The Nintendo Switch has now been out for five years and has an impressive library of games. With its portability, the Nintendo Switch offers a versatile way to enjoy gaming. Here are some titles that I think would be a great addition the the library and could gain new fans if released on the Switch.
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
I still remember the moment watching Nintendo Direct on 17 February 2021 where it was revealed a Zelda game was getting remastered on Switch. It was Skyward Sword. I was gutted, I really wanted it to be Twilight Princess. Skyward Sword is by no means a bad game, but Twilight Princess holds a special place in my heart. I love its dark tone and story. I love travelling around Hyrule, there’s so much character to each location. Twilight Princess also has one of the best companions- Midna. I know plenty of Zelda fans would be ecstatic to be able to play Twilight Princess on Switch. And even those who may not like this one should give it another chance.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario Galaxy is my favourite Mario game ever and the sequel is brilliant too. It’s baffling that the first game was released on Switch but not the second one. Maybe Nintendo just wanted a neater package for the 3D All Stars compilation, it can only have three games. But to me Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 are a package deal, you can’t have one without the other.
Bully
It’s hard for me to say it but, there’s not going to be a Bully 2. It’s just not going to happen right? But why not then give new life to the original by releasing it on the Switch. You can play LA Noire and the 3D GTA trilogy on Switch, Bully will be right at home amongst these. Bully also in my view holds up really well and needs to be recognised as one of Rockstar’s best games.
Persona 5
This is an interesting one because as I write this there is ongoing speculation that Persona 5 will be making its way to the Switch. It’s been announced for Xbox and PC. And it belongs on the Switch. No really, just imagine playing Persona 5 on THE SWITCH. Person 5 along with it’s enhanced follow up Persona 5 Royal is one of the best games ever made, with it’s polished presentation and gameplay as well as excellent story and characters. Everyone should be able to play it.
Ace Attorney Investigations 1 and 2
Miles Edgeworth getting his own game was an exciting time for the Ace Attorney fandom. It even got a sequel. But the second instalment to this day has not been localised. Considering that the Great Ace Attorney games were recently localised and the original trilogy has been ported to every device imaginable, surely there’s some way to bring the AAI games to Switch? The amount of popularity Miles Edgeworth as a supporting character is sky high, and I am so intrigued to see his story continue especially as the second game features more background on Mile’s father Gregory Edgeworth who there’s not much to other than being murked by Manfred Von Karma. Really I just can’t accept that’s there’s a whole Ace Attorney game just out there that I have yet to play.
I am not a fan of zombie games, at all. The Last of Us was released back in 2013 and since it was a Naughty Dog game and having already played Crash Bandicoot and Uncharted and enjoying them immensely, I decided to see what it was about. I’m so glad I did because I found Last of Us to be incredible. Not only was it a brilliantly made game that was engaging with its game-play and scares and had a brilliant story, making an impact on the same level of films and books.
Seven years later we have finally got the sequel and… what a mess. Not the game itself, but the events leading up to it. There were major story leaks which made people turn against the game. I had looked at the leaks, I wish I hadn’t. The big controversy is of course the death of Joel. People hated that the game killed him off. I can understand the hate, it happened so early on in the game by some random woman that Joel had SAVED just moments before. Joel is a great character that we’ve seen go from a loving father to bitter and grieving over the loss of his daughter whilst the world becomes overtaken by an outbreak leading people to turn into horrific monsters. He then meets Ellie and is tasked with taking her to a group of rebels called the Fireflies for whatever reason. This was just a job however they form a bond that helps him get back that part of him that was lost, so much that he prevents the possibility of a vaccine that could save the world, because he couldn’t see Ellie die. There’s the argument that Joel action’s were awful and messed up but considering he literally saw Ellie to be like his daughter Sarah, he couldn’t go through the same loss again. So he only did what he thought was right, even if it meant killing the Fireflies.
We didn’t know it but this guy would be key to the events of Last of Us Part II
I was really excited to learn about what direction The Last of Us Part II would go from there. I was hoping there’d be more exploration into Ellie’s immunity or her family, especially in case it’s a genetic thing. Then of course the leaks happened and it turned out that the game was going to focus on the aftermath of the the end of the first game from the point of view of a character who is the daughter of one of the doctors that was operating on Ellie that Joel had killed. This doctor was never a fully realised character in the first game, just an NPC. This sounded like a weak premise however on playing the game, I see what they were going for. Because we played as Joel and Ellie, it would be easy to consider them them the heroes and anyone else as a villains, however in a world like the one depicted in Last of Us, everyone is basically a villain. The thing is that, I think the first game already did this in far less overt way.
