Stasis: Bone Totem is a point & click puzzle horror game developed and published by ‘The Brotherhood’. Stasis: Bone Totem is said to be coming out the 28th of March 2024 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PS4. It’s already out on PC. X35 Earthwalker has never heard of Stasis before. Stasis: Bone Totem is trying to make this a serious adventure. Let’s take a look.
Stasis: Bone Totem is the latest game in the Stasis anthology. Stasis: Bone Totem is playing a different game here. New characters, new story and an underwater location to check out. Stasis: Bone Totem focuses on a husband and wife team. Mac and Charlie. They are ocean salvagers. That’s how they make a living. They discover an abandoned oil rig… it’s always an oil rig. They are totally safe.
Discovering the oil rig is start of the horrors. Now if the protagonists were black, there would be no game as they would ignore the oil rig and move on… but the protagonists want to be like mystery inc and look for clues or whatever. They end up uncovering a secret, a horrific secret that a certain corporation… not umbrella, wants to keep a secret. The cayne corporation will do whatever it takes to keep this a secret.
Now Stasis: Bone Totem doesn’t have Charlie Mac working alone. They have their “trusty Super-Toy” called Moses. Listen to this description of the game. “you’ll encounter an immersive narrative filled with spine-tingling horror and unexpected twists.” Now we definitely doubt this but hopefully they can make this happen.
Stasis: Bone Totem has got good focus on puzzles. This underwater base has a good number of them. As a point & click players will need to keep their eyes open and pay attention to all the details. How much noter making do you readers think is required.
We checked out some Stasis: Bone Totem gameplay and it’s what we expected. Read this, “With stunning visuals, a music score by Mark Morgan, a screenplay written by a Hollywood ace, voice acting by veteran actors, and a gripping storyline that will keep you on the edge of your seat.” We always respect hard work and effort put into games. We want to see all of this pay off.
Overall Stasis: Bone Totem looks like a very good game. There’s definitely something going on. You can’t trust oil rigs… especially abandoned ones. The animations are very good overall. The graphics are what’s expected and very good, most of the time. The developers ‘The Brotherhood’ have done a very good job. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to hear what happens with this game. Now Stasis: Bone totem may have underwater environments but they are too dry for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Sker Ritual is a round based survival game developed and published by ‘Wales Interactive‘. Sker Ritual is said to be coming out the 18th of April 2024 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5 and PC. X35 Earthwalker will give this game a chance and examine it for a moment. Sker Ritual is looking to bring that monstrous, dark horror feeling to the action. Let’s take a look.
Sker Ritual is all about stopping that mean lady Elisabeth. She’s going to use the siren’s song. So what’s the solution? Fight, blast and shoot many things in rounds to victory. That’s how. You’re helping Elisabeth’s daughter Arianwen to stop her. Mother daughter drama possibly. At its core, Sker Ritual is just about that action. It’s a zombie horror shooter really and that’s good stage as there are players to just want to fight zombies… no story, just fight.
So the main threat of course are the hordes of ‘Quiet Ones’. These guys are continuous and will not stop, unless you stop them… for them. While the relentless hordes are after you, you’ve got to solve mysteries as those are your main true missions. Off course players will need to upgrade their weapons to match the dangerous threat of the quiet ones. There’s even what’s called miracles. These miracles are Celtic god powers. We hear there’s a whole load of them. What miracles do is “offers a choice of three random upgradable powers that buff or alter your shooting, melee, grenade and healing”. They have different attributes, rarity and power off course.
Now off course the main stars here are thews hordes of enemies. The quiet ones are here and ready to play… a bit rough. Sker Island has got some buffed up guys. The elites who each have their own abilities. They will hopefully force players to shake things up, like change location and combat approach to deal with them. No one strat carries through game. So you know about the quiet ones but we hear that there’s more threats… new ones too. Some reportedly do not even have a face!!! Regardless, kill themn you must, especially if you want to grab miracles.
We checked out some Sker Ritual gameplay and it’s what we expected. Players with experience in call of duty zombies and arena battles will do well here. Gamers who played Maid of Sker will notice that Sker Ritual follows the evil ending. Miracles can be enhanced to make things truly supernatural. There’s elites and then there’s supercharged elites who will bring the pain. Those who are here to play can grind through the ‘sker pass’ and even dread levels. Strangest of all maybe… there’s Easter eggs (bunny not included). So maybe look for them. Almost best of all is that Sker Ritual is multiplayer. You can play with three friends or family online to face the hordes together… as friends and family should. No local co-op sadly & shamefully.
