Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle chapter

I'm so late with this post. I was going to post it after I played High Isle back in September, but then I forgot. Then I was going to post it after I played Firesong last month, but then I forgot again. The reason I forgot, I think, is mainly because this chapter just didn't do it for me at all. 

The archipelago is technically Breton territory which means we're back in the land of knights and nobility and none of that appeal to me. The druids could've been an interesting addition, but they just ended up being the same as the wyresses but with a different name.

The story is mostly obvious and there was no real mystery to who the villain was in either High Isle or Firesong. 

With High Isle they added a card game called Tales of Tribute, which is fun enough when played against NPCs, but not at all fun when played against other players. So exactly like Elder Scrolls Legends. 

I was very happy to run into so many old and known characters though! Jakarn, Captain Kaleen, Caska, Za'ji, Raz, and even Rigurt! And ofc Ayrenn, Emeric and Irnskar. It's a big ol' reunion!

Arabelle and Frii turned out to be pretty dang cool characters too and I hope we'll see more of Arabelle!

The final fight in Firesong was really epic but that's the only thing that main quest had going for it.

Necrom seems to be more my thing and I'm excited for it!

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

This show is so good. After 1899 this was my pick for dinner show because we both really liked the game and we've heard good things about this show. One person even told me it was better than Arcane. I don't agree with that, but it was still really good. 

All the music in the show is music used in the game. 

Becca is best girl. I don't care about Lucy. And after David went chrome head I kinda lost interest in him too. I lived for Becca in this show. 

I enjoyed how they showed and explained cyberpsychosis in this show. It made it seem more real than the random psychos you fought in the game.

The entire story is tragic and I was genuinely horrified when David went through with the conversion in the last episode.

Kinda sad this show was a one-off. I'm hoping they'll do more Cybperunk projects!

Brooklyn 99

I've seen all the memes from this show. I've seen the clips. And for years it was a show I considered watching, but one I wasn't entirely sure I'd enjoy since comedy is difficult for me. I like cynical, dark, sarcastic, punny humour. "I'm funny because I'm stupid" or "Let's make fun of this person" kinds of humour don't do it for me and I find them to be incredibly cringe. 

But Toni convinced me to give Brooklyn 99 a chance and I really enjoyed it. There were very few cringe moments and most of the show was just genuinely funny. 

Rosa and Gina quickly became my favourites, but Holt and Jake grew on me and I related so much to Amy. Stationery nerds unite!

Watching the first few seasons when I already knew Jake and Amy would end up together was kind of like rewatching Friends when you know Monica and Chandler will end up together. Just so much fun :3

They kinda dropped the ball on the last season, but everything up until that point was gold.

1899

This show had the same creators as Dark which we both really enjoyed so we decided to give this show another try. And just as in the first season of Dark we spent most of the time being confused. 

I really enjoyed the late Victorian setting in the first couple episodes, and I also enjoyed that everyone spoke their own languages. It's such a small thing, but if the show had been American everyone would have spoken English (maybe with appropriate accents, but not necessarily), but the show is German so everyone speaks their own languages and some of the characters know more than one language while others don't. It made for interesting communication and there were so many times where their body language conveyed more meaning than their words to the person they were speaking to, because the other person couldn't understand their language. 

The story quickly entered confusion territory and every prediction we made turned out to be wrong, but it kept us on our toes. 

When we only had one episode left I decided to check if the show was renewed so if the ending was unsatisfactory we'd know whether there'd be more or not. Turns out the show was cancelled, which completely killed the vibe. The way the show ended I would've loved to see more.

It wasn't as cool as Dark, but damn it was still cool. 

Game completed: New Tales From the Borderlands

Almost three years ago I played the original Tales From the Borderlands and it was probably the best thing Telltale ever made. So funny and so much action for a point-and-click. 

This game was made in the same spirit as Telltale's game, but it didn't quite hit the mark. The characters are funny and the story is very Borderlands. Rhys makes a return in this game, sporting a very dubious mustache. 

It falls short on the gameplay. Telltale's games are almost exclusively point-and-click, but there are usually some action elements mixed in. This game was almost like a movie. Most of the action taken by the player was either dialogue choices or QTEs.

I missed the classic "[...] will remember that" to indicate that an action or dialogue choice had an effect on a character's disposition towards another. Instead all I got was a cryptic message about the group not vibing enough. Like, game, you're not giving me any hints that I'm affecting this so I don't know what I can do about it. 

