Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 'Safe Haven' (2025) - Horror Video Game Review

In-between playing mascot horror Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep' and this latest (for consoles at least) entry; Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 'Safe Haven', I fell down a giant rabbit hole in the form of the very rough, yet equally addictive Garten of Banban series. I was so down this hole that even when I picked up Chapter 4, I still didn't return. Instead, playing through all 8 games in that other series before finally being able to come back. I had in my head that both game series were on an even level with each other, but playing this one, I quickly realised how much more polished and well made Poppy Playtime of course is. Unavoidable spoilers for previous games to follow.

As a former employee of the sinister toy company, Poppy Playtime, you had returned to the factory ten years after a disaster closed it down, following a cryptic letter you received in the post. Safe Haven begins with you descending into the darkest level of the secret underground facility, where there is no longer any pretence as to the twisted experiments being performed by the company. Between the underground prison and surgical wing lies the titular 'Safe Haven', a home for all the non-violent sentient toys, who hide there, protected by Doey the Doughman (a large creature made out of what appears to be Playdough). Poppy arrives and announces a plan that would see the complete destruction of the entire Poppy Playtime facility, as well as the sinister Prototype (the mastermind behind the initial disaster ten years previously). To carry out this plan however, the employee must travel to the domain of  'The Doctor', to retrieve a high access key card that he has in his possession.

Following the trend of the other games, this fourth chapter is again longer than any of the ones that came before, with my overall (Poppy) playtime being over five hours. Deep Sleep introduced more of a pure horror vibe, and that continues here, the bleak and brutalist prison area being a prime example. There is lore here in spades, with this chapter having more notes and videotapes to discover than ever before. The story that plays out during this chapter is also the most involved yet, featuring a big cast of characters. Helping you are Poppy, Oliver, Kissy-Missy and Doey. That later one was a fantastic new one, coming across as almost cartoon-like with his comical exaggerated movement and jovial way of talking, yet also containing within him a lot of darkness that occasionally bubbles to the surface.
Much of the chapter has you pitted against 'The Doctor', an antagonist who is more cerebral, watching you over CCTV rather than physically trying to kill you. He is a constant presence, taunting you, directing where you are able to go, and occasionally sending enemies after you, most notably, the lion-like yarn creature; Yarnaby.

There are puzzles to solve and chase sequences as always, but also an increased focus on stealth sequences that see you pushing switches while avoiding a prowling creature. The stealth is pretty simple as the creatures appear to have atrocious vision, only able to spot you when they are almost on top of you. I enjoyed the chase sequences, nearly all of which were fun to do. There was the odd moment of frustration when it wasn't exactly clear where you were meant to go while being chased. There were also a few boss battles, but all followed a similar pattern of pressing switches and pulling levers.
Safe Haven is graphically lovely, especially coming from the very simple and plain level design of Garten of Banban. I really enjoyed traversing the areas here, occasionally giving a Resident Evil 4 vibe with its mine areas and labyrinthian medical facility areas. All of this leads up to a cliff-hanger finish that was a return to form after the underwhelming end to the last chapter.

Playing Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 'Safe Haven' made me realise just how superior in quality this mascot horror game is to nearly any other one in the sub-genre of horror video games. I have a soft spot with both this and GOB, but with both games it feels like an ending really needs to come into sight, rather than treading water by stretching out the plot. Many had assumed that Chapter 5 would be the the final game, but apparently that isn't the case. Regardless, the second it drops on consoles, I will be plunging in feet first.

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Garten of Banban 0 (2025) - Horror Video Game Review

It had to happen eventually, this past month (at the time of typing back in February) I have had a whale of a time playing through the Garten of Banban mascot horror games. Sure, sometimes the quality has been less than ideal, but I really grew to love the liminal low-fi world, the sometimes janky controls, and the story. With Garten of Banban 0, I have for the moment reached my personal end. There is an eighth game out, but I don't currently own it, and with the ninth game not due out until way later in the year in August, I want to pace myself (ok, it turns out I in fact did not pace myself, a review for the eighth game dropping some point soon!). For once, spoilers for previous games not to follow, as the title might suggest, this time around we have a prequel.

You play as an unnamed young creature who one day wakes up in a small room with no idea who you are, where you are, or why you are there. The door to your room is soon opened up by someone; a young red creature that introduces himself as Banban. He leads you out to a vast underground play area, where you are introduced to further creatures. After playing a few games with your new friends, the day ends and you return to your room. You are disturbed later that night by Banban. He tells you he has something that he wants to show you, leading you to an intimidating gigantic locked door...

This was the second game in the series to be free, on Playstation 5 it had a much reduced price than recent others, so I figured it likely wouldn't be the longest game. It took me roughly an hour to complete, and on the whole I had a lot of fun with it. I'm sure important lore is given, and it was interesting to see the characters I've come to love appearing as children rather than grown adults. As to when the game is set, or where it is set, I don't know. I have a feeling the location might feature in the eighth instalment, time will tell. I thought the location looked great, and while the first half is light on horror, things do pick up when the night time sequence begins. It leads to an introduction of a fearsome and creepy looking new antagonist, making for a fun finale. I will say that on my playthrough, the game crashed in this final section, causing me to have to restart the game and replay a small part. It did take me out the story somewhat.

As per usual, along with a chase sequence, there are a few puzzles to do, the hardest of which had you trying to line up spinning symbols in a room rapidly filling with poisonous gas. Though with that one, when the timing clicked, it clicked immediately; a Herculean task suddenly fun and easy. With you as a creature, and set before the events that led to the protagonist of the main games entering the facility, there wasn't much explanation or deep story. A few notes were scattered about that gave some neat early lore about Banban, and as mentioned, I thought the location this game took place in looked fantastic.

