Hey everyone! It’s The Demented Ferrets resident artist, Ruka. As an artist, I tend to see the world a bit differently than most, so we thought why not share the way I see the world with all of you?
The idea is to post a drawing, a sketch, a photograph, or even in some cases the process of how I got to the final product, followed by a brief synopsis of its inspiration and what it means to me. I believe that in time this could also be a great learning opportunity for me and hopefully, everyone involved.
It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, well I believe that photography speaks to people, no matter your country of origin or what language you speak, it will always connects us. I wish to share with you my thoughts and feelings in my work. Hope you enjoy it!
Innocence by Rukangle
“Innocence” was taken, on a recent trip to Maryland. During my stay, I was invited to a photography studio by my best friend. Personally, I have never been to a studio before, and while the outside was normal looking the inside told a different story. The two-story building consisted of various rooms, a dressing room area, a break-room, outdoor space and had everything you may need to be creative. These rooms have a sort of aesthetic allowing you to experiment and explore both the photographer’s vision and helping to incorporate any ideas the models may have themselves.
It was in one of these rooms that I found inspiration for the shoot. The room was appropriately nicknamed the “white room” for its soft white color and the way the light bounced from the walls just helped soften the space. A single bed decorated the empty space in the middle and to me, it was like a blank canvas, that I could splash a bit of color and create something amazing.
While in the dressing room the model found some plastic roses and while discussing what can be done with them, a single rose fell into this white canvas of a room, a single splash of color made the possibilities endless.
“Innocence” for me has two very different feelings attached to it. First, it reminds me of a simpler time, a time when I was younger and my father would surprise us with flowers, a small gesture letting us know how much we mean to him. While the second, it’s a more romanticization of the first time. A representation of when we give ourselves to the person we love in body, spirit, and soul.
This has been Ruka of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at its finest, and level grinds are par for the course. I’ll see you around! Until then please be sure to check out our other content below.
With your contributions, you make our efforts possible. Thank you for supporting our content. Patreon supporters receive access into our official Discord server, and a few other perks depending on the tier.
There is a $1 tier, perfect for blog readers, so don’t hesitate. Join today!
Hey everyone, it’s Kern here. Awhile back, Kresh completed Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (The N. Sane Trilogy version). Below is the archived footage and a bit about the game.
Kresh completed this game on a live stream March of 2021, and you can find our live stream channel over on Twitch. If you like to watch live streams, come check us out when you’ve got some free time. Currently we stream two days a week, and run archived footage on the Saturdays. Be sure to follow our Twitch for more information, and to be updated when we go live.
If you’re a monthly subscriber to our Twitch channel (any tier) you also get access to our official Discord server as well.
For those of you who want a bit more information, let’s just gloss over some of the basics. This is your stereotypical 3D platformer of the late 90’s early 00’s era. Although the remastered version of the game lives up well to its predecessor, it can still be a tad clunky from time to time. Then again, you come to expect that from a game like this.
In general, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a family friendly title as most platformers tend to be, (although when it comes to commentary, Kresh and I certainly aren’t since we swear so much). If you pick this game up for your household it shouldn’t disrupt too many sensibilities.
The game originally came out in 1997 for the PlayStation. It’s the sequel to Crash Bandicoot, a game that came out in 1996. The series is developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
In 2017 the game was re-released as part of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Those of you who’ve played a platformer like this know what you’re in for. These platformers were known to be a bit difficult and this game lives up to expectation on that front.
We’ve got a blog post and play-through of the first game in the series that you can find below. You may want to check it out first if you’ve never seen a Crash Bandicoot game before, although I’m sure that’s pretty unlikely. Anyway, if that interests, you, you can find the link to that post, and the gameplay footage below.
For returners of the series, it’s back to the standard formula, more or less. There’s stages to beat, crystals to collect, boxes to smash and the fictional “Wumpa Fruit” to collect. Like always, you’ll gain extra lives when you collect enough of them. Trust me, you’re going to need them.
You play as Crash Bandicoot, a goofy protagonist with an adventuresome spirit. Crash once again is being manipulated by the (hilarious) evil villain named Doctor Neo Cortex. The crystals you need to collect are scattered between 25 different levels. Every now and then, you’ll encounter a boss battle.
Your usual foes are back with a vengeance he demented Ripper Roo, the Komodo Brothers and the ravenous Tiny Tiger make an appearance. Of course, once you collect all of the crystals, you’ll also face down Doctor Neo Cortex himself.
Nitro boxes make their first appearance in this game, and they can act both as boss mechanics and little green boxes of doom scattered around the stages. No, really, these are boxes you don’t want to touch or try to smash. They’ll explode on contact, There’s only three levels that they don’t show up in at all; The Pits, Totally Bear and the Intro, which acts as a game tutorial.
All in all, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a solid game throughout. It has a decent story-line, and although Kresh and I absolutely suck at platfomer style games, we both agree this is one you should try if you’re looking for something to play.
This has been Kernook of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at its finest and level grinds are par for the course. I’ll catch you next time… meanwhile, check out our other great content below.
To Our Supporters: Thank You!
With your contributions, you make our efforts possible. Thank you for supporting our content. Patreon supporters receive access into our official Discord server, and a few other perks depending on the tier.
There is a $1 tier, perfect for blog readers, so don’t hesitate. Join today!
Loneliness is a hard burden to face, and heartache is isn’t so easily soothed by a few kind words and a passing glance. If it were that simple, these two souls would have likely passed each other by without a single care. However, that’s not what happens, because life and love just isn’t that simple.
Hey everyone, it’s Kernook here, and welcome to another Kern’s Collections. Today I’ll be talking about Emma: A Victorian Romance.
Video Production of This Script
This is the finished video regarding the script. It is written, edited, and read aloud by Kernook of “The Demented Ferrets”. You can watch the video on this blog and on YouTube. I hope you enjoy the content.
This is a truly interesting anime because it lacks so much of what we consider to be typical in the medium. You could completely take this story and make it into a live action series without any hesitation at all, and almost everything would still fall into line perfectly with what the story. It wouldn’t even be jarring or out of place, because this anime doesn’t contain many of the tropes we’ve come to expect from anime as an art-form.
A simple maid of all work, and a bright eyed young gentleman cross paths. Love blooms between them despite the class divide. This is the entire crux of this anime reduced down into a few simple words. It isn’t a particularly complicated series, but it’s not over the top either. It is subdued in many ways, a slow burn romance the likes of which you just don’t see anymore.
Emma: A Victorian Romance is a soft and gentle story about romantic love between a man and a woman. Frankly, that’s all it needs to be. It isn’t a question of if these two lovebirds will end up together, because they certainly will. Instead, it’s a question of how they will navigate that romance in a world so keep to keep them apart.
The series came out back in June 2005, offering fans a true glimpse of heartfelt storytelling set in 19 century England, London to be exact. In that way, you may in fact consider this to be a sociology anime in some ways, because the social system put into place is what divides these two characters. In most ways, it’s the only thing that divides them at all.
