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Celebrating All Things Spooky 2019

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, My Games, My Stories, Video Games, Writing  17 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , , ,
Oct 022019
 

Yes, it’s that time of year again! Welcome to the 2019 run of Celebrating All Things Spooky!

Special Events

Let’s start off with a sale. From October 5 – October 31, eBook copies of my horror novella The Book at Dernier and horror novelette It Came Back will be on sale for $0.99 at Amazon.

Of course, my zombie comedy The Zombie Mishap and my short stories, all of which are listed here, are available as well.

Prefer physical copies? I’ll be signing copies of The Book at Dernier, The Zombie Mishap, and the pulp fiction collection Domino Lady Volume 3 at Wellsboro’s BookFest on October 19.

And if you’re here for video games, don’t forget that this year I also worked on Two Till Midnight, a horror game available now from Steam.

Here on the site, October will once again be filled with horror game reviews and news… and of course, a contest!

2019’s Celebrating All Things Spooky Contest

This year, the available prizes are:

  • Two Till Midnight (gift sent through Steam)
  • Yomawari: Night Alone (gift sent through Steam)
  • Yomawari: Midnight Shadows (gift sent through Steam)
  • Detention (gift sent through Steam)
  • Dead Age (Steam code)
  • Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (Steam code)
  • Lakeview Cabin Collection (Steam code)
  • eBook copy of The Book at Dernier
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!

If you choose the review option, your chosen game must be something I either own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in November.

Rules and Scoring

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments made between October 2, 2019 at 1:00 PM EST and October 31, 2019 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any blog post here = 1 point.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on a Celebrating All Things Spooky blog post = 2 points.
  • You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
  • You must have at least 10 points at the end of the month to win.
  • The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and so on, until all prizes have been given out.
  • The winner will be contacted by November 2, 2019.

If you participated last year, this probably looks pretty similar. Any questions? Let me know in the comments.

Let the celebration begin!

Celebrating All Things Spooky: Costume Quest 2

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, Reviews, Video Games  3 Responses »  Tagged with:
Oct 312018
 

Once again, let’s spend Halloween discussing one of the most Halloween-themed games imaginable: Costume Quest 2.

Like its predecessor, which I reviewed two years ago, Costume Quest 2 is a turn-based RPG from Double Fine in which your current costume determines the form you take in combat (as well as exploration skills you have outside of battle).

Combat is turn-based, but with action commands to make your attacks more powerful (similar to the Mario RPGs). Each costume has a regular attack as well as a special attack, and there are also cards you can find or buy to use additional abilities with a 3-5 battle cooldown meter.

This time, the twins from the first game go on a time-traveling adventure to save Halloween after an insane dentist manages to erase Halloween and create an anti-Halloween/anti-candy dystopia in the future.

It’s a silly premise, but it works perfectly with the Halloween themes.

The game’s pacing felt a little odd to me, mainly because of how it handles time travel. I expected a journey through Halloween in different eras, but while it does involve visiting the past, the majority of the story takes place in the future dystopia.

Click for minor Costume Quest 2 spoiler
I also didn’t particularly like that your third companion changes as you travel between eras. It makes sense, but it meant the playable characters besides the twins didn’t get as much development (not that Costume Quest 2 is really a big game for character development, but still).

Unlike in the first game, where the trick-or-treating and candy-gathering was a major part of the story, here it comes into play in more indirect ways, such as gathering illegal candy as a favor to another character.

It’s cute and funny and full of Halloween spirit. Overall, I enjoyed the first game more, but if they ever make a Costume Quest 3, I’d definitely get it.

Have you played Costume Quest 2? Share your thoughts in the comments.

(And in case you’re wondering, I’ll have thoughts on Deltarune very soon.)

Celebrating All Things Spooky: Parasite Eve

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, Reviews, Video Games  8 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Oct 292018
 

Parasite Eve has always interested me, and after taking a vote on a horror game from my backlog to include in this year’s reviews, I finally played it.

Going into it, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew it was both a horror game and a JRPG, but how would those two elements come together?

Parasite Eve has the aesthetics of a survival horror game, particularly something like Resident Evil, with abandoned facilities to explore, mutated creatures to fight, and doors to unlock (although not nearly as many as in survival horror).

Yet it plays like a JRPG. Battles reward you with items and experience, and you level up to increase your stats. You even have a form of magic you can use, with new abilities learned as you level up.

As for the combat system itself, it’s a hybrid of action and turn-based systems. Enemies appear in set locations and you avoid attacks in real time, but when your ATB meter fills up, you choose your action like in a turn-based RPG. It’s a pretty cool system, and one of the best action/turn-based hybrids I’ve seen.

Upgrading your guns and armor is also a big part of the game. Equipment comes with special traits, and by using Tools, you can transfer traits and stat boosts from one piece of equipment to another.

Parasite Eve has a more story-driven focus like a JRPG, lots of dialogue, and even a hub area where you can talk to a few characters (although not to the same degree as in a typical RPG). The plot itself, however, is definitely horror. You play as Aya Brea, a cop who is attending an opera when the singer on stage suddenly makes everyone else spontaneously combust.

The culprit turns out to be Eve, a being that is essentially evolved mitochondria taking over the body of her host, and she plans to bring about a new race of superior beings.

In case that didn’t give it away, the science in Parasite Eve is absolutely insane. Its use of actual science is intriguing and helps with its survival horror vibe, but there’s definite JRPG-level insanity to this plot and its explanations.

I love it.

Now, so far I’ve only played through the main story. I understand that second playthrough includes a large bonus dungeon that unlocks the “true ending,” but that will be something for another time.

Parasite Eve combines two of my favorite genres, even though it had less survival horror elements than I expected, and I’m happy I played it. The sequel is definitely on my list of games to try.

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