Samantha Lienhard's Blog, page 81

Celebrating All Things Spooky 2020: Top 5 Upcoming Horror Games

This month we’ll be talking about lots of horror games that are already out, but what about those that haven’t been released yet? Here are the five upcoming horror games I’m looking forward to the most.

5. Abstraction

All we really have for Abstraction so far is a tiny teaser trailer and a Steam page, but it’s enough for me to keep my eye on it. Abstraction is an old-school survival horror game with retro graphics, fixed camera angles, and puzzles. It follows a young woman named Vi who wakes up in an abandoned house with no memory of what happened.

It’s specifically inspired by the classic Silent Hill and Resident Evil games, which is the main thing that caught my attention. I love those games, so I hope this one comes along nicely as development continues.

4. Resident Evil Village

We have to talk about Resident Evil Village, aka Resident Evil 8. What is a huge title like Resident Evil doing so low on this list? Well, I still have some misgivings about it. After how much I loved the Resident Evil 2 remake, I want to believe Resident Evil Village will be another true survival horror game, but they did say there will be more action than there was in Resident Evil 7.

Of course, I’ll have more to say about that once I actually play Resident Evil 7 to catch up… which should be very, very soon.

(Resident Evil 7 was actually supposed to be the first horror game I played this October, but then I ran into hard drive troubles.)

3.The Medium

Bloober Team’s games have been somewhat hit-or-miss for me, but I really like the look of their next game, The Medium. It has a really creepy and unsettling vibe that leaves me hopeful it will fill some of the void left by Silent Hill.

Over the summer, I interviewed Bloober Team about the game, and everything they’ve shown since then has increased my interest. The Medium is about a medium with the power to see the spirit realm, which will come into play for puzzle-solving as well as using psychic abilities for combat.

Somehow I got it into my head that The Medium was due out in October, but it actually has a “holiday 2020” release window, so it looks like I’ll be waiting a little longer…

2. Amnesia: Rebirth

You know what is coming out this month, though? Amnesia: Rebirth!

I was thrilled by the announcement of Amnesia: Rebirth, especially since it should be a return to the unsettling horror of Amnesia: The Dark Descent since Frictional Games is handling it directly again.

You play as a woman named Tasi, who wakes up in the desert of Algeria and must retrace her journey and survive the horror facing her. Amnesia: Rebirth is due out on October 20, and I can’t wait to play it.

(However, I still need to play Soma and the Penumbra games… perhaps this month?)

1. Forgotten Memories (Switch version)

Once upon a time, I heard about an upcoming survival horror game called Forgotten Memories. It was about a woman named Rose searching for a missing girl in an abandoned asylum, and it notably included Silent Hill voice actors in its cast. Forgotten Memories was planned for mobile devices as well as PC and consoles, but unfortunately the latter versions were cancelled.

This year I finally decided that mobile or not, I was going to play Forgotten Memories – only to discover that my tablet is too old. On a whim, I sent the developers an email asking if it will ever come to other platforms… and they responded to say the Switch version is in development right now!

The official Facebook page has some screenshots of the Switch version, although it’s unclear when it will be ready. Nevertheless, I can’t wait, and I’m looking forward to finally playing Forgotten Memories.

Conclusion

These five upcoming horror games have my attention. Which are you looking forward to the most?

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Celebrating All Things Spooky: D

Let’s kick off this year’s horror reviews with a classic: D.

When D came to Steam and GOG a few years back, I was intrigued by it because it comes up occasionally when people discuss classic horror games/series.

D originally came out in 1995, so it predates Resident Evil. It’s an adventure game with a big focus on full-motion video (to the point where Wikipedia considers it to be an interactive movie), and the graphics hold up surprisingly well considering how old it is.

You play Laura, a young woman who rushes to the scene upon learning her father has inexplicably gone on a murder spree, and finds herself in a mysterious castle. The game has no save system and a real-time deadline; if you don’t finish within two hours, you’re forced to start over from the beginning.

I’m not a fan of timers in games, but it doesn’t bother me so much when the game is so short – and it did increase the tension in a game that otherwise isn’t very scary.

