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Silent Hill 25 Years Later: Harry Situations

Stephen Wilds — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:11:44 +0000

(Photo Credit: Konami)

25 years ago, Silent Hill made waves on the PlayStation and enlightened the world of video game horror, helping to shape the future classics of the genre. Long before the renaissance of heroic and caring video game dads, Harry Mason was looking for his daughter in a fog-ridden town, facing down hellish monsters while fear ran rampant, but he wouldn’t let anything stand in his way. Team Silent worked hard to make their protagonist the everyman, but he was also a complex and engaging character.

Harry is a novel writer, intelligent and practical, but willing to believe in things he may not fully understand. He’s physically capable, able to make quick decisions, and decent enough with a gun to defend himself, but he’s far from an action hero. What makes him stronger is his devotion to his adopted daughter, Cheryl, who he and his wife, Jodie, found on the side of the road. With his ward gone missing in the corrupted town after a car accident, he braves the dangers and embarks on a mission to save her, never losing focus of that goal. He doesn’t seem religious, even with some of the apparent demonic influence and black magic he encounters. He’s rationalizing what they’ve seen, opening up believing in the Otherworld, but pessimism certainly acts as a cornerstone of his beliefs. Harry worries constantly about his daughter’s safety, which leads him to give his child a stun gun when she’s older and kill a cult member to keep her a secret, but that’s later on.

“I don’t like this feeling. Like something bad will happen… No doubt, something terrible is going on.”

There are a lot of parents who say they’ll do anything for their children, but few people are asked to literally go through a nightmarish hellscape and battle a god. He’s a single father, as Jodie passed away four years prior, but at no point does Harry question his purpose or reconsider his actions for the child they took in. During his adventure, Harry encounters other residents of Silent Hill, most of them women with vastly different personalities. Potentially, these ladies remind Harry of his daughter, or at least the type of woman she could become. Not all of them have Harry’s best interest in mind, but that’s fine. They aren’t his primary concern either.

Our protagonist does have his moments where he can be despondent, blinded by his goals, and slightly caustic, especially in some of his conversations with his allies. Players see a prominent example of Harry’s coldness in his final conversation with Lisa Garland, who is really going through it at the end. She’s one of the most interesting and tragic characters in the game, but the moment Harry realizes that she might be a part of the darker world he’s seen, he refuses to embrace or comfort her, even pushing her back as she cries. He shuts her in the room, bracing against the door while Lisa bangs on it. It’s heartbreaking, but also hard to blame him, as she could have attacked Harry or become another obstacle in the way of reaching Cheryl.

We also see this in his willingness to slay Cybil Bennett, a police officer who is stuck in Silent Hill as well and becomes the victim of a parasite that forces her to attack Harry. The player can either acquire items to save her from the menace or simply murder her. I always felt that Cybil was a great character for what little time she had on screen, and I tried to help her (though I failed the first time). It turns out that canonically, she was slain by Harry, who does show remorse concerning her death and questions why it had to happen, but it feels like there had to be another way. In the end, Harry can’t save his daughter if he’s dead, and we cannot question his dedication, no matter how many other bodies are stacked up in the process.

“Cheryl is my daughter. I will save her. No matter what.”

The game has multiple endings, even one that involves Harry being abducted by aliens. In my recent replaying, I made sure to get the Good+ scenario, which sees Cybil saved, Dr. Michael Kaufmann dealt with, and a chance for Harry to raise his daughter again, but I know that’s not the real outcome. The canonical conclusion sees Harry escape with the child, with no Cybil, making it back to the highway and questioning everything he just witnessed, but that isn’t the ending I preferred for many years.

I’m actually in favor of the Bad ending, partially because it was the outcome I received the first time I ever played the game, but also it seemed the most fitting for Harry’s story and his life as a writer. In this version, the player doesn’t do Kaufmann’s sidequest and kills Cybil, which means we fight a different form of the final boss, our own daughter, who thanks us for ending her pain. Instead of running out or taking a portal, we see our hero crumble, face down, and questioning how this could have happened as the place collapses around him. Then, after the credits, we observe one final shot of Harry back in his jeep at the site of the accident from the beginning of the game. His head is bloody, and the horn is sounding, as we realize he’s died from the wreck and everything we just did was his final thoughts of trying to save his daughter, all created in his head from his hyperactive imagination or as a defense mechanism to combat the realization he was dying. It makes this line from earlier in the game hit harder.

“Was that another dream? Did I pass out again? I don’t want to think so, but maybe this is all just going on in my head. I could have had a car accident, and now I’m lying unconscious in a hospital bed… I don’t know what’s real anymore…”

I find that outcome compelling, even if it doesn’t align with later games or explain what happened to Cheryl in that version. Something about the inescapable dread and weight of the nightmare that is Silent Hill makes that ending feel right. Even if it means we failed, and Harry had no chance of making it, that’s a solid story. Harry is a good father, but he’s a complicated man who deserves an equally weighty ending. Janky combat, annoying puzzles, tank controls and all, I will always love Harry’s nightmare, even if I like to play with the outcomes a little.

The post Silent Hill 25 Years Later: Harry Situations appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Best of 2023: PlayStation Horror Games

Neil Bolt — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

From big-name franchise revivals to small-scale indie productions, horror gaming on PlayStation was in good health in 2023. PlayStation LifeStyle selects 14 of the year’s best horror games on PlayStation consoles.

Resident Evil 4 Remake (Capcom)

Few remakes would come with such expectations as Resident Evil 4, and yet Capcom managed to exceed them.

Resident Evil 4 Remake takes everything players loved about the 2005 classic and integrates a flurry of modern touches to make it feel like a natural evolution of the original.

Dead Space (EA Motive)

While Resident Evil 4’s remake reimagined the original, EA Motive’s Dead Space largely stuck to the script with a smattering of improvements where they were needed.

