Tag Archives: survival horror

The Android's Bunker (Strategy), The Android's Favorites, The Android's POG Collection (Retro)

This just feels right.

Pike wrote extensive about XCOM: Enemy Unknown yesterday and I’m going to follow up on her post now that I’ve had the chance to spend a few hours with it. Through methods. As you can infer from the title, I’m a big fan. I’m a HUGE fan.

Anyone with even a passing familiarity with classic PC games will probably be aware of X-Com even if they’ve never played it; it’s regularly highlighted as one of the best games ever made and this is not a reputation attained without sound reasons. It is an absolutely masterful blend of strategic and tactical thinking, it crafts an atmosphere of extraordinary tension, and it somehow manages to combine a very strong attachment to your troops with a massive rate of attrition among them. It also featured the torture of watching your brilliant tactical maneuvers getting completely undone and everything going to hell.

This game masterfully recaptures that. The mechanics are different in a lot of ways, such as the removal of Time Units (Something that caused a sudden intake of breath among X-Com vets when it was revealed) and the smaller squad sizes. But it’s an isometric tactical game with a strategic layer on top, and it’s all about tension and everything going downhill and your desperate efforts to pull it off despite all your best laid plans going the way of George and Lennie’s.

Moreno, Okamoto, and Mack were good soldiers, and good people. Their sacrifice won’t be forgotten. Also despite this loss the mission had a good outcome, because Classic Ironman is hardcore and this is XCOM.

Indeed, most of the changes are very sensible and nice ones and it’s patently clear that the team at Firaxis put a huge amount of work into figuring out what worked and what didn’t and then polished the thing nicely. Which isn’t to say it’s not buggy as heck, because many reports suggest it is, but the underlying design decisions and mechanics all seem to be very, very solid. One nice touch I’d especially like to point out is the addition of three characters in your base, your chief scientist, engineer, and your right-hand man. It adds a lot to hear their commentary on various matters, but their suggestions are never more than that. They’re a wonderful little addition that add a lot to playing.

What this game does though is it takes me back. Like an old war vet, playing this game reminds me of the original, and it pulls me back to when I was a kid playing that game all summer long, getting destroyed by Cyberdiscs and Mutons (Not to mention Tentaculats and Lobstermen oh god), and this just feels like a game from a bygone era, when they were unforgiving bastards that made you incredibly angry but were far, far too damn good and addictive to actually put down for more than five minutes.

If you were worried about this not being true to the original, you can rest assured that all the changes I’ve seen so far have allayed that fear completely. The mechanics and look may have changed but the spirit absolutely has not.

(It should be noted that Pike and I are both playing the PC version of the game, and indeed one of the few genuine criticisms I have is that the UI is clearly intended to allow consoles to play the thing. I’m all for a game this relentlessly ballcrushing on a console but I hope Firaxis patch in a few tweaks for the PC side of things.)

The Android's Repair Shop (Meta-blog)

Konnichiwaaaaa~~~

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Hello readers, it’s time we had a talk.

Pike and I have been discussing things regarding the blog and where it is going, and we have decided that in order to achieve our fiscal goals going forward we need to make some changes. Therefore The Android’s Closet is going to be undergoing an overhaul over the next week or two. Here are just some of the changes you can expect to see!

The blog’s name will be changing to Sephiroth and Naruto Discuss Japan;
Our focus will change away from any Western-made videogames, though we will still talk about Japanese ones of course;
We will be discussing all aspects of Japanese culture, from their ancient and venerable traditions to the perfect warriors that are samurai, who have never been defeated by baka gaijin in a fair fight!
We will no longer be using images from inferior gaijin shows such as My Little Pony, as they lack the art and beauty of traditional hand-painted Japanese anime;
We will now be beginning a special feature on weekends where we examine our favorite furry and babyfur fanart!
And hopefully soon, your hosts xXSephirothXx and NekoNekoKawaii~=^.^= will be actually moving to the best country in the world, Japan, in order to be a part of their superior and ancient culture!

Furry versions of Western things are acceptable, however

And here is a sample list of topics you can expect to see discussed soon:
Why Sephy-sama is the greatest character ever written in videogames, and why we want a game about The Adventures of Sephy-sama!
Why sushi and other Japanese cuisine is the only acceptable type of food!
Remaking Katawa Shoujo, but including girls from our favorite animes like Naruto, Lucky*Star, Battle Royale, and Bleach!

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in reading about, you can buy a Sephiroth and Naruto Discuss Japan pass for just 59.99 USD, and gain exclusive access to each subsequent post for just 2.99 USD per post! And if you preorder now you get to choose whether you view the posts in red, blue, or green text!

The Android's Liberal Arts Degree (Meta/Critical)

The Android’s Closet Opposes SOPA/PIPA

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As you’re no doubt aware by now, many sites around the Internet today are engaged in a protest against the SOPA and PIPA bills currently within the labyrinthine depths of the US Congress. Though we can do no more than add our voice to this overwhelming, global cry of outrage, that is what we are now doing.

Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act would fall desperately short of their stated objectives – the darker side of the Internet is notoriously resilient and difficult to control, after all – but it would give corporations enormous powers to target any and everything they see as a threat to their profit margins. As writers Pike and myself are obviously sympathetic to the notion of being able to protect and control what one produces – but we also wouldn’t start suing preteens for sharing our books. This bill, like so many other efforts to control something as vast, free, and amazing as the Internet, is not going to help stop piracy – what it will do is create an unprecedented tool for the violation of the rights to free speech, to privacy, to free congregation, and threatens to erase one of the Internet’s most central and precious functions, which is the lack of borders and ability to talk to anyone else on Earth regardless of all considerations except their literal, physical access to the Internet.

It was acceptable back in 1518, maybe!

This very blog could easily be at risk. That is how insane these bills are. We are writing about what are copyrighted materials, nevermind when we use a picture from MLP:FIM or embed a YouTube video which contains a few seconds of a copyrighted song. Though we both love writing this blog there are far more severe ramifications – still, the fact that a fairly dinky little blog that mostly talks about strategy videogames and posts fanart of My Little Pony could be endangered shows just how obscenely far-reaching and wide-ranging these two bills are. So if you love the Internet, whether it’s watching cats being silly, reading about how I most recently got foiled by Pike, using Google or Wikipedia, or anything else you can imagine, please consider taking the time to write to your representative asking them to oppose these dangerous, unconstitutional pieces of legislation.

And remember, America is not the first or only country considering laws like this, and the US as the motherland of the Internet makes many foreign sites entirely vulnerable to these laws anyway. If you are not American, like me, it’s still something to be worried about. And the beauty of the Internet is that we can all contribute to the debate and help raise awareness even if we can’t take formal action like voting in an American election.

The Android's Battle Report (Playthroughs), The Android's Favorites, The Android's Horn-Rimmed Glasses (Indie), The Android's Sandbox (Sandbox/Open World)

Project Zomboid

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This is how I died.

Kate… I had to do it. I just couldn’t protect us both in that house. Her wound was getting infected, who knows if the disease really would get into her? I couldn’t leave her to die, I couldn’t shoot her. I smothered her with a pillow. Gathered what few things I could carry and hoofed it across town.

I don’t know how they knew I was in there. The windows were all boarded up. There was no more power to use the lights. I crept around. But after three days safely ensconced in a small duplex house, where I had managed to secure some decent supplies, I heard them. Hammering. Pounding. I went down to check; the door shook with each rotten fist that smacked against it. It would hold, it would hold for a long time, but they would get in in the end. And there was no other way out.

So I decided to do the only thing I could: I was going to fight. I waited, shotgun in hand, whiskey in belly, for what I was sure would be my end. And I won. I killed them all, there must have been thirty or so of them, and I destroyed them. Quickly, I boarded things up again and retreated upstairs.

Two days passed. Nothing. I didn’t know how they had missed me; that shootout made more than a little noise. I guess all the ones nearby had already been attracted and then killed? I don’t know. But I was running low on food and it was time to start thinking about what next. This place was… safe-ish, and it housed many supplies I had gathered. It would take two, maybe three runs to relocate everything, so I would either have to take a lot of risks, I would have to keep this as a base, or I would have to BAM! BAM! BAM!

How? How did they find me again? And why did it take so long? If any had seen me go in, or heard me shooting, they should have arrived at most a couple of hours after I retreated. I don’t understand it. It doesn’t matter; this place is no longer safe, the doors are falling apart and I’m almost out of wood to barricade them with. Okay. Only one solution. Take what I can carry, fight through the horde, run. Find another place to hole up.

Is this going to be the rest of my life?

I opened the door. Shotgun in hand. They poured in, a lot more than just thirty of them this time. Seventy, maybe eighty. The shotgun tore them apart, but it wasn’t quite enough. They got closer. And closer. I avoided their bites, but a couple of them scratched me, one on my leg, one on my arm. I finished them off, went out of the house, and ran without looking back.

Found a small apartment. Had a zombie in it, took care of him with a baseball bat. Nice and quiet. Very messy. Looked around; enough food for a couple of days here. Saw to bandaging up my wounds, they weren’t major but it was better to try and be safe than sorry. Took some painkillers and a sleeping pill once I had used the last of my wood on barricading things. Slept for about 12 hours.

Sick. Stomach churning, head spinning. Threw up in toilet bowl. Grim. Probably the infection, from a scratch or blood that splattered on me or something. No hastiness though. Don’t be hasty. Took some more pills, ate more than I could really spare, found a book to read and enjoyed it by the evening light with a fair amount of booze. Not a bad day in the circumstances.

Sicker. Dwefinition the virus. Hear pounding, but door is holding. Another surviver they found? Just beating doors for no raisin? Don’t know. Still reading, good book. Atwood. I like Atwood. Virus there too.

Sleep. Wake. can’t see words now too blurry. bread andples not tasty. eat steak. not cook, tastes good, fills belly. Drink. Drink lots and lots. Okay. Get it together. Blaze of gory bob, blaze of glory. Load up. 65 shotgun shells. Bottle of booze. Another steak. Bat with nails.

