The new Tomb Raider movie trailer is out (UPDATE NOW ON YOUTUBE)! You get to see Lara Croft raid tombs, kill bad guys and talk to her dead dad! It is just like the game! We will see if all that dead dad talking and bad guy murdering makes for a good movie, but it is a promising start!
Shmee Takes A Stroll With Oxenfree!
I didn’t know what I was getting myself in to when I fired up Oxenfree. I knew it was an indie game that came out last year and that a lot of people really liked it, and it was known to have a lot of charm, but I was not prepared to be so completely enraptured with it.
Technically I am guessing you could call Oxenfree a 2.5D walking simulator since the gameplay is mostly walking around and solving lightweight puzzles, but really it is a conversation simulator because unlike most walking games in Oxenfree you are never alone. There is always someone there to chat with, and the game’s three button, three dialog choice gameplay, is really fun. Seeing how Alex’s (the main character) friends react to the things you have her say is constantly engaging.
Oxenfree’s story revolves around five friends who just wanted to have a fun weekend trip on one of the Pacific Northwest’s many costal Islands. In this case the fictional Edwards Island. Things obviously go sideways, but that is all that I am going to tell you. However, if you liked Stranger Things, you will like Oxenfree. Watching the story unfold was fascinating. It was some of the best fiction I have watched/interacted with in a long time, and knowing that it all could have played out differently had I chosen to walk and talk to different people or said different things makes me want to play it again.
Right now if you are an Xbox Live Gold member you can download Oxenfree for free, and you need to download it. Though it is worth the $20 it usually goes for on just about every other platform under the sun. It is so fun and the story is so engrossing that I feel I should apologize for the couple of nights of lost sleep you are going to have while you finish the game. Maybe even more if you choose to play it again to see things go down differently, but some things are worth loosing sleep over.
Unpacking PAX West 2017!
PAX West was a blur this year, I did so much, and I had so much fun that it is hard to talk about anything in particular. I enjoyed most of the panels I went too. Two of the funniest featured Kris Straub: PAX Rumble 2017 (video game wresting at its finest) and the live version of his internet radio show 28 Plays Later (two guys talk about stuff). Of course the Telltale group play of Batman: The Enemy Within was as fun as always, and even though it has changed to a bunch of random ads, I still love going to the Gearbox show.
I didn’t have time to play a lot of the games on the show floor or elsewhere, but I am going to say that Forza 7 is the default game of show for me. I played it twice, and it is simply stunning on the Xbox One X. It truly shows the craziness the X will be able to pull off this Christmas. Board game wise, I am not going to name a game of the year. The ones I played were all fine, but I didn’t play a game I had to have. Though Dwarves: Dig, Delve, Die at least had some sweet dwarven shaped dice, and I won, which is always a bonus.
PAX West is always an experience, and there are some moments after all the walking and waiting in lines that make me wonder if it is all worth it, but every year I can’t wait to do it all over again. If you like geeky things and hanging out with geeky people, try to get yourself to a PAX. There will be something for you. Even if you have to weed through the three hundred “how to make your stream successful” panels. Though I can help you out with that: be funny, talented, have good screen presence, and self promote like crazy. Until next year PAX West!
Rune Is Coming Back!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bViPhnt9Rk
Seventeen years ago Human Head Studios launched a Viking RPG that would become a LAN party staple for years to come, Rune, and they are finally making a sequel. I know that it took some time for the studio to get back on its feet after the Prey 2 fiasco that turned some fans against Bethesda, but regardless, I can’t wait for a proper return to the world of Rune. I am a little worried about it being open world. I don’t think that is something every game needs to do, but I know they are a talented studio looking to do something big after the hardships they have had to endure, so I hope Rune Ragnarök blows me away!
Hellboy Enters The Fray!
The trailer for the new Injustice 2 fighter pack went up, and while Raiden was an interesting choice, since this is not Mortal Kombat, and Black Manta (Aquaman’s number one villain) was a given, Hellboy is something I didn’t see coming. Mostly because he is from neither NetherRealm’s stable of characters (Mortal Kombat) or from the DC Comics library. He is Dark Horse Comic’s most recognizable hero, and if he can cross over, who else might come out to play? I have my fingers crossed for Dark Horse’s other main hero, The Rocketeer! For now though, I am very happy with HB joining the line up.