With a cheaper price, I figured this would be bite size, but I still had fun along the way. I'm going to miss this series, which is crazy as I initially grudgingly picked it up as a stop gap game while waiting for Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 to go on sale. Something I forgot to mention; shout out to the great end credits sequence, the first time one of these has had credits, and the charming illustrations show the entire series story from start to current end.

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Garten of Banban IV (2023) - Horror Video Game Review

I think something has broken within me. I initially picked up Garten of Banban as a stop gap mascot horror game to play while I was waiting for later entries of Poppy Playtime to go on sale (being jobless at the moment, my limited budget doesn't stretch to buying full price games, even as relatively cheap as these all are). Since then Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 has gone on sale and I have brought it. I also picked up a bunch of the Garten of Banban games at the same time, and despite the low quality...I am completely hooked on them! A part of me knows that this is a subpar series, but I just cannot stop playing the damn things! With a choice of the fourth Poppy Playtime or Garten of Banban IV, I somehow chose the later. As always, unavoidable spoilers to follow.

Having escaped finally from Stinger Flynn at the end of Garten of Banban III, you have descended down to the mysterious fourth floor of the seemingly infinite basement complex hidden under Banban's Kindergarten, with a chick creature in tow. It isn't long before you have once again been captured, this time by new creature - Sheriff Toadster. In a weird twist, Sheriff Toadster is a subject of a kangaroo themed creature called Queen Bouncelia, and both of these creatures are shockingly actually non-hostile to you. Sympathetic to your search for your missing child (children?), Queen Bouncelia instructs Sheriff Toadster to help you retrieve three parts of a damaged elevator from around her kingdom, which when repaired will take you back up to one of the higher levels where you can continue your search.

I played through this game in one single sitting, and I have to say it was by far the most polished and fun to play one yet. Your objective is clear from the start, and with this level split into four distinct sections, it is clear also where you need to go. There is a load of lore, notes mainly talk about Sheriff Toadster and Queen Bouncelia, later on you get audio diaries that talk about the rogues gallery of creatures you have previously encountered (who of course once again appear here). With each subsequent game, this distances itself more and more from Poppy Playtime. I loved that not all the creatures are hostile to you, and I liked how self contained this game felt. It both gives further beats to the main story, while also having its own little plot going on of a rebel jester creature that is on the level causing mischief.

There is the usual assortment of fun and easy puzzles, from spot the difference, to again more switch pressing with your magical teleporting drone. There were also a couple of chase sequences (one that starts immediately at game's beginning), and another kind of boss fight against a new giant creature occurs. That boss fight was a low point of IV though, involving you tricking it into running into giant switches, it took me many many goes before I finally worked out how to do that. According to my Playstation 5, this was the longest game yet, with me taking about two hours to finish it. Each subsequent game costs more than the previous one, but this was still well under £10. This is a brief experience, but it was also a fun one. There is something about the basic creature designs that just become more and more appealing with time.

It is crazy to me that four Garten of Banban games were released in the space of a year (actually five in the end). There has been a thankful gradual improvement with each game, this one being the most fun I've had yet. It wouldn't make much sense to pick up Garten of Banban IV if you haven't played the previous games, but from the growing quality (there are some actual attractive looking locations here, and the increase in background music is much appreciated), this one was by far the best one yet. Just don't expect anything remotely scary, the jump scares are once again ineffectual, and the content very horror slight.
With eight games in the series released, you would assume that the next game will be Garten of Banban V. That is not the case though. Tune in to the next review to find out more.

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Garten of Banban III (2023) - Horror Video Game Review

Another week and another review of a Garten of Banban game. Picked up alongside Garten of Banban II and IV, I have (as of typing) just this moment completed the third game in the series; Garten of Banban III. As always, unavoidable spoilers to follow.

After taking yet another downward elevator, you end up on yet another testing floor. You learn pretty soon that this is the last floor that was still in use when the event happened (where the staff and children of a kindergarten mysteriously vanished). It is here that you encounter the goliath sized psychic jelly fish monster; Stinger Flynn, perhaps the creature that is responsible for the missing children and the outbreak of the creatures.

Like I said in my last review, this follows the Poppy Playtime formula by having each instalment be larger than the last. My final play time for this third chapter was about two hours, I'm sure that included the many times I died. This time around there are four main areas, each accessed via a horizontal lift that travels over a vast chasm. It follows the by now familiar format of searching out key cards to open further doors into the complex. Stinger Flynn was an interesting antagonist, I particularly liked the trippy dream sequences you fall into when he psychically connects with you. It was fun to see the non-sentient objects from the second game make a new appearance here. There are the usual drone based puzzles where you have to press switches, including one that takes place as a boss fight against a two headed turtle. The beach cannon puzzle from last time around returns, the only difference here is that you are playing as Stinger Flynn in a flashback sequence, of which there were two, neither of which was particularly exciting . The text on the wall is again written really badly from what appeared to be MS Paint, this led to some annoyances with later puzzles simply for not being able to make out what the primitive looking diagrams were meant to represent. Best puzzle came towards the end, an escape room one where you have to keep resetting the room's look, so that your attempts at escape are not noticed by a patrolling creature. Another memorable one had you performing an operation on a creature, while balancing spinning plates (so to speak) as you did so.

I enjoyed playing this chapter, but I wouldn't say it was as jump scare filled as last time. In fact, while there are jump scares, not a single one made me actually jump. The main antagonist is the mostly static jelly fish, but the teacher creature, Jumbo Josh, and Banban all make returning appearances, as do the birds. The obligatory chase sequence this time around involves you riding on the back of a bird, that was different, if a little messy with how it controlled. The lore comes more from what Stinger Flynn tells you than files found around the place, though they too feature. I actually managed to play a found videotape, but it wasn't very impressive at all.
The game leads up to a fun end, but again, not a very memorable actual exit to the game.

