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A Little Bit of Something About Old Gaming Trends…

Over the years, there have been a lot of gaming styles that have come and gone. For a while it was a nonstop litany of Grand Theft Auto clones, and then it was the EA formula of ‘climb tallest spot to unlock area’ games, and crafting games, and MOBA style online games. Lately, as you may be aware, there are a glut of Dead By Daylight ‘4 v 1’ type games.  Trends guide an industry, but sadly, that always means that something gets left in the dust – and what it leaves behind isn’t always as good as it once was.

Here are a few gaming trends that have died down that I really miss.

PUZZLERS
Anyone who knows me, knows that I live for puzzles. I spent many a night hunched over my Nintendo, trying to solve a level of Adventures of Lolo or Kickle Cubicle. There are games out there now that embody the classics of puzzlers of years gone by, but they range from the ‘one concept over and over’ like the many Lighton series of games or the variations of Sudoku – to the infuriatingly hard like the games created by puzzle genius Zactronic.

With exceptions out there like Filament and The Pedestrian, there aren’t many well thought puzzle games that grind your brain into the best kind of dust.

ADVENTURE
Back in the day, we had two kinds of music, country and/or western, rock and/or roll, hip and/or hop. Well in games it was action and/or adventure. Action games were all about running, gunning, shooting, blasting, moving. Adventure games, like the Sierra ‘Quest’ games, 7th Guest, Maniac Mansion, and the best selling game of all time (until 2002), Myst.

Sadly, adventure games, with the ease they can be created with simple engines, a glut of ‘escape room’ flash games and impossible to figure out ‘moon logic’ style games (even amongst the best) have made it really hard to find the gems amongst the trash. The best of recent years is the Sam and Max series by Tell Tale and Life is Strange.

TEXT ADVENTURE
Ok, so I’m sure you’ve caught on that this list is a lot of old genres, and maybe – if you are an old game nerd like me, you’ll go ‘Hatton, there are text adventures coming out every year’ — and the rest of you are utterly confused… but it’s true. Every year, a group of ever-shrinking fans of the old school ‘GO WEST’ ‘OPEN MAILBOX’ ‘READ FLYER’ fans are hiding in their dark basements, fearful of being eaten by a Grue.

There’s a reason though, that the advent of graphics and the much more reflex oriented gaming styles took over and text adventures are more often than not an easter egg or a sly wink in a much bigger game production.  That doesn’t mean they aren’t out there – and I highly recommend ‘Stories Untold’ for blending that nostalgia and modern gaming sensibilities gorgeously.  I just wish there were more like it out there.

So, oldschool computer nerds – what genre’s do you miss?  You know how to tell us. Want to nerd out about Castle of Dr. Brain? Drop a message to @STSTCAST or @REVVOICE on twitter, and we’ll see you next week.

The Somethings are adults, at least legally speaking, and on occasion – being adults – we have enjoyed ourselves the occasional adult beverage… occasionally..

So, with that – what are some of the Somethings favorite drinks to be had?  That was the intention of the episode, but what follows is going tit for tat with some of the drunken exploits of Hatton and Rob. 

So why not get yourself a delicious scorpion bowl with only one straw and imbibe this week’s 120 proof episode of the SomethingSomethingcast

Ok, here we brew!

Full Episode

Since PCR went and did the games he’s been playing – I decided maybe I should do the same thing.. it seems only fair.

So here are some of the games that have taken up a majority of my time while I’ve been sequestered to the inside world. Surprisingly, I’ve beaten a few of them, which is shocking for someone like me that gets distracted by the next bright thing that crosses my p

GOD OF WAR
I was never a God of War guy. I had the trilogy on my Vita, but they were always passing the time sort of games. I know there are some diehards out there that are all about that Kratos life, but Sony had a sale early in 2020 and I had heard enough great things that it seemed a worthy way to waste some time in this lockdown which should obviously only last a couple months, am I right?

So for nights on end, I spent hours grinding away at creating my favorite minmax set of powers and armor, and in the end – I beat every Valkyrie, which if you aren’t aware… is a feat. The game is gorgeous from top to bottom with the conversations between Kratos and Boy never feeling like redundant chores or protection quests – it is an exquisite story, and other than a bit of repetition in enemies that you only start to notice as you reach the end of your 20 hours of gameplay.

SACKBOY’S BIG ADVENTURE
I fall in love with every Little Big Planet game. They are cute. They have great little extra challenges that actually strain your fingers. They have a mix of weird british sense of humor and childlike wonder. I understand completely why they have a hard time finding a major audience, because they are just a little too kid-like for adults and a little too hard for kids.