The spirit of the original is kept intact, but a PS5 sheen made every Necromorph encounter and gore-splattered outcome a grisly treat. But the real star of the new show is the Ishimura, which no longer feels like a series of interconnected rooms masquerading as a spaceship but more like an actual place.

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse (Marevo Collective)

Finally getting a console release, Marevo Collective’s atmospheric PSX-style horror is a delightful slow-burner that makes the most of its minimalist structure.

The ambiguity of the story keeps players on edge, and when chase scenes kick in, the perspective shift adds another layer to the unsettling atmosphere.

Amnesia The Bunker (Frictional Games)

Frictional Games’ ability to rewrite the rulesets of its story-led horror games is admirable and with Amnesia: The Bunker, it does its biggest edit yet.

Amnesia: The Bunker is a self-contained sandbox set in a wartime bunker where the player has to find the means to escape whilst evading a deadly monstrosity. Think of it as small-scale Alien Isolation meets Immersive Sim.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2 (Skydance Interactive)

PSVR2 had plenty of horror goodies in 2023. The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2 was my personal pick from the brand-new bunch.

Why? Well, its immersive, intense gameplay translates so much better to the PSVR2 than the original game did with PSVR. The dread of getting cornered by the undead is offset by improvised weapons. Throw in a seemingly unstoppable behemoth out for blood and Saints and Sinners 2 will have you working up a sweat.

Killer Frequency (Team 17)

Killer Frequency stands out for me because it’s clearly doing something quite different in the horror space. Playing the part of a washed-up DJ who finds themselves having to help save locals from a returning legendary serial killer. Killer Frequency limits you to the radio station as to the extent of your help, but within that station is plenty of exploration and opportunity.

Not only can you find things to guide potential victims away from their fate, but you get the chance to play as a DJ, putting on records, ads, and, of course, taking calls. Killer Frequency does everything possible to immerse you in the role.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (Night School Studios)

Oxenfree’s dialogue system remains one of the most refreshing and ingenious of its kind, so a return to that with Oxenfree II would always be welcome. That system is more refined now, but it’s Oxenfree II’s story is where it excels.

After the teen-centric tale of the original, Oxenfree II shifts things to an adult perspective and, in doing so, gives us a wonderfully melancholy flipside to the first game.

Homebody (Game Grumps)

Homebody puts a modern spin on classic survival horror, with plenty of homages to Clock Tower, especially on show.

A young woman and her friends are stuck in a time loop that keeps them inside a strange old house. She must solve the many puzzles of the house in order to break the loop, but every time the loop begins, the threat of a masked killer arrives with it.

Trepang2 (Trepang Studios)

If you miss the frenetic supernatural shooter action of F.E.A.R. then Trepang2 has your early 2000s needs covered. A labor of love that transformed into a full game, Trepang2 is a lovely reminder that shooters can simply be big, loud, bloody slabs of nonsense.

The slo-mo ability turns large-scale chaos into a ballet of bullets and blood, but truly the art of Trepang2 comes in chaining together kills at full speed, utilizing the various other superpowers at your disposal.

Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment)

Thirteen years after Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake, a sequel finally arrived, and it’s the quintessential distillation of everything the developer has done up until this point.

It’s a weird, meta tale that blends mediums in an impressively seamless way. The shift between Alan’s and Saga’s sides of the story gives us two distinct flavors of horror that intertwine at key moments.

Stay Out of the House (Puppet Combo)

It was pretty remarkable that Amnesia: The Bunker condensed a horror immersive sim into such a small space, but Puppet Combo’s Stay Out of the House manages to pack that into an even smaller space.

You have to escape the house of The Butcher by utilizing whatever you can find. Get caught, and it’s back in your cage. Each run gives you the opportunity to discover more about how the house works and the backstory behind The Butcher.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Gun Media)

After an unfortunate licensing drama with Friday the 13th, Gun Media clearly wasn’t deterred from bringing beloved horror franchises to life in video game form, and we should be glad because it gave us The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Taking the asymmetrical multiplayer model of games like its Friday the 13th game and Dead by Daylight, Gun, and Sumo change things up by pitting a team of three family members against four unlucky potential victims. The change makes for an intense cat-and-mouse dynamic distinct to this game.

Dead Island 2 (Dambuster Studios)

Given the rocky history of Dead Island 2’s path to release and the emergence of rival franchise Dying Light by original Dead Island developers Techland in the years since it would have been understandable if Dead Island 2 turned out to be a bit of a stinker.

Yet, thanks to Dambuster Studios, it turned out to be not only good, gory fun but the best Dead Island game by far. Its tongue-in-cheek humor, detailed zombie degradation system, and general blood-splattered combat combine to make for a fine multiplayer hoot.

Dredge (Black Salt Games)

Fishing has been a staple of game activities for some time now, but few outside actual sims make that the basis for an entire game. Black Salt Games thought it was worth a go, and Dredge was the unholy result.

This open-world fishing sim has an increasingly dark undertone that taps into the core of Lovecraftian horror. The murmured warnings not to stray too far at night, the messed up fish you occasionally haul in, and the strange, ambiguous way locals talk about things. When the horrors of the deep do finally show themselves, your little fishing boat never felt more vulnerable.

The post Best of 2023: PlayStation Horror Games appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Interview: Yuri Lowenthal on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 & Tapping Into Peter’s Darkness

Spencer Legacy — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 19:00:00 +0000

(Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Fandom)

PlayStation LifeStyle spoke with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 star Yuri Lowenthal about the newly released superhero sequel from Insomniac Games. Lowenthal discussed what he’s learned from voicing Peter Parker over the years and what it was like to appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is now available on the PlayStation 5.