Overall Sker Ritual looks like it’s going to be a great game. There’s depth to it and multiple ways to play. It’s all about action and gets players right to it. Don’t worry about fighting solo as it’s been said that “the intensity of Sker Island’s hordes scale to the number of players.” Also there’s interchangeable masks for players to collect and use to “induce fear on “Sker’s inhabitants”. Look into that yourself. It’s good to see games that just focus on the action sometimes. Graphics do look good enough too. The developers ‘Wales Interactive’ have done a great job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open concerning this. Now Sker Ritual may have quiet ones but they are too loud for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Still Wakes the Deep is a horror game developed by ‘The Chinese Room‘ and published by ‘Secret Mode‘. Still Wakes the Deep is said to be coming out in in the first quarter of 2024 on the Xbox Series X, PS5 and pc. X35 Earthwalker knows what makes an excellent horror game and what mistakes to avoid. Still Wakes the Deep trying to be a unique horror experience. Let’s take a look.
Still Wakes the Deep is set in the past. 1975, Christmas time. Players control an off shore Glaswegian worker stationed on an oil rig in the North Sea waters. Sounds like a dangerous but happy times. It’s a typical day on the Beira D oil platform but then disaster strikes. wouldn’t be a horror game if everything was all honky dorey.
Now you out here fighting for your life. More like running and hiding for your life. All communications are cut off and all the exits are not available. Sucka you trapped. You will need to survive and keep your crew alive through a mean storm, dark, cold sea water and claustrophobic surroundings. It gets worse. The character players control will have to face some phobias like high heights (climbing towers), squeezing through tight spaces, paths that are submerged and off course leaps over high drops. None of that sounds scary to us. Still Wakes the Deep you better make this stuff scary.
The real problem in Still Wakes the Deep though is that the horror is now on board. There’s a persistent threat that’s said to be so powerful that “there’s no hope of fighting back.” So you know what that means. No fighting for you. All hiding, ducking, running, climbing and avoiding this threat. You got to survive all this stuff while helping the crew. One crew member will need you to restore power, something could be up with your boss while another member might be trapped somewhere.
We checked out some Still Wakes the Deep gameplay and it’s what we expected. The location does look dark and segregated. some parts look like a real health and safety hazard. Hopefully we get more roaring waters and loud thunder for atmosphere. You can clearly see that something wrong is going on here. Your character feels like as regular person. Nothing special, just trying to survive. A game like this can easily be good and give great scares but the horror elements need to be right. We truly hope the developers are aware of these. Concerning the horror open board, it’s clear the way to beat it, is to take it on… to face it…
Overall Still Wakes the Deep is looking like an excellent game so far but that can easily change. Horror games are getting harder and harder to get right. Atmosphere so far looks good. The horror on board will make or break this game. It will decide if this game scary or not. How annoying will the crew be? That matters too. The developers ‘The Chinese Room’ have done a great job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to hear what Still Wakes the Deep scares. Now Still Wakes the Deep may have a persistent horror but it would gotten lost trying to chase… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Stray Souls is a survival horror game developed by ‘Jukai Studio‘ and published by ‘Versus Evil‘. Stray Souls is said to come out the 25th of October 2023 on the Xbox Series X, PS5 and pc. X35 Earthwalker will give this game a chance. Stray Souls is definitely going to be something that players will recognise. Let’s take a look.
Stray Souls is about a dude named Daniel who inherits a house from his “estranged grandmother”. Of course he happily moves in and meets a girl who clearly has good knowledge about the house. This ain’t your normal house alright. It’s a horror game, of course it isn’t. The thing is, as the night progresses, things get darker and more secrets come to the surface.
Players will need to not only explore the house but also the surrounding area. There’s quite a bit to see. We definitely like the big scenery. Seeing water, rocks, trees and the fact that you’re basically on your own. Now if gamers were paying attention they would be reminded about something. Stray Souls does remind us of silent hill. The indoors, the outdoors and the exploration. Things can be dark and fog is a bit of a thing but not as heavy. Not only that… there’s some threats too.
