This season of sin is all the rage because we’re here to embrace the fury and unleash our Wrath upon our enemies. And this might be our most challenging escalation yet.
I’m not sure how fond I am of this mission, but I think that might be because I’m approaching it wrong.
When I’m told the mission is based on the sin of Wrath, I picture going on a complete rampage, gunning down and slaughtering any enemy that crosses my line of sight. Something akin to the game’s final mission, where there are absolutely no restrictions on how we make it to the target. And while this mission is approaching that, not being able to pick up the enemy guns really puts a damper on it all.
That said, I can see what the game wants me to do. I’m expected to set traps and take out my targets through accident kills while dodging all of the other guards. I just don’t want to do it that way. I want to leave a trail of bodies in my wake.
Time will tell, as we come back to this, whether or not I can curb my instincts.
Acharky and I have arrived at the end of our horrific “expedition” in these decrepit old caverns, alongside the horrors that inhabit it. Having ventured deep into the belly of the beast, we have arrived at something of an understanding of what our enemy is, and what they intend to do.
But will it be enough to prevent any further death in this haven for hostility?
It’s clear to me at this point that Supermassive has really begun to hit its stride with these Dark Pictures Anthology games. This is easily the best one they’ve ever produced.
The strongest part of The Dark Pictures is precisely that it is an anthology. Each entry is exactly long as it needs to be in order to flesh out its characters and tell its tale without feeling the need to extend it to a full 8-12 hours in order to justify its cost. If someone had a group of horror movie buffs coming over to their hours for an afternoon, any one of these games would be an excellent choice to bring out for an afternoon of fun and frights, even if they all have work in the morning.
And that time sure to have a number of amazing moments for both the cast and the players. I’m still reeling over how we pulled off bombing the vampire nest without killing Nick in the process. I thought for sure that he had bitten the dust, but we managed to pull it off without any (further) casualties.
In fact, considering that we had more options to screw up between the two of us, I’d say losing only one member of the group is actually a pretty significant accomplishment. Hopefully, when The Devil in Me comes out next year, we’ll have as great if not better luck.
At last, we have arrived at the final season of sin, and the only remaining one is that of Wrath. And our target for today embodies that very sin, beating down his fellow fighters in a fit of blind rage.
Like the raging inferno, it’s time to snuff him out.
I’m a little embarrassed at how long it took me to realize that the target was in The Block, the most obvious location for him to be.
Not the most elegant kill, but it works. I bet I could have used the light switch to knock out the guards in prep for a lethal dose of poison. That said, it did lead to an exciting escape. 🙂
We’ve gone from the horrors of war to horrors of a more supernatural persuasion. And though we would all do better if we worked as a team, old habits and grudges die-hard.
Hopefully, acharky and I can overcome them before it’s too late.
I must admit that I did not anticipate the direction this story was going to take. Historically, Dark Pictures games always have mundane explanations to explain the supernatural elements to their stories, but that’s clearly not the case this time around.
I’m sure if I looked, I would find other vampire fiction where the bloodsuckers are actually parasitic organisms from space. But for me, it’s a novel interpretation of one of the oldest monsters in the books. Certainly not the first one I would come up with, and yet it really works for the story they’re trying to tell.
The other thing worth calling out is how tastefully they handle the Iraqi character, Salim. Given the setting, it would have been so easy to demonize him and make him into an absolute villain. Thankfully, they chose not to take that tact. Rather, he is frequently the most emotionally intelligent character in the game, realizing quickly that there’s no need for the human characters to go against each other.
They also don’t attempt to whitewash the reasons why America went to war in the Middle East for most of my lifespan. Nor do they shirk from the real human costs of the war, both in terms of the damage it did to the Middle East and to the soldiers who were deployed. I was not expected to be allowed to let Jason open up about all of his damage to Salim, but I am thankful the option exists in the game.
Next week is the finale, so look forward to it! ^_^
The season of spooks has once more returned to amaze and terrify in equal measures. And like clockwork, Supermassive Games, the makers of Until Dawn, have released a new entry in their incredible anthology series: The Dark Pictures Anthology. We’re going back to 2003 Iraq, where US and Iraqi soldiers confront the horrors of the House of Ashes.