Having said that, I liked playing the Last of Us Part II. The game is good at getting you to think of strategies to get past obstacles, I found myself doing different approaches between segments with infected and segments with humans. Clickers and runners? Stealth them. Bloaters and the newly introduced shamblers? Throw stuff at them. Humans? Stealth them, unless there’s the player is accompanied with someone, go for attack. Humans with dogs? Ugh, the dogs in this game, I hated it when they appeared. I am in no way am affectionate towards dogs, but even I felt bad when I made them walk into a trap mine.
I can’t believe I’ve written almost 600 words and barely talked about Abby. Oh, Abby. Getting to play as her and point of view was interesting. That’s all I can say really because maybe halfway into her part of the game I was just really wanted it to be over and get to the big Ellie/Abby confrontation. Abby’s part of the game went on for too long which made trying to sympathising with her more difficult.
It did get a lot better when she comes accross a young boy called Lev and they become a team up, reminding a lot of Ellie and Joel. Lev comes from a cult-like group called the Seraphites who ousted him for going against their traditions. They are also at war with Abby’s group the Washington Liberation Front (WLF). Lev’s a pretty cool character and the Seraphites seem so fascinating compared to the generic trigger happy WLF. As for Abby, she’s… fine. I don’t like her that much but I don’t hate her just because she killed Joel or because of her character design. She gets some good character development because of Lev and the Rat King boss battle was fire.
We watch Ellie become devastated by Joel’s death that she now wants to get revenge on Abby. While she traverses through Seattle eliminating WLF members along the way there are a few flashbacks which were the best parts of the game simply because we get to see Joel again. They start off happy, Joel and Ellie spending time together in a museum having fun. Following ones, their relationship begins to strain, as Ellie doubts Joel’s words about what happened with the Fireflies so she goes back to the hospital where she was operated on and finds out the truth. I had assumed Joel died without ever having told her, but Ellie been knew. It then made sense why she seemed distant talking about Joel earlier in the game, she had been mortified by what he had done and the implications that the world was now extra doomed and for that he despised him.
The Last of Us™ Part II_20200720233257
The Last of Us™ Part II_20200720233303
There’s a bunch of side characters, including the residents at Jackson such as Dina, Ellie’s girlfriend who becomes pregnant, and Jesse who is Dina’s ex and also the father of her baby. Then there’s Abby’s friends including her ex-boyfriend Owen and her father’s student Mel who is pregnant with Owen’s child. Ellie and Abby have parallel stories that include parallel love triangles as well. I honestly didn’t feel attachment with any of these characters. I guess Owen and his aquarium was kind of endearing. I wanted to see more of the sinister leader of the WLF Issac, but the game didn’t give him a lot of screentime before he is killed off.
Ellie and Abby finally meet again, and then the boss battle begins. And the boss is Ellie! This was crazy, especially because it was just like the boss battle from the first game with David, where Abby has to sneak around an unhinged Ellie and try to overpower her. Abby of course does and then Dina manages to intervene only to get knocked out and Abby threatens to kill Dina. However she stops when she sees Lev is completely against this and then spares them, demanding that she never wants to see Ellie again.
There’s a bit of a time skip, which at first seemed like an epilogue. Dina had a baby boy called JJ and Ellie lives with them on a farm and they seem to have a nice simple life away from the chaos and danger.
Yet, all is not as sound as it seems as Ellie is still suffering PTSD from Joel’s death. I thought this was how the game was going to end, pretty sad but still hopeful that Ellie would one day overcome the nightmares by seeing JJ grow up. The game does not end there, it keeps going. I was in disbelief that the game still kept going. Ellie decides that she can’t let it go and leaves to find Abby, who is now in California with Lev chasing a rumour that there was a reform of the Fireflies. There’s a few standard encounters with infected while they search a house and manage to supposedly contact the Fireflies through a radio. They excitedly go to find them, however get captured by some new group of people called Rattlers. These are some depraved individuals that have imprisoned and tortured people and keep infected chained for their amusement. They felt shoehorned at this point for the purposed of having another obstacle for Ellie before she gets to Abby.