Now off course a game like Stray Souls definitely needs some threats. There are. Some almost chalky statue looking ones. Even the enemies sort of remind us of silent hill, except these enemies are better. They do however look like a baseball bat would get the job done easily. Now there are some real big threats too. There’s this big beast looking one that and it sure ain’t friendly. Most likely Daniel must hide and run from that thing, instead of battle.
We checked out some Stray Souls gameplay and it’s what we expected sort off. Stray Souls doesn’t keep you defenceless. Daniel can get a firearm. A pistol has been seen. Taking down the humanoid ones. There’s some action here. Things do look standard for sure. Stray Souls doesn’t look impressive graphically. We were hoping for more but it definitely get the job done.
Overall Stray Souls seems like an alright game. The biggest factor is the large monster enemy. The others aren’t intimidating. The house needs to have some scary and creepy stuff. The outdoors are also the better parts in our opinions. The developers ‘Jukai studios’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to hear what this game brings up. Stray Souls may have a giant monster in the forest but it’s a small problem if handled by… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update is the adventure horror game developed by ‘Blue Isle studios‘. Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update is said to be coming out the 18th of October 2023 on the Xbox Series X, PS5 and pc. X35 Earthwalker has stepped on slender man multiple times. He’s not an issue to him. Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update wants to bring some scares and memories. Let’s take a look.
Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update automatically just brings back memories for many gamers. Slender man at one point was very popular and made sure that people stayed out of the woods. X35 Earthwalker still went through a forest. The whole premise was that you collected pages. 8 pages and as you got more and more of them, the slender man was more aggressive, got closer and gave you more issues. Do not look at Slender man and most importantly never touch him either. That’s all.
Then there was Slender: The arrival which was the full fledge game for slender man. You had a story. You had to actually travel somewhere. There was more objectives, usually just finding multiple of something like generators to move on to the next area. There was multiple levels and even. second threat. Some called her kate or something. We do not care. Overall a much better game that the first little test taste for player that was the 8 pages. Slender man still behaved the same way for the most part but Kate was the one who chased you down and you had to deal with her. This means there are expectations for Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update.
Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update is suppose to be a much better version of the previous arrival game… in every way. Read what they said about the game, “official re-imagining and expansion of the original game, featuring a brand-new storyline, new characters, improved visuals, great replay value, and most importantly, survival horror at its best”. Now that is just crazy. If accurate then Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary is clearly not just a remaster. There’s whole new stuff.
What sounds like complete cap right now is that whole “survival horror at its best” part. That’s a mighty claim and we will see for ourselves. New characters which hopefully means slender man has more friends to bring into the party. Hopefully the whole games design makes more sense and they make it more realistic and relatable. Will the adventure take place over a whole town in different areas or will it just be another abandoned factory or whatever.
We checked out some Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update gameplay and it’s what we expected. It looks familiar but a step up in quality. We like how the woods and trees looks. Slender man does look lack buster though. Not intimidating at all. The game definitely looks more expansive. Can’t see what would make this game “survival horror at its best”. There’s a lot to see and we hope that it all gets seen.
Overall Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update looks like it’s going to be a good game. It’s slender man so we know what to expect by now. If you don’t then this might just be a new experience for you. We hop eat escape and encounters are done well. The developers ‘Blue Isle studios’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker aren’t looking forward to this game but we know many are. Slender: The Arrival 10 year anniversary update may have a improved and expanded adventure but it’s not spooky enough for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a team based horror game developed by ‘Sumo Nottingham‘ and published by ‘Gun Interactive‘. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre came out already and it’s available on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and pc. X35 Earthwalker has decided to look into this game and it’s got his attention. So here are some thoughts from X35 Earthwalker on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Let’s take a look.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has the murderous Leather face family squaring up with the survivors. The survivors have to escape the house, facility or wherever they are held captive while the evil family tries to kill them. Simple. Now straight away players will make a comparison to ‘Dead by Daylight’. Similar but very clear differences for sure. Now straight up, X35 Earthwalker never cared for Dead by Daylight. We know about Dead by Daylight, the hunting villains, the traps and mechanics but never played and never wanted to. We can already confirm that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a better game than Dead by Daylight. Feed grandpa…
What’s sad is that when a new game comes in and even sort off steps on another established games territory, the fanbase of the established game at dumb and hate the new game. The left 4 dead 2 fans attacked Back 4 Blood. Back 4 Blood is better than Left 4 dead 2. So far it looks like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is having a good time and bringing in lots of new players to this genre of gaming. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has potential to do even more like locations and events. Feed grandpa?
