Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 155
January 29, 2016
My Experience With Crowdfunded Games
The latest delay of Mighty No. 9 is only one of several events that cast a shadow over Kickstarter games. Yet at the same time, Kickstarter has produced hits like Shovel Knight, Divinity: Original Sin, and Undertale.
Some people have sworn off contributing to video game crowdfunding entirely, while others say it’s perfectly safe as long as you do your research. Since I’ve contributed to several, let’s take a look at my own experiences with crowdfunded games.
(Note: I’m only looking at projects for video games, so others like the Hatoful Boyfriend Plush Project won’t be discussed here.)
Republique
Now, I didn’t actually fund Republique, since I didn’t have the means at the time. However, I encouraged people to in one of my earliest blog posts.
Since then, Republique came out, and I have it in my Steam library waiting for me to play it.
Asylum
The first game I ever backed was Asylum, in 2013. A new adventure game by the creators of Scratches (an excellent horror game) with a Lovecraftian story? I couldn’t resist.
Asylum had a troubled development and numerous scheduling difficulties, so it still isn’t out. Nevertheless, backers receive regular updates, so I know it will come out eventually.
Among the Sleep
The next game I backed was Among the Sleep, a first-person horror game from a child’s perspective.
It sounded fantastic, and best of all, this is another success story! I played Among the Sleep and reviewed it last year, finding it to be creepy and enjoyable.
To the survival horror fans out there, Among the Sleep is worth checking out.
Ghost of a Tale
One of my only non-Kickstarter crowdfunding contributions, went to Ghost of a Tale, which looked like the closest thing I’d ever get to a Redwall game. (Though there’s one of those in development limbo now, too.)
Ghost of a Tale has gameplay inspired by The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls, and it follows the adventure of a brave little mouse.
It didn’t come out in 2015 as planned, but the developer posts regular updates both for backers and on the official website. (I also backed a tier that included physical rewards, and I got those long ago.)
I have a lot of confidence in Ghost of a Tale, and I can’t wait for it to come out.
A Hat in Time
Another one I’m incredibly excited for is A Hat in Time, a 3D platformer in the style of games like Banjo-Kazooie. Not only did I back it and blog about it, I also had a ton of fun with the early builds released to backers.
I even recorded some of the beta.
A lot of time has passed since A Hat in Time’s Kickstarter, but I’ve had enough fun with the beta to be confident about the game’s future.
Soul Saga
I also played the beta for the next game I backed, the RPG Soul Saga. Few things get me as excited as a classic JRPG, and Soul Saga looked like a game I’d love.
That beta build follows Garen, the tragic villain whose story will be included in Soul Saga. While a later build gave us control of the actual main hero, I spent too much time giggling thanks to Tales of Symphonia to actually record Mithos’s saga.
Left: Mithos as he appears in the game.
Right: Mithos as he appeared in the Kickstarter.
(The chibi versions of Mithos and Elise will now be available to backers as in-game costumes.)
It doesn’t particularly matter to me, since I don’t play RPGs for their character designs, but it did cast a shadow over Soul Saga.
Soul Saga suffered some setbacks, which made me concerned for a while, but we still get regular updates about it. And, like I said, multiple versions of the beta. I’m still looking forward to it, though not as excited as was before.
Mighty No. 9
Oh boy. Yes, even though I’m not a huge fan of 2D platformers or Mega Man, I got swept up in the hype and backed Mighty No. 9.
It worried me when they announced all sorts of tie-ins, because I thought they should wait for the game to come out before banking on its success. Similarly, the disastrous Red Ash Kickstarter made me wonder why they couldn’t just focus on Might No. 9.
Amid all the worries and delays, I got to play the Mighty No. 9 demo… which reminded me that this isn’t one of my preferred genres, so why did I get involved anyway?
Cosmic Star Heroine
After my list of anticipated games for 2015, anticipated games for 2016, and anticipated turn-based RPGs, it’s probably no surprise to see Cosmic Star Heroine on the list.
Despite its delays, this sci-fi RPG has consistently looked like one of the most polished games I backed. Since I’ve already raved about it recently, I won’t go into all that again… but know that I’m very confident this will 1) be released, and 2) be an excellent game.