The Lost and Damned of Us
Ellie almost gets captured by the Rattlers however manages to get the upper hand and sneaks into their compound. There’s some really disturbing things going on in there, when Ellie finally gets to Abby she is completely dishevelled, and is only concerned with getting Lev back to safety and doesn’t want to fight.
Ellie forces her to and what ensues is the most depressing and brutal fight in game I have seen in a game. Ellie almost defeats Abby only to back out when she sees a vision of Joel sitting down with his guitar, instead of what she was seeing before of the moments of his death. She stops and lets Abby go. Then, the game ends with Ellie finally seeming to have find some sense of closure, and it was a truly exhausting ordeal to have gotten here, for Ellie and the player.
The game ends with another Joel and Ellie flashback the night before they went on the patrol where Joel was killed. This scene broke me. Up until this point they Ellie was still upset with him, but after he stood up for her in an confrontation with a bigoted idiot, she decides that she wants to give Joel a chance to mend their relationship. And that was the last of Joel and Ellie being together.
The Last of Us™ Part II_20200720233727
The Last of Us™ Part II_20200720233747
This is definitely the longest blog post I have ever written, as there is so much in this game. There is too much in this game. It was way, way longer than it needed to be which is the only real problem I had with it. The story wasn’t as compelling as the first game, but it was still a gripping story exploring revenge. Revenge doesn’t heal was the message I got from it. Hopefully in Part III, Abby and Ellie get some well deserved therapy, if that still exists in the Apocalypse.
In the days of DS, one of the prominent games that I was pouring hours of my life into was Animal Crossing: Wild Word. I was completely taken by how freaking cute the game was. Animal Crossing sees you play a bright eyed character moving to a new town to start a new life. You meet with a kindly racoon who helps get you settled in, providing a house to you. Not for free of course, there is a loan that you will need to pay him back in full, but he’s pretty chill about it and doesn’t even charge interest.
I really loved playing Animal Crossing: WW, it was so differently paced to other games. You weren’t battling monsters or traipsing through dungeons, instead you were catching bugs and fish every day to pay back your loan, decorating your house and chatting with the other residents. I have so many memories that stay with me like giving the other residents greetings, using the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector to play online and being mortified the first time Resetti appeared to scold me for not saving my game. Animal Crossing totally owned its vibe to be a sweetly addictive and enjoyable game.
Despite having loved Wild World I didn’t play any of follow-up games. I assumed they would follow the same formula, which is no bad thing because it’s a great formula. This is probably presumptuous of me, however I decided to buy New Horizons, which I would have given a miss but the pandemic that befalls us spurred me to try it out as there couldn’t be a more perfect game for this insane time we are living through.
In this instalment your character arrives on an island to live a new life and is welcomed of course by Tom Nook and two mini Tom Nooks. The island is empty but Tom Nook has great plans to transform it into a residential haven. Naturally he enlists you to make his plans a reality and has you running around scavenging materials for a Nooks Cranny store and building furniture for new inhabitants. Completing these projects expands the game further, like gaining the ability to build a bridge over rivers which I can’t tell you how relieved I was, I was so sick of pole vaulting.
I see you have a football (US) and a football (rest of the world) for saleThere’s a lot of familiarity that I remember from Wild World, which again is not a negative, it works. I actually felt a great sense of nostalgia doing all the things I would do in Wild World. Once again I find myself collecting specimens for Blathers to populate the museum. I actually really like hearing Blathers tell you some facts when you present him with a new creature.
There’s also the charm of being able to decorate your house and talking to the other villagers who are always warm and in high spirits.
I started this game a few weeks after it was released, I feel way behind and desperately want to get some stairs to more easily reach the higher locations of the islands, however the construction of such structures requires hefty donations from myself of course. There’s a lot of grinding to do, this a game that requires dedication. People are really embracing this game, as expected, and have done some crazy impressive things with their islands. I hope to make my island as grand as others have though I know it will take some time and a lot of cash bells.
Life is Strange has been a pretty significant video game series for me in the latter half of this decade. The game just has this aura to it, and is so good getting the player invested in the story and characters. Now we’re at the end of the second season.