But yeah, funny characters, decent story, but lacking in gameplay. 

Dragon Age: Absolution season 1

I was so excited for this show so when it was my time to choose again ofc I went for this one! I appreciated all the references to the games and I was ready to go full fan theory mode for what would come in the next game. Spoiler warning for everything below.

Qwydion quickly became my favourite character.

Glimpses of Cassandra and Leliana made my day every time they showed up. At this point I recognize Cassandra's voice without even seeing her face. All the references to Kirkwall made me wonder how important they'd make DA2 in the next game or even just the next season.

They referred to the Circulum's creator as Amelia Pavus, which made me wonder if Dorian will show up in reference to that. Since he is also of House Pavus.

But the biggest thing was in the final episode. Throughout the season they made several mentions to a Crimson Knight and I kept thinking they meant Samson. I WAS NOT PREPARED TO HEAR MEREDITH'S VOICE! SHE SURVIVED?!?!?!?! THE IMPLICATIONS!!! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!

My last 5 books: Ghost stories

1. The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson. I've seen four or five screen adaptations for this book without ever reading the book until now. I love gothic horror and haunted houses and this book brilliantly fits both criteria. I like how the story builds it up as the house being haunted, but as time goes on it starts to hint that maybe there's something else going on, only to leave it entirely up in the air whether the house is doing it or one of them is severely slipping mentally. Arthur is embodies toxic masculinity. Dr Montague is old-fashioned af behind is jovial manner (probably due to the times, but ffs having a wife just to take care of you? Grow up, dude). Theodora is a fake bitch. Mrs Montague is exhausting. Eleanor is a mouse. The only person I actually liked in this story was Luke. I'm very happy it didn't turn out the way the 1999 movie adaptation did, even though that movie is a favourite of mine. Favourite scene from the book is when Eleanor is clutching to a hand out of fear for the things that go bump in the night at Hill House, thinking it's Theodora, only to discover it isn't. Chills!

2. The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James. I've seen two screen adaptations of this book and each time I've expected more than I've been given. The same goes for this book. I expected more. I knew the outline of the story before I started to read, thanks to The Innocents and Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor. Possessed children should be creepy and yet it failed spectacularly at being creepy. The main character was incredibly vapid, stupid even, and kept trying to ignore things hoping that they'd go away on their own instead of trying to do something until it was basically too late. She gave way too much freedom to Miles just because he was male (wtf he's still a child), which probably is just a sign of the time it was written. It is over a century old after all. Close to 130 years old :0 When I finished the book I was simultaneously disappointed that it was over, and also glad it was done. It was a bit of a drag. But just as in The Innocents it leaves off at a cliffhanger that I remember I appreciated in the movie, but which I'm not entirely sure I appreciate in the novel. 

3. The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill. I've seen the 2012 movie so I had a general idea of the plot of this book, yet it proved to have a very different feel from the movie. It wasn't scary or chilling, but it was all the right kinds of sad and creepy. After the confusion of the first chapter where the author goes through the entire timeline of Arthur Kipps post everything that happened in Eel Marsh House and how he came to the decision to tell his story, the book became very engaging almost immediately and I found it very hard to put down. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out in what time the story was set, but I was inclined on 1920s. If it was any further into the 20th century then Arthur wouldn't refer to the Woman's dress and bonnet as "not modern" but straight up historical. Yet he makes a reference to Victorian times so clearly we're in the 20th century. But they have both cars (referred to as motor cars) and carriage drivers (pony and trap), but the trains are iron and steam and coal. Arthur has a wrist watch, which places it post-pocket watches. And all the farmers are wearing tweed and corduroy. Google can't make up its mind either. Most accounts I've found says it's Edwardian (so max 1910), but some sources even said 1860s which just seems blatantly wrong... Unless they meant that the time period in which the Woman lived then Arthur keeps referring to that as sixty years ago, which places the main story in the 1920s... Aaaaaanyway, I loved the story. Couldn't put it down. The writing drew me in, the story was engaging and just the right amount of sad and creepy. I'd read this again.

