orphans, that opened up passages between different worlds. The logs from these experiments read like something from the SCP Foundation, which I actually rather like. Anyway, on particular entity named Clementine reacted to other Orphans with lacrimation.
Too much more beyond that gets into spoiler territory, and while the story isn’t necessarily the strongest part of Remnant, it’s still worth experiencing fresh. And it’s worth checking out just for the solid gunplay, frantic boss fights, and cool monster designs.
Brain Rot 