On the previous Life is Strange, Sean had managed to save Daniel from a devious cult leader and they were reunited with their estranged mother Karen. Episode 5 opens with Sean and Daniel camping on a cliff side, still on the run but in a better position than they have been in a long time.
They have been staying with Karen at a commune far away in a desert, where she lives amongst other adult runaways. This had parallels with Episode 3 where Sean and Daniel were also in a environment detached from society but at least this time it’s not as nefarious as a weed farm.
Hope those are just crops and not “crops”
What I wasn’t expecting was to run into David. Freaking David as in Chloe’s step-dad who has been a sort of domestic antagonist in the series. He now lives in the commune and has a ponytail.
……o_O……
This was quite surreal because there is now a link between the Diaz brothers and Max. David is a changed man, having gone through tragedy, at least if Chloe has died. This was a interesting way of tying in the events from Max’s story without overshadowing the current story.
Back when he was step-douche
After some emotional farewells, Sean and Daniel leave the commune and make way for the border. They get so close to freedom as they arrive at the border finally, however Daniel gets shot at by some “patriots” and then the police show up and arrest them. There’s a scene with Sean in a jail cell with a Mexican couple who tried to cross the border and I can only imagine that this scene is not so far from reality.
It really felt that this was the end of the line, but Daniel gets back on his feet to break the brothers out of jail in a very intense sequence where you could choose to have Daniel straight up kill the police officers, if you want to go full villain.
The lesser known Mug, Chair or Kill game
Once again the brothers arrive at the border and naturally there is a stand off. This is it, the big final choice scene. Either surrender or cross the border. Of course I chose cross the border, it was always leading up to this.
Daniel completely goes HAM, thrashing people and cars across the air, stopping actual firing bullets.
After the carnage, it’s over and at long last they drive away from it all.
An epilogue follows where Sean and Daniel have settled in Puerto Lobos six years later, running a repair shop. They live in a dangerous area but Daniel is able to fend off anyone that threatens them. This is just one possible ending you can get, it’s bittersweet but the brothers are alive and together.
There are several other endings which range from sad to really sad depending on how the player choose to use Daniel’s power and the influence this has on Daniel. I’m not going to replay through the game so I just watched the other endings on YouTube and I’m impressed with the vastly different outcomes, this really gives weight to the choices made throughout the game.
Well, that’s brings Life is Strange 2 to a close. I have to say final episode was handled far better than previous season which in hindsight was a bit of a mess.
I am so up for more Life is Strange games and the expansion of the Life is Strange Universe (LISU).
After that chaotic ending in Episode 3 , things are looking bleak. Sean is now recovering in hospital under police custody. His eye is messed up and he is separated from Daniel. He has a friendly nurse tending to him but also has to deal with being interrogated by an FBI agent involved in his case. He manages to figure out Daniel’s whereabouts via a coded message left in his sketch book from Jacob who was one of the workers at the marijuana farm.
He luckily manages to escape and steals a car on route to Nevada. Unfortunately he’s harassed by two redneck fools who taunt him with racial insults and physically beat him. They goad him into speaking Spanish and also singing which if the player chooses this Sean begins singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Spanish while the tormentors laugh because other languages other than ‘Murican are somehow a target for ridicule. If only Daniel was there, he certainly would be able to put them in their place.
Eventually Sean gets away and strives ahead but now car-less. He carries on his journey on foot in the scorching heat. A truck driver offers to drive him to his destination. Given Sean’s previous encounters, there was hesitation in being able to trust this man. However it turns out his kindness was completely genuine and he did take Sean where he need to go, reminding us that there are still good people in the world.
Sean arrives at Haven Point which is where Jacob fled to with Daniel. Sean approaches the cult-like church that Jacob had alluded to in Episode 3, which is led by a reverend named Lisbeth who has taken Daniel under her wing. It’s all quite overwhelming as Daniel’s power is displayed to the churchgoers who are in awe as his powers are taken to be bestowed upon him by God, which if you think about is maybe not so bad, at least they don’t consider it witchcraft.
Sean: My haircut was an abomination! Daniel: Hold my Choco Crisp
We’ve seen some dangerous antagonists throughout the LIS series but Lisbeth is a different kind of threat. She is clearly shady but as a reverend she has a certain kind of power and influence over people that would be tricky to overthrow. She manages to turn Daniel against Sean through blatant lies.