That said – this game is still on rotation as I try and squeeze out the last few gems… but the sign of a good game is going back to levels that you’ve already beaten and achieved everything and go and play them just because you love the level design. (Which is precisely what I’ve done with every single one of the half-dozen music levels)

MINECRAFT / DEAD BY DAYLIGHT / 7 DAYS TO DIE
So, I’m lumping all of these into the same category. I enjoy each one for their own reason (MC because it is unendingly creative, DBD because it is this hot mix of horror and strategy, and 7DD because I haven’t played enough of it to have eked out all of its secrets) — but they all fall into ‘games I play to hang with friends’. I am mostly an extrovert, and I’m going to tell you that this has been a big old slice of hell to be trapped inside with little contact with the outside world.

These are the games that have kept me in contact with people I may not have had a chance to talk to otherwise.

CRACKING THE CRYPTIC SUDOKU
I’m putting a link to the company that makes these games, and at first you may think.. wait, that’s a bit of money for some sudoku puzzles, doesn’t my local paper have a new game in each and every paper? The answer is yes – but those aren’t handcreated by masters of puzzles. Spend some time on the youtube channel, Cracking the Cryptic and you’ll get it.

Yes, you have to be a certain type of person to want to grind away at super difficult and altogether confusing variations of number puzzles, but – yeah – I’m 100% that guy. I get the occasional free Google money from doing surveys, and the last $20 or so I’ve earned there has paid to have every one of these apps on my phone.

THE REST
There is a whole other slew of games that fall under the ‘play until distracted’ that would make this article waaaay too long. So here’s the short versions and a quick few words.
FINAL FANTASY XV – I decided to beat one of the newer generations. This one seemed as good as any… it is the most gorgeous piece of unintelligible mess I’ve ever played.
LEVELHEAD – It’s like MarioMaker, but for PC – and has the most welcoming online community I’ve ever had the pleasure of hanging out with
DEMONCRAWL – It’s Minesweeper, but with roleplaying elements. Perfect to lose an hour in occasionally.

WHAT’S NEXT
Lastly, the games that are on my ‘going to try next’ list…

SPIDER-MAN: MILES – That’s next on the list, but I loved the original, so it’s a no-brainer.
RETURN OF OBRA DINN – Every reviewer I respect said that Obra Dinn is an amazing piece of adventure gaming that must be tried… and it was on Steam sale over Christmas, so it awaits me.

If you haven’t noticed – I fill the vast hole in my soul with digital enjoyment… what have you been up to?

Every week, the Somethings will be giving you a little something extra, so please check back every week for reviews, lists, cool finds, and more!

Hey Somethings!  Been spending a fair more time on my PC over the past few months, mostly due to working from home and many of the social things I’d been doing previously having been shuttered, so I decided to put together a list of what’s been keeping me sane lately.

Now, I’ll start by saying ‘I’m not a hardcore gamer’.  Consoles were never really my thing.. my last console was an XBox One S… prior to that.. a PS2 and a Dreamcast.  I do most of my gaming PC, but I’m much more a ‘casual gamer’  That being said, here’s what I’ve been playing lately…

Elite Dangerous : Horizons
This game is SLICK.  It’s a space sim that has combat, exploration, resource and commodity trading, all with some stunning visuals and great ships.  It’s a bit of a ‘thrown in the deep end’ to start, but fairly easy to catch up with as well as having great resources online.  The single player is fun, but forming a “Wing” with friends who play is where it’s at.

Dead By Daylight
Been playing this game for almost a year now, and to be fair I don’t play it as much as I did when I started.  It’s a PVP based “Survivors vs Killers/Hunters” game (for those unaware) and… let’s just say that I’ve turned off the ‘post game chat’.  Back in my OG Xbox days, I will admit my friends and I used to talk a lot of trash over Xbox Live…(a LOT of trash).  70% of DBD post game chat is… beyond that.  The Cross-System play means you often wait less time for matches to pop, and the console players (currently) can’t chat.  On the upside, they have a number of licensed properties… so if you ever wanted to play AS Freddy Kruger (The Nightmare in the game), or try to escape from Amanda from SAW, it’s certainly worth checking out.

Rocket League
I had played a fair amount of Rocket League back on the ole Xbox One S, and picked it up once again off Steam recently.  Since it’s migration to Epic Games, the game has added a lot, and I mean a LOT.  Weekly challenges for cosmetic drops, new game modes, it’s definitely been keeping it fresh and still something I’ll get in at least a few matches a day on.

7 Days To Die
Long-time friends from NH had been playing this for years when they introduced me to this roughly 4 years ago.  While we don’t go in for public servers, we do have quite a bit of fun on a local private server.  For those unaware… think Minecraft, but not 8-bit looking.  Oh, and with lots of zombies that know EXACTLY where you are every 7 days and will stop at nothing to feast on your brain.  While we had taken a bit of a break earlier this year, we’ve introduced some new friends to it and that has brought the excitement level back a lot.  One of our ‘5-6 nights a week’ gaming games.  Come for the zombie killing, stay for the camaraderie.

What are YOUR go-to gaming jams?  Let us know!

Every week, the Somethings will be giving you a little something extra, so please check back every week for reviews, lists, cool finds, and more!