Open door. quiet, eserted. Stride around town like the duke of new york. hardly any zombies. the fuck? where were they all they were ruining my last stand. FUck it, going to get drunk. Found a bar, raided it, got completely smashed. pills too! might die of od hahahaha hope you all get poisoned by my corpes you fucks

i dont rememberthe alst few days that’s a lot of corpses and fire though what the hell oh god my head

4 itchy tasty

Project Zomboid is an indie survival horror game, one which is seeking to really focus on the survival rather than slaughter side of things, with the intent of it becoming a open-world sandbox which will eventually kill you. It’s glorious. There is currently a free demo, and purchasing is intended to work Minecraft style where you pay less the earlier you buy, and get access to later updates. They’ve had some troubles lately with Paypal and Google and stuff, but they’re top folks and are making an amazing game that I urge everyone to check out.

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The Android's an Amateur Developer (Ideas)

An idea for co-op

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Just a short post because I can’t brain good after so little sleep. Here’s an idea I’ve been bouncing around for awhile and I thought I’d throw it out there to see what you all think of it!

The premise is a co-op game, most probably in a horror setting. It wouldn’t work in couch co-op, which goes against everything I stand for, but sacrifices must sometimes be made. The basic idea is that the players don’t always necessarily see/hear/etc. the same stuff. The game should be fairly spooky and slow-paced, interspersed with dangerous, violent action. But, imagine, for instance, that you’re slowly walking down a hallway when suddenly your buddy goes completely nuts emptying his clip at NOTHING AT ALL. Or you keep hearing enemy noises around the corner, down the hall, in the next room – and your bro hears nothing at all. Or you’re forced to split up for a short while and afterwards you’re invisible to each other, or you appear as monsters to each other. It could be hard to do this well, especially if it’s unsubtle or plays on such ideas too much and it becomes routine. But occasionally, here and there, a chance for something weird and spooky to happen would be neat.

Thoughts?

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Delicious brains!

Something else you’ll come to learn about me is that I love zombies. Not like that, I mean, I guess if she was fresh and tied up and all, but I’m on a tangent. As a concept, as a threat, as a source of drama, I love zombies.

I have traced this to a gift I got as a kid. A friend of my grandma’s apparently thought that a book which detailed in exquisite, grotesque detail pretty much every flesh eating zombie movie to date would be an excellent gift for a seven year old child. I spent fifteen years terrified of zombies to the point where a movie would give me nightmares for a week.

I’m not as bad now, but I still have an amazing fascination with them. Something about them just appeals to me; how they are relentless, numberless, and tireless. The thing is, zombies have been done well in movies, they’ve been done well in books, but despite being a very common foe these days, they have very rarely been done well in games.

Partly this is because what we expect, or are presumed to expect, as gamers. Despite the “survival horror” moniker, survival is not all it is cracked up to be. Carry health items, conserve ammo, dodge zombies/ghosts/demons/whatever. Nothing about food, clean water, secure shelter, and so forth. Now some games go completely to the other end of the scale and make zombies fodder for hilarious slaughter, like Dead Rising. That’s quite fine with me, I love that sort of thing. I would prefer that ones at the survival, rather than action, end of the spectrum made a lot more effort to simulate survival proper.

More broadly the ‘survival’ genre is not exactly overflowing. There’s the Disaster Report series and… nothing else really comes to mind. Fort Zombie could have been something special but ended up being close to unplayable. Dead Island has the benefit of a lack of guns, but from what early reporting I hear, it is still conclusively action-oriented. I have no trouble with action, even as part of the survival end of the genre, but it should be short, dangerous, and shocking, I feel. Two of the current games I feel best do zombies are Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, and Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without A Pulse. The former of these because although many of the survival aspects are absent, and although the undead are fast (which is a huge faux pas in my elitist eyes), this game is one of the few to truly make the zombie apocalypse feel horrifying and dangerous. I don’t stand around fighting zombies in UD: I get done what I have to get done and then get the heck outta Dodge. When I see a dozen of the things come tearing over the crest of a hill at me, even though I’m on horseback with plentiful ammo and full Deadeye, I feel a shot of terror. It’s huge effective.

Stubbs the Zombie is a different kettle of fish altogether. You are a zombie, the eponymous Stubbs, and though your own abilities go rather beyond those of the typical undead (Using your head as a bowling ball and lobbing your liver as an explosive to name but two), the zombies you create are actually very faithful to what one thinks of as a zombie and, more than this, they act with uninfected AI characters very well. It is deeply fun and satisfying to infect a few people and watch them reanimate and spread amongst the populace.

Hopefully Dead State, though a tactical RPG, will be able to capture some many of the necessary elements. (To any who doubt how tense and downright terrifying turn-based games can be, go and dig up a copy of X-Com, fight a terror mission against Chrysalids, and you’ll reconsider your position.) From what they say they are giving due consideration to things like the need for supplies, the difficulty in trusting other survivors, and so forth. Even so I’m still holding out for a true zombie game in a GTA San Andreas style setting, which a heavy emphasis on survival, hiding, and cowering like a baby.