Garten of Banban III was more of the same, it was neither better or worse than the second game, perhaps, with the jump scares not landing, and a few noticeable glitches, this was slightly worse thinking about it. Still, I again finished my playtime wanting to see what was next. I'm sure it will be underwhelming in a design way, but the thought of getting to see an unused floor of the mammoth underground complex has me intrigued. 

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Garten of Banban II (2023) - Horror Video Game Review

It was about what I expected when I played through the first in the Garten of Banban series of video games last month. A mascot horror game that takes heavy inspiration from the much better made Poppy Playtime series. I did say then, that if I saw the subsequent ones on sale I would take a look of them. Less than a month later and those games are on sale, so I gave Garten of Banban II a try. Unavoidable spoilers for the first game to follow.

The first game ended with you descending on a hidden elevator into the depths of the Banban's Kindergarten, before getting attack by a giant creature. This one picks up immediately afterwards, the attack caused the elevator to crash, with you saved by the creature breaking the elevator's fall. You emerge into a secret underground complex, and it is there that someone spots you on the complex's camera system. A man's voice informs you that he has become trapped in the security room, and has asked for your assistance in finding the key card to free him. Can this man be trusted though?

Much like with Poppy Playtime Chapter 2, Garten of Banban II is more of the same but offers a larger experience than the roughly 45 minutes of the first game. It is hard to quantify exactly how long this one took, as I did have the game paused for minutes at a time due to texting a friend while playing. I reckon that this one took me just over an hour to complete, and at a once again dirt cheap price, I find it hard to complain about that length. Thankfully, while still obviously low budget (the signs on the walls and the notes you find still all appear like they were written on MS Paint!), this was a much better made game than before, and is made up of more than just one long corridor with branching rooms off of it. Again in first person, your main goal is finding key cards to proceed further into the labyrinthian underground complex. You still have a drone that you can send to press switches, though this seemed to be used less this time around. Puzzles were all easy, but they were fun to do, not so easy that they felt pointless obstacles to progress. These puzzles range from collecting a group of chick mascots and returning them to their nest, to pressing switches in a correct order, and one sweat inducing platforming section over a large pit, which was more fun than its similar counterpart in the first game. The highlight of this second game was when you find yourself inadvertently trapped in a classroom with a teacher mascot, having to answer the questions she gives you, with surreal break time mini-stories involving the other students, who were made up of non-sentient watering cans, bowling pins, and shade wearing basketballs! I really enjoyed that section, felt unique, doing something different in feel to Poppy Playtime at last.

Before there were only the two mascot antagonists, and both barely featured. For this second game there were at least six of the creatures. I can't recall their names, but these included the return of the bird from the first game, the teacher mascot, a giant snail, a large spider, and a hulking great green monster among others. Similar to Poppy Playtime, some of these mascots are able to talk. The voice acting wasn't great, it felt like they had just dragged random people off the streets to read the lines. In the context of these normal voices coming out of vaguely creepy looking creatures though, the voice work grew on me. There were plenty of jump scare moments should you get caught in any of the sections where that is possible, unlike my first experience, here, I jumped a fair few times. The chapter culminates in a chase sequence, that while not original, was pretty cool, mainly due to the wonderfully massive Jumbo Josh. Dotted around the game world are letters and video tapes. I never actually got a chance to use the tapes, but the letters added a surprising amount of lore to what had seemed to be a wafer thin game story-wise. There are still many lingering questions, but I had far more of an idea what was going on than I did previously.
Level design is better here, but again, the game world doesn't feel like a realistic place, you have dark chasms that stretch into darkness, and this place if real, you would have to assume was created by a maniac, due to the amount of artificial puzzles and level design. It is after all a game though, so perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on that front.

Garten of Banban II was a lot more fun to play than the first. It is still obviously low quality, but I found this to be better designed in general, and I didn't really find any of it frustrating to get through. It also delighted by doing some original things, rather than just feeling like a copied clone. Even with those new ideas, I could never escape the feeling that this is just a poor imitation of a better series, but I would be lying if I said there wasn't some fun to be had here, and would be lying if I said I didn't immediately boot up the third game at the completion of this one.

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Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep' (2024) - Horror Video Game Review

I was pleasantly surprised when I decided to check out episodic horror game; Poppy Playtime late last year. I had expected something like Five Nights At Freddy's but more basic. Instead it was the opposite, feeling like that game if it had been expanded upon to be more than just a single room puzzler. Both Chapter 1 'A Tight Squeeze' and Chapter 2 'Fly in a Web' were quite light on genuine horror moments, I would even go as far to say they are relatively child friendly. That isn't the case for Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep' - this chapter heightens the terror to make an experience that I would not recommend for those who don't enjoy horror. Of course, unavoidable spoilers for what has come before.

Chapter 2 ended with self aware doll Poppy Playtime deciding you were too useful to let go, and so at the last moment diverted the train that was transporting you to the surface, to instead send you deeper into the nightmarish facility, inadvertently causing the train to crash in the process. The third chapter begins with chapter antagonist - CatNap, picking up your unconscious body and discarding it in the trash compactor room. Regaining consciousness at the last moment, you escape the room, and soon get in contact with new character; Ollie, who communicates via a telephone device you collect. He tasks you with powering up a huge machine to divert the hallucinogenic red gas that is blocking the way deeper into the vast underground complex. To do this, you must head into Playcare - the giant biodome orphanage, that also happens to be the stalking ground of the lethal CatNap.