D is old, and it feels it. Most of the horror moments just fell flat for me. On the other hand, you have to consider it in the context of when it came out, and in that way, I can still appreciate it. Beyond that, it does a decent job of building up its atmosphere, if not in the cutscenes than at least in the mood of the castle itself.

And while exploration is painfully slow (you pick a direction and wait while the character slowly walks forward, because pretty much everything is FMV), the puzzles are still pretty solid. Some of them have aspects that are clearly meant to waste some of your precious two hours, but overall they hold up well.

In short, D isn’t quite a new favorite and it definitely feels dated, but it’s interesting to check out such an old entry in the history of horror games.

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Celebrating All Things Spooky 2020

October is here, and so it’s time to begin our annual celebration of all things spooky, creepy, and otherwise fitting for the month of Halloween.

Celebrating All Things Spooky returns this year with a month of sales, contest opportunities, and horror game reviews!

Sales

First up, for the entire month of October, ebook copies of my horror stories The Book at Dernier and It Came Back will be on sale for $0.99 each at Amazon.

The Book at Dernier follows a scholar as his obsessive research leads him into a world of dark rituals, eldritch knowledge, and growing madness. It Came Back sees a young woman return to her childhood home, where she discovers a series of letters that recount her family’s dark secret as a demon begins to stalk her nightmares.

My other stories and my zombie comedy The Zombie Mishap are not on sale, but you can check them all out here.

Next, last October I wrote the script for a horror visual novel called Not It, set on Halloween in a small town where it is said that a serial killer’s spirit returns each Halloween to exact revenge. It’s available for free, so be sure to check it out!

I’ve worked on a handful of other horror games as well, and you can find them all here.

Contest

Moving on, it’s time for our Celebrating All Things Spooky 2020 contest!

This year, the available prizes are:

Two Till Midnight (gift sent through Steam)
Alien: Isolation (gift sent through Steam)
Those Who Remain (gift sent through Steam)
Dead Age (Steam code)
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (Steam code)
Lakeview Cabin Collection (Steam code)
eBook copy of The Book at Dernier
eBook copy of It Came Back
$15 sent through PayPal
You pick a game for me to review!

If you choose the review option, your chosen game must be something either I already own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in November.

Rules:

No purchase is necessary.
Only comments made between October 2, 2020 at 12:01 AM EST and October 31, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any blog post here = 1 point.
1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on a Celebrating All Things Spooky blog post = 2 points.
You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
You must have at least 10 points at the end of the month to win.
The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and so on, until all prizes have been given out.
The winner will be contacted by November 2, 2020.

Remember, you have between now and Halloween to earn enough points to win a free horror game or one of the other prizes.

Reviews

And as usual, this October will be filled with horror game reviews, so check back throughout the week for 2020’s celebration of horror!

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Atelier Ryza is a Fun (Re)Introduction to the Series

This morning, I beat Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout.

(I played the Switch version because I wanted to play it handheld, although I finally gave up on finding a reasonable price for the physical Switch copy and bought it during an eShop sale.)

Ryza is considered an excellent introduction to the Atelier series, and in a lot of ways I felt like I was trying the series out… even though this isn’t actually my first Atelier game. I played Atelier Firis, which I reviewed for MonsterVine. I wasn’t too captivated by it except for the alchemy system, largely because the time limit for the first part of the game stressed me out. That put me off the whole series for a while, but since Ryza has no time limit, I decided to return.

That turned out to be a great idea.

Atelier Ryza is really fun. The main character, a girl named Ryza, is bored by life in her quiet island community and dreams of going on adventures. When she and her friends meet an alchemist, she discovers she has a talent for alchemy as well and begins pursuing that while exploring the mainland.

The characters and story never became too compelling, but it had some cute moments. More importantly, the gameplay was fun enough that I didn’t mind not being hooked by the plot.

Alchemy requires materials, which you gather using a variety of tools and then bring back to your atelier to craft items. Many recipes have new recipes that can be unlocked from them, so it created a fun gameplay loop of gathering everything in sight, crafting items, unlocking new items that in turn can unlock even more items, and then repeating the progress (with some story progression thrown in to reach new areas and new materials).

