First Impressions: Ori and the Blind Forest

Because it is term paper season, I have not had a large amount of time to spend on games the past two weeks. I wanted to take an aside from Fallout 4 and write a post about another indie platformer I have really enjoyed playing. I am only about a third of the way through the story as I am completely terrible at platformers, but I have enjoyed every second of this game so far. Since I am abysmal when it comes to running through little worlds, avoiding enemies and complex jumping; I have only really been able to play in one hour bouts before I lose my mojo and end up making the same repeated mistakes. However, the game’s beautiful soundtrack, art and overall feel completely make up for this.

Fallout 4, Part 2: The Beauty

SO! After spending about 4 hours in game, I decided to do my initial impressions and review of the game so far. Let me tell you, Bethesda has pulled out all of the stops. This game is probably the most smooth, beautiful and well organized game I have played.

I got blown up.

Fallout 4, Part 1: the Curse of PC Gaming

SO! Last night I attended my first ever midnight launch of the much anticipated title, Fallout 4. My darling friend was able to arrive much earlier than myself and snagged us the front of the line. It was a complete blessing. Since I did attend a launch at a not-so-popular location, the hype for the night was a little on the down-low, but there were still at least 50 of us lining up in the cold to get that first look at the game. I was tempted to purchase a vault-boy key chain, I must admit. But I decided I should not make my little Star Lord jealous.

Here are the clips from my Snapchat story, vaguely documenting the hell that was about to ensue.

Guest Blog: What’s it like to be a girl who games with The Master Seal

Here is another guest post from my friend Alyssa at The Master Seal, another gaming blog. She specializes in bringing reviews and musings on primarily console based titles. Check out her blog too! I can 100% relate to this post. It is very hard to be taken seriously as a girl who plays games. Although I am still relatively new to this community (and not pro at smash what so ever), there have been creeps and freindlies and everyone in between. It’s a rough life, but you’ve got to stick with what you love.

---

What’s it like to be a girl who games? What is different for guys and girls when it comes to gaming? Are there negative aspects? Are there positive aspects? Growing up, I never really knew that video games were considered for “boys”. I started playing from a young age and all my friends’ (boys and girls included), also played video games. It wasn’t until my mid to later years in grade school, when I met different people and tried to talk to other girls about video games, did I realize that the majority of girls around me didn’t play them.

Guest Blog: First Impressions of Dota 2 with Solo Queue

Welcome to another Quest Blog from my friend Trevor at Solo Queue. I chose to share my impressions of his go-to MOBA Smite on his blog and he happily reviewed his experience of my favourite, Dota 2. I very much appreciated his insights! Solo Queue writes on all sorts of gaming information; some about the business aspect, the various platforms and what kinds of games they offer, as well as good old fashioned reviews of games and gaming necessities. Please take peak over at his blog! (Also his setup makes me super envious that I did not invest more into mine!!)

PS. if you ever want to play a match with me, Solo Queue; you know where to find me. I will be your lane babysitter, your right hand girl, your guide to the treacherous land and toxic community of Dota 2. Should you want it. 

---

Recently I sat down to really test my chops at arguably the most popular game worldwide: Dota 2. Another MOBA like Smite or League of Legends, Dota 2 for those who don’t know, is a widely popular game from development/publishing overlords: Valve Software.

Right off the bat, I knew I would be pretty terrible at the game considering it is a top-down MOBA. Like LoL, I am just notoriously bad at navigating my character with point-and-click controls. Players comfortable with the controls are able to navigate the arena, check their map, buy items, and much more with proper clicking, and yet here I am looking like a sporadic fool waving my cursor all over the screen just trying to find my bloody hero.

I ended up just locking the camera to my character. While I understood the tactical implications of this, it was all I could do to stop myself from playing with the finesse of one of those wavy-arm inflatable guys outside of carwashes.

With my control-handicap figured out, I began my journey into the world of the highest grossing title in the history of ever. Right away, I was baffled by the amount of characters available to play. unlike Smite or LoL, all playable Heros are available from the start. While this lent itself to an incredibly tough decision of where to start, it was pretty cool to have so much freedom without paying a cent. I chose Razor; the Lightning Revenant. He looked pretty sweet, and his abilities sounded understandable enough for me to use practically.

NOW WATCH ME (*lighting*) WHIP!!!!

Fallout 4: The Hype is Real

The release of Fallout 4 is not only incredibly anticipated, but something I am really looking forward to. I have fallen in love with quest-based first-person-shooter ish games. And now that I have a handy dandy xbox remote so I can lounge in bed and play. The decision to pre-order Fallout 4 was a no-brainer. In all honesty, I am totally going to a midnight release party too! November 10 cannot come soon enough!

Guest Blog: Don’t Starve Review from Gamer’s Cavern

The following a guest post from another active gamer and friend Kieran, at Gamer’s Cavern. He too presents insightful reviews and musings on gaming and the community that surrounds it. Please check out and follow his blog! 

---

If you’re looking for a good indie game, Don’t Starve is a game worth looking into. Don’t Starve was developed by Klei Entertainment, a game development company responsible for other well known titles such as Mark of the Ninja and Shank. Don’t Starve is an open world survival game where players are thrown into an unforgiving and chaotic setting. Like most survival games, players are required to gather materials to survive, however, Don’t Starve intentionally provides the player with very little assistance. Players are forced to learn from their experience in order to unveil more about the game than what is immediately presented.

Hyper X Cloud Headset Review

So! I was doing a little bit of research and finally decided to purchase a headset after my mic decided to just stop working… I ended up going with the Hyper X Cloud by Kingston simply because it was the highest rated for the price. I largely based my decision off of this review from PC Gamer. In total with express shipping from Amazon.ca, I spent $108 and change. It has been worth every penny. It is connectable to an Xbox or even a PS system which is a bonus. As well, quite a few pro gamers have chosen to use this headset. For instance, Cloud9, Team Liquid, Navi, Vici Gaming, LGD Gaming and Newbee are all sponsored by Hyper X. I’m pretty sure I made a good call here…

Skyrim: a few mods

I have unfortunately not had a lot of time to spend on games this week with moving, papers and other personal matters. However, last weekend I took the time to finally install The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim from Bethesda onto my PC and get some mods going.

One of the most notable of these is the Immersive Music from Hothtrooper24 at Nexus Mods. He along with other collaborators have collected over 18.5 hours of music to add into your game. When I installed, I just checked all of the boxes but I think I will go in and revise before my next session of play. Currently it’s just a little too much of a good thing…

Some Relationship Advice: from a Gamer, to a Gamer

I know that this post is slightly off-topic, but I thought that it could be useful to some of you out there. Until quite recently, I was in a long distance relationship. My at-the-time boyfriend and I were able to find common interest in gaming. This interest allowed us to do ‘social’ activities together even while separate.