After being thrown out of the church, a character arrives who I’m sure we’ve all been interested to see. It’s Karen AKA Sean and Daniel’s mother.
Karen was alerted to the danger that the boys were in and came to help. While this sounds like the boys now have a fighting chance, there’s still a big elephant in the room about Karen’s decision to abandon her family. We finally get to hear her story and I really like the way her character is handled, she obviously cares about them but she is also content with the choice she made in her life and that’s something that only she can probably understand.
Sean meets up with Jacob to discuss their gameplan. I hadn’t taken much notice of him in the previous episode, it was certainly interesting seeing what his home life is like up close and what he was running away from.
Before any action can be taken, there needed to be snooping in order to uncover Lisbeth’s nefarious deeds and use that against her to save Daniel. Upon said snooping, they find that she has been kicked out of a previous church and has been stopping Jacob’s sister from getting medical treatment for pneumonia instead relying on prayers despite being prescribed pills for her own health needs.
With the dirt on Lisbeth in hand, Sean and Karen advance to the church to confront Lisbeth. A showdown ensues with Lisbeth and Sean battling each other to persuade Daniel to choose them. In the midst of this, Lisbeth’s crony repeatedly knocks Sean to the ground but Sean persists. Daniel becomes overwhelmed and causes a fire to start. He eventually realises the true nature of Lisbeth and goes back to Sean. As they try to run from the blazes, Lisbeth comes in their way. We are presented with a choice of whether to spare her or let Daniel unleash his power. While it does sound tempting, of course, we can’t let Daniel have that kind of blood on his hands, unless there’s a villain ending that can be unlocked.
In a unique turn of events this episodes ends on a pretty happy note with the boys reunited and closer to their sanctuary in Puerto Lobos. But there still one episode left so it could all go South from here.
I think it is safe to say that this was one of the best episodes of the entire LIS series, it was paced well and had a good mix of intense as well as intimate scenes. I’m very excited for the next episode but also a little sad that it’s all nearly over.
What’s the next step for the two Diaz brothers in their ongoing escape from the law? Working on a pot farm naturally.
This episode had taken the boys even further away from their past, as emphasised by the flashback at the beginning to a few months before the incident which feels like a lifetime ago.
😦
After being chased away from their grandparent’s home, Sean and Daniel have now settled into a camp of workers in a marijuana facility, with a few other travellers including Cassidy and Finn who made a brief appearance in Episode 2. Despite the gruelling work, there’s a strong sense of community that Sean and Daniel have been accepted into though they themselves seem to be growing apart.
There are many segments which involves doing chores, including cutting up weed and peeling potatoes, but it’s interesting to get to know the other workers who are all outcasts in their own way and seem to be running away from something just like Sean and Daniel.
Other parts of the episode consist of the group hanging out at the camp and getting blazed and whatnot. If the player chooses, Sean can be given a haircut by Finn. I chose to get the haircut and I deeply regret it.
Never wanted Max’s rewind power as much as I want it right now
While there was an interesting development around Sean’s romance options, as he can get with Finn or Cassidy or neither, the episode felt a little underwhelming up until the end segment where Finn devises a heist plan after the pot farm boss Merrill fires Sean and orders a guy called Big Joe to punish Daniel the literal child, leading to Daniel retaliating and reveal of his powers to the others.
The episode really picked up with Sean, Daniel and Finn infiltrating Big Joe’s trucks, I was pretty determined to make sure that they couldn’t be followed after stealing one of the trucks. The confrontation at Merrill’s house was really tense and unpredictable, and the stakes were high as depending on the choices, there’s a possibility for a character to die.
In the chaos, Daniel becomes enraged and unleashes a force that destroys the house. Shockingly, the ending montage pans over Sean who looks like he’s not going to make it to the next episode.
The preview for Episode 4 was very ominous and frankly my previous musings over Daniel being a villain suddenly are becoming entirely plausible.