Kodama
My first experienced with a failed project was Kodama, a 2D platformer about yokai. I may not love 2D platformers, but I found this Kickstarter during the period when I was championing Yo-Kai Watch and writing “Rokurokubi.” Yokai anything got my attention.
Sadly, not enough people shared my interest. Kodama failed, and I’ve heard nothing about it since. Poor Kodama. I’d love to see it given a second chance…
Source
We’ve now entered my period of crowdfunding bad luck, because next I backed the game Source, a gorgeous Metroidvania. I blogged about it alongside two other games… and they all shared the same fate of Kickstarter failure.
Source is still in development, but news is scarce.
The Eldrich Cases: Dagon
If there’s one thing that gets me running faster than “inspired by Banjo-Kazooie” and “inspired by classic JRPGs,” it’s “inspired by H.P. Lovecraft,” so I backed The Eldritch Cases: Dagon immediately.
Dagon was set to be a horror adventure game in the Cthulhu mythos, and we need more of those. Last I heard, it was still in development, but changed to be a more story-focused 3D adventure game than a puzzle-focused 2D adventure game.
It doesn’t sound quite like the game I backed, but I love story-driven games, so I’m ambivalent.
The Great Gaias
The third of the doomed trio I blogged about that day was The Great Gaias (not be confused with the great Gaius, my main reason to recommend Tales of Xillia), another game inspired by classic JRPGs.
It just barely missed making its funding goal, and the Kickstarter fell silent.
However, from the looks of the developer’s website, it’s still being made! I hope for its success, though I can’t help but wonder if I missed an announcement to follow the site, or if backers were somehow left out of the loop.
Luna’s Tale: Curse of the Forgotten Doll
The reason I backed yet another 2D platformer (well, 2.5D) is as forgotten as the doll, but Luna’s Tale: Curse of the Forgotten Doll never got off the ground.
After its campaign failed, the developer vowed to continue pursuing Luna’s Tale, but the website suggests they may have moved on…
H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Lovecraft. Horror adventure game. Charles Dexter Ward. When I saw H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, I went crazy, immediately backed it, and encouraged everyone else to do so, despite it being from the developer that had not yet released Asylum.
The campaign failed, though I have hope Senscape will return to it someday… after Asylum comes out.
Aviary Attorney
Ace Attorney, but with birds? I fell in love with the idea for Aviary Attorney, which successfully launched last month!
There were some concerns over one of its endings not being in the released game, but now that everything is in order, I hope to play (and review) Aviary Attorney soon.
The Dekker Records
I supported The Dekker Records from the start, and although this turn-based noir RPG didn’t meet its funding goal, it didn’t disappear, either.
In fact, I played and reviewed The Dekker Records last year.
It was only the first part, since the Kickstarter failure meant they had to split the game, but it was a lot of fun.
An enhanced version is due out later this year, and I’m sure we can look forward to Part 2.
Happy Hell
3D platformers began to pop up on all sides, and I supported many of them, such as Happy Hell.
Happy Hell’s development is plugging along, with a new update this past week. It’s one of the weirder platformers I backed (a bit Faustian, as I said before), and so far everything seems to be on track.
Clive-N-Wrench
Clive-N-Wrench definitely had Banjo-Kazooie in mind, but despite my love for such games and attempt to help it out, its Kickstarter was a veritable disaster.
Yet Clive-N-Wrench live on! The developer is still hard at work creating the game and sharing updates, so it seems like this one will definitely come to fruition.
Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan
After Clive, I was a bit burned out on crowdfunding projects, so I didn’t back anything for a while… until I spotted Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan. Add action RPG “inspired by the old school ‘Tales of’ series” to the list of phrases that catches my attention.
In addition to a great description, Aurion had something I love to see in crowdfunding game projects: a demo!
After I played the basic demo (and I really should return now that I have a controller), I backed the game and blogged about it. It’s still too soon after Aurion’s campaign to judge its progress, but things seem to be going smoothly.
Muv-Luv
I’ve become a fan of visual novels, so when I heard people raving about how one of the greatest visual novel series ever would finally be localized, I pitched in and backed Muv-Luv.
As near as I can tell, Muv-Luv is a school romance story and its sequels are about fighting aliens. Or something. It sounds crazy and interesting, and it blasted through its stretch goals thanks to the incredible devotion fans have to the original Japanese games.