“The incredible power of the symbiote forces Peter and Miles to face the ultimate test of strength, both inside and outside the mask, as they balance their lives, friendships and their duty to protect those in need,” reads the story synopsis for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Spencer Legacy: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a pretty lengthy video game, so this is one of the versions of Peter Parker that audiences have probably spent the most time with. What challenges come with doing hours of performance for a character, rather than a movie or TV-length performance?

Yuri Lowenthal: I look at it more as a gift, that I get to create that bond with people that you don’t normally get. I mean, obviously, reading Spider-Man over a lifetime certainly takes the cake as far as that’s concerned, but [compared to] reading an issue of a comic or even a trade of a single run or an arc or watching a movie, we get to spend a lot more time with this Spider-Man in the game just by the nature of the game and the awesome writing that Insomniac always does. I’ve said it before — and I think most actors will — our job becomes very easy or, certainly, much easier if the writing is there.

So not only have created an experience where we get to spend a long time with that character, but they really take care with the human moments. It’s not just about playability and mechanics. While they dedicate a lot to that and they’ve gone a long way towards making us feel like what it would be like to be Spider-Man when playing the game, it’s about filling it in with all sorts of human moments, and I love those. People talk about the big moments — the Doc Ock scenes, the final scenes, and the Aunt May scenes, things like that — but it’s all those little things, all the little moments put together, that, I think, creates the relationship that you have at the end of a game like that.

And how does motion capture help you step into that role compared to only performing the voice?

Us getting to do motion capture for this — and performance capture, just to even put a finer point on it — has been amazing for many reasons. For me, when I’m just solo in a booth recording things … most of us can turn in a great performance without another actor opposite you — that’s just our job. But you will always get a better, more interesting, more surprising performance when you have an actor opposite you because you’re reacting off of what they’re doing in real time. Now, when I’m in the booth recording solo lines, the performance director, Kris Zimmerman can say, “When that character or when that actor was in recording, this is sort of what it felt like.” But they can’t always play everything for me — especially if they haven’t recorded that part yet.

But when we’re on the P-Cap stage, it’s a return to theater for all of us. It’s a return to doing a stage play. We’re all there together, reacting off of each other in the room, and you do get a certain magic. I’m sure it’d be fine even if we hadn’t recorded it that way, but there’s an alchemy you get when you put a bunch of actors together. I don’t think we would’ve gotten what we got in the first game, and hopefully, what people will see in the second game without getting to shoot it like a movie or perform it like a play.

You and Nadji Jeter have such good chemistry, from the beginning all the way up to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. What was the process of forming that across the games and through performance capture like?

It’s been great working with Nadji, and, I’ll tell you what, we didn’t really have to work at that. It was just something that sort of happened naturally and came together naturally in that I was an older actor with more experience, he was a younger actor with less experience, which is sort of the “older superhero with more experience and younger superhero with less experience.” [Laughs]. So it actually tracked very organically, in a way. Our relationship off-camera and on-camera. So we got lucky in that respect that we got along and we had sort of a similar relationship. I don’t know if that was Bryan Intihar’s mastermind plan when he cast us. I don’t think it was, as smart and as forward-thinking as he is. [Laughs]. We lucked out in that respect.

What have you learned about voicing Peter from starting with the 2018 game through Miles Morales to now? Are you approaching it differently in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 than you might’ve in the original? What’s that been like?

There’s definitely been a change. We all change as human beings and it’ll definitely affect your performance as an actor, whether you like it or not. But this Peter also, in this second game, has different challenges, both with his relationships and, most importantly, in his relationship with the symbiote. Whereas Peter normally puts everyone else before him — it’s sort of a core thing of Peter, that he wants to take care of people — the symbiote makes him become very selfish and makes him not very “Peter,” in that respect. It was difficult for me to make that shift.

On one hand, every actor wants to play a villain, you know? Trust me, you can ask any actor, and given the choice, they’ll always play villains. It gives you the license to act at being bad or to play at being bad with none of the social repercussions of that and none of the guilt later. While I was excited by that, I was surprised at how difficult it was to make your “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” not friendly. I had settled into such a good, easy place with Peter that to push him into these places that are antithetical to who he is left me exhausted at the end of the day in a different way than I would be exhausted for a normal session.

That’s interesting. You also played this version of Peter in Across the Spider-Verse. What was it like to play him in a different place in a different setting? Was it different at all, or did you just bring him there?

I basically brought that guy, because that was the guy that they wanted. We were honored that they would want include Insomniac’s Spider-Man as part of the cinematic Spider-Verse, so I just brought that guy, which was basically just bringing me to the room. [Laughs]. It was really fun. Working with Phil Lord was a blast because he had some stuff that they thought they were going to go with, a couple lines, and said, “We think this is going to be it, but let’s spend an hour riffing and see what other sort of funny things we can come up.” I think, in the end, they ended up going pretty much with what they had originally thought they would do, but it was a blast just coming up with stuff with him.

I’d come up with something and then he’d get an idea and he’d come up with something. Then I’d be like, “Oh, wait, wait, what if we try this?” So it was fun just being a part of the thing that I loved so much. I loved that first movie so much. It’s so great to be included. The second one was awesome, and they had already sort of teased it in that first movie, they had dropped a couple of Easter eggs.

The suit in the cave!

Yeah! The suit for our Spider-Man in the background. So we already knew that they were into it, and that was … honestly, that would’ve been enough for us. When we saw that, we were like, “That’s the hugest compliment in the world.” But then to include us in that, it was super fun.

The post Interview: Yuri Lowenthal on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 & Tapping Into Peter’s Darkness appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Lords of the Fallen Fatally Mistakes Tedium for Difficulty

Michael Leri — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 18:47:14 +0000

FromSoftware’s games are a lot of things — beautiful, frustrating, obtuse — so it’s incredibly reductive to boil them down to just being difficult. “Just being difficult” wouldn’t have shaken the industry to its core because games like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy and The Impossible Game would be the near-universal template if that were the case. 2023’s Lords of the Fallen is not as deft with its assessment of From’s template as it has taken the surface-level analysis of those games and pushed it forward to an annoying degree.

