October Gaming - Be Very Afraid

[Sharecrow]

I actually played Haunted House for one of these years ago. It’s surprisingly creepy. Outstanding game.

Yeah, I would definitely check out the original as well. Seems great.

It has like ten difficulties. I got just steps away from completing it on the hardest difficulty but failed. I could beat the others though. They get progressively more stressful the more you increase the difficulty.

[Sharecrow]

Have been playing Callisto Protocol mostly. A few things I’ve noted elsewhere, but it’s a pretty decent game. But it’s a linear adventure game - not a horror game. Linear games can work as horror and horror games can work as horror…but this one is an adventure game with horror skins. It’s shocking to me that the folks that made this game also made Dead Space, which worked so well as survival horror. Maybe they were trying to make a different kind of game…

The stuff this game could do to be horrifying but doesn’t is introducing uncertainty to what comes next. Everything is scripted and predictable. One of the most horrifying moments in the first Fatal Frane was when a scripted ghost DIDN’T show up when it was supposed to. It made me wonder…it made me worry…

Also getting in the player’s head can make it scary, this game has little emotive resonance to anyone that hasn’t been stuck in a prison on one of Jupiter’s moons. There’s not much there to identify with for most people.

Finally, putting players in unsafe situations they can’t get out of is key to building stress. This game tries to do it but doesn’t succeed as a rule.

I’ll probably vent more later but those are my initial thoughts…

[Sharecrow]

I beat The Callisto Protocol yesterday. I do think I’ll give hard mode a try and also combine it with my collectibles run. Decent game. No surprises though…

[Sharecrow]

Hard mode isn’t too much harder than normal mode. Am 75% through it now. But I’ve got to take a moment to vent about a glitched collectible. I either picked it up and it didn’t register or it never spawned where it’s supposed to be at all. I’m not sure which but both situations are irksome. With no chapter select and not want to risk it reoccurring in a NG++, I’ll have to play again on a fresh save if I decide to go for it. That’ll so be easy mode though and shouldn’t take long as good as I’ll be at this by then.

How frustrating though. There’s been other glitches but nothing I couldn’t overlook until this one. Grrrr! Snarl!! You’re a murderer! You’re a sadist! Goodbye! Goodbye!

[The Shoemaker]

I don't have any spoky games lined up at the moment, but I'm looking to get RE4 Remake sometime this fall when it's on sale, sp ot might be a black friday game if that's the case!

[Kong Wen]

Anyone else have their sites set on a horror game this year? Watching any horror films or reading any horror? Post thoughts here!

Oh! I picked up that Carrion game on PS5, where you play as the horrific monster and you're trying to escape from the research facility, brutally murdering humans along the way. I'll play that in October!

As promised, I streamed a couple hours of Carrion tonight on my Twitch and YouTube channels. It was pretty fun. I wouldn't say it's among the best Metcastlevania games I've played, but the premise of playing as the horrific monster does carry it a long way. Sadly, many of the puzzles so far involve avoiding highly OP human guys with weapons and shields that melt huge horrific monsters to goo in seconds... I was hoping to be more of a powerhouse, alas.

[Sharecrow]

It would seem that Symphony of the Night has taken priority over Callisto Protocol (probably due to its being a much better game). I usually boot that one when I’m playing PS5. I still plan to platinum both though, in both cases, I believe I missed a missable trophy (SotN due to aggression and Callisto Protocol due to a glitch). I’ll get there, though…

[Sharecrow]

I’m on the last chapter of Callisto Protocol hard mode now. Again, I’ll have to replay to get collectibles because of glitches. Oh well…

I did beat SotN and, though I loved it, I don’t love it enough to complete it at this time. So next in chronology is Bloodlines which I’ve never played before and which I just started. Good times…good times…

[Sharecrow]

I died quite a bit - especially in the last chapter - but I somehow beat Callisto Protocol in hard mode. Now to check to see if I can get the collectibles in a fresh save without any of them glitching.

Still working on Bloodlines too. I don’t think I’ll get to RE2 this month as Metal Gear and Star Ocean are both coming out very soon.

[The Shoemaker]

Mentioned in the chat but I played through and beat Castlevania III for the first time. Great game, but man is it tough.

I also decided to give the first Castlevania a go and it holds up pretty well. Less options than Castlevania III obviously, but I appreciated the lower difficulty (still pretty tough though!)

I don't think I'll have much time for other Spooky gaming this month with Mario Wonder here soon. Waiting for RE4 Remake to go on sale otherwise I would have played that. I see the Dead Space Remake is coming to game pass at the end of the month - never played the game so that might be an option.

Otherwise I'm thinking about trying some of the later Castlevania's. I know Symphony of the Night is well regarded, but I don't have access to that on a handheld oddly enough. Any recommendations between the GBA and DS games?