I really want to see what the craze is about, and so far Muv-Luv’s Kickstarter seems like a safe bet.
Psychonauts 2
Maybe I shouldn’t have done it.
I try not to back crowdfunding projects if they seem at all sketchy. I steered clear of Shadow of the Eternals even though I desperately wanted that game to exist. And I had a bad feeling about Psychonauts 2.
But… it’s Psychonauts 2! I never thought this game would exist at all! No matter the risks, I had to contribute to this game becoming a reality. Time will tell if it was a good decision or not.
In conclusion…
I feel I’ve done well with crowdfunding, with only 2 or 3 games I backed causing me concern and a lot of great games in my future, but what do you think? After hearing my experiences, how do you feel about video game crowdfunding projects? Which of these games looks the most promising… or the most concerning?
Let me know in the comments!
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January 27, 2016
Introducing the Great Detective… Pikachu?
Ah, the great detectives. Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Pikachu, Sam Spade–
Wait, Pikachu?
Yesterday, The Pokémon Company unveiled the latest Pokémon spin-off for the 3DS, Great Detective Pikachu. A young boy named Tim moves to Rhyme City, where he meets Pikachu… who apparently is a detective.
It’s described as a “cinematic adventure game,” so I’m not entirely sure how it will play, but it could be enjoyable. Will it be a traditional adventure game or something else? I can imagine it having an Attack of the Friday Monsters vibe, which would be cool.
And the announcement trailer certainly shows an interesting tone for the game. I can’t get over Pikachu’s voice.
Has The Pokémon Company lost its mind? Or will this be the next surprise success? We’ll know soon, because Great Detective Pikachu is due out on the eShop in Japan next Wednesday!
That seems very fast, but this game didn’t quite materialize from nothing. Back in 2013, players got a quick glimpse of an in-development Pikachu game… which was immediately blocked from the collective gaming conscience due to the sheer amount of nightmare fuel.
The current game looks much less terrifying.
Check out the official website for more details on Great Detective Pikachu.
Will this game be localized? Do we want it to be localized? These things remain to be seen.
If you have no interest in it at all, maybe you’ll be happier to know Hironobu Sakaguchi is working a on a new console game. Everyone else, share your thoughts on Great Detective Pikachu in the comments below!
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January 25, 2016
Yo-Kai Watch is Fun, but Flawed
I wanted to share a screenshot…
…but Miiverse doesn’t allow them.
Now that I’ve finished it, I can confirm Yo-Kai Watch is fun (and definitely not a Pokémon clone). However, it isn’t perfect.
Yo-Kai Watch is set almost entirely within a city. Don’t worry, though. It’s a large, open city, and more sections of it are unlocked as you play.
There are hidden areas, dungeons, a day/night cycle, fish to catch, bugs to catch, yo-kai to battle, and lots of other little things to make exploration exciting. That brings me to my first criticism: the map. It’s a large world and almost nothing on the map is labeled. You can’t scroll it, either. Fortunately, the sidequests are marked, because you’ll get a lot of them.
Sidequests come in several forms. Some are minor fetch quests, others require you to battle certain enemies, and one entertaining quest chain sends you out to find specific locations described through riddles.
The majority of quests, however, revolve around yo-kai.
In the world of Yo-Kai Watch, yo-kai affect humans by inspiriting them. The effect they have depends on the yo-kai. For example, a yo-kai might make you afraid to go outside. Another might make you so carefree you forget your responsibilities.
Nintendo’s Very Important Meeting marketing campaign captured it pretty well.
As you might guess, Yo-Kai Watch has a fairly humorous, lighthearted tone (though not without darker moments). You’ll often have to defeat yo-kai to free people from their effects, or bring yo-kai to inspirit people.
These often have amusing outcomes, such as when you use Noway to help a boy stand up to his girlfriend, only to have him declare there’s “no way” he can say no to her. The humor learns toward irony and sarcasm.
Despite Yo-Kai Watch’s fun writing, though, the story leaves much to be desired. It’s structured like a TV show, with new central yo-kai mischief on each day. These events loosely meander toward an overarching plot, which suddenly rushes to the forefront in the final chapter.