4. Dark Matter, by Michelle Paver. This is a ghost story that takes place in the 30s during an Arctic expedition and I read this in the dead of night during the quiet hours of working the night shift, while it was snowing outside and I hadn't seen daylight for five days due to working nights and I sleep during the six hours of daylight we do get this time of year. It hit different. Even from the very start there's a clear hint that something's very wrong. It proceeds to build tension throughout the whole book and the tension doesn't really let go until the last few pages. It's brilliantly chilling and creepy. "Something opened the doghouse door. It can open doors. It can get in." I enjoyed the friendship dynamic between the guys at the camp, and the way the main character tried to justify his own actions and decision to himself felt very real. Dogs are a gift and the main character gets to understand this on his own terms. I like how the class differences are all but obliterated when faced with nothing but snow and ice and darkness and survival. The tale of what happened to the lonely trapper leaves a lot unsaid, but says so much without the use of words about the cruelty of man when he knows he won't get caught. It's sad and horrifying and creepy and chilling. 

5. Gösta Berlings Saga, av Selma Lagerlöf. Att den här boken existerar har väl ingen undgått att lägga märke till. Min mamma rekommenderade den som rolig efter att jag beklagade mig över att svensk klassisk litteratur alltid var så himla präktig. Och visst är den kul, men den är också så extremt dramatisk och överdriven att jag inte orkar. Halvvägs igenom hade alla berömt Gösta som en himmelsk man men samtidigt var han så otroligt lynnig att han förälskade sig i tre kvinnor på en månad och kastade bort deras kärlek på småsaker den ena efter den andra. Alla förälskelser kom från ingenstans och ledde ingenvart och allt är sååååå dramatiskt och jag orkar inte. Allt intressant som hände i boken involverade antingen Sintram eller majorskan och dessa dök upp väldigt sällan. Det tog mig fem timmar att läsa hundra sidor istället för de vanliga en till två beroende på typsnitt och teckenstorlek. Halvvägs igenom gav jag upp. Dramatiken, teatralismen, de oändliga kärlekshistorierna, och alla ologiska karaktärshandlingarna gav upphov till så mycket suckande och stönande från mitt håll att jag bara inte kan med den mer. Sorry, Selma. 

Wednesday

After we finished Castlevania it was time for Wednesday. We were both excited for this show since we both like the other renditions of the Addams Family. And let's be honest: Wednesday is always one of the best characters in the show no matter which rendition we're talking about. 

That remained true for this show as well. Jenna was amazing as Wednesday and I loved every episode. It was always a cherry on top to see Christina Ricci with Wednesday and I was glad her role amounted to more than "quirky side character".

Wednesday's primary suspect for who the monster was always seemed a bit too convenient and clear-cut to me, so it was expected from my side that she was wrong. But it was very satisfying. 

Really looking forward to season two.

Dealing with backlog: Frogwares bundle

So a while ago I bought the Frogware publisher bundles on Steam because I've really enjoyed their Sherlock Holmes games and decided I'd go through the bunch. 

1. Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy (2002). When I first started up this game it started as a small windowed mode. Didn't bother me much. I figured I'd have to play it in windowed since screens were smaller back then or it'd look hella pixelated. What did bother me though was that the cursor didn't work. It didn't respond well at all to mouse movements, which is kind of important in a point-and-click game. Found a guide on Steam on how to solve the issues. The guide was for Win 10 and I'm running Win 11, but I figured since they're similar enough it'd work. Went through all the steps and the game wouldn't launch at all. Undid the steps that related to the game launching wrong and only kept the steps that were supposed to fix the cursor. The game launched, but the cursor still didn't work. So this game was entirely unplayable. Shame. Trailer.

2. Journey to the Center of the Earth (2003). This is old. I forgot how long ago 2003 really was until I booted up the game. Man, are we spoiled today! FFS ARIANE WALK FASTER! The controls are alright, but the point-to-walk-here mechanic is a little iffy and it doesn't always make Ariane go where you think she will, and sometimes she's straight up blocking something you need to pick up and so you have to make her take a step or two in a direction that doesn't cause the entire perspective to shift. Uuuuugh -.-' The story in itself is cool, like a fanfiction sequel of Jules Verne's book of the same name. The voice acting is terrible across the board so I resorted to my tried and true tactic of reading the subtitles and then clicking so I'd hear as little of the voices as possible. Funny thing, though. I've never played this game before, but the graphics, the mechanics, the voice-acting and the sometimes infuriating puzzles made me feel all sorts of nostalgia for those old point-and-click adventures that I used to play as a kid :3 Recommend, but keep in mind that it's oooooooold and use a walkthrough. Trailer.

3. Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring (2004). I enjoyed this one. The quizzes at the end of each chapter forced you to pay attention to what was going on; what was being said and by whom and where and when; read through all the documents found etc etc. The case was quite "fun" and Sherlock's work table was fun too. Not many of the puzzles were too challenging and I liked that you had to use tools like a magnifying glass and a measuring tape several times and not just "look here" and "pick this up". The only thing that ruined it a little bit for me was the forest sequence. Kind of a labyrinth puzzle where you find your way through a forest with multiple winding paths, and since the game is old it's all pixelated and every frame looks frustratingly similar, add to that the fact that I have the absolute worst sense of direction IRL and you have a disaster. To make matters worse after I finally found my way through the forest I had to find my way back through the forest again... but with a timer this time. And I kept getting lost and running out of time and aaaaagh so much frustration! But apart from that little hiccup I had a good time with this game! Trailer.

4. Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (2007). I was looking forward to this. Partly because it can be played in first person view, which makes it seem more like a RPG imo, but also because of its Lovecraftian themes. Unfortunately it crashes whenever I try to use the map for fast-travelling, which means I can't switch locations, which means I can't progress the story. There is a remake/remaster of this coming next year so I guess I have to wait for that one. Trailer.

5. Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis (2007). It kept referencing The Awakened in the beginning, just rubbing it in that I couldn't play it! This game worked smoothly for the first half of the game. When I entered the second half suddenly I could no longer make a save or overwrite an already existing save. Just didn't work. Then the game crashed when I was chasing the thief through Buckingham Palace (not too far from the end of the game) and I lost hours of progress because the game couldn't be saved and there was no autosave. Brilliant! This game had terrible voice-acting, terrible acting overall tbh,  but the story was quite fun and Holmes got to make use of every talent in his arsenal while Watson got to stand around being dumb for the entirety of the game. What happened to useful Watson from The Silver Earring? I had a really good time with this one up until the crash. There's something very Victorian and romantic about a genius cat-burglar and the equally genius detective. Loved it. I also have a nagging feeling I've played this somewhere before or watched a playthrough. I definitely remember the Rosetta stone getting stolen and Queen Victoria getting snogged... Trailer.

6. Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Persian Carpet (2008). So this one is a very little one developed under their sub-studio Waterlily. It has no voice-lines, but the same character models as the previous Sherlock Holmes games. This is a very straight-forward point-and-click game with some infuriating puzzles popping up every now and then. Especially the one where you had to get more squares than the computer... GAH! Anyway, this has extremely straight-forward gameplay, with a very simplistic story, and if this game was made today it would've been a mobile game, and it would've been pretty well suited as a mobile game. Trailer.

7. Dracula: Origin (2008). It was only after I finished this game that I realized that their other Dracula game that I played several years ago was set up as a direct sequel to this one. Lol. Oh well. This game draws heavily from the Bram Stoker book, except Dracula is prettier than he has any business to be (especially considering the game is 14 years old). Van Helsing's voice actor has a strange sort of accent that I can't really place. I think they meant for it to be Dutch, but it sounds more Eastern European in places. No infuriating puzzles this time around and the whole thing seemed pretty simple. Like a lot of vampire stuff it fails to be inspiring or engaging. Usually these things are too edgy or just a complete boring copy of the (let's face it) boring book that is Dracula. That Cthulhu Mythos reference made me chuckle though! Nyarlathotep :3 Trailer.

8. Department 42: The Mystery of the Nine (2009). Also a Waterlily game and a full-on classic Hidden Object game. Unfortunately it's also very shallow. As Artifex Mundi keeps proving, Hidden Object games don't have to be shallow. There could be so much more to this. But the story is basically that you work for a federal bureau that keeps track of supernatural artefacts. Nine of them were kept in a mansion, but when the mansion burned down the artefacts disappeared and they wreak havoc to people who end up with them. So you're tasked with finding them. Very few puzzles were frustrating this time around, some parts of the Hidden Object screens were completely unfair and some had hitboxes completely to hell, but it worked out in the end. I did appreciate the nod to Sherlock Holmes. Trailer.

9. Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper (2009).

10. Secret Mission: The Forgotten Island (2011). This was another classic Hidden Object game but so shallow and so easy. Nothing even moderately hard on it, no frustrations to make it memorable, no unfair hidden objects... This game was just a disappointment. Nothing memorable about it at all. Trailer.

11. Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles (2011).