As a maid of all work, Emma is tasked to care for the complexities of a small household. She cleans, cooks meals, makes tea, answers the door and anything else that her employer may need. Her life is a simple one, meager because that is the life of most maids. Particularly for the maid of all work. This station was a commonality for households that lacked grand estates that would employ several people all with a key set of tasks. Hiring one promised a symbol of status at the time. If you could afford to hire one back in those days, you did because it made you more respectable. Emma’s general backstory is a common one for women of this era.
Young girls were raised into the trade, and so was Emma. This was a life most girls would come to understand if they sat below a certain social class. They could learn by an employer that had taken them in, or by their families in hopes of helping their child find a job. Women just didn’t have many places of employment back in those days, and a certain level of decorum was expected among the classes. A certain responsibility loomed over society at the time, and Emma’s story shows how romance unfolds when two people deny that responsibility outright.
When a simple maid steps into the world of the gentry, there are a hurdles to overcome. William, is a member of this gentry and he is the eldest son of a wealthy family. Now, that’s not be confused with royalty. He’s not royal blood. Gentry have high status, but often times they do not carry royal bloodlines. The confines of status mixes looms heavily upon William’s shoulders, especially when he meets Emma, and falls in love with her. He doesn’t care what society demands of him, he loves her.
This is a series that relies heavily upon implication and pleasantries. While you’ll find all of the usual wrappings of your typical romance anime here, a layer of firm composure rests atop every interaction. You’re not to see goofy levels flirting or inane romantic stupidity. Instead, you’ll tend to find the budding romance is composed, refined, and full of unspoken nuance. Love between these two isn’t easy, and the uphill battle they have is one strictly left down to the confines of their society.
If Emma had been born into the gentry herself, she could have fallen in love openly and honestly with William, with very little difficulty or opposition. Since she is a maid however, that’s just not the case. They both have their statuses to consider, even though William often doesn’t really care what people think.
All-in-all what makes this story so interesting isn’t that they fall in love, but the confines and intrigue of that love. As you watch the show, you’re brought to wonder what it means for Emma and William to have this connection in a world that would staunchly disprove of the mere idea, let alone actually doing it.
This is a series that keeps melodrama to a minimum, and focuses more on truly emotional events to drive the plot forward. There is a key character death for example that heavily impacts Emma’s livelihood, just as it would have in 19th century London at the time. That event and a few others are handled with the same gentleness as the rest of the show, even in those melancholic moments.
Ultimately, this is a series made for a true romance anime fan. Someone who likes the slow burn romantic entanglements, and the issues that might arise from them. Emma: A Victorian Romance is one of the best true romance anime I’ve ever seen. The title says it all, and if you enjoy romance between a man and a woman, this is certainly worth your time. That being said, if you want to see a healthy mix of GLBTQ or GRSM representation in the anime you watch, I’m sorry to say it’s just not there. Though if that’s more what you’re into make sure to follow the channel, because I will be covering an anime with those sorts of themes too in upcoming videos.
This has been Kernook of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at it’s finest and level grinds are par for the course. I’ll see you next time, in the meantime, check out our other great content below.
To Our Supporters: Thank You!
With your contributions, you make our efforts possible. Thank you for supporting our content. Patreon supporters receive access into our official Discord server, and a few other perks depending on the tier.
There is a $1 tier, perfect for blog readers, so don’t hesitate. Join today!
Hey everyone, it’s Kern here. I’ve got some cool news, we’re now affiliates on Twitch! Yeah, pretty cool, it took a while, but we’re slowly growing.
It’s been a weird year, all things considered. Between my mother’s health problems, and taking that long several month break, we weren’t sure we’d hit that point so soon. We’re there, and it’s kind of like a breath of fresh air. It’s one of those “wow, we’re really doing this” moments where it feels… well, not so much a “milestone” but more like it’s another little step in the grand scheme….
It’s like life is really starting to look up now that my mother is doing a little bit better and we’re now affiliates on top of it. If you haven’t been checking us out over on Twitch, you really should. If you like to hang out, watch gamers, and just have an all around good time you’ll probably have a good time over there.
We’re finishing out Dream Daddy on Thursday, November 4th (today at the time of this post). Come stop by if you want to see us make a mess of that for sure. It’s a goofy little dating simulation, but we’re having fun with it.
Well, you know me, Kern, your friendly neighborhood ferret that breaks things and messes everything up so that Kresh needs to fix it. That’s the same old thing of course. I’m still breaking things, sometimes on a daily basis. I think I’ve re-written this post twice now, trying to find the right words. We’re still streaming over on twitch, of course, and I’m still writing blog posts.
YouTube stands as a weird middle ground, both as a video archive and a place where some of our reviews and other content can be found. Usually I cross embed those bits of footage here too, in the form of let’s plays and what-not, and that goes unchanged. Kresh is working on a project, but I don’t know when that’ll be finished.
It’s funny when I look back to this old image, one of Ruka’s earliest pieces of artwork, I’m a bit nostalgic. It’s been about a year since we started this whole idea. It’s been a learning experience, that’s for sure.
I was supposed to be the ferret tied up and laughing, Kresh the one looking grumpy, and Ruka’s early avatar was that skull and crossbones sitting on the television in the background. We’re all a little rough around the edges, much like that drawing itself is a rough conception of our personalities distilled down into one cartoon drawing.
We’ve come a long way since then. I’m not entirely sure what the future holds, but it seems like a bright one. One of the important things that’s so key to who we are as people is the concept of our diversity. We have an American person, a British person, and a person hailing for Puerto Rico. We’re all on the GLBTQ spectrum, or as Kern (me) would rather call it, GRSM… which is why we’re all so gender ambiguous on the streams and here on the blog. We don’t “sound” as we identify, so it’s just easier for all of us that way. That and gender isn’t everything, we’re more than that, of course.
We do believe representation is important though, and with that, don’t forget to check out Ruka’s blogs when she posts them up.
If you see this icon, that’s Ruka’s avatar over here on The Demented Ferrets. Ruka is writing blog posts now, so if you haven’s seen the first post you really should check it out. Especially if Spanish dubs are important to you.
Ruka has been our artist since the start, but the completely unique perspective on anime and gaming that Ruka brings to the table can’t be understated. The blog post above about Spanish dubs is a great example of that. I (Kern) don’t speak Spanish very well (as in I completely butcher the language when I try to speak it/read it) so having Ruka add in those two cents really matters. Usually when we think of anime dubs here in the states, Spanish speaking dubs just aren’t often discussed… or at least, I don’t often hear them discussed at length.
Fun fact, Ruka’s planning to come up for a visit here sometime in the new year, and that’ll be a lot of fun. We’ll probably have some cool footage of that eventually whenever it happens.
Well, that about does it for this post. It’s just a small update. I’ll see you around next time. Ruka’s working on her next blog post, and so am I. Hopefully, we’ll see you there.
This has been Kernook of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at it’s finest and level grinds are par for the course. I’ll see you next time. Until then, don’t forget to check out some other great content.