From what we have seen so far it definitely looks like things are heavily in the favour of the killer family. They seem much stronger right now. We will say that we don’t know about the skill trees for each character. We know how it works, like increasing the savagery of leather face to do more damage for example but not the exact buffs it gives, unlocks and perks down the line and therefore the synergy and builds you can make. Who knows… maybe a focused powerful build can make Leland A survivor) bully the killers and tilt the whole favour to the victims. When you compare what these characters can do and the objective, it gets crazy. In Dead by daylight there’s one killer but in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre… there’s multiple. Feed grampa!
Just Sissy alone is a game changer. She can relentlessly chase down the victims and place the biggest amount of stress and pressure on survivors. She can go through gaps and crawl spaces too. Meaning the survivors are never safe. Then she’s poisoning people on top. You can hide by a gap, then blow poison in that area as a victim comes through and slash them up… easy kill. The hitch hiker is also chasing people down and going through certain spots too. He then set traps at crucial locations to slow you down. The cook is pad locking certain doors and locking things down. Less options for the survivors… and he has super hearing. Johnny is out here with powerful consecutive attacks and track players down to their almost exact location. Then big bad but stupid leather face who’s out here destroying obstacles and creating paths for his family. It’s good that his chainsaw alerts victims to where he is. Feed grandpa?!
The survivors have sound detection, faster unlocks, a shoulder bash, pain tolerance basically and a big second wind for sprinting. Of course the skill tree will change things for sure but it’s definitely one sided by the looks of it. Now off course there are factors like communication skills and team work, the obstacles in the map themselves and that there’s multiple escape routes. We even saw players who escaped the map in a. matter of minutes. Like an insanely fast escape. Obviously since players will now be aware of this and the fuses, skilful family members will be aware and ready to stop that from happening. We definitely need to see more amazing gameplay from the survivors instead of cheap tactics that only work temporarily of the ignorance of murderer players. Feed grandpa()
This will lead to mind games between both sides and we already have advanced tactics in mind that we haven’t seen players do. Makes sense as X35 Earthwalker is the smartest person on the planet. Some youtubers say foolish things, when asked which side is stronger, like “it depends on the team”. That a response for the lazy and ignorant. No one wants such a lame answer. Currently the family is clearly stronger. The only time they have a hard time or lose is when they mess up or have a new player who doesn’t know much about the game. Feed grandpa-
Fine we will address grandpa. You guys keep bringing it up. Grandpa is the strongest member of the murder family. He makes things even more in the families favour. Get him activated as soon as possible! He will automatically slow down the victims as they have to stay still or spend time trying to take grandpa out. At max level which isn’t that hard to do, he completely destroys the victims by revealing them completely whether they are staying still for not. If the victims want to take too long and play hide and seek, then work on grandpa and they will regret it. Grandpa probably use to be the beast titan back in the day. Just listen to that howl/scream/roar. People sissy be collecting blood real easy. Too man players and youtubers forget to top grandpa up. Humph… amateurs.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre does have very graphic stuff happening which is needed. We like the different executions of the murder family. From the sadistic and laughing while killing, to the carefully placed slices and just straight up brutal kills with chainsaw. Many people like this game for a reason. The dumbest player we’ve ever seen with the worst gameplay ever was a dude named ltg. He was the worst victim player we ever saw. Now actually good players make the game fun and interesting to watch. Giving more of an adventure feel. We definitely look forward to seeing more of this game. X35 Earthwalker definitely expects more to come. Now The Texas Chain Saw Massacre may have a killer family but they wouldn’t stand a chance against… the ‘Earth walk!’
Layers of Fear is a First person psychological horror game developed by ‘anshar studios‘ and published by ‘Bloober Team‘. Layers of Fear iOS said to be coming out the 15th of June 2023 on the Xbox Series X, PS5 and pc. X35 Earthwalker has never been scared by a horror game. Layers of Fear ain’t the new kid on the block in the horror world. Let’s take a look.