A little more foreshadowing early on and a little tighter storytelling could have made it fun. As it is, though, Yo-Kai Watch’s story is barely present for me to comment on.
Normally in RPGs, I try to complete as many sidequests as possible before I continue the story. I don’t recommend that with Yo-Kai Watch. Oh, don’t rush the story (it won’t let you rush too much, anyway), but don’t be afraid to march through it. Helpful mechanics, like fast travel, are unlocked later in the story, and you can keep playing in the post-game.
The post-game is also where the difficulty ramps up. Throughout the main game, I rarely had trouble with battles. After the final boss, however, the strongest yo-kai show themselves. And they are tough. Plus, the bonus dungeon is Hell. Literally.
(Okay, so it’s the Infinite Inferno.)
Again, no screenshots of my own.
Battling is fun and fairly unique. You have six yo-kai in your party at a time. The three on the top screen are active. They’ll attack on their own, although you can trigger their powerful “Soultimate” moves.You manage the battle’s strategy by rotating who the active members are, using items, charging up Soultimate moves, and purifying inspirited yo-kai.
Yes, yo-kai can be inspirited too, which basically is this game’s version of status effects. To heal them, however, you don’t use items. Instead, you must rotate them out of active combat and purify them. This is done through the touchscreen. Examples include tapping a glass dome around your yo-kai until it shatters or rubbing away purple fog.
Purifying a yo-kai not only removes the status effect, it also awards you bonus experience points for the battle. This is the only game where I looked forward to status effects!
Items can be used both on your team for beneficial purposes, and on enemy yo-kai to try to befriend them. I didn’t enjoy this at all.
Yes, Yo-Kai Watch is about befriending yo-kai and building your team to battle other yo-kai. Its core concept is my least favorite part.
Unlike Pokémon, where you lower your opponent’s health and toss Poké Balls until you catch it, Yo-Kai Watch has you befriend yo-kai by giving them food. Food increases their affection, especially if it’s their favorite (which is not hinted at, so you’ll just have to try different food items–one per battle–and guess).
It also relies heavily on luck.
I’d give a yo-kai its favorite food and end the battle without it befriending me. Sometimes a yo-kai I ignored in the same battle befriended me instead! The randomness was so annoying, I eventually quit doing sidequests that required me to catch different yo-kai. I didn’t care and I wasn’t having fun. Besides, I’ve never been much of a “catch ’em all” player in these sorts of games.
Yo-Kai Watch is a fun, charming game that I really enjoyed… despite some annoying flaws. However, I’ve heard the sequels fix at least two of my complaints! Yo-Kai Watch 2’s story is said to be much better, and they’ve greatly improved the befriending system.
In that case, I can’t wait for Yo-Kai Watch 2!
This is already a pretty long review, and there are still aspects of Yo-Kai Watch I haven’t covered. The Yo-Kai Watch, Terror Time, catching yo-kai outlaws… for a simple game, it’s packed with content. Therefore, if you have any questions about Yo-Kai Watch or aspects I didn’t explain, let me know in the comments!
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Flappy Returns – The Classic Original Bird Game Remake
Three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and Flappy Bird clones.
Okay, that’s not quite true, but attempts to bring back 2013’s hit continue (as do players searching for the game most similar to the original). Today, I’ve been requested to look at another one, called Flappy Returns.
Or, more accurately, Flappy Returns – The Classic Original Bird Game Remake. This title edges into Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue territory (when is Unchained χ coming West, anyway?) and makes it clear the game wants to be as close to Flappy Bird as possible. Even the game screen describes it as a remake.
As with my previous Flappy game reviews, I never played the original Flappy Bird, so I can’t say how close this is to the original. Nevertheless, let’s take a look at Flappy Returns.
It has the same basic gameplay you’d expect from a Flappy Bird game. Tap the screen to make the bird flap and control its height to navigate between the green pipes extending from the top and bottom of the screen. The further you get without crashing (which happens the moment you the top of the screen, the bottom of the screen, or a pipe), the higher your score. You earn one point for each pair of pipes you pass through.