And naturally, I would never stream a Dark Pictures game without my Dark Duo cohort, Acharky. Only this time, things are different. Acharky has purchased a copy of the game for himself, and we’re playing together online. I’ve been told this is one of the best ways to play a Dark Pictures entry, so I’m looking forward to seeing how our experiences change with this new playstyle.
Now that we’re two hours into our campaign, I can safely say that this is one of the coolest ways to experience such a narrative-heavy game. Because we’re not using the same screen like we were in the previous games (in a manner of speaking), House of Ashes is free to show Chris and I entirely separate scenes at the same time, briefly pausing in the event one of us needs to “catch up”.
It also means that what Chris is experiencing is likely additional scenes that were added to provide new context that wasn’t part of the original game. If we did something similar to this for Man of Medan or Little Hope, I imagine we would see scenes that were not in the original playthroughs we did for those games.
As for the plot itself, the premise has all the potential to get one of those uncritically jingoistic military fluff pieces that glorify the violence and horrors of war. Thankfully, it does not seem to be going in that direction. Nor does it seems to be mere set dressing. I look forward to seeing how the story progresses as we continue our experience.
The Hitman gods have seen fit to offer me yet another shot at redemption. Although no recording of the attempt exists, at one point I had tried to eliminate the Bookkeeper back when he was originally introduced in Hitman (2016). At the time, I failed, getting myself blown away before I could find the ledger and escape.
Let us find out if I’ve gotten better since last we tried this.
No matter how much better at the game I get, there is nothing quite like that tension after completing an objective in an Elusive Target. At that point, there is no going back and the attempt is locked in whether the player succeeds or fails. Normally, that doesn’t last long because all we have to do is escape once the target is dead.
In this case, we actually had to look for the secondary objective afterward. And every second we spend after the target is killed is one more second where everything can fall apart at a moment’s notice. Fortunately, this time we managed to succeed, even if it wasn’t the most elegant performance.
It’s good to get some payback, and a swanky hat as a reward.
At long last, we have arrived at the end of our adventures in Boletaria and its surrounding lands. The archdemons in the four corners of the world, the Dragon God of Stonefang Tunnels, the Old Monk of Latria, the Storm King of the Shrine of Storms, and Maiden Astraea of the Valley of Defilement all lay dead by our hands.
All we have left to do is ascend to the zenith of the Boletarian Palace to take on the person who doomed the world in his bid for power by waking the Old One from his slumber: King Allant.
For people who have experience playing other Soulsborne games, Demon’s Souls is significantly easier than the games that came afterward. Nothing quite illustrates that point like the duel against the False King Allant. When I first played Demon’s Souls way back then, I found this fight extremely tough due to my glass cannon build and lack of experience. And now, with several games under my belt, the fight has been trivialized. There are still few things cooler than a one-on-one duel to cap off a journey like ours, so it still serves as an incredible final setpiece.
And though we missed our opportunity to fight Old King Doran, we did still make the time to take about the twin blades Demonbrandt and Soulbrandt. Lore like this is part of what makes the series. While it’s entirely possible to simply play through these games without putting much thought into the world at large, simply enjoyed the moment-to-moment play, those who desire to explore and understand the world around them are rewarded for their efforts with knowledge of the people and places they interact with along the journey, and how they interact with each other. Although Demon’s Souls is the most traditionally video gamey of the series, presenting itself as a selection of linear levels that can be tackled in any order, it too has a fully realized world waiting for players to discover it.
Having had the idea to do a series on Demon’s Souls for a long time now, I’m so glad that I’ve finally done it. Back when Sam and I were still doing Interactive Friction, we floated the idea of doing Demon’s Souls, but Sam didn’t want to be the one in the pilot’s seat and I didn’t have a good setup at the time. By the time I did, we had both gotten jobs, and all our free time was used up. Thankfully, the PS5 version of Demon’s Souls gave me the perfect opportunity to rekindle this old flame. I doubt I’ll ever play the other Soulsborne games here simply due to their time commitment, but who knows what the future holds…
Another archdemon has been defeated, meaning that two more remain before we can challenge King Allant. The Valley of Defilement and the Tower of Latria are all we have left to challenge, and they probably know we’re coming.