Combat took a bit of getting used to. It’s still in the broad category I’d consider “turn-based,” as it uses an ATB system and you pick your moves from a menu. However, it’s a really fast ATB system, and at first it was a bit overwhelming.

Once I adjusted to it, though, I liked it. I would have enjoyed it more with a traditional turn-based or ATB system, but it has a lot of fun features like performing specific actions requested by a character to trigger their follow-up attack. It’s a strange blend, though, to have such a fast-paced combat system in a game that is otherwise pretty laid-back and relaxing.

Overall I enjoyed my time with Atelier Ryza quite a bit and I’m looking forward to the sequel.

It’s also been brought to my attention that most Atelier games with time limits only pass time when you choose to perform an action, rather than the way Firis handled it, so that makes me cautiously interested in trying one of them sometime. Atelier Ryza reintroduced me to the series, and the only question left is which Atelier game I should try next.

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Final Fantasy XVI Possibly Rated M, Website Coming Soon

Final Fantasy XVI wasn’t featured at TGS, but we did get a tiny handful of new details.

First, there is reason to believe Final Fantasy XVI might be rated M.

Emails sent out by Square Enix about Final Fantasy XVI in PAL regions display an age rating of PEGI 18.

(The email sent in North America just says “rating pending,” but a PEGI 18 rating would most likely mean an M rating from the ESRB.)

This is a provisional rating, so it doesn’t necessarily mean the final game will be rated M. If it is, though, it would be the only M-rated Final Fantasy game besides Type-0.

Now some people are jumping in joy that we’re “finally” getting an M-rated Final Fantasy, as if a higher rating is a sign of higher quality, which I disagree with. Other people are already mad that it will be edgy for the sake of edginess, which I don’t agree with either. People did wonder if certain parts of the Final Fantasy VII Remake (such as the trail of blood scene) were changed because the original couldn’t be done in realistic graphics while still keeping a T rating, so that might explain that.

Personally, I have mixed feelings. I’d certainly play it if it’s rated M, but it doesn’t feel necessary (and the number of people praising it as meaning the series has finally grown up is off-putting). On the other hand, we know from games like Dual Destinies that sometimes an M rating comes from unclear reasons.

Moving on from the provisional rating, there was a Final Fantasy XIV panel at TGS during which Yoshi-P commented briefly on Final Fantasy XVI.

He didn’t say much, but explained that the trailer used in-game footage rather than prerendered scenes to avoid “See you in 2035!” jokes from America (which they got anyway, by the way) and that the graphics aren’t finalized yet. He also confirmed that a Final Fantasy XVI teaser website will open up in October.

The website will only feature information about the world and characters, while the big information reveal is coming in 2021, but that still means we’ll know more about Final Fantasy XVI next month!

How do you feel about Final Fantasy XVI’s potential M rating, and what do you hope to learn from the teaser website?

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Nier Replicant Gameplay, Nier Re[in]carnation Global Release

Yesterday was Square Enix’s “We Have a Decent Amount of New Info” Nier presentation at TGS, and one thing I was looking forward to was finally getting to see more of the upcoming Nier remaster/remake.

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… received a new trailer and indeed a decent amount of new information, including a release date. It will be out on April 22 in Japan and April 23 in the west, for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

The west got different cover art, but it’s reversible if you like the Japanese cover art better.

They also announced an awesome-looking limited “White Snow Edition” that comes with a grimoire pin set, seven script books, a two-disc soundtrack, and a steelbook case, and I was about to pre-order it when I noticed it costs $159.99. I’m not sure I want it that much.

Anyway, we also got to see some of the combat for the first time.

It looks great. My impression from what they showed is that it’s pretty much the same combat as in the original, but faster and smoother. It looks like it will be a lot of fun to play.

In short, I’m excited for Nier Replicant even though I just played the original last year.