To Our Supporters: Thank You!
With your contributions, you make our efforts possible. Thank you for supporting our content. Patreon supporters receive access into our official Discord server, and a few other perks depending on the tier.
There is a $1 tier, perfect for blog readers, so don’t hesitate. Join today!
Warning: The game I’m reviewing today is called “The Static Speaks My Name”. This game contains mature themes. Mature Content: This game deals with the concept of suicide… it’s not too overly dark or graphic, but the theme is looming and present. Kern’s Disclaimer: This is not just a typical little indie title, it has a narrative that needs to be handled with care and respect. Know that going into it. One more time for the people in the back. This game is NOT for young or impressionable gamers. If you have delicate sensibilities regarding the content warnings above, maybe just don’t read this review or play this game.I won’t be held responsible if it triggers the absolute crap out of you.
I enjoy indie content, particularly when it pushes the conventional narrative limitations of media in an interesting way. The game I’m reviewing today does strictly that. Before I begin my review though, I do hope you didn’t disregard my content warning above. If you did, scroll back up and read it first.
The thing that sets this game in a different category from other indie horror titles, is that this game is less “terrifying” and more along the lines of “tragically unsettling”. I wouldn’t call it a horror game per say, because I don’t find it scary in the traditional sense, nor unnerving in the general one. Rather, this game dives deep into the realm of psychological horror in ways I rarely ever see.
It’s not scary, it’s chilling. Thematically speaking, “The Static Speaks My Name” is a short title, but far from a sweet little package. The game is more of a “narrative experience” than a game itself. Actually, I’d hesitate to call it a game because there is a clearly a narrative to be found here, but there’s not a whole lot of “gameplay”. The price is right though. As of writing this blog it is completely free on steam, and the time investment to complete the game is minimal.
The fact that it will take most people about ten minutes to to complete it says enough on its own. Honestly, you can beat in it half that time if you really wanted to rush it. Now, while some people may find the length lacking, the content isn’t. What you’re given in that short time isn’t anything to scoff at.
When you begin the game, a brief prologue begins. Surrounded by a dark space, you’ll see something in the distance and you’ll have to walk closer to it. As you do, you’re given three things. A name, an age, and a cause of death. When you get close enough to what is basically that floating cloud in the middle of a dark expanse, you enter into the body of a man, and you live out is last moments alive.
The beeping alarm drags the man from slumber and he awakens to a home that’s just a little strange. Everything seems just a little out of place and just slightly out-of-sorts.
As a first-person game, you play as a man named Jacob Ernholtz. As a player, you soon put the pieces together to find out more about this man, and his final decision. To be clear though, the game isn’t all doom and gloom. It’s not all awfulness caked in pure and unbridled cynicism. If it was, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it.
Actually, “The Static Speaks My Name” does something else. It attempts to tell a story that has little to do with the event that ended this man’s life, and more to do with his final moments that preceded it. This game is not an analysis nor a deconstruction of the prevailing topic at hand. It’s not even about the physiological nor social conditions at play when ones goes about making such a choice.
Rather the game carries a heavy undertone with the concepts of obsession more than taking one’s own life. As though the pictures hanging upon the wall act as an all consuming focus that Jacob Ernholtz couldn’t possibly escape a fascination with. He isn’t a good man in the slightest, which only further makes it hard to relate with him on any level. I’d say that that fact alone is what makes it a horror title. It isn’t the inevitable end that makes the game so unnerving to me, it’s the character you play as, and just how disturbed he obviously is.
Just take a look at the image below as a hint to just how obsessed he is with that one painting and the painter behind it. I assume you could extrapolate all kinds of meanings from this if you really cared to, but as for me, I don’t care to try at all… really, just playing as the guy is enough for me to be unsettled about just what in the hell could have been going on in his brain.
As for gameplay, it’s just a game about slowly twisting mundane moments in this one man’s life. Cleaning the microwave, admiring his collection of paintings among the wall, or eating his pet shrimp. Simple details, really. However, it soon becomes clear that this is the point of the game, the simplicity beyond horrific spectacle, which the game cares very little for. it doesn’t glamorize it’s core themes, but rather, it seems to spit upon the idea that typical cliche’s about depression needs to be continued on in ways we would normally expect.
They’re tired, they’re dusty, they’re old and we don’t need them. The game seems to say this, to exemplify that notion in every act, The game doesn’t spell things out for you concisely, there is no neat or tidy conclusion, and you won’t be likely to find yourself re-playing the game more than once to pick to pieces every little detail.
Once is enough, and the slow spiral of madness seemingly induced by paintings upon the walls is truly macabre in notion, but not quite in a way that inspires empathy or compassion… especially after you notice just what else this man keeps in his house.
The fact of the matter is, what makes this game notable, is that it inspires a gambit of emotions. There’s dark humor mixed with tragedy and although it is sad, dark and pretty disturbing, I find that it is a fitting end to this short game.
Now, onto the “static” concept and the idea of seeing other “static deaths”. If you look at the reviews, or commentators on Steam you see that notion brought up often enough in their reviews section. Here’s the thing, I’m glad we only have one story. One glimpse, one looking-glass, and that’s all. I don’t want more than this, and I’m glad that we don’t get more than that.
The reason for this is because while I do think that perhaps more “statics” would have been interesting, I believe it would have made the game rather unpalatable in the long run. There’s only so much of this grittiness that anyone can take, and there comes a time when a compelling point to explore these concepts crosses a line too far.
If this game had been any longer, if it had explored too many more deaths or the disturbing minds behind them, it wouldn’t have just crossed the line for me. In fact, it would have trampled all over it and left a big steaming pile of dung in its wake. The solo developer, Jesse Barksdale, was wise not to take this narrative, or this game that far.
So, I guess the final question is, do I think you should play this game? All in all, if you can handle these sorts of themes, it might be worth your time to play it. Keyword being might. Once again, it’s short and it’s free. Those are low barriers to entry, so long as you can swallow down the core themes, which is the much larger, prevailing question. I can’t answer that, and to me that remains the ultimate conflict.
I think “The Static Speaks My Name” is an interesting narrative experience. However, I don’t think most people would “enjoy” playing as as such a disturbed man who eats his pet shrimp and has a nasty little propensity to obsess about a single painting. Honestly, give it a try if you want to take a dive down into that kind of character. If you have no interest in that, then this game is not for you… keep away from it.
This has been Kernook from The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at its finest and level grinds are par for the course. I’ll see you next time. Don’t forget to check out our other great content.
With your contributions, you make our efforts possible. Thank you for supporting our content. Patreon supporters receive access into our official Discord server, and a few other perks depending on the tier.
There is a $1 tier, perfect for blog readers, so don’t hesitate. Join today!
Kern’s note: be nice everyone, it’s Ruka’s first post here and first blog post ever. Ruka is also the resident artist here at TDF. These little icons we use are her creations.