With each subsequent chapter being more expensive to buy, I really hoped the game would increase to match the price rise. That again is the case here, where Chapter 1 was around an hour long, and Chapter 2 around two hours in length, by the time the end credits for Chapter 3 appeared, I had been playing for around four hours. It is more of the same, you explore maze-like levels in first person, solving puzzles, while avoiding the chapter specific enemies who instant kill you should they get a hold of you. The game is at its most unique with the biodome setting, a vast area that is designed to look like it is outside, despite being very very deep below the surface. The central hub area here is made to look like a small town, with various buildings that you travel to as you attempt to reroute the power. Your adventure takes you to a variety of locations, from a school, to caverns, and offices. The horror is in abundance here, with much of it suggested rather than shown in detail. There was something really quite unsettling exploring dormitories and nurseries that featured blood stained bunk beds and cots.
To help assist you, as per previous chapters, new abilities for your grab-hand device are given. You get an upgraded grab-hand that lets you stretch out the hands further, and get two additional upgrades for it - one that allows you to use jump pads, and one that fires flares to light up dark areas. I spent much of my time here cursing how dark the game world was, especially when at the midway point your torch is destroyed. This was a problem of my own making, as I completely forgot I had a flare gun attachment that would have been very useful at giving light to the sometimes pitch black areas! The gun can also be used to protect against the pint-sized enemies that appear in the terrible Playhouse section. Terrible as in horror filled, not terrible as in badly made. Again, forgetting I had the flare gun made that part of the game a whole lot harder.

I was pleased that there is quite a lot of lore revealed during this chapter. You get information about the event that led to the initial disaster in the 90s (that you were seemingly the sole survivor of), and also get a good idea of your ultimate goal in the facility, with the hinted at main antagonist - 'The Prototype', making more of an appearance. The big bad of Chapter 2 was a constant presence, constantly interacting with you. CatNap has a far more hands off approach and barely even appears until the final half of the game. Puzzles were simple, but involved enough to feel satisfying to solve, mainly revolving around moving batteries about, and setting up relays to power up doors. The chapter culminates with a big boss battle, which was basically Five Nights At Freddy's, having you needing to monitor a series of corridors that something was trying to advance down. The hands-off approach of  the chapter antagonist was balanced with a few other enemies, a teacher robot that only moves on you when you aren't looking at it, and a horde of tiny robotic animals. These were both neat and effective enemies to face. Often these take the form of chase sequences. There were quite a few of these sections, though strangely, the checkpoints for these were never just before them, but several rooms before. This led to a pointless minute or so walk to get to the section that you previously died in each time (should you fail). Added to the horror mix are nightmare sequences (a result of the hallucinogenic red gas lingering around). These parts gave some variation, adding rather than detracting from the overall experience.

Each chapter of Poppy Playtime has both increased in length, and increased in horror. It was a pleasure to have the best looking area of the game yet with Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 'Deep Sleep', and I appreciated how survival horror like this felt, even if you are only in actual danger during set events, rather than constantly. I loved the lore here. The dark locations, and not knowing where to go during chase sequences occasionally frustrated, but myself forgetting I had a flare gun was no doubt the cause of some of these frustrations. As I say at the end of each chapter review; I can't wait to pick up the next chapter and get further into the Hell of Playtime Co.

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Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 'Fly in a Web' (2022-24) - Horror Video Game Review

In a rare break from watching mainly horror films for review, I decided to spend this weekend (at time of typing) exclusively playing horror video games. Having had an unexpectedly fun time with Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1, I decided to pick up the second chapter; Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 'Fly in a Web', due to it being in a sale for around £4. I wasn't sure if it would be value for money despite the low price, and it was that which put me off buying the more expensive Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 & 4. Would this second episode carry on the surprising fun the first offered? This was the Playstation 5 version of the game which released in 2024, and, obviously, spoilers for Chapter 1 to follow.

The first chapter concluded with you defeating the monstrous Huggy Wuggy and making it to the area that had been highlighted in the VHS tape you had originally received in the mail. Instead of discovering your missing former colleagues of the Playtime Co. toy factory, you instead discover the titular Poppy Playtime; a small self-aware doll. Having freed her from the case she was trapped in, she promises to help you escape the factory, as it is something she also wants to do. With the way back out blocked, Poppy suggests you head deeper down into the underground complex to the toy test area where there is a train that you can use to leave the facility. Arriving there however, you encounter a new horror - Mommy Long Legs. This creation uses her impossibly long appendages to capture Poppy, and then reveals to you that in order to use the train, you must play three children's games with Mommy, with her giving you part of the train start-up code for each game you successfully complete.

I had hoped this chapter would be longer than the first, and thankfully it was. With the first one done in under an hour, this one took me roughly two hours to beat. By the time you get to the train station, the chapter goals are clear - playing each of the three games. These include a memory game called 'Musical Memory', 'Wack-a-Wuggy' that is similar to the classic 'wack-a-mole' game found at arcades, and a tense spin on musical statues, simply titled 'Statues'. These were all fun to do, and had a Portal type feeling of getting to head behind the scenes from the initial play rooms.
Gameplay is once again mainly made up of simple, yet enjoyable puzzles involving the grab handle accessory you are armed with. Previously, both hands were able to conduct electricity, this time around you get an upgrade - a green grab handle that is able to briefly store electricity. This creates opportunity for different types of puzzles, such as one section where you have to open a series of gates in order to push a minecart along some tracks.