It was around 2013 that I first discovered PewDiePie’s channel on YouTube, he had done a play-through of Bully (I’m a simple woman, I see Bully I click) and I found PewDiePie’s hyperactive and silly energy really entertaining and it was a time in my life where some dark stuff happened so finding something that made me laugh really helped. Soon he ended up becoming the most subscribed channel on YouTube and keeping that title for almost six years reaching 90+ million subscribers at the time of writing this. Not only that, he arguably is a major player in making YouTube a home for gaming and tech related content. That’s a pretty incredible legacy.
I stopped watching PewDiePie a while ago but that was because I started to find other channels to watch and PewDiePie started to venture into other formats to the point that he hasn’t done any Let’s Plays for quite some time now. I watched a few of his more recent videos and they mostly consist of PewDiePie reacting to memes or other viral subjects and it’s clear that PewDiePie’s humour will definitely attract a certain type of fanbase that have…issues. And quite rightly PewDiePie was dropped by Disney and has been involved in some really serious transgressions including racist remarks and antisemitism.
Despite all that controversy, I really didn’t think that PewDiePie would be overtaken as the most subscribed, even as big companies and celebrities are now using the platform. Yet it happened, and it was an Indian channel that posts Bollywood music videos and trailers that did it. I didn’t even know what T-Series was until seeing a PewDiePie video on his quite humorously one-sided rivalry with this huge company. I don’t think I’m subscribed to any channels that post music videos yet these channels have huge subscriber numbers. There was a lot of outcry over the T-Series/PewDiePie subscriber clash because it was being seen as a loss for creators if a big corporate entity with money and huge production values was the biggest channel. YouTube has changed a lot over the years from humble beginnings with people vlogging from their bedrooms to a massive platform that’s now literally making their own TV shows. It’s great that YouTube has reached such heights but’s hard to ignore how creators who essentially made YouTube what it is are being screwed over due to broken algorithms, copyright strikes and demonetisation.
I’m still subscribed to PewDiePie despite hardly watching his videos and most likely will not subscribe to T-Series. A lot of the YouTube channels I watch regularly actually have probably a tiny fraction of the subscribers that these two have, which just goes to show there’s so many channels that cater to everyone’s interests and taste (and lack taste haha jk). So if you aren’t into the brash humour of PewDiePie or Bollywood, there’s a lot more else on YouTube that you can check out.
The tale of two sons is back with its second episode and I have to say, if you thought the first episode had heartbreaking moments, this episode does not hold back.
Sean and Daniel are still on the run and navigate dangerous terrain to keep a low profile in their quest to reach Puerto Lobos in Mexico. They manage to find a safe haven in an abandoned cabin in the woods where they stay for a while living on ravioli with their doggy friend Mushroom.
Daniel’s powers are starting to take shape as he learns how to use and control them with guidance from Sean. However, Sean displays concern and lays down some ground rules. Throughout the episode the player can either have Sean scold Daniel for using his powers or let him be and this can impact later events.
Sean decides it’s time for the brothers to end their stay in the cabin and head out again, to see their grandparents. It’s clear they are not close with their grandparents, but they have no other choice. This brings up the mystery around their mother, who apparently left and Sean resents her for it, throwing first names and all.
The day they pack up to leave, things take a truly grisly turn as Mushroom is killed by a cougar. A very easy way to get tears running is a doggy death. I don’t even really like dogs but it got me.
Daniel becomes enraged and moves to kill the cougar with his powers, Sean can either choose to let him or stop him. Either way, poor Mushroom is no more.
Picking themselves up, the brothers make way to Beaver Creek to their very white, very Christian grandparents Claire and Stephen. At first, things are frosty but Claire and Stephen thankfully agree to let the boys stay with them. It really raises spirits that Sean and Daniel are back in an actual home.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
A couple of days pass and Sean and Daniel are now far more comfortable and bonding with their grandparents. They are of course banned from going to the outside world to ensure their safety. There’s some mentions of the elusive absent mother Karen and her childhood room but the boys are warned that they cannot go see the room but it’s pretty obvious some snooping will be had later.
Worlds collide as it turns out living next door is Chris from The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit which was a short spin-offish episode following Chris on his wacky escapades as Captain Spirit while trying not to be a nuisance to his dad Charles . Chris also has a deceased parent thus his family life is quite troubled as his father likes to hit the bottle. Chris enters the story from the point he is running away from a pissed off Charles up to his tree house but he falls and is about to hit the ground when Daniel manages to save him in the nick of time. Chris however believes he did it himself and thus begins a web of deceit.
