Tag: third-person shooter

Always the odd one out

When I first began writing this blog, I hadn’t really intended to ever really get political; I just wanted to have a nice little corner of the Internet, where I could educate people a little bit, and ideally make them laugh in the process. But those are both things which seem anathema to the incoming administration, given their version of humor is coldhearted and cruel, and they’re planning on dismantling the Department of Education, and probably replacing it with a system where the only correct answer on any given test question is “Jesus.” If they aren’t already, education and entertainment will soon be inherently political acts by default. Which, in a roundabout way, brings us to today’s word.

theotropic, adj. – tending towards religion

Learned from: Snowbreak: Containment Zone (PC, mobile)

Developed by Seasun Games PTE. LTD.

Published by Seasun Games PTE. LTD. (2023)

For a time, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to try out a few gacha games, to see what all the hype was about. Sadly, none of them held my interest for more than a week. Snowbreak seemed like it might be an exception at first, with gameplay that was more a third-person shooter than an action beat ’em up, but the shine wore off pretty quickly–the fact that character voices would randomly change languages, with no way to set them back, certainly didn’t help.

The story is a convoluted sci-fi yarn centering around Titans that have been wreaking havoc on humanity, and the handful of superpowered sexy ladies (because, of course) who are fighting against them. Your character gets wrapped up in all this after being exposed to a toxic substance called Titagen (I think), which instead of killing him, alters his brain chemistry and growing theotropic nerves in his grey matter that…you know, I don’t even know. The whole thing ends up being a justification to have your sexy female operatives run around disappointingly tiny environments, shooting cannon fodder enemies, and fighting the occasional bullet-spongy boss.

If the levels weren’t so small, or there was more to do between lengthy infodumps and spinning for loot boxes, I might’ve given Snowbreak more of a chance. Alas, it didn’t do anything to make itself more compelling than the other games I tried in this genre, so I’ll never know if all the terms appropriated from Norse mythology ever solidify into a coherent plot.

But hey, at least it’s free. If your backlog is smaller than mine, you might find this one more worthwhile.

No catchy title this time

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.

Remnant-From-the-Ashes

Even the dragons are distinctive.