Horror is again quite meek, though I would argue Mommy is just as creepy as the mute Huggy Wuggy. This antagonist is constantly talking to you, and seems to be angry that she had been trapped below ground on her own for so long. Her look is kind of like Stretch Armstrong crossed with Mr. Tickle, her arms, legs, and neck all able to stretch to ridiculous lengths. I thought maybe the long maze-like chase sequence the first chapter culminated with would again appear. More sensibly it is a lot more stripped back. There are a variety of short chase sequences, but more stream-lined, like the developers were well aware they couldn't get away with the exact same thing again. This was about as scary as chapter 1 (I.E: not very) but that did not get in the way of my enjoyment. 
I realised this time around that it is worth hunting down the secret VHS tapes. These tapes provide lore and backstory and were worth finding. Often they would include live-action footage of actors playing employees of the factory.

I had figured that a second round of Poppy Playtime might have shown a lack of variation. The toy testing area felt suitably different to the factory of chapter 1. Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 'Fly in a Web' remains a most happy surprise, and of course has left me very interested in continuing the journey into this hellish facility.

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9th Dawn Remake (2024-25) - Initial Impressions (PS5)

I've had a review copy of 9th Dawn Remake since April time, but it is the type of game which requires a lot of investment. This is a huge game, and so, rather than wait to finish it, I will give my initial impressions based on the first ten hours or so. 

Unsurprisingly, this is a remake of a much older game. How old I was unable to find out, You play as a character plunged into a nostalgic feeling, relatively basic looking fantasy world. The graphics were really charming and old school, but the game itself felt more fresh. The open world is absolutely gigantic, in my time playing this so far I have barely scratched an eighth of this massive world. It has one of the biggest map screens I've seen in a game to my recollection. I haven't mentioned the story yet and that's probably due to it being about the weakest part of 9th Dawn Remake. It is simple enough that I honestly have no idea what it involves, not helped by a quest screen that is extremely light on details. I love a story in video games, so this was a slight issue. Thankfully, due to the huge world I felt like it was 'open world' rather than just a big old school RPG. This world is to begin with quite a deadly place, my poor wizard was getting the stuffing beaten out of him. I later found an armoury that lets you upgrade your weapons, so that helped. Even more helpful was the amazing creature companion feature. Occasionally you stumble across eggs that when hatched give you a little pet who will battle alongside you. You can have up to eight of the critters at once, making it very fun to pounce on an enemy as a mob. As they level up, they can also evolve into better monsters. On my playthrough I've recently had a skeleton join my crew, love it.

Combat is very simple, requiring nothing more than to have you hold the analogue stick (playing this on Playstation 5) in the direction of enemies to auto battle them. Dungeons are literally dungeons here, all taking place under ground in various caves or sewers. This creates a combat loop of heading in a little bit at a time, slowly grinding out levels to make your team better suited to conquering the place. I enjoyed many an evening with a podcast on while doing this. As if this huge game wasn't enough, there are also some great little side games you can play. Head to the docks and you get a fun fish based Vampire Survivors clone you can play. Even better, by taking to the Card Master in each town you can access Deck Rock. I adored this side game. It has you as paper warriors fighting your way past paper monsters in castles in turn based card combat. Truth be told, I had more fun playing that side mode than the main course itself.

I was given a review code for this indie fantasy game so my words might sound false, but I think there is such a vast and impressive game to be found here. Having a game with such a charming retro look to it coupled with a massive world makes this something I could easily see myself sinking days and days into. 9th Dawn Remake is out on just about everything, from the major consoles to mobile phones.

Fortnitemares 2024 - Thoughts on the Halloween event

I have said this before, but I really love Fortnite. Especially over lockdown it really brought me, my sister and my friends together, with us playing it more for social reasons than just to play. The game has in recent years begun to get really lazy with their month long Halloween event they call 'Fortnitemares'. Last year was the most lazy of the events with minimal map changes, the only changes being an added boss fight, pumpkin buckets outside houses, and a hard to spot blood red moon. Thankfully, this years event is the polar opposite, so much change has been made to make the island look spookier than ever.

Changes are across the map, with not only a new location (Freaky Fields replacing the train station POI), but the bright green river in the Underworld section of the map being changed to blood red, many areas covered in mist, Brawler's Battleground reimagined as the vine covered Brawler's Patch, and pumpkins absolutely everywhere, you can barely move for pumpkins of all sizes covering near every location on the map, my personal favourite being the giant statue at Mount Olympus now sporting a gigantic pumpkin head. I also liked the alterations at Restored Reels that now have Fortnite inspired horror movie posters displayed there. Perhaps the best change being the train that travels around the map is now a ghost train, it has a very cool effect.
There are two new boss fights added, with Billy the puppet (from the Saw franchise!) and a very cool original creation - the pumpkin knight themed Ultima Carver.
In addition is Horde Mode once again returning, the same as ever but is still fun to play. This time around you are able to buy attachments for your guns in between rounds. There are also plenty of rewards to unlock by completing limited time Fortnitemare quests.
Included with returning special weapons are a proximity bomb that is a little Billy the puppet on a tricycle, and Leatherhead's iconic chainsaw.

The other big part of the Halloween event is of course the skins. I always get suckered into buying many of the skins and this year there seemed to be a huge amount of both original and licenced skins. There are two more The Nightmare Before Christmas skins (Pumpkin Jack and Sally), Leatherface, Billy the puppet, three Disney villains, some horror Marvel skins (sadly no Marvel Zombies - a missed trick) even a skin for Edward Scissorhands! Original skins are more of a mixed bag, but the previously mentioned Ultima Carver is very cool looking, as was the zombie skin locked behind a Save the World deal. I wasn't impressed that a fun looking bright pink werewolf skin was locked behind a Fortnite Lego battlepass - Lego being the one mode I have zero time for so refuse to get that battlepass just for the skin.

