Zombies

I stream, you stream

I haven’t really gotten into the livestreaming thing since 2020, but I have randomly done a couple streams recently. One where I played the entirety of Resident Evil: Director’s Cut (without voice-over) and one where I got lost in the first area of Dreamcore for a couple hours.

Oh, and last night I played up to the hospital in the original Silent Hill2 (with Enhanced Edition mod). There was even a stranger watching and chatting with me briefly. What a rush! I plan to return to the intertubes to finish the game at some point, but when is anybody’s guess.

Month End Video Game Wrap-Up: January 2025

Another year down, so many video games played… and even more un-played. *sigh* At some point I’ll figure out the “unlimited time” cheat code for life, but until then, let’s strap in for another year of… this.

~ Game Over ~

Mega Man X (SNES) – It’s tradition that this is the first game I play each new year, didn’t you know? This time I played with “rookie hunter” mode enabled on the Mega Man X Legacy Collection, and I still couldn’t get my time down to under an hour! I’m beginning to think that I’m just not capable of such a feat. Oh well.

Resident Evil: Director’s Cut (PSX) – This was launched as bait to get old people to subscribe to the more expensive tiers of PlayStation+. I’m still on the cheapest plan, but now I’m able to play it for reasons I don’t understand. Oh well! This is actually the first time I’ve finished this version of the game, though I have played the GameCube and DS remakes like a thousand times each.

Peglin (PC) – The Cruciball is finally complete. Can I move on with my life now? Peglin says “no.” (And I’m okay with that.)

TE Video: Coming Soon (February 2025)

You know the preamble by now. Let’s jump straight to the good(?) stuff.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Switch) – Parts 12-15 run every Saturday from Feb 1st. No surprise, being at part 12 and all. Looks like it’s coming to a head (I just recorded part 15), and I’m pretty confident that this series will end in March.

9 Years of Shadows (PC) – Parts 2-5 run every Monday from Feb 3rd. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I definitely recommend it, as it’s pretty cool game. Very stylish, with some neat powers and tough bosses. This one will definitely conclude in March, with part 7 being the finale.

Bad Parenting #1: Mr. Red Face (PC) – One-shot goes live Feb 6. I thought this was going to be a bit more of a light-hearted spook-em-up, but it’s actually intensely dark. One of the bleakest games I’ve played in recent memory.

DEAD OR SCHOOL (PC) – Parts 4 and 5 on Feb 13 and Feb 27 respectively. I honestly don’t know if this is going to be any fun at all to watch, but I had a grand old time playing it. Check it out if you like seeing me in pain and anime nonsense.

Midnight Prowl (PC) – One-shot goes live Feb 20. Yamoto’s first game, and easily the weirdest of the three. It’s better than Akai Onna, but can’t hold a candle to Urayama. As with most of these games, I put in the effort to get both endings.

As always, any unplanned videos will get their own posts as they go live (or more likely, a few days afterward). That seems a bit unfair, honestly, but what are you going to do? You’re going to subscribe to my channel and hit that notification bell. That’s what you’re going to do.

TE Video: Coming Soon (January 2025)

A new year is just around the corner, and with is comes a whole new programming schedule! I’m really excited for all the videos I have coming up, and doubly excited for absolutely nobody to watch them! Yay for time well spent!

Urayama (PC) – On Jan 2, we kick off the new year with a Japanese indie horror by a new (to me) developer, Yamoto. While it’s a bit rough around the edges, I had a great time playing it, and I think it’s a fun watch. Even with my commentary.

The Knight Witch (PC) – The last three episodes of this series go up on Jan 6, 13, and 20 respectively. If you haven’t been paying attention to it up to this point… well, I don’t think anything I can say is going to sell you on it.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Switch) – Part 8 goes live on Jan 4, with new episodes each following Saturday. I’ve kind of given up hope that anyone will care about this series, but I’m still going to see it through. At least it’s been fun for me!

DEAD OR SCHOOL (PC) – A game I had little faith in when starting, that I came to truly enjoy over time. The first three episodes of this long, long series will air on Jan 9, 23, and 30. Truth be told, at the time of this writing I’ve recorded 15 hour(ish)-long episodes and there’s no end in sight. This bad boy’s gonna be running all year.

Can’t Revert (PC) – Another indie horror on Jan 16, but this one is bad. It’s a very PT-style “walk through the same apartment over and over as scary things happen” kind of game, but with an incredibly overused plot and a bad chase sequence at the end. Still, not the worst game I’ve played recently!

9 Years of Shadows (PC) – Another metroidvania to carry on after The Knight Witch ends, this one starts on Jan 27. It’s a little more of a standard metroidvania, but with a very cool element-switching mechanic and a tenuous link to Greek mythology. I really liked this one, and I hope this series gets even one person to buy the game!

Month End Video Game Wrap-Up: November 2024

~ Game Over ~

Silent Hill 2 (2024) (PC) – Exactly what I want to see in a remake: very similar to the source material, but with lots of tweaks and surprises for veterans of the original. The combat is surprisingly fun (SH combat is usually ass) and the new puzzles are (mostly) pretty darn good.