Lords of the Fallen’s irksome qualities are inescapable, too, and are most plainly displayed by how it places its enemies. Soulslikes often have a habit of putting a character just out of sight and behind a corner; a cheap trick that is meant to punish those who don’t carefully think through each step. Lords of the Fallen absolutely cannot help itself and seems to hide some asshole behind almost every other corner to a comical effect. It happens so often that it feels like a bit, only one that doesn’t ever loop round to being funny again and stays as eyeroll-inducing as the first time it happens.

Some of these foes are little snipers, which is yet another problem that cuts this game down. Lords of the Fallen is full of magical pricks with magical blasts that are anything but a magical time. Getting constantly pecked at from afar in the midst of a swordfight can have value if done correctly and sparingly, but it happens at an alarming frequency and at a distance that just further pours salt in the wound.

Lords of the Fallen already puts a lot on the player’s plate by constantly dumping in enemies. It hardly has fights with one or two tough foes and instead favors battles where their numbers are more important. Threat prioritization is a crucial part of this genre, but, again, it’s misunderstood here and meant as a stand-in for a hearty challenge. These grunts are rarely more than pushovers in small numbers and grouping them together seems like an attempt to mask their stupidity.

This is exponentially more evident in the Umbral, the game’s other, darker world. Spawns are constant and only get tougher as players spend more time in that decaying realm. Some of the best art is here and showcases some truly stunning design, but it’s all hard to admire when the clock is ticking down and the endless hordes are closing in. And, in carrying over a terrible genre tradition, there is no official pause menu to give players a breather. The Photo Mode is the only respite. It’s tedious to contend with endless grunts the first time but devolves into an absolute drag when having to backtrack and deal with the Umbral’s laborious puzzles and navigation challenges that require a lot of realm switching.

Backtracking is inevitable because of its stingy checkpointing and misguided checkpoint placing mechanic. Official safe spots are annoyingly few and far between and seem like a deliberate decision meant to highlight how players can plant checkpoints at certain spots. However, there can only be one at a time, so it’s a waste to go explore another area while one has already been planted, which only discourages exploration. New Game Plus also makes these the only types of rest stops and is yet another way the game has bent its challenge too far for no good reason.

Lords of the Fallen has other notable problems, as well. Combat is functional, yet has pathetic sound effects that undersell every hit and parry. Bosses, while consistent with the world’s inventive art style, only have a few attacks and don’t always telegraph them well. The dual world concept is visually and technologically impressive yet also hamstrung by how rigid switching between each realm is. Reclaiming lost “souls” and fishing around for Umbral leeches that buff enemies in the normal realm are both sluggish mechanics that lead to cheap hits.

And while destructive, none of these hold Lords of the Fallen back more than its sadistic and shallow stance on difficulty. Overcoming a challenge should evoke gratification, as is often the case with the best games in this genre, but there’s rarely that vital ebb and flow here. The uphill struggle is constant and that Sisyphean nature is exactly why the exhaustive effort to keep climbing isn’t worth the struggle.

Disclaimer: This Lords of the Fallen feature is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.010.000.

The post Lords of the Fallen Fatally Mistakes Tedium for Difficulty appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Interview: Yuri Lowenthal Talks Mortal Kombat, Persona, & Hellboy

Spencer Legacy — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 22:00:00 +0000

(Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Fandom)

PlayStation LifeStyle spoke with renowned voice actor Yuri Lowenthal about some of his recent and most beloved roles in video games. Lowenthal discussed being somewhat of a newcomer to the Mortal Kombat franchise and his fondness for his Persona 4 character.

Spencer Legacy: A recent role that you’ve done is Smoke in Mortal Kombat 1, which just came out, and this version’s more involved in the main story than past ones. What was it like to come to that franchise and do all those nasty screams for the Fatalities?

Yuri Lowenthal: It was very new to me in that I was not hugely into Mortal Kombat before. I mean, everybody knows Mortal Kombat. I had played Mortal Kombat, but for years, I had just not been paying attention. So I embarrassed myself when I got into the first session with Dominic Cianciolo, who wrote it and who also directed the voice sessions with me. I was like, “So, tell me all about this new character, Smoke.” And he’s like, “Smoke’s not new. [Laughs]. We haven’t seen him in a while, but he’s not a new character. Let me give you some history.”

But as far as the sounds go, I mean, that’s part of my job on the regular. I’ve worked on so many different video games and all of them include, for the most part, varied deaths. So many of these games are combat games and with you getting set on fire and having bones broken and getting shot in the head. That stuff is sort of my métier or my wheelhouse. What was interesting is, thinking back, I’m trying to remember exactly what the direction was, but I’m pretty sure we did a lot of different stuff to cover a lot of different ground, and then they must have built the Fatalities or built the sounds from pieces of the things that we recorded. So even when I was recording it, I didn’t know exactly what it was going to look like specifically.

Another huge character that you played was Yosuke Hanamura. How do you look back on that time playing him in Persona 4 and through the different spin-offs?

Yosuke is my Brosuke. [Laughs]. I love him so much. I think part of that is … of the characters that I play, he is very easily one of the ones that’s closest to who I am in real life. I’m kind of awkward and goofy and I’m unsure of things. I love my friends to a huge degree. So I will always love Yosuke and I will always hope that they keep bringing him back, whether it’s a dancing game or a remake — whatever it is. I would always love to come back to Yosuke because I love that guy and I love that franchise and the group of people that I got to play with.

You’ve voiced Spider-Man and you’ve voiced Superman. What’s another big hero you’re really hoping that you get to take a crack at?