I am a real sucker for spending far too much money on skins over Halloween, but Fortnite is a game I play nearly daily, having sunk over two thousand hours into the game over the past seven years! I will admit I had to dip into my savings this year.
The lack of any new Halloween themed mode for the game would have been disappointing if not for the huge changes made to the map. It really feels like they made a giant effort this year to 'horror' up the map, and I am very much on board for this.

Vampire Survivors (2021) - Horror Video Game Review

Despite a week off of my day job this week I still haven't had time to do much on my blog. I had intended to watch Life of Belle for review today, but once again something came up, this time via me technically finally completing the rogue-like auto-shooter Vampire Survivors. Initially released in 2021, there has been a steady stream of content for this highly addictive game. 2022 saw the release of the Japanese folklore themed 'Legacy of the Moonspell' map, weapons and characters, 'Tides of Foscari' followed in 2023 and was inspired by European fairy tales. Also coming in 2023 was 'Emergency Meeting' that included a sci-fi map with an Among Us crossover, and finally, earlier this month came Operation Guns which was a Contra crossover.

The long running joke with this game is despite being called Vampire Survivors there is not a single vampire enemy in the entire game. Later updates have included the addition of a story mode, but there isn't really much story to talk about. It is only looking on the internet that any type of plot can be gleamed. Set in rural Italy in 2021, hordes of monsters have been summoned by the evil Bisconte Draculó, a large group of adventures have set out to destroy this creatures and stop the plague of creatures assaulting the lands.

There are five default stages to unlock, as well as the four downloadable content maps and a bunch of other additional maps making for an impressive current twenty five stages. Some of these are gimmick stages, such as one that pits you against all the game's boss creatures in a small arena, or one set in a field of constantly spawning flowers. The core game has you working through five stages, the subsequent one unlocking upon completion of the one prior to it. The general aim of the game is to survive against a time limit, with unlimited enemies constantly spawning and homing in on you. Survive the time limit and usually a grim reaper will appear and kill you. The exception of the base maps is stage five 'Cappella Magna' which ends at the half hour mark with an actual proper boss fight.

The simplistic look and gameplay might seem a bit dull, but this is one addictive game, and there are literally hundreds of enemy types to encounter, even if they nearly all attack in the same way. You might have heard of the bullet-hell video game genre, well this is an enemy-hell due to constantly have to weave a path through endless monsters  Often there will be hundreds upon hundreds of enemies on screen at once, even with the simple graphics this felt like a fun feat to achieve. There is a random element to which power-ups and weapons you gain. These are all levelled up by collecting gems that defeated enemies drop. Obviously inspired by Castlevania (now that would make for a fantastic crossover), weapons include holy water, boomerang-like crucifixes, whips and a load of other items such as homing missiles, screen clearing pentagrams and rolling wheels. Currently there are well over fifty weapons to use, most of which are able to be evolved into a more powerful type. There are also a load of character to unlock by fulfilling certain criteria, currently there are over eighty characters.

With so much to unlock, this isn't really a game designed to be beaten. I only feel confident enough to post a review having beaten the 'final boss' of the core stages. The game is supremely addictive, and is something that can be really hard to put down, especially due to levels being set against a rigid time limit (though there is an Endless mode that has been added). Best of all perhaps is the dirt cheap price, with the base game and downloadable content all only being a few pounds each to purchase.
With such a low cost Vampire Survivors is a game that is very easy to recommend, and has surprising depth to it for something that looks so simple.

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Dead by Daylight (2016) - Horror Video Game Review (Playstation 5)

Towards the end of last year I really started to make an effort to get into the asynchronous horror multiplayer video game Dead by Daylight. I really loved the idea behind it, but it had never clicked properly with me. Sadly, after around five or six months of trying to get the game to click, I failed, I appreciate the game, but it just isn't something that is for me, which is a real shame.

The game has you either playing in a third person perspective as one of four survivors, or playing in a first person perspective as a killer. The survivors aim is to repair a set number of generators randomly placed around one of the stages, once this is done the exit gate opens and they are able to escape. The killer meanwhile is tasked with sacrificing the survivors by attacking them, and them placing them on sacrificial hooks to a dark entity in whose realm both survivors and killers alike are trapped. There have been a whole host of famous video game and film characters added over the years, survivors including characters from Left 4 Dead, Evil Dead, Silent Hill, Resident Evil and more, while killers include a host of movie maniacs such as Ghostface, Chucky, Leatherhead, Pinhead and videogame antagonists such as Albert Wesker and Pyramid Head.

I have previously spoken about the game in various blog posts about different killers I tried. My problems are two fold. Firstly, I find playing as the survivors really difficult, I constantly fail the quick time events that occur when trying to repair the generators, and typically get hooked and die within around a minute or two of starting a match. Playing as a killer is more fun, but it puts a lot of pressure on you. There is a method of playing that makes the match fun for survivors, so you need to not play to win cheaply. There is no type of tutorial mode on how to play as each killer however, so the only way to discover how they work is to play against real people. This can cause no end of humiliation as you try and figure out how to play as the character you have chosen. I rarely played well, and after several months of trying different killers I realised I just wasn't having as much fun as I would have liked. I put off playing due to not really knowing how to play the game. 

I love the amount of famous killers put in Dead by Daylight, but I came to the realisation that the game simply wasn't for me. Either side I was pretty useless at playing, this was a real shame. Also, due to the game originally launching in 2016 it looks quite terrible in my opinion, I find the various levels all bland and similar looking, while the core mechanics always felt a bit too simple.

Don't let my lowish score trick you into thinking Dead by Daylight isn't a good game, I imagine playing with a bunch of friends this would be loads of fun, but playing against or with strangers never felt good, I always felt anxious that I wasn't doing my best, and this came to really impact my enjoyment.