Welcome everyone, this is Ruka. Back in the 1990s on the small island of Puerto Rico, there used to be generation of kids who by all social standards were labeled as weird and a bit on the strange side.
The main reason for this was due to their love and enjoyment of the afternoon and Saturday morning “cartoons”, also known as anime. I’m part of that generation of 90’s kids.
In the early stages of the 2000s, anime became a big part of pop culture. It has woven itself from our TVs to our toys, clothes, and even in the way we socialize. The anime industry has boomed. Yet, as someone who grew up in the 90s away from the mainland, anime was a much harder thing to find.
I was but a small child learning of the world, and all I wanted to do was watch cartoons, especially on Saturday mornings. Even if I had no idea, it was anime at the time, I was enjoying shows like Ranma ½, Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin), and Slam Dunk. During the weekday after-school programming, Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z (DBZ) became a big part of the rotation too.
But what is so different from all other kids from the mainland you ask? Well, without getting into it so much, as a USA territory, Puerto Rico’s main language is Spanish. And for a good majority of us, we only had local channels, nothing more. Cable was something not many of us could afford. So naturally, the kid’s “cartoon” block was in Spanish.
Okay, but what does any of this has to do with anime you ask? Well, for an English territory whose main language is Spanish, it means a lot. Showing us something that many don’t get to experience in the mainland; anime with Spanish dubs. Nowadays when it comes to anime, most of us more likely than not will always go for the original, but to this day, I am unable to watch Ranma in any other language including its original form. This also holds true to DBZ and Pokémon, but I can manage their English or original form better.
Do I believe the Spanish dubs are worth it? Absolutely! Spanish is one of the most spoken languages ranking 4th worldwide and 2nd in Native-speaking countries in the world. Not only that but in the 90s most anime on television were dubbed by locals. That is the main reason that Spanish dubs became as successful as they did. Think about that for a minute…
The locals themselves took matters into their own hands, making the Spanish dubbing a demand. With this, they made sure that other Spanish-speaking countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela had access to them as well.
Also, one of the biggest achievements this move created was an overall understanding that if the industry could work on dubbing anime into different languages, then it could expand into other nations around the world. In doing so, growing the industry’s reach beyond its original concept. Again, making it accessible for the local television stations in remote areas of the world, as it did for me and many others in the Caribbean. Its movement and progress continues to this day, for as of February 3rd, 2021, Funimation started to add Spanish and Portuguese subs and dubs of their shows in English-speaking territories. This is a big step, especially here in the USA.
At the end of the day, translations of anime and manga play a big role in the industry and in my childhood memories. Without its accessibility and evolution, I would have never found my way to the world of fandom, never would of meet the people that I call friends, and probably would have never written this at all.
This has been Ruka of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at its finest, and level grinds are par for the course. I’ll see you around! Until then please be sure to check out our other content below.
With your contributions, you make our efforts possible. Thank you for supporting our content. Patreon supporters receive access into our official Discord server, and a few other perks depending on the tier.
There is a $1 tier, perfect for blog readers, so don’t hesitate. Join today!
Hey everyone, it’s Kern here, and today I’m bringing you more archived content from previous live streams. Over on out Twitch channel Kresh completed Call of Cthulhu, so that’s what you’ll be getting today.
Now, for those of you who don’t know, Call of Cthulhu is a fusion between a role-playing game (RPG) and the survival horror genre. Developed by Cyanide and published by Focus Home Interactive on 30 October, 2018. This game is the epitome of existential horror at it’s finest, but it isn’t particularity scary compared to other games that would be considered “horror” by nature. It’s more “creepy” or “unsettling” than scary. You might even say it is atmospheric more than anything else.
Kresh Plays Call of Cthulhu
The gameplay footage accompanied by our commentary can be found on YouTube and Twitch. If you like more content like this, please be sure to follow us on our other channels too. Kresh managed to beat the game in two parts.
The game was developed for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018. Roughly a year later it saw a release on the Nintendo Switch. The game boasts a decently crafted narrative, heavily inspired by the written works of H. P. Lovecraft, a man made famous for his weird and often unsettling fictional stories.
The storythat the game is heavily inspired by, also named “The Call of Cthulhu“ was first publicized in February 1928. Later the story and universe would be adapted into plenty of other forms of media, such as table top role-playing game in 1981. That’s not the only renditions and retelling of the story we’ve seen though. In 2005, a silent fort film was even made, despite the fact that many considered “The Call of Cthulhu“ an entirely unfathomable project to produce, and unable to be filmed besides… but the movie is out there if you care to look for it.
So then, other other swaths of media aside, what is “The Call of Cthulhu“ video game about and what it is like? Well, let’s take a look.
The plot is fairly standard. The year is 1924, you play as a private investigator Edward Pierce, a man that suffers greatly from bizarre nightmares that become more vivid as time goes on. He is both a war veteran and a man of many vices. Notably, he self-medicates with sleeping pills and alcohol. How you choose to handle these vices will impact your gameplay experience, by the way… more on that later.
In any case, Edward is called upon to study the mysterious case surrounding the tragic Hawkins family. Apparently they’ve all died in a fairly violent fire… or have they? Edward must find out the truth.
Your only clue to go by is a an oddity; the picture painted by the supposedly crazy mother. Even weirder, it was painted shortly before she died. Now it’s Edward’s job to go to a place called Darkwater Island, and untangle this baffling mystery. I don’t want to spoil too much here, but it has a decent story. It all depends in how you choose to play and the choices you make. As for gameplay itself, that’s a mixed bag. You’ll find elements of “investigatory type” games laced deeply within the horror setting you find yourself in. A lot of mystery games use this sort of system, particularly when horror is closely ties to it.
Of course, this means dialogue options. Now, I don’t personally care too deeply for wide range of dialogue options myself… particularly when a few options are locked behind a skill tree. Obviously there’s a market for complex dialogue wheels and the illusion of player choice, but all games have some sort of “on rails” experience to them when you really start scrutinizing the matter…
Generally, I find complicated wheels that have options hidden behind a skill tree to be a cheap argument for “replay value” at best, and flat out annoying at worst. Beyond that, though, most games that use these sorts of systems aren’t the type that I’d typically replay with any regularity anyway. That’s just a personal preference. The system isn’t too clunky, if you’ve played Mass Effect or any game like that, you know basically what you’re in for.
It’s not awful, it’s just not my preferred method of narrative progression. Speaking of the narrative though, let’s discuss the aspect of sanity. Since that is one of the most paramount features in the game when it comes to driving the narrative, it merits a discussion.
Depending on choices made throughout the game, such as your dialogue options, the way you’ve explored the areas and all of the events that affect your sanity gauge, there are four possible endings total. However some of them are more desirable than others.
The more insane you become, the more likely the “darker” endings will be. Kresh managed to land a fairly gruesome one in our footage, but there are other endings too, if you manage to make the correct choices early and often… I will say this, due to the nature of this game none of the endings are what one might call “happy”, it is a horror game after all.