Man, I’m a nerd from way back, so there’s so much that I love. There are still pools that I would love to play in. I’ve always wanted to play Batman, and I always auditioned for Batman, even though I know that my voice tends more towards Robin. [Laughs]. Let’s be honest, between Batman and Robin, I’m always going to be Robin, but I still always shoot for it. I’ve always loved Moon Knight, which is basically Marvel’s answer to Batman. Since the ’80s, I have loved that character as well. I’m always pushing Brian Intihar is sick of hearing me try to get Moon Knight into any of the Spider-Man games. [Laughs]. But, of course, I’ve screwed myself by playing Spider-Man, because now they’ll never let me also play Moon Knight!

I love the the BPRD universe, the Hellboy universe that Mike Mignola created.While I don’t ever see myself playing Hellboy and there have been greater people to play it before me who I love, I love that universe. If we could ever do a BPRD show or a game or something like that, that’d be another. We could do this all day. I was going to Dr. Who and Star Trek conventions since high school, so my fandoms are many. [Laughs.] I love genre material, whether it’s fantasy or horror or sci-fi and superheroes. I just adore it. While I’ve been lucky enough to play Superman and Spider-Man and He-Man — I’ve been playing the Mans — there’s still plenty more. I certainly don’t feel that the well is going to go dry anytime soon.

I hope you get to be Abe Sapien or Johann Kraus or something — that’d be really exciting.

I always wanted to play Lobster Johnson!

The post Interview: Yuri Lowenthal Talks Mortal Kombat, Persona, & Hellboy appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Venba Review (PS5): A Warm, Home-Cooked Snack

Michael Leri — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Food acts as a portal to another culture that transcends language barriers. You don’t have to be fluent in Farsi to eat fesenjān or speak Spanish to enjoy paella. Venba is a cooking-based puzzle game that uses food as a means of giving players a peek into the specific experience of emigrating from India to Canada in the 1980s. It’s not a perspective many have, but even though it can lack depth and be a little too on the nose, Venba uses the multifaceted power of food to serve players a helping of humanity.

Venba’s cooking mini-games aren’t like if Cooking Mama took a trip to Puducherry, they play out more like puzzles rather than straightforward instructions or quick-time events. Legendary recipes may survive for generations, but the papers they are printed on aren’t as enduring, meaning players have to read between the ripped bits and sauce stains to get cooking.

Players have to assemble this recipe through Venba’s memories.

Figuring out the order of adding ingredients and what to do at each step requires some thought, so it doesn’t devolve into something that essentially plays itself (except once when the story calls for it). Some of the prompts can be a little too obtuse, but the obstacles are different every time and keep it from becoming a tired routine.

There’s a lot of trial and error and no punishment for making inedible slop, though, and this limits its depth and goes against some of the tenets of cooking often reinforced by passed-down recipes. It’s impossible to nail grandma’s recipes the first time and similarly unrealistic to not augment them in some way. Expressing the freedom inherent to preparing food or introducing some low stakes would add a bit more of a complex flavor to Venba’s palate.

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Many of the spice-rich flavors in Venba are given life through the culture surrounding each recipe. Catchy ambient music inspired from the region plays as wannabe chefs prepare their dishes and short tales tell the personal context behind each dish. Venba, the titular main character, reminisces about these meals and what human memories they are attached to. These dishes are more than just rice, spices, meat, vegetables, and oils jammed together. They’re the ways humans share their time together, and these small flashbacks highlight that.

Venba’s experiences might not overlap exactly with most other people, but the way she ties food to certain places or family members is universal and key to the game’s ability to be much more than a collection of cooking puzzles. It’s disappointing that the recipes aren’t coupled with actual recipes or historical background — games like Assassin’s Creed have shown how fruitful providing in-game history can be — but that doesn’t dull its effect much.

Cooking is sometimes a bonding exercise for the family, linking the gameplay and narrative.

Indian culture plays a big role in the narrative, too, since that part of Venba’s identity is under siege upon moving to Canada. Venba and her husband Paavalan’s journey to this foreign land touches on adapting to unfamiliar customs, bigotry, being homesick, and trying to pass on old traditions in a new land, all of which come into play over Venba’s decades-spanning narrative. None of these are particularly new ideas, but framing them within the context of an Indian-Canadian family is, once again, enough of a novelty.

But as heartfelt as it is, a lot of Venba’s dialogue is overly direct. Emotional states are overtly vocalized, not always just shown, an inelegance that misses what often makes for great writing. Seeing Venba and Paavalan intimately communicate their insecurities before falling asleep grounds them as people, but moments like these are sometimes expedient to a fault. The simplistic (yet vibrant) visuals and animation and its condensed runtime also don’t help since Venba doesn’t have the most emotive characters nor the time to dive into the details. It’s efficient and doesn’t even come close to overstaying its welcome, but that also means its narrative runs through its beats a little too quickly.

Venba Review: The final verdict

All of the delicacies in Venba look filling, so it’s a bit of a shame that the experience as a whole isn’t quite as hearty. But while its puzzles can lack stakes and its story often hastily skips over subtlety, Venba is still a transportive experience that shows players a perspective they are likely unfamiliar with. Using cooking as a central mechanic also makes that experience more poignant since, while the ingredients change, food is a ubiquitous part of life that makes other cultures that much more relatable. It’s less of a meal and more of a snack, but it’s still one made with heart.

An interesting look at an Indian immigrant's experience in the 1980s
Heartfelt look at the struggles of being in a new land, which is contextualized through food
Dialogue often plainly states emotions or subtext
Cooking lacks pressure and freedom
No actual recipes in the game

Disclaimer: This Venba review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Reviewed on version 1.000.000.