The basic bird is yellow, but you can unlock additional colors if you give the game a 5-star rating. If you enjoy the game enough to give it five stars, this probably means you’ve fallen into the Flappy Bird addiction and will be playing it for quite some time as you try to beat your high score. (Flappy Bird also makes use of Game Center, so you can compare your score to that of others.) In that case, having different birds to look at might change the pace a bit.
As you might guess from the majority of games I play, I’m not really a Flappy Bird person. However, if you’re looking for the core gameplay of tapping to carefully position your bird and fly in between pipes without hitting anything, this delivers. Check out Flappy Returns – The Classic Original Bird Game Remake, available for iOS devices.
Is Flappy Returns the remake fans have been waiting for? What is it about Flappy Bird that makes players seek out similar games constantly? Will the original creator ever make another one? Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below.
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January 22, 2016
The Accidental Zombie is Temporarily Unavailable
Today, I have to make an announcement about my horror/comedy novella, The Accidental Zombie.
Three years ago, Kellan Publishing published The Accidental Zombie. Now, we have parted ways, because I chose not to renew my contract.
I intend to explore other options for The Accidental Zombie, but for now, it’s unavailable. I’ll alert you as soon as the situation changes.
In the meantime, don’t forget I have several other published stories you can check out while waiting for my comedy to return.
Yes, it’s a short post today, but I wanted to make sure to let you all know you can no longer buy The Accidental Zombie. Thank you for all your support!
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January 20, 2016
Resident Evil 0, Paper Jam, Bravely Second, and More
We’ve got a lot of video game news to catch up on, so let’s start with Resident Evil 0!
Like the REmake remaster, Resident Evil 0 has been remastered in HD for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One… yes, once again, not the Wii U, but at least we still have the Wii version.
And for those of you disappointed the REmake HD remaster was digital-only, it’s been bundled with RE0 as the Resident Evil Origins Collection.
Resident Evil 0 isn’t the masterpiece REmake is, but it’s still a good game. If you like the pre-RE4 style of Resident Evil and missed this game during its Gamecube/Wii games, this is a great opportunity to check it out. And the physical release is encouraging!
Hopefully it means Capcom realizes the old-style survival horror format is viable after all, and will keep the Resident Evil 2 remake true to its roots.
Next up, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is due out in two days. I went from terrified to excited once I heard more about Paper Jam’s writing and gameplay, and soon I’ll be able to judge if it’s a worthy Mario RPG or not.
(Now we just need a real Paper Mario game.)
Another one of my anticipated RPGs, Bravely Second, now has a release date! Bravely Second: End Layer won’t be out in North America until April 14, but that gives me time to finally play Bravely Default after thoroughly enjoying the demo.
Bravely Second will also receive a demo.
And a release date is better than a release window, but at least we have the latter for Dragon Quest VII. As announced in the latest Nintendo Direct, Nintendo is localizing the 3DS remakes of Dragon Quest VII and VIII. (Does Square Enix still not have faith in turn-based RPGs in the West?)
It will be available “this summer.” Can I catch up on the series by then?
With all these great games on the horizon, I need to hurry up and play more games (especially in light of Operation Backlog Completion). However, I’ve fallen into the abyss that is Xenoblade Chronicles X, and I hope to claw my way out soon to finish Tales of Zestiria!
Oh, and one last thing: my zombie comedy novella The Accidental Zombie is now available in a bundle with Charlene Mattson’s The Curious Case of Prince Charming. A second bundle containing both books and her sequel, The Glass Slipper Conspiracy, is also available.
Now, before I become hopelessly mired in Xenoblade once again, which of these games (if any) are you looking forward to the most?
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January 18, 2016
Dragon Quest: My Journey Back to Early JRPGs
Given the amount of Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe, maybe the lack of story is a blessing.
With lots of Dragon Quest news catching my eye, I resolved to finally get into the series. After consulting fans on the best place to start, I officially decided to either dig out my copy of Dragon Warrior III or buy the iOS version of Dragon Quest IV.So of course, I played the original Dragon Quest instead.
It wasn’t my intention, but when I went to buy Dragon Quest IV, I saw how cheap Dragon Quest I & II were in the App Store and couldn’t resist. Once I had them, why not start from the top?