Sanity management, skill trees, careful conversational choices, and stealth action all play a decent part in the greater narrative. There is some combat, but not a whole lot. You’re better off hiding than attacking things, unless of course, you’re meant to attack them. A few key encounters come to mind, but I won’t spoil them here.
The Call of Cthulhu isn’t a bad game, all thing considered. It’s not far and away amazing, but it’s not god awful. It’s a solid experience and narrative is worth the ride if you can pick it up on sale.
You’ll probably enjoy the game far more if “cosmic” type horror and further reaching and looming existential dread appeal more to you than jump scares and mindless gore. Give it try, you may like it.
This has been Kernook from The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at its finest and level grinds are par for the course. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the content and will be in search of more like it. If so check out our other content below, and don’t forget to follow is on our other platforms.
Hey everyone, it’s Kern here, and welcome to some spooky content for the month of October. How spooky you ask? Oh, nothing too terrible, just existential dread at its finest. That should do, shouldn’t it?
I like horror, if you’ve been around the blog for any length of time, you know this. Be it video games like “Resident Evil”, anime like “Perfect Blue” and movies like “The Thing“, I enjoy a good horror title every now and then. However, so much horror is filled with blood, gore, and other generalized “in-your-face” nonsense. There’s nothing wrong with that, sure enough. Good horror media shouldn’t be too stifled, and creativity is important. That being said, most horror media nowadays doesn’t normally draw upon being subtle.
Horror shouldn’t always be about grandiose shock value. We shouldn’t constantly try to see just how many ways to bring a rebirth to older media when their original format still hold up to scrutiny just fine.
The film relies heavily on its psychological drama to carry the story forward. Many scenes are purposefully unsettling, and Mima is an enigma by nature. Several questions are left unanswered and up to interpretation.
I don’t need any half-baked “Saw” or “Halloween” knock-offs either. Let those ideas stew in the cooker a little while longer and come up with something truly stunning, I’d say. Classics are classics and staples are staples for for a reason. There comes a time when beloved titles are run into the ground, thus turned into an abomination instead of a masterpiece born anew.
Do you know what we do need more of? Truly existential horror. The sort that lingers with you, as all properly crafted horror does. It should be a slowly and surely building tension, creeping and creaking within the depths of the mind.
Writers of good horror know exactly how to harness that level of unease. Works that offer a purely physiological, pin-point accurate sort of terror, woven between the confines of madness and all-consuming dread have been around a very long time. There is a common trope we see all too often here, and yet, it never becomes stale. Media such as “cosmic horror” takes entirely rationally thinking characters and gradually turns them unsound until they’re completely at wits end. We, as consumers of this media get to watch the events unfold.
I can do you no better on this October than to speak about one of the most brilliant writers of this twisting and turning, near labyrinthine media. Hisname is Howard Phillips Lovecraft and the name of his game is the cosmos itself, bringing nightmares to life.
His way of writing was a gift to literature. Combining metaphor with subtext, he could formulate and conceive the tenuous impossibilities that rest deep in the paranoid ramblings of humanity. Fear of the unknowns within the wide expanse of the universe. That sort of fear resonates within all of us to some degree or another. Lovecraft taps into those little “what if’s” in a way few other writers ever could.
He was a master at crafting fictional worlds and realities that could not possibly be fathomed by the characters residing in them… and so help the reader brave enough to crack open a tale or two penned by a man like Lovecraft. His works are not often for the faint of heart. They are incredibly intelligent pieces of media, but far from pompous.
So, why am I talking about this today? Well, I’m a fan of his written works, and that’s reason enough. Recently over on our Twitch channel, Kresh played a little video game known as Call of Cthulhu. Clearly this game is heavily inspired by Lovecraft’s work, and therefore I thought I would do a blog post about the guy.
I wanted to briefly talk about the concepts surrounding his brand of horror, mystery, and all things unsettling.
Now, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, or H. P. Lovecraft as most probably know of him, was born in the August of 1890 and passed away in March of 1937. Despite those short forty-six years, Lovecraft was a bright mind and a prolific writer. It’s just too bad he didn’t become popular and his works went underappreciated until long after his death.
February 1928 was the year that The Call of Cthulhu got published in Weird Tales, a pulp culture magazine of the time. It had a decent following too, for the era.
Now, Weird Tales had a habit of publishing a fairly large range of oddities and strange fictional stories. You know the type, the kind that wouldn’t easily find a home elsewhere. Lovecraft’s written works often fell into this category. His strange, often otherworldly style of storytelling seemed to be a good fit for readers of obscure, occult media. He found a home in the publication and others like it.
His notable works obviously include “The Call of Cthulhu” which horror fans and gamers alike will probably know him best. That’s why it’s the story I’m touching upon first in this post. This work of fiction not only has several video games as kindred spirits, there is also a table top game that saw its release in 1981. If that’s not enough for you, there’s also a short indie film as well, paying respects to this great work of fiction.
If you want to see gameplay footage of “Call of Cthulhu” a game released in 2018, Kresh just finished playing it. You can find the footage over on our Twitch channel. Don’t forget to follow us over there too if you like to watch Twitch streamers… the link will open in a new tab.
Now, back to the mastermind and my gushing as a fan. If you don’t know what cosmicism is, then you don’t know Lovecraft. Let’s start there, shall we?
The basic idea for cosmicism states that there is no divine presence, such as a “God” in the greater universe as we understand it. Rather, the human race is fairly insignificant within the greater scheme. There is other of intergalactic existence under this mindset, meaning, there is in fact life beyond our knowledge and understanding. We just can’t fathom what it is. As it applies to horror, this touches upon the concept that humans fear our own insignificance and ineptitude. That we cower in the face of a universe we just can’t understand…
Or to put it simply, the cosmos is an endless void, with countless possibilities, and that terrifies us. Looking deep into that abyss would drive us mad. Drawn to it as we are in our pursuit of answers, humanity would come to regret every moment we tried to do so… hence what makes “cosmic horror” what it is.
Now there is far more to it than all of that, but the general outline gives you an idea of how Lovecraft defined himself through his written works. Existential dread and the whims of a universe we just can’t understand build up the tension and release cycle his works of horror can provide, and Lovecraft willing provided that sort of horror in spades.
As for Howard Phillips Lovecraft himself, he was an avid reader. He admitted that his writings were heavily influenced by his readings ofPoe‘s and Lord Dunsany‘s fictional worlds and unsettling writings.
As stated above though, even though nowadays we regard H. P. Lovecraft as a very prolific writer, he wasn’t very well known in his life. Aside from the readers of pulp magazines, his works just weren’t regarded as mainstream media.
Lovecraft couldn’t support himself completely upon his writings. Frankly, it wasn’t until the 1970’s when his works began to really pick up steam for mainstream audiences. However, the birth of this newfound popularity inspired a great deal of other works we now call the “CthulhuMythos“, which draws heavily upon Lovecraft‘s characters, lore, the larger thematic entanglements that we now consider to be “otherworldly” or “cosmic” styles of horror… the sort of horror that relies entirely upon what humanity cannot completely fathom.