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Dead by Daylight - A Beginner's Guide to The Cannibal

I'm back with another beginner's experience of playing as a killer in the asynchronous multiplayer game Dead by Daylight. For March, the killer I randomly chose to try was The Cannibal, better known to all as Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series of films. They kind of shot themselves in the foot regarding this type of character, as The Hillbilly was an original creation from the team behind the game who was their blatant stand-in for Leatherface and released long before this killer (before they were able to get that licence). As such, Leatherface is the second killer to rely on a chainsaw, and so he had to act differently to The Hillbilly.

I really wanted to spend more time playing as the killer this month, after only playing as Wesker three times last month. Leatherface arrived with 'Chapter 5.5: Leatherface', and consists solely of the killer himself. The lore based backstory has Leatherface entering the entities realm right at the end of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. He goes from being scared that the escaped victim is going to call the police on him and his family, to fear at finding himself in the new realm. Determined not to fail the entity like he believes he failed his family, Leatherface realises immediately what he has to do.

I can't say I was that great at using Leatherface, but I still enjoyed playing as him better than I did Wesker. His default weapon is a sledge hammer he effortlessly wields, his special ability being of course the iconic chainsaw. When activated, Leatherface moves forward slightly faster, swinging the chainsaw side to side. If you hit an object while using the weapon, Leatherface goes into an uncontrollable tantrum where he wildly swings it around for a few seconds. What I really liked about this ability was that it is an instant down if it connects with a player. He may be slow, but there were many times I was able to easily down players trying to escape. His special perks are a mixed bag, one of them causes players to drop any items they are carrying when they are hit, another causes players to get the blindness status when hit, while the final one, 'Barbecue & Chilli' allows Leatherface to see the auras of all players for four seconds after he hooks a survivor. Many of his add-ons revolve around changing elements of the chainsaw attack slightly.

Being a licenced killer, his alternate costumes were limited. As I hadn't played as him before, I spent the month with his iconic default look (the mask made out of human flesh and the butchers apron). I only managed to play five games as him, the final one I was a bit cheeky as I had a secret perk to gain the ability to kill survivors after hooking them twice. This led to be killing three of the four survivors, each time I got a fun animation of me clubbing them to the ground with my sledge hammer, before sticking the chainsaw right the way through them and bringing it upwards.
I had fun with the killer, but all these months in and the game still hasn't really clicked with me. There is a reason I don't play it much during the month, and that is down to still not really being comfortable with how to properly play in an effective way. Next month's killer is to be The Hag, one of the original killers released for Dead by Daylight. Check back around this time next month to see how I got on using her.

Dead by Daylight - A Beginner's Guide to The Mastermind

I have now been making an effort to get into asynchronous multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight for four months. Each month sees me randomly picking a new killer to spend the month trying to get to grips with. For February the killer chosen was The Mastermind, better known to all as Resident Evil's Albert Wesker. When I initially saw this killer was my new pick I was excited, I thought it would be cool to play as this iconic bad guy. Over the course of the month however I just never really got to grips with exactly how he controlled, leading to frustration more often than not.

The set-up for how the killer came to be in the nightmare realm of Dead by Daylight is often pretty cool, though with Wesker his introduction comes not at the end of his natural time in the Resident Evil games, but instead is made non-canonical with him weirdly getting pulled into the realm mid-way through the events of Resident Evil 5. I have a somewhat sad knowledge of the Resident Evil world and so this really is just nit-picking on my part. As for being a killer in this realm, it makes sense Wesker would relish the chance to use his powers to kill those deemed as weaker than him, I imagine it would feel like a welcome break for someone used to dealing with boulder punching action heroes and global conspiracies. He was added to the game in Chapter 25: Resident Evil: Project W, while he didn't get his own stage, he was joined by Ada Wong and Rebecca Chambers who became survivor characters.
Wesker was at the height of his coolness during the events of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, where his powers were blatantly inspired by The Matrix films. The version of the character here isn't that though, recently infected with the Uroboros biological weapon, his main form of attack is transforming his arm into a tentacle.

Being perfectly honest, I'm a little ashamed of how little I played Dead by Daylight last month. In total I only actually played three matches with Wesker, one of which was a unique limited time mode which took away the threat detection ability as well as the use of items. In that time I was met with a lot of frustration getting to grips with how Wesker's move set worked, despite him being rated as 'moderate' to use. His default weapon is a knife, perfectly fine, no trouble there. His power move sees him rush forward quickly, his arm transforming into a black tentacle to either grab survivors and hurl them against walls, or to use his dash to swiftly vault over barriers and through windows. Hitting a survivor in this way infects them, the infection eventually causing the hinderance status effect (movement speed reduced by 8%) if the survivor doesn't find and use a first aid spray. My main problem came with using his rush ability. He has the ability to rush twice in a row, but I was rarely able to get this to work. Sometimes I would see a button prompt to do the follow up dash, but other times it seemed I wasn't even being given the option to do this. It led to me charging at survivors expecting to get a second dash to actually reach them (the grab and hurl motion being automatic once contact with a survivor is reached), but never usually getting to reach them. This, coupled with a cool down for the dash move, led to me being the least effective killer I have been since I started playing Dead by Daylight again.