Daniel and Chris quickly become pals which was very heartwarming as they both have gone through some rough times and needed to just be kids and play.
Wakanda forever
Sean and Daniel join Chris and Charles on a trip to go Christmas tree shopping which seemed entirely foolish as they most likely will be spotted. When they return home, Claire and Stephen are still out so they take the advantage and infiltrate Karen’s room. It’s a sad looking room and there is a real question mark around why Karen exactly left her family and children for.
They come across a letter from Karen asking Clare and Stephen to help the boys after the events in Seattle. Maybe she does care about them after all? I do actually hope that they are able to reunite with Karen, they need their mother now more than ever.
The boys get caught and get into an argument with Clare over the snooping. One thing leads to another and Stephen finds himself trapped under a unstable cupboard. Daniel proceeds to help and Sean can choose to let him or not. Stephen gets rescued either way. As if enough trauma has occurred, a sheriff shows up at the door and Sean and Daniel have to bolt. A police car gives chase and Chris throws himself between the boys and the car, lifting his hand to stop the car. Depending on the choices throughout the episode. Daniel may or may not stop the car. In my play-through he does, which leads to Chris learning that he’s just a muggle.
Sean and Daniel go back on the road, or should I say train tracks as they jump on a train to continue their journey, an idea they got from some travellers they met at the Christmas market. I feel with this episode that the season is starting to hit its stride and the stakes are high. Will they reach Puerto Lobos? Will they find Karen? Will there be some depraved twist where Daniel ends up becoming a villain? We shall see!
I’ve played a fair few choice based games, one of which I write about regularly being Life is Strange. But long before these video games, there were these “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, where you read a book and then reach a point where you have to choose to turn to a specific page with a different outcome. I never really caught on to these kind of books. In any case, Netflix and Black Mirror have created a film, where the plot centres around a young reclusive man called Stefan who’s working on a game based on a choose your own adventure book called Bandersnatch. He gets a deal with a company to sell his game, however he is given a deadline and is unable to cope with the pressure of getting the game completed.
Bandersnatch is set in the 80s rather than a dystopian setting but that standard Black Mirror vibe of unsettling forces at work is there. On this occasion, the looming presence causing the distortion is the viewers themselves as we can make choices for Stefan sending him down different paths. Choices range from mundane ones like choosing between two cereals for breakfast to choosing whether Stefan or his mentor Colin leaps off a balcony to choosing whether to murder Stefan’s dad and then choosing how to dispose of the body.
Multiple endings in games is well established, we’ve seen things like good endings, bad endings, true endings, neutral endings, pacifist endings, genocide endings, the list goes on. Likewise Black Mirror has multiple endings. Pretty much all the endings are bad endings. There is no way for Stefan to complete the game on time and get a good review without going insane and murdering someone, namely his dad. I was really hoping that there would be good ending but this is Black Mirror after all.
Okay so Stefan couldn’t make a good game because of my choices, but were the graphics okay?
Bandersnatch was fun and innovative for it’s medium, though it will definitely be familiar for anyone who has played games like Heavy Rain, Life is Strange and anything from Telltale (RIP). The choice based element worked pretty well and the fact that there were so many different endings that had to be acted out is impressive.
Been busy lately, but finally played it. We’ve been waiting for this.
It was back in 2015 that Life is Strange came out and shook the gaming world. Now that Telltale has gone under, Life is Strange is the probably the quintessential choice based game out there. I’m aware that we have the Quantic Dream games, but I couldn’t compare those with Life is Strange because games like Heavy Rain and Detroit:BH are far more action packed and have a atmosphere that is big and cinematic while Life is Strange is quiet and more intimate.
WHY IS THIS EVEN A QUESTION
Having said that Life is Strange did have something quite similar to Detroit BH, this is that it got Political. While Detroit’s story touched on race relations of the past, Life is Strange 2 portrayed the race climate that’s happening right now in Trump’s America. The game follows two brothers, teenage Sean and little kid Daniel. They’re Mexican-Americans, one of many communities that have been disenfranchised in the good ol’ USA.
Things start off pretty ordinary, Sean is getting ready to go to a partay, and the first objective is to collect items to take to said partay. You could make choices like taking cookies or chips as well as taking booze or a soft drink. Not exactly exciting dilemmas.