I went into Dragon Quest worried I wouldn’t like it. I couldn’t get into the original Final Fantasy, and my memories of Dragon Warrior III revolved around too much grinding and getting frustrated (admittedly, I was 12 at the time). However, Dragon Quest pleasantly surprised me.
The story is as basic as they come. You’re descended from a legendary hero. You must reach the Dragonlord’s castle to defeat him and save the world (and save the princess, though I think that’s actually optional).
Gameplay is also pretty basic. You only have one character, and it’s a simple turn-based battle system.
It technically has an open world, but it didn’t bother me. The sheer difficulty of enemy encounters if I went the wrong way was as much of a deterrent as a physical barrier. I enjoyed edging a little further into new areas to see if I could handle it yet.
And it was nowhere near as grindy as I expected.
As far as I can tell, the iOS port is based on the SNES remake, which rebalanced the gameplay. Maybe that’s why, but I rarely felt like I was really grinding. There was always a new direction to try, a new set of monsters to test myself against.
Only at the very beginning, when I was weak, and at the end, when I had a single goal, did I feel I had to grind.
I liked the gradual sense of becoming stronger as I leveled up, and I loved talking to NPCs to figure out my next objective. Without a story to compel me, I still found myself anxious to return to the game to see if I was right about my next destination.
Of course, Dragon Quest is also short. I don’t think I would have enjoyed such a bare-bones RPG experience for too long. As it was, I enjoyed it, and I understand why it resonated with players way back when it first came out.
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January 15, 2016
Earning My MFA in Writing Popular Fiction
It’s official. I now have a Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.
You may call me Master.
…or not.
It’s been a crazy journey since I first announced my acceptance into Seton Hill’s program. This journey included last summer’s cosplay and book signing.
(Not every graduate program gives you a legitimate opportunity to cosplay Martel.)
It also included the publication of “Rokurokubi,” a short story I first wrote for one of my Seton Hill classes.
And of course, the journey included the creation, development, and revision of Penteract of Blood, my dark fantasy thesis novel.
(Let me repeat, my graduate thesis was a dark fantasy novel.)
The past two and a half years have been a dream come true. I never imagined I’d find a graduate program for genre fiction, let alone one as amazing as Seton Hill.
I took classes on everything from creating villains to writing media tie-ins.
I wrote and polished Penteract of Blood under the guidance of my wonderful mentors, Scott Johnson and Albert Wendland.
I met a wonderful group of writers… and friends.
Graduation photo 4Graduation photo 6
Graduation photo 7
Graduation photo 5
Graduation photo 1
Graduation photo 3And I made many lasting connections that will support me in the years ahead. I approached graduation with both excitement about my degree and sadness that it was over. Now I’m ready to look to the future.
It’s time to send out queries for Penteract of Blood, revise my other novels with the knowledge I gained, and above all, press forward.
Being a writer can be a long, scary road, but it doesn’t have to be a lonely one.
Seton Hill taught me that.
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January 13, 2016
Order to Play Silent Hill Games
Silent Hill is one of my favorite series. It introduced me to the survival horror genre and it’s had a huge influence on my writing, particularly The Book at Dernier.
If creepy supernatural horror and twisted symbolism sound good, you should check out Silent Hill.
But with 8 games, 3 spin-offs, and an HD collection, it can be a bit tricky to know which Silent Hill game to play first.
So, what order should you play the Silent Hill games in? Let’s take a look.
Main Silent Hill Series
To start, let’s focus on the main series. Release order is often a great way to play games, since you’ll see them as they became available. Here are the main-series Silent Hill games in release date order:
Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Silent Hill: Origins*
Silent Hill: Homecoming*
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Silent Hill: Downpour*
*As with all my articles, I have included affiliate links only to the games I honestly recommend.
However, it is not at all necessary to play them in that order. While each individual game is story-driven, most are not connected to one another.
The main exception is Silent Hill 3, which is a direct sequel to the original Silent Hill. You can play and understand Silent Hill 3 on its own, but it’s best experienced after the first game.
Silent Hill: Origins is a prequel to the first game. It, too, is best experienced afterwards… although I didn’t like Origins, and don’t actually recommend playing it at all.
And Shattered Memories (which fans often put down as not a true Silent Hill game, but I loved it) is a “re-imagining” of the first game. In a sense, it’s a unique experience, but it will feel even more bizarre and surreal if you’ve already played the original.