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Doom Guy: Life in First Person Review: A Fascinating Look at John Romero

Stephen Wilds — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 22:00:00 +0000

Who is John Romero? It’s a question many who play video games can answer, especially those that grew up experiencing Doom, Quake, or Wolfenstein 3D. His contributions to the industry — and especially the first-person shooter genre — are almost impossible to measure, but that’s only a part of this story. Doom Guy: Life in First Person is a book that offers an in-depth look at what it was like being a rockstar programmer in the days of blood, sweat, and glory as the medium was quickly evolving. It also covers the bumps on the road and what hindsight offers for someone who never truly slowed down.

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Masters of Doom by David Kushner is an excellent book that was published in 2003. As good of a look at the men behind the fabled video game empire of id Software as it was, it always felt like there might be more to tell. This is for those who want to know what Romero has been up to for the last 20 years, but more than that, there’s a more concentrated tale about his early life, which had only been lightly touched on previously. Now, in this more recent text, John Romero is telling the stories himself, which gives this book a more intimate viewpoint of those events.

Romero informs his readers early on that he has a condition known as hyperthymesia, which allows him to recall extreme levels of detail about his past — especially memories that excited him, and unfortunately, those that were harmful as well. This puts him in a unique position for telling these stories and the details shine through excellently in most parts, giving readers a better understanding of his perspective. There are moments, however, where he admits to not recollecting certain exchanges or simply quotes Masters of Doom’s version of the events for clarification. The things Romero holds back on are addressed and it makes sense to think there would still be a couple of secrets worth keeping over such an extensive career, even now.

This book explores a troubled childhood and how those experiences helped shape his career path, but that also means discussing some of the darker parts, which may be a bit harsh for some readers who just want to discuss the games. Romero talks about his family’s past with alcoholism, drugs, prostitution, abandonment, and child abuse, but also how his situation meant that many of these events couldn’t be avoided and how much his blood means to him. All of it shaped him. Some of this material can be tough to hear, but these moments are interwoven with interesting bits about the areas he grew up in and cultures that Romero embraced.

The book also goes a bit more in-detail about his early exposure to video games, how they became a form of escapism, and the efforts his parents went to in fighting against this new love. It may sound like the feel-good plot of an ’80s movie, as he eventually makes not only a career, but his own legend in the industry — but it actually happened.

Romero is also an incredibly talented video game programmer, but it was fascinating to hear him talk about approaching comics, music, and other passions as well. He probably could have made it in several fields with the way he was so quick to adapt, but coding and level design were his true areas of expertise. The man had some luck in the industry and a lot of opportunities based on his prior endeavors, but none of that took away from the hard work and long hours he put in.

People often forget that the majority of the story we know about him, John Carmack, and the others at id all happened when these guys were in their 20s, so many of the negative things that happened and bad decisions make a little more sense with that framing. Romero isn’t humble per se, but he’s definitely simple and straightforward.

This means it is nice to hear him admit that he can see a lot of the mistakes in his career were his fault or could have been handled differently. For example, they fired someone for not being in their D&D group, which, while there were other factors, is quite silly in retrospect. The latter half of his career shows even more of how he deals with failure, finds happiness being a little bit more out of the limelight, and how he and Carmack may have needed each other more than either one realized.

Life in First Person also delves into tech advancements, company blunders, and other game releases that shaped how id went forward. It’s a matter-of-fact look at how the industry was changing, even with events like the Columbine High School massacre. Romero and his cohorts were trying to be in the eye of the storm, heads down coding the next project, but it’s hard to stay that out of the chaos when almost everyone on the planet is playing your game.

Romero also reads the audio version of his book. After hearing Wil Wheaton narrate Masters of Doom excellently, it’s unclear if this is the right choice. Some of Romero’s line reads are a bit off, and the way he enunciates words like “roof” was a little strange. The delivery isn’t necessarily flat, but there is something missing. These words and the way they are projected are coming from the man who experienced it all, however, so there is something to be said for that, and a few segments are full of the passion he has tied to those memories. There should have just been more of that.

The stories here taught me a lot about the man himself, but it’s also full of valuable lessons about level design and how he approaches these projects to present certain aspects to the players. It retreads portions of Masters of Doom, but this takes its time, fills in a few more gaps, and talks so much more about his youth and recent years in way that makes it a fantastic read. And while some of the basics are widely known, Doom Guy: Life in First Person is an insightful read by one of the most influential figures in the industry.

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Viewfinder Review (PS5): Missing the Big Picture

Michael Leri — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +0000

A photo can capture victory, defeat, love, hate, a dog at the beach, or a sassy cat stretching in the sunlight. It’s a medium that speaks simply but can have a strong effect. Viewfinder makes that effect literal as its photos shift and warp the real world in all sorts of ways, which the game uses as the basis for its puzzles. And even though it’s an impressive mechanic, the rest of the experience is almost as two-dimensional as an actual photo.

It’s difficult to understate how stunning that mechanic is, though. Projecting a 2D picture into the 3D world and then discovering how that perspective translates to another dimension is immediately dazzling, especially when it smashes together disparate art styles. It adds literal depth to these images and lets players explore the previously unexplorable. And while adding a dimension to predetermined 2D images is a unique thrill, taking pictures of the existing environment to transform it is liberating because of the amount of control it yields.

Just take a picture of a battery, flip it to make a copy, and repeat.

It’s a core mechanic that’s as fresh and flexible as a portal gun, but it leaves much of its vast potential untapped. Most levels often only require a couple steps that are obvious after just a few seconds. Far too many are hardly more complicated than taking a picture of a battery and then rotating it or duplicating batteries through even more photos. Snapping a photo of a flat wall and using it as a bridge to get to an out-of-reach area is also another popular solution Viewfinder frequently uses as a crutch in lieu of something more sophisticated. Players are pushed into patterns and hardly encouraged to think critically — fatal flaws for any puzzle game.