They also touched on the upcoming mobile game Nier Re[in]carnation, and yes, it’s coming to the west! While there aren’t many details yet, a global release for the mobile game has been confirmed. I’m not crazy about mobile games, but I want to at least give it a try.

TGS is getting into full swing now, so we should have more exciting news ahead. (I had brief excitement over apparent confirmation of a new Yakuza game being announced, only for that to now be denied as a misunderstanding.) What do you think about the Nier Replicant gameplay/

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TGS 2020 Hopes and Predictions

The Tokyo Game Show begins tomorrow, so let’s talk about some hopes and predictions.

(Keep in mind that since this is a Japanese event, localization news from TGS is pretty unlikely.)

Ace Attorney 7 got its own article, and I’m still hopeful it will appear in one of Capcom’s scheduled “Additional Information” time slots.

Final Fantasy XVI had been a possibility, but it was announced at the PS5 showcase instead. While there’s still a chance it could appear at TGS, I don’t think we’ll hear much about it until 2021.

Square Enix has scheduled a “We Have a Decent Amount of New Info” presentation for the Nier series tomorrow. I’m hopeful this means we’ll finally get a good look at the Nier Replicant remaster/remake.

Babylon’s Fall is also listed in their lineup. It’s not on the schedule, but I’m hoping for at least a full trailer to finally show us what the game is like, if not a release date.

Jumping back to Capcom, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is featured in their lineup and on their schedule. I really want to see what the combat system is like in the sequel, so even though they didn’t devote much time to it in the Monster Hunter Direct, maybe we’ll get a more extensive preview at TGS.

Sega and Atlus will probably show more of Shin Megami Tensei V, and Sega also has a time slot that includes “the latest information concerning the Yakuza series.” Yakuza 7 came out in Japan in January, so it could be time for a new game announcement… perhaps Judgment 2? I’d also really like to see an announcement of a Kenzan Kiwami, since they previously said Kenzan getting a Kiwami remake is its best chance at localization.

Of course, I’d love to get a The World Ends With You sequel announcement (but I don’t expect it), news on Bayonetta 3 (it has to happen eventually), and remasters/ports of No More Heroes I & II (GungHo Online Entertainment is there, so maybe?), and I greatly need a Final Fantasy VII Remake 2 trailer, but that seems pretty unlikely.

What do you hope and/or expect to see at TGS?

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CyberConnect2 Teases New Original RPG

In addition to PAX last week and TGS this week, there have also been a few indie game showcases recently.

Today’s asobu Indie Showcase included the surprise announcement that CyberConnect2 is working on a new, original RPG.

The only thing revealed so far is its title, Senjou no Kuuga or Kuuga of the Battlefield. According to the translation from Siliconera, CyberConnect2 president Hiroshi Matsuyama said that this will be the first game developed under their new strategy, which is to develop smaller games alongside larger projects.

Since Senjou no Kuuga is an original IP, they were able to announce it at an indie event.

CyberConnect2 is the developer of the .hack series, and the main reason this news caught my attention is because I enjoyed .hack//G.U. Last Recode and hope to see more .hack games. They also developed Asura’s Wrath and many other titles, including the recent Dragon Ball Z Kakarot.

They currently have four other known titles in development. These are Kimetsu no Yaiba: Hinokami Kepputan (cited as one of those large-scale games that will take more time), a game in the Little Tail Bronx series called Fuga: Melodies of Steel, a parkour action game called Tokyo Ogre Gate, and a sidescrolling game called Cecile. Wikipedia says they also have a VR game in development, but I couldn’t find out anything about that.

Anyway, it’s good to see CyberConnect2 working on a new original RPG, and I hope we learn more about Senjou no Kuuga soon.

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Will a New Ace Attorney Be Announced at TGS?

I didn’t get the Crossbell news I was hoping for yesterday (although NISA did name-drop it, which could be a good sign), so now I’ve set my sights on another hope: Ace Attorney 7 at TGS.

Earlier this year, I hoped Ace Attorney would be one of the “major” titles Capcom intends to release, and the upcoming Tokyo Game Show feels like the best time for a new Ace Attorney announcement.