Can’t Revert (PC) – It’s just like PT, except much less frightening. Also, makes flagrant use of the “bad dad” trope that’s so common in horror games. I had a few good laughs with it, though! There’s a let’s play video of it coming some day.

Peglin (PC) – GD Peglin is back for more…

TE Video: Coming Soon (Oct 2024)

Spooktober is nearly upon us! To celebrate, I’ve not only got exclusively horror games on deck for the month, but I’ll also be posting three videos a week instead of the usual two! Make sure to keep an eye on your subscription feeds on Saturdays!

Bloody Ink (PC) – [Oct 1, 7, 14, & 21] – This four-part series is the newest offering from Doesn’t Matter Games. The first video is actually of the demo, which is packaged in with the full game and acts as a prologue. It’s all very Doesn’t Matter, but didn’t quite tickle my fancy the way that Lost Alone did.

Who Knocks (PC) – [Oct 3 & 10] – Conversely, this is Doesn’t Matter Games’ first game. Playing them back-to-back really illuminates how the DMG formula hasn’t really changed over time, but it has been refined with a number of quality-of-life improvements. I think this is actually my second-favourite game from DMG.

Shudder Film Review Double Feature

More movies have been watched. As Halloween season is rapidly approaching, I feel even more like I need to be writing about them. Both of the films reviewed below are Shudder originals, as you can plainly see on the posters. Preamble complete.

~ Deadstream ~

This one is about a livestreamer who goes to spend a night in a “haunted house” as something of a stunt to entertain his following. This premise is absolutely as cringey as it sounds, at least until about 15 minutes in and you realize that it’s actually a comedy. Kind of like Evil Dead 2 but with a modern twist.

That said, I had to watch Deadstream in two sessions, because it scared the absolute crap out of me the first time around. Early on in the film, our “hero” Shawn enters the house and starts recounting the tales of why it’s haunted, and he tells a story about a ghost called the Corner Man. If you weren’t already aware, I have a strong irrational fear of ghosts. Having all the lights turned off and watching movies about ghosts alone never ends well for me. I tried my best to remain rational, but I very quickly had to turn off the movie and turn on the lights, because my brain immediately started thinking it was seeing things in my peripheral vision. There aren’t a lot of things that genuinely terrify me, but my overactive imagination is definitely high on the list.

A couple night later, my fears had receded, and I decided to push through. This time with the lights on. As it turns out, after that singular scene, the movie’s tone changes dramatically, and it goes from horror-comedy to pretty much just straight comedy.

History of TE: 2004

Did you know that June 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Mega Man Battle Network 4? Well I did. Or at least, I had a hunch, since for whatever reason my brain has been laser-focused on memories of playing that particular game – despite the fact that I didn’t really like it.

But I’m not here to type a retrospective about MMBN4. No, sir. I already did that almost a decade ago, and haven’t revisited the game since.

Today I want to just rattle off a few interesting points about 2004. It was a big year for me! Lots happened! Firstly, there was the MMBN4 release. That was big, but not for the reason you think! See, I played the Japanese ROM for a while before the NA version came out (there was a six-month delay), and because it’s an RPG, the fact that I couldn’t read Japanese was kind of a big deal. So I started trying to tech myself katakana. It obviously didn’t really take, but I was able to learn enough to read some text in the game, and I still remember a handful of the characters to this day! I don’t think that it’s a stretch to say that the best part of MMBN4 is that it made me engage in self-improvement, in some tiny way.

Month End Video Game Wrap-Up: May 2024

~ Game Over ~

Bloody Ink (PC) – The latest from my favourite indie horror dev, Doesn’t Matter Games. It’s pretty much exactly what I was expecting, and then some! I don’t think the story really stuck the landing, but I enjoyed the ride no less.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (PS4) – I guess you’d say that this is a modern expression of a 1990s point-and-click adventure. Which is a good thing! Classic Holmes-style mysteries with a ton of puzzles and mini-games. Fun game, and I look forward to playing more of the series.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PC) – Finished off a run that I started last year. Great game. Honestly not sure why it didn’t click with Teen Ryan.

Another Crab’s Treasure (PS5) – A stellar video game in all aspects.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: August 2023

~ Game Over ~

Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) – While I don’t think it’ll make the list of my favourite FFs, I did thoroughly enjoy this one. The combat is exciting, the story is great, and it’s easily got the best Cid in the franchise. Also, Torgal! Can’t forget Torgal!

Paper Mario (N64) – I sometimes wonder if the reason that I hate the modern Paper Marios less than most people is because I’ve never really revisited the original. Now I have! And, well… I think I get why people want a “true” sequel. It’s got an excellent foundation, but I did get annoyed by a lot of little things throughout the journey. Like how slow Mario is, and the limited inventory, and the booooring Peach segments.

Dr. Mario 64 (N64) – It’s weird that I’ve never played this before, right? Anyway, it’s Dr. Mario. Played the classic mode a bunch, and story mode twice.