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Because of these simplistic solutions, Viewfinder is more like a string of tutorial missions desperately stretching out the most basic form of the mechanics in an effort to distract players from how thin it is. Its well-paced rollout of new twists — like walls that are unaffected by the player’s camera — are similarly underbaked. Viewfinder is a relaxing experience with a saturated art style that reinforces that mood, but a puzzle game that doesn’t provide much resistance isn’t much of a puzzle game.

This is one of the few puzzles that has multiple tricky steps.

Its handful of inconsistently interspersed optional missions stick out since they require the kind of out-of-the-box thinking the rest of the game is lacking. Solutions unfold at a steady clip in these sections and elicit more than a couple drops of gratification upon completion. But sequestering that level of intricacy — and the intrinsic reward tied to it — to a few side objectives that are easy to miss is frustrating.

Viewfinder Review: The final verdict

It’s ironic that a game all about breathing life into pictures can’t breathe life into its own core mechanic. Witnessing a flat picture expand into something tangible or using photography to reposition the existing stage is a technical marvel that hardly goes beyond being just a visual spectacle. These systems deserve much more than that, but, like film lacking contrast, it’s underdeveloped and only a faint outline of what it should be.

Taking and laying pictures is visually captivating
Only a handful of puzzles truly utilize the mechanics well
Most puzzles are far too easy

Disclaimer: This Viewfinder review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Reviewed on version 1.001.000.

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How the AEW Fight Forever Roster Stands Out

Stephen Wilds — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 22:00:00 +0000

The wrestling world is dominated by the WWE, so it isn’t surprising that its video games have a headlock on that category, as well. Other passionate contenders have stepped into the ring — Fire Pro Wrestling World deserves some praise — but not many can compete with the production value, budget, and hilarious glitches of the WWE 2K games. AEW, however, can and has stepped up with AEW: Fight Forever, which has a large pool of talent that’s still somewhat new to the digital world. And this fresh roster is a big part of the game’s appeal, so here’s how each of them stacks up.

Anna Jay

This Georgia girl has a fat ass and a bad attitude, which translates to a rotten time for most of her opponents. The Queenslayer is fierce and not afraid to drop some serious offense in the ring or use foreign objects when the situation calls for it. Formerly of the Dark Order, Anna Jay A.S. has more recently allied herself with the Jericho Appreciation Society and tag partner Tay Melo, but it isn’t hard to imagine there’s ambition there for her own path. Her gear looks great and some people have announced publicly that they think she’s, “the hottest bitch in this place.” Gold is most likely in Anna’s future, but with a savvy player backing her, that’ll be sooner rather than later.

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John Silver

The Dark Order has had a lot of ups and downs since its debut, but one of the standouts in their ranks as faces or heels has been John Silver. The muscular mound may be of smaller stature than most wrestling icons, but he can certainly go in the ring and has always felt like somewhat of an underdog, which makes it fun to play him against larger opponents or in matches with seemingly impossible odds. Johnny Hungiee may not be one of the most-picked characters in the game at first, but his charisma spills through even in this digital form. This student of Mikey Whipwreck’s is pro-meat, all beef, and purely entertaining.

Hikaru Shida

She isn’t just a former AEW Women’s World Champion, but the person to hold that belt the longest at this time, so let’s put a little respect on the name. Hikaru Shida is a woman of few words, a samurai on a mission, and as of late that has seen her facing off against The Outcasts. She’s a stylish person anywhere she goes, so it makes sense that her in-game model looks excellent, moves are fluid, and this Japanese warrior is a site to behold in action, especially when using her trademark kendo stick.

Powerhouse Hobbs

Will Hobbs lives up to the name Powerhouse. Everything he does is executed with raw strength and willpower. He is a dominant heel and his moves feel like any one of them could end a conflict right in the middle of the ring. The bigger guys aren’t usually my preferred combatants, but Powerhouse moves decently and I get a kick out of doing his Oklahoma Stampede finisher every time. Hobbs is a former member of Team Taz, associates with QTV, and held the TNT Championship, but his goal is to be the first African American AEW World Champion, and it seems like that chapter is already written in the Book of Hobbs, it’s just waiting to happen.

Jade Cargill

Her dominant reign may have hit a snag recently, but that doesn’t mean that Jade Cargill isn’t still that bitch. Cargill started out strong in the company, debuting in a feud involving Shaquille O’Neal, as well as Cody and Brandi Rhodes, and she’s continued to conquer the brand with the baddies and showed off her strength with an impressive TBS title run. She’s an imposing figure who sells the shit out of her moves, and it’s great how crisp that Jaded finisher looks in the game. Every piece of her assault feels like it’s going to hurt. Cargill has shown improvement over her time in the company and she’s the type to do stylish and nerdy entrances (Mortal Kombat, X-Men, and Thundercats – her gear looks good, but those would have been great to see here), leaving quite the impression. Jade is the brand of heel this game needs.

Nyla Rose

As a wrestler, it took a little time for Nyla Rose to grow on me. I was way more interested in her life as an actress, her work with Marvel Comics, and the path she is taking as a transgender athlete. Over the years, however, I came to respect the former champ’s in-ring work more and enjoy Rose’s matches, especially from a presentation standpoint. The Native Beast is a vicious heel and even in a loss, she comes across as a threat. Her model in the game isn’t perfect, but Nyla’s entrance with the mask and that song works very well. I was a bit surprised at how much I enjoy playing as Rose, as her moves can be a bit unruly at times and not connect. There’s just something satisfying about destroying opponents with that Beast Bomb.

Orange Cassidy

Whatever.

Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix

I was first exposed to this duo in a fantastic promotion known as Lucha Underground and these two have never ceased to impress me since then. The Lucha Brothers are champions whether they’re currently holding belts or not, whether it’s AEW, ROH, or AAA, whether it’s together or in singles competition, both of these men are kings of the wrestling business. They have the look, moves, and off-the-charts showmanship even though they barely speak. This pair is also two-thirds of the dangerous Death Triangle group, which along with Pac, might be the most overall talented stable in the company.

Ricky Starks

The man who refers to himself as Absolute Ricky Starks is full of confidence, charisma, and interesting poses. He made his debut in an open challenge against Cody Rhodes and went on to join Team Taz, but everyone who took note of his NWA run knows that his path as a singles competitor is destined to be paved with more gold than just the FTW title. And his revolution will be televised. It’s just a shame that we don’t get to hear Starks more in the game.

Thunder Rosa

This is a wrestler who has made a name for herself in other companies and stands out for a multitude of reasons, but the face paint certainly helps. Thunder Rosa has an excellent look, but she’s definitely had some better gear than what we see here — at least she gets her flag. This ferocious fighter from the graveyards of Tijuana has been a part of some brutal matches, especially against Britt Baker, and being able to recreate those encounters is a thrill. The former Women’s World Champion can be a force of nature, but she has sadly been dealing with injuries as of late. However, her absence may just inspire players to pick the unstoppable warrior in this game even more.

Sammy Guevara

Sammy Guevara was one of the fresh faces in AEW that stuck out. He was a part of the first match to ever take place on Dynamite and as I read up on his training with Booker T, I was sure Guevara was someone to keep an eye on. Now, as one of the pillars of the company and a couple of titles under his belt, the ceiling for the Spanish God seems incredibly high. Playing someone with such spectacular aerial offense is exciting, especially since missing one or two high-risk maneuvers doesn’t take the player completely out of the match. And for those matches, I don’t want to feel like a daredevil I just hit that GTH, because it has such a satisfying crack when it connects.

MJF

He’s better than you (and me too).

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Synapse Review (PSVR2): Fantastic Synaptic Tactics

Michael Leri — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Synapse throws platoons of standard soldiers, behemoths with couch-sized miniguns, a conga line of exploding goons, and Psycho Mantis-esque flying freaks at players at a relentless pace. It’s a constant barrage of gunfire, explosions, flying debris, and — in some cases — lasers from the sky. But despite those odds, they’re still no match for the player in Synapse — an engrossing power fantasy built around PlayStation VR2‘s intricacies.

Synapse’s power comes from two main sources: the player’s telekinetic abilities and array of firearms designated to each hand. Gunplay is somewhat standard, but still incredibly smooth. Reloading avoids the tedium seen in other VR shooters, as the magazine doesn’t need to be manually ejected and inserted before pulling back the hammer. Instead, one button ejects the magazine and it just needs to be pushed back in. This can intuitively be done on any surface, with the other hand, or on the player’s body.

Cover is similarly simple to grasp, since anything can become a wall to hide behind. Grabbing a surface sticks players to it, and allows for quickly popping in and out of safety.

Shooting is a significant part of the game, but the true magic comes from how this melds with the telekinesis to elevate the experience. Moving things around is as simple as looking at it and pushing the correct trigger, as Synapse utilizes PSVR2’s eye-tracking technology. This ensures players can pluck exactly what they want almost every single time. It’s a brilliant example of how tech can improve gameplay; it’s much more natural to grab an object by looking at it than it is to move a cursor over it. Targeted objects even stick out from the monochrome backgrounds with a blue and violet hue.

This synergy makes the player a force to be reckoned with, as they fling soldiers with one hand while blasting with the other. Success and getting to higher levels is all about knowing how to efficiently rack up kills and retreat when it gets too sticky. While not an oppressive game, failing to deal with the constant pressure of Synapse’s hordes will lead to a premature restart. Feeling like a Jedi John Wick is where the game is at its best, and its thoughtful loop is built around that.

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Getting to that state takes time, though. Not just because multitasking can be tricky at first, but also because Synapse is a roguelite with a sizable skill tree that locks players out of some abilities. Skill points unlock after hitting certain milestones, which adds a rewarding metagame that makes the following run a little easier.

It sounds simple because it is, and that applies to many of its systems. While perks, spawn points, and weapons can change, runs aren’t too different from one another since it utilizes the same level layouts and four enemy types each time. There also aren’t any random or rare elements like bonus rooms, secrets, or impromptu bosses to add more layers of unpredictability.

This simplicity and relative stagnation between runs is what holds it back, since it rarely changes itself up like some of the best roguelites. Players can’t make builds or experience a new playstyle on the next run like they can with Hades or Dead Cells. Synapse is focused and doesn’t get stale over its runtime, but that’s come at the cost of replayability and variability fundamental to the genre.

Its take on difficulty also bucks genre trends, but for the better. Rather than a static main difficulty that takes a while to overcome, Synapse has three stages that escalate after each successful run and unlock another part of the ending. This steady rise levels out the difficulty curve, and ensures players don’t hit a wall. A consistent challenge is much more satisfying than making small baby steps to a finale that can sometimes feel out of reach.

Synapse Review: The final verdict

Synapse’s roguelite elements are too light, but it’s a well-designed shooter that empowers players in ways only a VR game can. Developer nDreams has taken PSVR2’s eye-tracking and adaptive triggers and built them into the game’s mechanics without turning them into gimmicks. Snatching a barrel and detonating it over a group of hostiles is as gratifying as instinctively throwing back an incoming grenade while dumping submachine gun rounds with the other hand. It all combines to make for a thrilling VR shooter that excels for how it takes advantage of the hardware

Gunplay is tight and intuitive
Telekinetic powers are empowering and thoughtfully utilize PSVR2's eye-tracking for pinpoint accuracy
Difficulty ramps smoothly
Roguelite elements are done well, but too basic and don't have enough variety

Disclaimer: This Synapse review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Reviewed on version 1.001.000.

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