On a personal level, I do want to touch upon one issue with other forms of media, particularly video games. If you can beat the ever loving crap out of Cthulhu in any capacity, that’s not indicative of Lovecraft’s works. That’s a power fantasy abomination… not his brand of horror.
If you have somehow come across a piece of media in the wider Cthulhu Mythos or within the larger fandom where the characters do heroically overcome the “unfathomable” completely unscathed, and have thus found yourself thoroughly put off by the concept of cosmic horror, pick up a proper story and read it.
If you still don’t believe me when I say that Lovecraft was a master at writing great horror stories, try this one on for size.
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is by far my favorite work by H. P. Lovecraft. Also, remember when I said he wasn’t a widely popular writer?
Well, this was the only story of Lovecraft‘s that was actually published into a book during his lifetime. I think that alone speaks of its quality. I won’t spoil it, or tell you what it’s about. This one is just too good to try to explain in a short paragraph or two.
If you want to read a good classic horror story, go into this with little more than full and complete intent to be unsettled. Pick it up and just read. You will be pleasantly surprised. If you like “cosmic horror” and what it’s themes allow for, it will serve you well. Remember though, nuance is at the height of a fiction like this one. You won’t want to underestimate the slowly building pace the narrative sets. Give it a chance, and don’t rush through it.
While it’s true that gamers of all kinds are likely much more aware of “The Call of Cthulhu” I think that its popularity may in fact be a disservice to readers at this point. We know it to be a great work of fiction, and therefore perhaps place it on a pedestal too high for our own expectations.
Personally this is why I much prefer to suggest “The Shadow Over Innsmouth“, originally published in 1936.. Even though it is also a very popular written work of Lovecraft‘s, it doesn’t carry the same acclaim in gaming and other media. It is a bit lesser known to the typical horror fan, and I think it stands as a better entry into the wider Cthulhu Mythos.
Ultimately how you choose to best enjoy the horror medium is up to you, but as for me sometimes the best horror is in a good book by one of my absolute favorite authors of all time.
This has been Kernook of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at its finest and level grinds are par for the course. I’ll see you next time.
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Hey all, it’s Kern here. I’m back to writing proper blog posts, yes it’s taken me a while to get back into the swing of things, and I apologize for that profusely. In any case, let’s just dive into the topic at hand, shall we?
Today I want to talk a little bit about sitcoms. The draw they have and the appeal they carry to a wider audience shouldn’t be overlooked. For anyone that knows me and also the situation going on around the house right about now, you’ll know that sitcoms are a family affair. We’re known to crowd around the television together to watch an episode or two of our favorite ones.
Now back in the days of cable, we generally had shows we habitually flocked to. Shows like “The Nanny”, “Golden Girls” and “I Love Lucy” commonly filled the warm glow of our television screen. However, in this household only one sitcom stands out as king among the rest.
The show we watch most of all just so happens to be a show that hasn’t had any new episodes produced since May 13, 2004. This show is known as Frasier, and when it comes to sitcoms this show lasts the test of time.
Insofar as my household is concerned, we still watch the show nightly. With the advent of streaming services, we can now do so at length. Even before then, we had all of the box sets for the series, some of them we even have doubles of. Seasons one and two particularly. This is because when we first bought the box sets, it was in the early 90’s. Therefore we had them on VHS tape. When DVD’s became the foremost way to watch media, we switched over to those, and that’s why we have multiple sets of season one and season two.
Nowadays, streaming is the way of the world, and smart televisions are where it’s at. We were slow on this uptake in this house, only picking one up in early 2020, but Paramount+ was the wisest subscription we ever made because now my mother can watch Frasier to the point that she can drive me insane with it… and she often does. That was a fact I even mentioned in a previous blog post, which was very fitting at that exact moment.
As I stated at the time, even while I was writing a post about idle gaming, my mother was watching Frasier. She watches the show daily, we call it a hobby. So, when I said that we watch all eleven seasons of that sitcom over and over every week, I wasn’t joking then, and I’m not joking now. She is once again watching the show, and I am too.
For those of you that know of the show, and the sort of episodes you can find within the series, we are currently in the middle of the one where Frasier Crane (played expertly by Kelsey Grammer) looses his job as a radio talk show host and has a mid-life crisis of sorts. That particular plot line goes on for a few episodes. This episode isn’t exactly the best one in the series by far, but it is the one that happens to be playing.
All in all, it does illustrate my point.
The show stands the test of time, and even the test of my sanity. Eleven seasons isn’t very many when you watch them endlessly, much like we do around here. A reboot series in in the works apparently, spearheaded by Kelsey Grammer himself. It’s anyone’s guess if it will actuallyhold up to the old material, but I do remain hopeful.
The series won’t be the same without John Mahoney, who played Martin Crane in the series. He passed away in 2018. May he be resting in peace.
The character of Martin was my absolute favorite as a child, and even now, I enjoy his time on the screen. He’s a breath of fresh air in the series. Martin Crane is the typical “every-man” that enjoys sports and fishing just as much as a good beer and time with his family. His beloved dog named Eddie is also a key focal point for him.
As former police officer, Martin Crane was a simple guy with a worldly aware attitude. His desires and vices are also simple as a result. He wasn’t too complicated and offered a staunch juxtaposition for the pomp and circumstance that other characters, like Niles and Frasier so commonly find themselves embroiled in.
When I think of sitcoms, a great many of them come to mind, but so few qualify to stand in my list of cream of the crop “comfort shows”. Some are funny, sure enough, and many of the older ones bring with them a hefty dose of nostalgia, but those are few and far between for me.
So then, why Frasier? Why not Cheers, which was where the character of Frasier Crane first originated? Why not literally any other sitcom? That’s a good question. I’ve been thinking a lot about that too, actually. It’s the heart and soul of the series that truly makes it special for me.
Surely the series has plenty of distilled witty humor, dry retorts mingling with overly long diatribes. To be honest, most of them sound much more sophisticated than they really are, as that is the punchline of those gags. However, it comes jam packed with slapstick comedy too.
Tongue-in-cheek humor tends to creep into visual hilarity at it’s finest. The image above highlights this, I believe. You don’t need to know the character of Niles too deeply to find find his absolutely disgusted look amusing, all while his pet bird uses his head as a perch.
It really is simple little visual jokes and sideways comments thrown about offhandedly, that truly makes the series sticks out for a good laugh or two. Even after you’ve seen all the gags, they’re still funny. It doesn’t lose the charm in re-watching the scenes. Honestly, the show is best enjoyed in it’s layers of symbolism and deeper discoveries. You should watch it a second time at least.
As a series, Frasier is both full of heart and goofy psychobabble related nonsense. It unflinchingly pokes fun at the psychiatric field, but it also softens that humor with stories that are truly steeped in the flaws that make us human. The series is just as much about the family unit as it is about hair-brained schemes and mindless posturing. There are times when it questions personal identity and moments when it refuses to fit the mold at all.