Wesker was fine as a killer, I left him in his default black trench coat look as I have only been purchasing alternate skins for the killers I had previously used in the past.. He is prone to saying cheesy one-liners when attacking, something that fits him perfectly as the Resident Evil games are often full of cheese like that. I did have to turn off the subtitles in the settings however as it was quite distracting having them come up on screen in large text.
The sole highlight I had playing with Wesker came right at the end of a match. Survivors like to troll killers by hanging out at the exit doing the tea-bagging motion rather than immediately going through it when it opens up. One such player was doing that, obviously forgetting that Wesker has a dash, I swiftly shot forward, grabbed this player and threw them against the exist (which then turned solid due to the killer not being able to pass through). This put the player in a downed state, so I quickly picked them up before they could crawl to freedom, put them over my shoulder and went and hooked them. I have to say that was really satisfying!
So, I have done a random killer pick for March and that killer is The Cannibal, which I recall is actually Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series of films. I will aim to play more than the paltry amount I managed for February!

Loop Hero (2021-24) - Post Apocalyptic Video Game Review (Xbox Series X)

I first heard of Loop Hero from a work colleague in my day job. He often recommends games he has been trying out on Xbox Game Pass, and usually they really aren't my thing. With Loop Hero though he struck gold, while originally released back in 2021, this only arrived on the Xbox platforms last April. After ten months of playing, and with an overall play time of forty six hours, I finally finished this fantastic game a week or so back, and can easily state that it is the best game I played out of all those wonderful gems of 2023.

The game has a very basic and charming old school look to it, with the entire game taking place on just the one screen, but it has a compelling set-up that combined with its addictive nature kept me coming back again and again. The synopsis is that the world the game takes place in has ended, not the typical post apocalyptic landscape, but a world in which everything has literally ended, with there being nothing but an endless black void. The intro text states that an evil lich was the one who ended reality, though it later turns out not to be quite as simple as that. For reasons unknown, the only thing that has survived is a small camp. You play as the simply titled 'Hero' who has awakened to find himself in this camp. Leaving the place you discover that your travels cause the world to be filled in and re-built around you, but should you retreat back to the place of safety, or should you be knocked unconscious and brought back home, then the world will once again fall away into nothingness. Initially you set out to defeat the evil lich, hoping with his death the world will be restored.

The story ties into the gameplay as it provides a lore reason for why this is a rogue-like. The world being filled in also fits this, as you have a hand in creating the small world of the loop. Each new run you start creates a random smallish loop which your character automatically travels around. There will be various enemies you encounter, but again this results in automation, with you automatically attacking enemies until either you or they die. By defeating enemies you receive a variety of things. Resources can be used to take back to camp in order to develop it, items and weapons can be equipped to make yourself stronger, while tile cards can be placed both on the loop itself and the surrounding world can be used to force particular enemy encounters, as well as to increase your stats. Loop tiles can for instance be a forest, this area will spawn wolves of a kind, as well as give you wood resource for passing through them. Placing mountains on the world outside the loop will increase your health, suburbs will increase your experience, grass will increase the healing granted at the start of every day (there is a swift day cycle that also constantly is looping). The cards can also be combined to give different boosts. For instance, putting a village tile on the loop (which grants you a quest against a stronger enemy in order to get a reward, as well as healing you for passing through it) combined with a vampire mansion tile on the world next to it (which spawns vampires) creates a cursed village that will then spawn zombies for the next three or four loops but then results in a better village after this.

You can have a total of fifteen different tiles equipped at any one time. My favourites were an Oblivion card that has the ability to destroy a placed tile, and an outpost card that sees an A.I join you in any battles taking place on the loop around it.

The game is split into two parts, the loop journey itself, and all the management back at camp. This later part gets more involved the further you develop it. Buildings placed give permanent boosts to your character such as more health and more strength, and also help you in the crafting aspect. Huts increase the number of stat increasing items you can have equipped, lost books recovered allow you to unlock really interesting lore (multiple bits of lore not only exist for enemies and tiles, but even furniture and resources have their own lore). The alchemy section become essential for later upgrades as they allow you to transmute any resource into any other type of resource. You can also build a potion area which provides you with health potions you automatically use on your loop, and guard towers that will cause soldiers to join in any battles near the camp tile. This camp section is essential enough that the game even deems fit to give you stats for time played both in and out of the camp. I had an overall playtime of forty six hours, but ten of those hours were spent fiddling around back at base.
While I thought the game was unique and fascinating it isn't without its faults. I loved the music, but there are only a handful of tunes, so you are constantly hearing the same couple of background tunes while travelling around. These sometimes had some audio distortions to them which didn't sound intended. A likely bigger stumbling block for most will be the amount of grinding needed to be able to beat the game. It is split up into four chapters, each giving enemies more abilities, as well as resulting in a different boss encounter. From the simple presentation it might seem impossible that you could put so many hours into it, but these for me included around ten to fifteen hours of pure grinding. Enjoying the game so damn much this wasn't an issue, I liked sticking on a podcast and just doing a few runs for resource gathering purposes.
An actual real life issue might arise for people in that the studio behind the game, Four Quarters, are based in Russia. The team did put out an official statement stating their opposition to the terrible invasion of Ukraine, and also said that they are perfectly happy with people pirating the game if they are unable to purchase it due to sanctions placed on Russia currently.

I found Loop Hero to be an almighty breath of fresh air. I enjoyed every second of this wonderful game, I loved the atmosphere, I loved the world, I loved how something so simple looking could be so much fun to play (for an idea of just how purposely simple the game is, the player character is represented by a small all-white stick figure on the map screen. As always when reviewing a game I have loved, I have waffled on without even going into everything. I could have mentioned the three different classes (warrior, rogue, and necromancer), gone into more detail on the amount of tiles and combinations there are, and explained everything in general better. Loop Hero is currently free to play if you own Game Pass, but is also not that expensive (I believe around £10). Due to liking it so much I happily brought a copy to be able to keep. Well worth playing, and my top game of 2023.

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