There are some nice family interactions, Sean has a pretty cool dad and there’s brotherly bickering with Daniel. Considering we’ve had dysfunctional families in the previous games, this was a refreshing change to have a family that are fairly normal.
After collecting partay supplies, things get really bad very quickly. In a matter of minutes, Daniel goes outside and gets into an altercation with a Racist Neighbour Character, Daniel steps in and the game gives you two options, to confront RNC or question Daniel. Of course I confronted RNC and then the cops show up, then the dad steps outside and inexplicably the cop shoots him dead. This was such a harrowing scene, but things like this actually happen in real life which made even more devastating.
At this point, the game seemed to remember that hey this universe has people with powers in it, something that was totally missing from Before the Storm. It appears that Daniel has the power of telekinesis as he unknowingly throws people and cars across the ground. This allows Sean to take Daniel and run away from the scene, their normal life completely shattered.
That’s just the beginning of the episode, the rest gets even more dramatic. Sean and Daniel are now on the road, trying to find food and shelter. Daniel doesn’t remember what happened to their dad, but Sean does and keeps it from him. You can absolutely feel how torturing it is to keep a brave face for his little brother. Sean tries to make it seem like an adventure as they traverse the forest and camp out for the night. The choices made collecting partay supplies which felt so mundane actually impacted this part of the game, so if you chose soda Sean is glad because obviously he couldn’t give Daniel alcohol. Now the choices have weight to them, because Daniel is affected by them, as seen by two little wolves which appear with the ominous choice will have consequences jingle.
The next day, Sean and Daniel go to a convenience store. These kind of places can be a hotbed for racism (I’m not kidding). The brothers have barely any money, the game gives you the choice to buy or steal items. I chose to buy, mainly because stealing is bad. The lady at the counter made a comment about how the brothers “don’t look like people from around here”. That’s sounds something some idiot would actually say in real life, even in 2018. You do encounter a friendly character called Brody but really he is Seth Rogan. I mean look at him.
As the brothers try to plan for their next steps, they get questioned by an old man who asks if the brothers stole anything and is super suspicious of them. He attacks them and Sean is knocked unconscious and is tied up while Daniel thankfully manages to get away. The Old Racist Man Character ramps up the bigotry, threatening Seam with deportation and mentions the wall.
I’m guessing he did not vote for Hilary Clinton
Daniel comes back for Sean and and helps him break free. The Old Racist Man attacks again, but Daniel powers awaken and he is defeated. The game gives you the choice to steal items, suddenly stealing didn’t seem that bad anymore.
Seth Rogan Brody comes to rescue and helps the brothers escape and even gets them a motel room. He’s super goofy but super kind and delivers the most thoughtful line in episode.
After the rough few days, the motel room felt so humanising. Unfortunately because Sean stole items from the store, Daniel thought it was okay to steal from Brody, which emphasised he’s just an impressionable kid and how important it is for Sean to set a good example for him especially now their dad is gone.
Sean is not able to hide the truth from Daniel for much longer, and Daniel is inconsolable. He then tells Sean he can never lie to him again. Now this was a dilemma. I chose to say that Sean will promise never to lie to him again, but that decision will most certainly cause heartbreak in future episodes.
Woah, that was a really long post but there is so much that this episode covered, and it’s only the first one. I know some may be turned off by anything political, but I’m all for it as long as it is handled properly, and Life is Strange seems the right type of game to depict these issues.
![2020051004505700-02CB906EA538A35643C1E1484C4B947D[1]](https://atmydeskpurple.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/2020051004505700-02cb906ea538a35643c1e1484c4b947d1.jpg)
![2020052222332200-02CB906EA538A35643C1E1484C4B947D[1]](https://atmydeskpurple.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/2020052222332200-02cb906ea538a35643c1e1484c4b947d1.jpg)
![2020051811463400-02CB906EA538A35643C1E1484C4B947D[1]](https://atmydeskpurple.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/2020051811463400-02cb906ea538a35643c1e1484c4b947d1.jpg)
![2020050616402300-02CB906EA538A35643C1E1484C4B947D[1]](https://atmydeskpurple.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/2020050616402300-02cb906ea538a35643c1e1484c4b947d1.jpg)
At My Desk 