Capcom hasn’t given any indication that Ace Attorney will be featured, but their TGS promotional icons include both Phoenix and Maya.

Either this means Ace Attorney will be at TGS, or Capcom at least views it as a popular enough series to feature here.

Ace Attorney is also part of Capcom’s TGS sale.

Both of these things feel like good signs, especially since it’s been four years since Spirit of Justice came out. Then again, considering what happened the last time Capcom had a big Ace Attorney TGS announcement, I half-expect its only presence (if any) at TGS 2020 will be to announce next-gen ports of the Trilogy.

But here’s hoping for good news! Maybe even an Investigations collection that could give us another chance at getting Investigations 2 in English!

Do you expect to se Ace Attorney at TGS?

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Highlights from the PlayStation 5 Showcase and Nintendo Direct Mini

Yesterday’s PlayStation 5 showcase immediately began with the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI.

That’s right, it’s really happening!

Final Fantasy XVI has been officially revealed for the PlayStation 5. It’s currently unknown if it will come to other platforms or not. It’s also been confirmed that this is the mysterious new game from Business Division 3.

Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) is the producer, Hiroshi Takai is the director, and while it hasn’t been confirmed, fans believe Masayoshi Soken is the composer. There’s also reason to believe Ryota Suzuki, who worked on Devil May Cry 5, might be in charge of the combat, since he joined Square Enix earlier this year to work on an unknown action game.

Whether that’s true or not, it’s definitely an action RPG. Now, I’d have been ecstatic if Final Fantasy XVI was turn-based, but I figured the chances of that were pretty much zero. So with that said, I’m excited for Final Fantasy XVI!

Let’s take a look at our very first Final Fantasy XVI trailer.

The bits of story we get in the trailer have me intrigued, and I can’t wait to learn more about it. (I hope it’s not open world, though.) People have jumped to all sorts of conclusions from this trailer, but I think it’s too early to make any definite judgments.

The next game from the showcase that caught my attention was Hogwarts Legacy. Back when rumors started coming out about it, I wasn’t too interested, mainly because it’s open world.

So… I’m still not sure I’d enjoy it. All the same, the trailer actually does make it look pretty interesting. Going with a setting in the 1800s is also an interesting choice, making it far enough removed from the existing series to allow for more freedom. For now, I’m cautiously intrigued by it.

I’m still not sure what to think about Resident Evil Village. I want to be excited for it, but I’m not convinced yet. I’ll need to see more gameplay from it.

Demon’s Souls, on the other hand, looks beautiful. And I suppose Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition is the version I should play if and when I get that far in the series, since it has new content.

Those were the last of the highlights of the showcase for me until the very end (not counting the split second at the start of the FNAF trailer when I thought it might be Silent Hill because it showed something that looks way too similar to the Halo of the Sun symbol), when they teased the next God of War!

And I do mean teased, because it was basically just a logo.

Anyway, the showcase left me with similar feelings as before. I’m definitely getting a PlayStation 5 eventually, but I feel no need to have it at launch. Not enough launch titles interest me.

That was it for the PlayStation 5 showcase, but this morning featured another Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase… and a surprise announcement of Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.

I don’t care at all for the new main Monster Hunter game, but I’m so excited for this! Monster Hunter Stories was a lot of fun, and I was hoping it would get a sequel someday. I didn’t think chances of that were too good, but it’s happening!

There’s still a lot I want to know about Monster Hunter Stories 2, like whether or not it’s still a turn-based RPG, so I can’t wait to see more.

They also announced Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny and finally showed more of Rune Factory 5, both of which I’m curious about even though I haven’t played anything from their series. There was a new trailer for Balan Wonderworld, too. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is also coming to the Switch… today.

All in all, it was one of the better partner showcases we’ve had.

Final Fantasy XVI and Monster Hunter Stories 2 stand out as the games I’m most excited for from the recent showcases. The only thing that could make me happier would be if NIS America’s localization announcement today is Crossbell, but I probably won’t have that much luck.

What did you think of the PlayStation 5 Showcase and the Nintendo Direct Mini?

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