So let them know. Let them squirm. There will be no mercy.
While I’ve spoken about it before, it’s worth repeating how much the change in boss battle music bothers me in this case, because of how dramatically different the tone is between versions. The Maiden Astraea boss fight is a tragedy that we, as the player, are inflicting upon two decent people who are just trying to alleviate the suffering of the wretches of the Valley. Unfortunately for Saint Astraea and Garl Vinland, what they are doing has the side effect of feeding souls to the Old One, and for that reason they cannot be allowed to live. The boss battle music reflects the sorrow and melancholy this fight is intend to evoke.
The remake version attempts to capture this same feeling, but it adds so much to the song that the original melody gets lost. Between the Gregorian choir, the haunting female opera singer, violin and brass instrumentation spliced into the mix, it starts to resemble the music we come to associate with traditionally “epic” video game boss battles. This new theme paints Garl Vinland and Maiden Astraea as powerfully villains we’re heroically slaying. I don’t want to feel that way about this battle. I want to feel like garbage for assassinating a woman and her bodyguard/lover.
I lack the vocabulary to dissect these tracks beyond my own surface-level feelings, but Alex Moukala, a music producer, talks a bit about the technical aspects of it in this video. He’s a lot more positive on it, but that’s because all art is subjective. What works for one may or may not work for another and vice-versa.
As for the Old Monk fight, I must admit that I’m disappointed that we won on our first attempt. This might not be as interesting now as it was back in the day, since they’ve reprised this mechanic in the Ringed City with the Halflight, Spear of the Church boss fight. At the time Demon’s Souls came out, this is a mind-blowing boss fight. The idea that other player could serve as your boss fight was such a revelation. There’s a tension there that simply doesn’t exist with an AI opponent. It’s the equivalent of Dante versus Vergil in Devil May Cry, two people with the same skill, playing by the same rules. I always look forward to that fight every time I play Demon’s Souls.
Next time, we finish our adventure. King Allant waits us at the Boletarian Palace.
A new Season of Sin has arrived in Hitman 3, and this time the name of the game is Envy, a sin embodied by our new Elusive Target. The Ascensionist has entered our crosshairs, and it’s time to eliminate her.
And once that’s done, we get to proceed with the Envy Escalation. Maybe with a rival assassin competing for our title, we’ll have an actual challenge this time.
It was honestly a little disappointing how quickly we completed both the target and the escalation. Both of them fell into our laps with very little effort.
Oh well. Perhaps the next targets will pose a challenge.
At long last, we have the first confirmed kill on an Archdemon: The Dragon God of Stonefang Tunnels. Only three more before we can finally take on the final boss in Boletaria and bring an end to the Old One’s wakefulness.
While the tradition of using item descriptions to tell players about the world’s lore didn’t really take off until Dark Souls, there are pieces of it that you can see here in Demon’s Souls, and the Talisman of Beasts is a prime example. When you save both Sage Freke and Saint Urbain, both of them begin to talk disparagingly of the other while in the Nexus. This stems from Saint Urbain’s belief that the Soul Arts are immoral, and an evil bastardization of the miracles he is capable of.
But the Talisman of Beasts reveals a truth that flips that belief on its head. Specifically, it tells us that the God he prays to in order to unleash his miracles is, in truth, the Old One. As we already know, the power of the Old One is the power of the Soul Arts, the use of human souls as a catalyst for extraordinary feats. While Saint Urbain believes his miracles are the antithesis of the magic practiced by Sage Freke and Yuria the Witch, the truth is that both magic and miracle are one and the same. Both of them are just different schools of the Soul Arts: Two sides of the same coin.
It’s a detail that will totally escape the notice of most players, at least in their first time through the game. However, that only adds to the mystique of the Soulsborne series. The fun is in the discovery, and there’s almost always more secrets to discover.