Layers of Fear, well this version of it is more like a compilation. This installment contains “both Layers of Fear and Layers of Fear 2, along with all DLCs—including the new ‘The Final Note’ DLC”. So fans of Layers of Fear will most likely appreciate this. They can face the horrors once again but with basically improved everything, especially in terms of visuals. Layers of Fear is made in Unreal Engine 5. So yeah… set your expectations.
Remember we mentioned Unreal Engine 5? There’s also supports Ray Tracing, HDR, and 4K resolution. So you just know the Xbox Series X will dominate here. Layers of Fear has new storylines including “the never-before-revealed story of The Writer ties everything together”. So veteran Layers of Fear characters have some new content to look forward to.
We checked out some Layers of Fear gameplay and it’s what we expected. After all Layers of Fear is described as a psychological horror game. So expect most of the horror to come for your mind. Expect darkness… a lot of it. Expect sounds coming from certain places. Expect threats to be showing up, especially out of reach but not doing anything yet… but you know it’s going to be a real threat later. We know for a fact that Layers of Fear won’t be able to scare us.
Overall Layers of Fear looks like out will be an alright game. It hasn’t impressed us though. The Layers of Fear fans and the fans of horror may go crazy for it though. Let’s see. Thew graphics and visuals are definitely there. They are excellent. We have to give it that. Keep the light source on and working and try not to lose your mind. The developers ‘Anshar studios’ have done a very good job with this. We at X35 Earthwalker just can’t be scared by this game. It ain’t got what it takes. Now Layers of Fear may got amped up but it’s still too small for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Amnesia: The Bunker is a first person horror game develop and published by ‘Frictional games‘. Amnesia: The Bunker is said to be coming out the 23rd of May 2023 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and pc. X35 Earthwalker wasn’t impressed with the original Amnesia. Amnesia: The Bunker looks like it’s going to bring a heavier hit. Let’s take a look.
Amnesia: The Bunker is set in a World War one bunker. You are a french soldier Henri Clément. There’s no safety here though. It’s Amnesia. You should know what to expect. Dark areas, sounds, noises, danger, and ultimately you have to stay alive and sane. Almost as important as staying alive is keeping the lights on. Keep them on.
You aren’t defenceless in Amnesia: The Bunker. You have a revolver but only a single bullet in it… maybe you can find more. You can also get your hands on grenades which have an obvious purpose. Use a noisy dynamo flashlight and there’s also a pocket watch too. You know there’s puzzles involved. So players will have to use some of the old brain.
Amnesia: The Bunker has a crafting system so that means scavenging like a hobo is needed. Craft for the things you need to survive which is quite a bit as there’s what’s described as an “ever-present threat”. Something is here with you and it’s focused on you. Your moves and the sounds you make gets its attention. It will react. So players can’t have a linear play style. You must mix things up. We even heard there’s some randomised and unpredictable stuff going on. It’s been said that Amnesia: The Bunker makes sure no play through is the same.
We checked out some Amnesia: The Bunker gameplay and it’s what we expected. The visuals do look very good. The details are just alright. The lighting is excellent. The atmosphere doesn’t impress us but we are sure it will hit different when you played. We hope this game nails the mechanic of the major threat reacting to your actions and off course how your decisions affects the outcome. This mechanic alone when done right will be the game changer. Amnesia: The Bunker has been described as ‘semi-open world’.
Overall Amnesia: The Bunker looks like a very good game. When you factor in everything it seems like there’s a lot going on for a game of this type. There’s mysteries to be solved as well like what happened to the other soldiers and where are the officers? Hopefully most of these mysteries can only be learned and solved through information int her game and not spelled out for you. The exploring and diligent players can benefit. The developers ‘Frictional games’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for this game. Now Amnesia: The Bunker may have an ever-present threat but it doesn’t even bother… the ‘Earth Walk!’
The Callisto Protocol came out last year and it was highly anticipated. It’s survival horror and off course similar to Dead Space in a number of ways. The Callisto Protocol has been unfairly attacked and low balled in the rating department and for terrible or not good reasons. We expect that now of low skilled reviews and trash reviewers. Modern gamers are quite toxic too. We have see many people, especially on twitter have such ridiculous standards for rating games and a bad understanding of game scores. So X35 Earthwalker will give his review of the game in his style, as the world’s smartest gamer and ultimate strategist, his view is better than all. Let’s take a look.