One of my favorite episodes includes Sir Patrick Stewart portraying man by the name of Alistair Burke. The character only appears in one episode, and in season eleven no less. However, the character is in a successful position in the theater, and his attempts to woo FraiserCrane are the highlight of the episode. Fraiser has no idea the man is attracted to him until the matter is far too late to correct.
It is an iconic episode for me, and one that sticks out as a noteworthy piece of media because back in 2004 my inclusion in the GRSM (Gender, Romantic, and Sexual Minorites) community was lacking to say the least. I was still a teenager in high school, so characters in media were all that I had. Seeing an openly gay or trans character in the sitcoms my own mother watched was of great comfort to me. She did it without complaint, and without thinking twice about the matter, and it truly solidified my own comfort with my own identity.
Now, in a perfect world characters would be portrayed by a properly identifying individual more often than not, no matter the identity we’re discussing. Representation in media is very important, and therefore, we shouldn’t overlook that angle either. When we discuss what actor gets what role, identity should be a consideration (though not the deciding factor). However, this isn’t a perfect world, and it certainly wasn’t perfect back in 2004.
I don’t hold it against the media of the time… in fact, if anything, I think Sir Patrick Stewart did a wonderful job in the role for the single episode that he got to portray Alistair Burke.
Honestly, I’m thankful I just had the opportunity to have some level of wider exposure to the concepts that high schools refused to talk about, such as being gay. However, that’s why I believe I love this sitcom so much.
Frasier wasn’t just topical for its time, it was also down to earth and close to home. It didn’t chase down trends in a vain hope to appeal to the masses blindly… or at least it didn’t “feel” like that’s what the show was trying to do. I think that makes all the difference. It never felt like it tried to be more than it was, and what it was could often come off as pretentious and snobby to say the least. Particularly if someone wasn’t on screen to knock the Crane brothers back down a few pegs and rip off their masks of frivolity.
Someone always came along to do it too, usually Martin Crane or the character of Roz Doyle (played by Peri Gilpin).
Frasier was an intelligent series. It made statements that invited the viewer to come to their own conclusions. It was as funny as it was thoughtful, and it has aged decently well. Occasionally, it could even manage to be sad and soulful too.
That’s why I’m so drawn to it, and why my mother is too. It is rarely ever bombastic, yet it is far from mindless. The themes and the lessons are simple, and Martin Crane often tends to be the wisest character of all. If you’re looking for a decent sitcom and you haven’t seen it, give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised.
This has been Kernook, of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at it’s finest and level grinds are par for the course. I’ll see you next time.
If you liked this content, please be sure to follow the blog so that you can see more like it. I’ll be talking about sitcoms from time to time along with other media.
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Warning: This is a horror game! This is NOT a generic science fiction romp, this is NOT a basic “blast aliens” shooter game. This is a without question a horror game, based on a horror movie. In the game NPC’s (non-playable characters) can do direct harm to themselves and others. It is a core part of the gameplay. I will be explaining that game mechanic in detail, though no images will be shown of it. Therefore, if characters becoming directly mentally unstable bothers you, maybe don’t read this post or play this game. Kern’s note: I’m adding this warning because this game isn’t as well known as other horror titles. The movie came out about forty years ago. The game itself came out about nineteen years ago. I don’t want gamers to think this is just a common science fiction shooter game. It’s a near “survival horror” game, plain and simple. You’ve been warned.
Hey everyone, it’s Kernook here. In gaming, we don’t often see good video games based off of movies. Many of them flop thanks to bad game design.
Messily cobbled together cash grabs were what we expected in the early days of gaming. Back in the day, licensed titles usually promised that a game was going to be absolute crap. This trend carried well into the 2000’s. Any possible way you looked at it, more times than not, games based almost entirely out of movie material ended up missing the mark.
However, there is one game from that early 00’s era that actually managed to be far greater than I think anyone could have expected. However, it isn’t your typical gaming fodder, either.
In 2002, gamers were given a very interesting title called “The Thing“, which was based on a 1982 movie of the same name. The reason I want to talk about this game today is because it stands as a solid horror experience. This is a very underrated horror gaming title in my personal opinion. Then again, it also only panders to a very niche audience.
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Sadly, not all gamers are movie buffs. I’m certainly not, and therein rests the biggest issue the game has. You really do need to have seen the movie, or know the events of the movie to really enjoy the game to the fullest.
If you like horror movies, you’re in real luck here. If you haven’t seen it, watch the 1982 movie first before getting your hands on the game. Do not watch the reboot, it won’t serve you well. Trust me, you will absolutely want that backstory of the original movie. If you don’t like horror movies at all, even slightly, this is a game you really might want to bypass.
Some gamers may disagree with me on this. That’s fine, but I think playing The thing is far more enjoyable after having watched the movie first. Now, as a quick warning, I’m going to have to spoil aspects of the movie just to talk about the game. This is why I decided not to make this a full on game review.
See, at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s fair to review The Thing as a standalone game. Its desperately needed source material comes from something outside of gaming media entirely. The Thing video game is a direct sequel based on the movie itself, and this cannot be overlooked.
So before we dive in too deeply, what is this game? Pure fear, that’s what. Pure damn fear!
The Thing is a third person horror game. It was developed by Computer Artworks and produced by Universal Interactive beneath their “Black Label Games” publishing label. Konami dealt with the console side of things, and so as you can see we have a solid line-up on that front. You can play this game on PC, PlayStation 2 or the Xbox.
As for the game itself, it doesn’t have all the typical trappings of the survival horror experience. If I’m being honest, I find it hard to really call it a “survival horror” game at all. At the same time though, you can’t really call it a “run-and-gun” horror based action game either.
The Thing is a game that meshes both of those elements very well, doing so in a way that is absolutely ruthless. The combat and enemy design is pretty spot on for its time. Even the weakest monsters can do insane damage if you let your guard down, and that’s one of many survival horror elements.
Most of the enemies are certainly bullet sponges, but even the ones that aren’t can move freakishly fast. As a result you need to be tactical and cunning to take down these “assimilated” foes.
On top of this, you’re in an inhospitable environment at best. You’re out in a frozen wasteland for some parts of the game. Venturing out into the cold for too long makes you lose health. Sometimes you have to be out there, other times it’s just worth the exploration. The rewards are sometimes really useful, but it is a risk and it makes for some great tactical decisions as a gamer.
See that blue bar above the red bar? If that blue bar reaches zero while you’re out in the cold, your health bar starts dwindling next. Plus, there are enemies to contend with out there.
Unfortunately because this game is so fast paced, there’s an auto lock-on feature. If an enemy gets close enough, your character will lock onto it automatically. It is a bit clunky though, this is a game from 2002. Let’s not forget that particular era of gaming had a lot of clunky crap in it. As gamers, we just didn’t care as much back then. Going back to play it now, this is one thing that certainly didn’t age well.
In fact, I’ll say this; it can be an absolute pain in the ass. I’m not even joking here. I’m love this game, but it can be a complete and total piece of crap when I lock onto enemies I don’t wish to be locked onto.