12. Dracula: Love Kills (2011).

13. The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (2012).

14. Journey to the Heart of Gaia (2012). This one was good. Classic point-and-click game with a very cute fantasy setting and story. I had a good time with this one. At this point it's getting pretty obvious they're using the same puzzles for every single game, but they're mainly good puzzles so who can blame them. I had a good time with this one to be honest! And voice-acting really does make a whole lot of difference, even if it's pretty bad. Department 42 and Secret Mission had no voice-acting at all, but this one did and it made all the difference! Trailer.

15. Magrunner: Dark Pulse (2013). This one was probably the one I looked forward to the least out of all of the games. It looked like a Portal knock-off and I knew it would frustrating. I started the game and liked the story setup well enough. The whole story and characters and the glimpses of society reminded me of Shadowrun, but with mutants instead of supernaturals. I was cautiously optimistic. The fist few puzzles were simple enough. Then we got to one of the last introductory puzzles and everything was going well enough, until I got to a point where I was somehow going to jump off a cube while also keeping the cube with me, and I just couldn't make it work. Tried on my own - didn't work. Tried with a guide - didn't work. Tried on my own some more - still couldn't make it work. When I had spent 30 minutes on that one puzzle out of my total 1 hour playtime I decided to fuck it and drop the game. I don't enjoy doing the same thing over and over and not feel like I make any progress. Trailer.

16. Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (2014). The Sherlock games keep getting better. Testament was really good, but this one was way better and pretty much on par with Devil's Daughter. This is a classic Sherlock Holmes game with much the same formula as they've used since Jack the Ripper with the deduction board and everything. The biggest difference is that they've used a much better engine for this game and so everything is pretty as hell. Including Sherlock. Couldn't stop looking at him o_o This is like an anthology game. There are six cases in this game that Sherlock solves consecutively. My favourite was probably Blood Bath because it almost seemed like an adventure game at times, but Riddle on the Rails was a lot of fun too. Trailer.

17. Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (2016).

18. The Sinking City (2019). I loved this game. So much. It gets its own post, because damn.

19. Sherlock Holmes Chapter One (2021). After all those Sherlock Holmes games they decided to restart the entire series. And they did it so well ♥ I had a lot of fun playing this game. The combat was much improved from The Sinking City. The deduction board was straight out of Crimes and Punishments. Had a lot of fun playing around with costumes and makeup. Really didn't like Jon though. This entire game takes place before Sherlock meets Watson, so it's a very different Jon. The story was heartbreaking. A lot of the cases were really good. I liked how the clue-collecting worked. Only thing I wish they'd done differently was to make it more obvious where to pick up cases/missions. Had to Google when and where they'd show up so I could make sure to do everything. I loved playing as a young Sherlock who's still figuring out himself and his trade it was a lot of fun. When's chapter two? Trailer.

Movies I watched in 2022

Just like I did for 2021, here's a compilation of the movies we watched in 2022 :)

1. Red Notice (2021). Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson in a heist movie. This was pretty cool actually, very fast-paced and fun and Dwayne Johnson didn't end up having the role I expected in the end. An all around fun action comedy.

2. The Trip (2021). This is a Norwegian dark comedy with a well-known Swedish actress as the female lead. We went in expecting over-the-top gruesome hilarity from it and we were not disappointed. This was messy and gorey and bloody and so so much fun. Definitely recommend.

3. Aftermath (2021). A pretty dark thriller that somewhat fails on suspense. A young struggling couple gets an amazing deal on a house, but when they move in they notice that not everything is as it should be. The woman thinks it's haunted but nobody listens to her. Then they find out it's something much worse than a simple haunting. The end was pretty chilling, but everything building up to it was kind of lackluster.

4. You Don't Mess With the Zohan (2008). I'm not a fan of Adam Sandler and I tend to stay away from his movies, so it's no surprise that I hadn't seen this movie before. Yet I was talked into watching this and it was pretty hilarious. A lot of the jokes wouldn't work today (yikes) but definitely a fun movie.

5. Mother/Android (2021). A post-apoc movie that ended up a bit of a disappointment. They could've done so much more with it, but instead it came up short and with an ending that just fell flat with seemingly no resolution. It was heart-breaking at times, but the story wasn't all that engaging.

6. Eli (2019). One of the coolest movies we watched this year. Eli is a boy living with no immune system so he spends his life in a bubble. He's offered a place at a home that specializes in these kinds of conditions, promising a treatment that could improve his quality of life. But when he gets there he soon discovers that the place isn't all it's cracked up to be and there's some really dark things going on there.

