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 Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly handles it's narrative in a way that makes me reflect on the characters in this game that is reminiscent of the original Fatal Frame. All God's Village is stuck in a loop caused by a calamity much like Fatal Frame's Himuro Mansion. A tragedy caused by the malicious traditions of elders sacrificing the younger people and children to appease malevolent forces. There is a big difference that separates All God's Village from the Himuro Mansion group.  This distinction involves the utilization of Twins born in the village. The idea being that they are one soul split between two people. And having one of the Twins kill the other would combine them and appease the Hellish Abyss. This tradition persisted until Sae Kurosawa and the Kusabi (Rope Man) returned from the Hellish Abyss and enacted the Repentance. Wiping the village off the map and causing the events of the game to be set into motion.  You play as Mio Amakura, a young girl who has wa...

 Recently, I played through the first Fatal Frame game, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The game is written well and the atmosphere and gameplay segments are good most of the time, with only a minimal amount of annoyances in combat and enemy placement. There weren't many times where I had to look up a guide to figure out the next step. The design for the most part pushes the player in the proper directions. Now, I am going to be going into more detail on the game with light spoilers on the story. In Fatal Frame, the game starts with Mafuyu arriving at the Himuro Mansion in order to look Junsei Takamine. A writer and folklorist who had gone missing along with his assistant, Tomoe Hirasaka, and editor, Koji Ogata. With Takamine wanting to do location research for his next book, the decision to come to the Himuro Mansion would prove fatal. But Mafuyu doesn't know that, He just becomes aware of the disappearance and decides to investigate. After Mafuyu himself goes missing, his sister...

 Mortal Kombat 1 released this month, and the team at NetherRealm Studios has knocked it out of the park. It manages to take the slower game that was MK11 and blow it out of the water. The game feels solid and the characterization is tremendous. It is easily one of the best Mortal Kombat games of all time. I may be a longtime fan and player, but I am extremely casual when it comes to the titles. I usually can only do simple strings and don't go much further than that. The only game I know a full combo in is MK4 with Tanya. And funnily enough that is who I have picked early on to run the new Invasions mode and I am having a blast.  On my list of things to discuss, I have the story-mode, Invasions, and some other little tidbits here and there. I don't usually play ranked, so I won't be talking about it. I'm not that good at the game and I don't feel like wasting time on it when I have other games I would rather be playing. Regardless there is still plenty of other mea...

 The One Piece Live Action has recently released on Netflix and even secured a second season. For One Piece fans like myself, this is a welcomed outcome. More One Piece is generally what I want. While I prefer the Manga and Anime wholeheartedly. This Live Action adaptation serves characters well that are normally left out to dry in exchange for the massive world. One of those characters is Bogard, Garp's right-hand man.  Bogard is only present with Garp and serves him well. There are only a few times that he speaks in the Manga and Anime. Even when he does, it is just in response to other characters. So, it was surprising to see Bogard get more screentime in one season of the Live Action than he has in the entirety of the parent story. Bogard also happens to have a following in the One Piece community. Which is more surprising in the context of information on the character rather than how fandoms can hyper-fixate on smaller characters. Needless to say, the Bogard fandom was fe...

 Recently, I played through both of The Evil Within titles including the DLC for the first game. And in my experience I found the writing of the first game to be lackluster, but filled with interesting set pieces and level design that made me wanting more when it wasn't dragging. So, combat sections really didn't do it for me and there were plenty of rooms that forced you into them. With Sebastian as the main character, it is hard to really discern why he is even a part of this situation. None of the worlds and memories are really his own in this game and it shows because many of the places make no sense. You are simply being transported across the land while killing the horrors of STEM. While Ruben Victoriano is an exceptional villain, Sebastian Castellanos is so not him in that first game in particular. The saving grace of the game comes in the DLC centered around Mobius Agent, Juli Kidman. Since I don't really jive with the plot of The Evil Within base game, I want to fo...

 Last weekend I was watching some of the best fighting game players in the world compete on the grandest stage. While that was exhilarating, this week I am tuning into Flame Fatales. A speedrunning event that raises money for Malala Fund, a charity that advocates and supports for education for girls. The event features women and non-binary speedrunners. This event may not get the recognition that its parent, Games Done Quick, gets, but it deserves it nonetheless. The runners are exceptional and we get to see communities and runners that may not get awarded the same screen time during the big events like SGDQ and AGDQ.  The event is in full swing while in the midst of Day Three. I tuned in for a bit on Sunday, but I was hooked on the runs from yesterday. That hook was when I noticed that Illblleed was being ran. A Dreamcast exclusive that I have never played, yet the speedruns for the game are so fun to watch everytime. This survival horror game is set in a theme park with some...

 Throughout the history of my time with the Mortal Kombat franchise, I have been a staunch supporter of Scorpion. The leader of the Shirai Ryu, Hanzo Hasashi, has a tragic backstory where his entire clan was slaughtered because of the threat they proposed. When I was a child, my draw wasn't the empathy I felt for this murderous spectre. It was the design, the actions, the iconic voice lines. And I think those things don't have to be tied to the mask that is Scorpion. Kuai Liang is now Scorpion in the new Mortal Kombat game and I think that is fine. But I am also worried that Hanzo will be left off the roster for the first time since Mortal Kombat 3. A game that was replaced by the much better Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. So, I want to spend some time going over some of the things that have made me appreciate the character over the years. The Mortal Kombat brand has become ingrained with these characters that sit at the top. Your Scorpions, Sub-Zeros, Liu Kangs, the faces of the fr...