Silent Hill 4: The Room has a few minor connections to Silent Hill 2, but otherwise it stands completely on its own. Unlike Silent Hill 2, which is hailed by many people as the greatest game in the series, Silent Hill 4 is often criticized… but it’s actually my favorite game in the series.
Homecoming, which I consider a mediocre entry in the series, also stands entirely on its own. I believe Downpour does as well, although I haven’t yet had a chance to play it. One of my friends says it’s fantastic.
To recap: you can start the Silent Hill series anywhere, but you’ll have the best story experience by playing the original Silent Hill before Silent Hill 3, Origins, or Shattered Memories.
Spin-Offs
There are three Silent Hill spin-off games:
Silent Hill: The Escape (mobile)
Silent Hill: The Arcade (arcade game)
Silent Hill: Book of Memories (Vita)
If this IS something I should play, persuade me in the comments.
Book of Memories is some sort of dungeon crawler action RPG, which is pretty far from survival horror. It received mixed reviews… dungeon crawler fans might want to look into it, but I think it’s easily skippable.The rail shooter, Silent Hill: The Arcade, was only released in Japan and Europe. It’s also an arcade game, though fans made an unofficial PC release. If you’re dying for an arcade rail shooter, you might enjoy it, but you won’t lose anything if you don’t seek this one out.
Now, I actually played Silent Hill: The Escape. I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s a maze game that sends you on a tedious search for the exit while fending off monsters and searching for batteries before your flashlight dies. The flashlight adds some tension… but the game just isn’t particularly fun or scary.
It’s also been removed from the App Store, most likely due to a sweep of Konami game removals last August. You aren’t missing much.
To recap: the spin-offs can be safely ignored, and Book of Memories is likely the only one you’ll be able to find anyway.
HD Collection
*deep breath* Here we go.
You might have noticed it’s rather hard to find new copies of the Silent Hill games (except for the PC version of Silent Hill 3).
You might also know Silent Hill 2 and 3 were compiled into an HD Collection for the PS3 and Xbox 360, which is much easier to find. So, is the HD Collection worth playing?
Well… yes and no.
On one hand, it’s still Silent Hill 2 and 3. The core games are there.
However, they have… some problems:
New voice actors (though you can opt to use the originals in Silent Hill 2 only)
Dialogue changes (weird minor changes to the script that don’t always match the subtitles)
Some texture/font changes
Minor scene changes
More difficult to see what happens in one of Silent Hill 2’s most important scenes
Changes to Silent Hill 3’s soundtrack
Lack of Silent Hill’s iconic fog (more fog was later patched into the PS3 version only, though not to the same level as the original)
Bugs, glitches, and other technical issues (some were fixed in the PS3 version only)
If the Silent Hill HD Collection is the only way you can play Silent Hill 2 and 3, go for it. But if you can find the originals, even used, it’s the much better option.
In Summary
Konami has disappointed its fans lately, but once upon a time they had a fantastic series called Silent Hill. Survival horror fans should try it. If you’re wondering where to begin Silent Hill, there are only a few games where order matters.
Silent Hill 1 –> Silent Hill 3/Origins/Shattered Memories
Can you start with Silent Hill 2? Yes! Can you start with Silent Hill 4? Yes! Other than the games listed above, you can easily play a Silent Hill game if you haven’t played the others. And even with Silent Hill 3, it isn’t critical.
Have any more questions about where to begin Silent Hill? Let me know in the comments!
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The post Order to Play Silent Hill Games appeared first on Samantha Lienhard.
January 11, 2016
Operation Backlog Completion
Last week, we discussed the oldest games in my backlog as well as the newest ones.
All the while, I’ve muttered about how this year will be different and made vague statements about working through my backlog.
This is Operation Backlog Completion, so we need an end goal!
Let’s try something that’s not too ambitious, but is still a worthy goal. How about 15% of my current backlog? That comes out to approximately 30 games.
In 2016, I will beat at least 30 games. Best of all, I’ll even track my progress for you.
Operation Backlog Completion
This meter will fill as the year goes on.
Well, Operation Backlog Completion has begun. What do you think of my goal? What video game backlog goals have you set for yourself?
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