Summer Movies.

7. Crash Pad (2017). This was a fun movie about a young man just wanting to be left alone to wallow, and a middle-aged man just wanting to have fun and get over his ex. They end up helping each other in the most unexpected ways. 

8. There's Someone Inside Your House (2021). This whole movie feels like a homage to Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer. There's a killer on campus that reveals your darkest secrets and then kills you while wearing a mask that looks like your face. Creepy stuff. The reveal at the end was unexpected, otherwise it played out pretty much as expected. 

9. Don't Breathe (2016). A trio decides to rob a rich blind veteran thinking it'd be an easy job. Only to discover that the man they're robbing is straight up insane and extremely deadly. This movie was suspenseful to the max and very chilling. Definitely recommend.

10. Day Shift (2022). A very fun vampire movie featuring Snoop and Jamie Foxx. As if a standard zombie-movie met vampires. It was a fun concept, the whole movie was fun. I enjoyed how they played with the vampire lore and how they created different breeds of vamps. Recommended as a fun watch with lots of crazy action!

11. Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). Both of us had seen this movie before but it had been ages, so when it showed up on Netflix we had to see it again. It still holds up and it's such a hilarious movie. A lot of the jokes wouldn't fly today though. Like people would cancel it for the very first joke when an Arab says his name is Falafel ._.

12. The Sea Beast (2022). Really heart-warming and fun animated family movie. Gave me Tangled vibes (which is my favourite Disney movie). We chose this for something light and fun to watch and it was both of those, but also just so good. Really enjoyable. Strong recommend.

13. Enola Holmes 2 (2022). I really enjoyed the first one, while Toni wasn't convinced. But I chose this movie as my birthday movie so he would have to watch it with me. It was very fast-paced and fun, and we both came away from it feeling like this sequel was a lot better than the first movie. Keep them coming! 

14. Another Round (2020). The Danish movie that won an Oscar. It was on TV when I was visiting my parents for my birthday and we just ended up watching it. It's a fun premise that goes just as wrong as you'd expect it to, but essentially it boils down to a group of middle-aged men being disillusioned with the way life has turned out for them and want to make it a bit more fun. They end up having a bit too much fun.

15. Krampus (2015). We watched this on Christmas Eve. It seemed fitting. It's a horror movie about the dark side of Christmas, when Krampus comes for the bad kids. It was entirely predictable until the very end. That twist at the end though was perfect. We had a good time with this one!

16. Murder Mystery (2019). Two Adam Sandler movies in one year? :0 Wow! And I chose this one! It had a pretty fun plot, and aside from me wanting to smack Adam Sandler so he'd shut up every time he opened his mouth, it was a fun movie. I loved that Jennifer Aniston's character basically solved the murder just from having read so many murder mystery novels xD

17. The Forest (2016). This is a movie that mainly takes place in Japan and mainly in the Aokigahara Forest, or the Suicide Forest as it's known as. It started off with suspense and stayed with suspense pretty much all the way until the part in the cave... And then it all went downhill. The last scene had us both going "that's so ridiculous". Could've been better.

17 movies + the 12 summer movies. We watched 29 movies together last year :) Pretty good haul.

Game completed: The Sinking City

When I picked this game up I thought it'd be like the Sherlock Holmes games, but with a Lovecraftian twist. There are definitely some elements from the Sherlock Holmes games in it, like the clue collecting, information gathering, and even a mind palace, but this game is a lot more RPG than any of the Sherlock Holmes games with levels and skill points and weapons and health and sanity bars to keep track of... I didnt expect to become so enamoured with this game, but even after I stopped playing it and went to bed I continued dreaming about playing it... 

As for the story you're Charles Reed, private investigator and ex Navy Seal from Boston. You've been troubled by visions and nightmares that won't go away no matter how many prescription drugs your doctor gives you. So you start to investigate to find the source of them and get rid of them. The clues lead you to Oakmont, a small town on the east coast that was recently partially flooded. It doesn't take long for Reed to realize that Oakmont isn't quite like other places and there's a reason why this town is so isolated and hard to find, and not even on most maps. There's something coming. From beneath the ocean.

Originally I felt that the combat was kinda wonky. Reed was slow to shoot and it was difficult to aim and he was slow to dodge and react, but it was something I learned to handle and anticipate as I played. You also start the game with only a pistol and a revolver that work really well on small enemies, but doesn't do much on the big ones. The handmade grenades work, but they're expensive in mats and you only have three. Things get easier once you unlock the shotgun. 