Then again, almost all survival horror at the time were a clunky mess, which was part of the charm. We can turn our noses up at it now, but back then this game played as smooth as butter to our understanding.
Unique Horror Experience
So first of all, since the video game acts as a direct sequel to the movie, it won’t be retelling or rehashing too many of the movie related events. It will expect that you already know them, and I’m not joking on this, either. This is actually a full-blown story all of it’s own. It’s based on the events in the movie that took place prior to it.
You’ll get bits and pieces, but this is not a retelling, you can’t pretend it is. That said, onto massive spoilers for the movie. If you want to watch the movie, stop here! I mean it, if you don’t want it spoiled, stop! Go find “The Thing” movie that was made in 1982, watch it, and then play the game if you wish.
You play the game as a member of the United States special forces team. Your deep in the heart of Antarctica. Your mission is to investigate a United States outpost a few days after it has been destroyed. Other teams have also been deployed, but they’ve gone missing. You’ve got to find them, and find out just what in the hell is going on.
Fairly soon after the group arrives, your character and his team are made aware of some of the dangers. Namely, you find out about “The Thing“.
The explosion in the movie didn’t kill the creature. The blast maimed it most assuredly, but now it’s back and with vengeance. Further proof that not everything was completely demolished during the blast.
The rest of the game is about finding survivors and doing battle with the titular monster that managed to survive the events from the movie, “The Thing” itself. If you’ve played survival horror games in the past, then this general set-up should come as no surprise… it’s right out of other great franchises such as Resident Evil. We’ve been there, we’ve done that, and we’ve got the T-shirt, so let’s move onto what makes this game so good.
One thing I really want to make note of, is the atmosphere. The game is very good at building tension through your preconceived notions. Since this particular outpost was in the movie, getting to explore the area really helps to ramp up tension.
You’ll notice key locations that scenes took place, and although the graphics are old by today’s standard, it won’t matter that much. You’ll still know where you are in relation to the the events that occurred prior. This game is even better for those who want to walk down memory lane. Huge fans of the movie will thoroughly enjoy the game for that reason alone. That’s not the only theme that holds true, either.
If you’ve seen the movie, you know exactly what you’re in for. You’ve got yourself a halfway decent supply of guns and ammunition, but that’s not what you really need, and movie fans know it.
You can’t just waltz in guns blazing and expect to always win. You actually need fire to take down bigger enemies. Bullets don’t land a finishing blow on these big boys. You’ve got to burn them to a crisp.
If that sounds particularly familiar for survival horror at the time, you’d be right. Resident Evil: Remake had it’s own obsession with fire in 2002 as well. That very same year, players had to burn zombies after downing them. Zombies that weren’t burned, returned to life became the much more deadly crimson heads.
Like almost all horror titles, you’ll find written entries and research notes to give you clues about what happened in the area at the time. The best addition to this is the same recording that R.J. MacReady from the movie left behind, which is a really smart tie-in to the movie and the lore itself.
You’ll also come across survivors too. Now, this is my highest praise for the game, but it deserves its own section, so let’s get into it.
Survivors: Comrades or Burdens?
To trust, or not to trust? That is the question at the forefront of this gameplay mechanic. Just like in the movie, trust is a major factor in the game. You need to treat NPC’s with care, or you’ll only make the game far more difficult for yourself.
When it comes to the survivors, they are your bread and butter. They’ll have different things they’re good at. The medic will heal you, the technician will repair electronics, and the soldier will be a real powerhouse to fight along side you.
All of the comrade types are assets, and they help you out during certain segments of the game. You’ll want your comrades repairing electronics and watching your back. There is just one tiny problem. The Thing is out there, and they know it. You’d better watch their backs too.
If you aren’t careful, your comrades will be your absolute greatest detriment to survival. If they get infected by The Thing, they’ll eventually turn on you. Even if they aren’t assimilated, if you’ve managed to lose their trust, they won’t follow your orders and they could become unstable.
Another aspect of survival horror shows itself in spades here, inventory management. You’ll have to manage their weaponry and their ammo, and the importance of that can’t be understated. These NPC’s can and will occasionally become emotionally unstable, just like in the movie. They just can’t handle being too stressed out.
If they get upset, you’re in for a world of trouble before you know it. These comrades can end up shooting blindly into the dark, having nervous breakdowns, and of course being assimilated as part of The Thing itself.
Your comrades just can’t handle unreasonable levels of monsters, gore and death. Just as a real person would begin to emotionally fracture under this sort of stress, so do your comrades. These NPC’s may end up killing themselves due to a complete and total emotional breakdown. Worse yet, they may end up shooting at you during their unhinged rampage.
This is one of the key places the game really sets a high bar. I just can’t praise it enough. It is true to the movie in this way, it’s almost astoundingly so. Trust was a huge theme in the 1982 movie. You could argue it was one of the core themes directly. I certainly do. Having that aspect brought over into gameplay was a masterful decision. Your comrades need to be able to trust you, and you also need to trust them.
Gaining trust is easy enough, give them some weaponry or aid them in battle. Help them, and they will happily return the favor. However, don’t get sloppy. Loosing trust is easy too, almost too easy, and this is a key factor in gameplay.
One of the biggest plot lines in the movie was that The Thing was able to replicate any living creature it killed. It was incredibly hard to tell that someone had been assimilated until it was too late. Once your teammates are infected, they will eventually turn on you. More often than not, this happens just when you’ve gotten too comfortable with them.
You can test if a teammate has been infected by using a bit of their blood, but by doing that, you risk losing their trust. One of the key gameplay tactics is to give yourself a blood test as well, to prove you aren’t a copy of The Thing hiding in plain sight.
Final Thoughts
Okay, look let’s be honest. The barrier for entry is steep on this thing. You’ve got to know about the movie at least a little. On top of that, the game is old now, the movie might as well be geriatric. If you don’t like dated horror, you might not like this game.
That is a very valid complaint to have, because how we understand horror games has changed significantly in the past few years alone.
Classics are classics for a reason, and both the movie and the game are classics in my opinion. They do stand the test of time… but, that’s not without notable flaws. If you haven’t experienced both pieces of media, you might really want to. On the other hand, you might just want to write it off, and that’s fine too.
There is a real horror experience to be found here. A grotesque one to be sure, but a truly horrifying experience regardless.
This is a solid game. It has a bit of that early 2000’s clunky design that’s very noticeable nowadays. Sadly that’s unavoidable. It doesn’t diminish the game though, at least not in my opinion.
The Thing stands as a unique horror title, only bolstered because of it’s 1982 movie counterpart. Does that make it perfect? Oh hell no. Do I think this game should stand as a beloved classic among gamers? Oh, hell yes I do.
To me this game is right up there with the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill,it is an experience worth having.
This has been Kernook of The Demented Ferrets, where stupidity is at its finest, and level grinds are par for the course. Don’t forget to check out some of our other great content.
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