There are no traders and there's no in-game currency. Since Oakmont is effectively cut off from the rest of the world they have reverted to bartering. There are a lot of crafting mats to be found in the world, though. And you'll need it. Damn, I've never used so much gunpowder in my life.

There are no quest markers, but you can put map markers on your own based on the clues you're given and they'll show up on the compass as somewhat quest markers. Since half the town is flooded you can't walk everywhere and sometimes you have to take a boat between places. You have to pay attention to dialogue and read everything so you know what clues to connect in the mind palace later.

This game is inspired by the Lovecraftian Mythos but it isn't a horror game. It's an investigative adventure game with some creepy and gross undertones. It's a very grey world. I was always creeped out by the underwater parts. It isn't scary, but it keeps feeding you the sense that there's something lurking, something coming, something watching and biding its time, waiting... And that makes it so creepy sometimes. 

I really enjoyed investigating the town and its people. I went as far as looking up all the sidequests, when they became available, and where to pick them up so I could make sure to do everything. There's a lot to uncover and I had a lot of fun doing all of it! And Reed has a punny and sarcastic sense of humour that shines through every so often. It lightens up the pretty heavy feeling of doom that all the other citizens are having. 

Don't go into this game expecting a horror game, because this isn't that. This is a somewhat creepy and somewhat unsettling adventure game. 

Dealing with backlog: A Way Out

After It Takes Two we decided to play through the predecessor: A Way Out. Toni had already played it once with a friend but he remembered very little of the story. I wasn't as excited for this game as I was for It Takes Two, mainly because the escape from prison setting has been done so many times. It's done to death. It's a cliché. But the game mechanic of It Takes Two was cool enough that I agreed to try A Way Out. 

The gameplay was still really cool. I like the whole mechanic of having to do things together to progress. Unlike in most co-op games where one person can just run ahead and do everything and then has to wait for the other person to catch up. None of that in these games. I approve. 

The river scene was infuriating. We managed to end up going backwards after less than a minute and we have no idea how, but we couldn't get back to going forwards without dying first xD

The ending was heartbreaking no matter which one you ended up with. There are two we were both crying at the one we got and decided to look up the other one on YouTube which was just as heartbreaking. No happy ending in this game.

Castlevania

We finally got around to watching Castlevania and it was such a treat! I haven't played the games, but Toni really appreciated all the re-used soundtrack. I just wanted vampires and I love how they played with the lore and the references. Carmilla and Striga and Dracula and Varney... All old-time parts of the vampire lore :3

After Arcane this was our first foray into Netflix's animations and it was so good. Although maybe not appropriate for a dinner show. There were so many instances of guts and gore where we just laughingly said "C'mon I'm trying to eat here!" 

Trevor and Sypha were such a power couple and I just wish they would've stayed with Alucard. He was so lonely. But it all worked out in the end, and I was really happy with their reunion. 

The ending when Dracula suggests going to London really has me all kinds of hopeful for the sequel. Especially considering that the novel takes place in London after Dracula having moved there from Eastern Europe, albeit 400 years later than the show takes place. 

Can you hurry it up with Nocturne, please?

Game completed: It Takes Two

This became our new co-op after Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. We finished it just before Christmas and it's probably one of the coolest games I've played this year. So beautiful, it was like an interactive animated movie a lot of the time!

I had a stupid hard time with some of the jumping puzzles because I'm really bad at jumping puzzles overall. Luckily the most infuriatingly annoying jumping puzzle was optional: the Hell Tower. I gave up after a while but Toni persisted and managed to get all the way to the top. Tbf he was doing better than me at it immediately from the get-go. 

The game had some amazing banter and a lot of it was really relatable from a relationship point of view (but we're doing a lot better than May and Cody). We both really disliked the stupid book for like two thirds of the game and then he suddenly became a buddy.

There was a lot of laughter and a lot of awww.

I liked how the game focused on collaboration throughout. Like there was no way to progress unless you were doing the puzzles together and helping each other. The mini-games on each level were usually a lot of fun too. Toni usually excelled when there was shooting involved and I was better at the tactical stuff. 

My favourite level was probably Rose's Room. Lots of creativity and fun stuff to play around with on that level :3

If you have a friend to  play with do yourself a favour and play this game.