For some quick back story information. The Callisto Protocol got development help from Dead Space. For example Glen Schofield, who co-created the dead Space series, directed the development of The Callisto Protocol. Steve Papoutsis, Scott Whitney, Christopher Stone are other examples. Schofield said that about 25 to 30 former coworkers from visceral games and sledgehammer games worked on The Callisto Protocol. Dead Space is highly loved and respected, especially the survival horror game world. So it’s clear these guys know how to make a good game. They might now a thing or two. So we have veterans on The Callisto Protocol team.
Now The Callisto Protocol is an excellent game. We can say that right out the gates. The Callisto Protocol is made very well and we enjoyed the journey. There isn’t really a part of the game we do not like. There were parts of Dead that we didn’t like but not so with The Callisto Protocol. The developers wanted The Callisto Protocol to be the standard for survival horror games going forward… next gen survival horror. We think they did that. Not the best of all time but the standard. Now does The Callisto Protocol have the scares? Yes! Take into account that X35 Earthwalker is built different. X35 didn’t get scared, not even once. We have seen others get truly scared. Is The Callisto Protocol survival heavy? It’s more mid than heavy. You get surprisingly a lot more ammo than you would expect. We always had ammo for shooting and have not once, ran out of ammo. To be fair we did prefer to melee fight enemies for.
Speaking of melee, this has divided some fans. We don’t find this divided at all. The melee combat system is very good. Definitely something innovative and new to the genre. Every battle can be intense and if you mess up… you really mess up. Especially when you are fighting two enemies at a time. You have to really know when to attack and when to switch who you are dodging against. Players have to pay attention to the enemies attacks as some foes may throw in multiple attacks. You can’t assume the enemies will always swing twice and then stop. They might go up to 4 swings. The melee mechanics are quite deep as you can dodge, blocker end your attack string with a quick aim shot. You can dismember enemies too which unlike other games, it does make a different here. Dodging is obvious, get out of the way and take no damage. Block, you heavily reduce the damage you would take but if you block the enemies last hit this allows for a ‘blocking counter attack’ where you do a low attack which knocks the enemy down. This gives you time to decide what to do next. Dismembering enemies matter here as standard enemies can’t do multiple attacks if they are missing an arm. So upgrade the baton to destroy the arm of an enemy that blocks your attack or shoot it off and that enemy can only do one swing at you instead of an attack chain. If you get rid of their leg then they will crawl and lose the majority of their hit points. A crawling enemy gets one shotted if you hit them with your baton. Just remember to block their first attack as it is fast.
What’s also interesting and next gen about The Callisto Protocol is that depending on where you defeat an enemy you might trigger an animated kill. We have shoved an enemy into the wall, parted its legs and went for the head. There’s more of the animated kills too and that’s next gen. The enemies have these animated kills too and they are brutal! We have seen players get their head stomped on multiple times, get beaten to death while in a headlock, have their jaw ripped open and off, grabbed by a massive enemy and ripped in two and more. This is next gen and detailed. Just watching them is quite heavy at times. There’s even a death animation during that section of the game where you are sliding down on huge currents of water and had to dodge pillars and the fans. If the fan gets you, you are caught in it, raised to the top and cut in half. Now that’s gory to watch. Dead Space had gory environmental kills but not enemy kills and player melee like The Callisto Protocol. Stuff like this makes a difference.
Next is the other things you can do like environmental kills thanks to the GRP. Let’s get this one thing quickly out of the way. We found the GRP more useful than the kinesis from Dead Space. The GRP doesn’t just grab objects and items but also the whole person as well which makes it stronger. You can grab a rushing enemy and throw it back to create space or you can just throw them over the edge into the abyss, drop them off in deep water, throw them into spikes on the wall or a giant blender thing. There’s options. The Callisto Protocol gives many environmental kill areas for the players to use. It encourages GRP action and we use it.
We like the use of darkness in this game. The Callisto Protocol is quite dark. Dark with the humour too. This is quite new and an unpleasant change. Those chests that have loot and goods in them are throughout the game. They are worth looking for but there are some that are a trap. If you open one of these traps, you won’t find loot but instead a small foe that will leap on you and attack. So yeah, that sucks but it keeps players on their toes and not falling into some patterns. The enemies will also track you down or try to follow you through the vent and pipe systems. Here’s where The Callisto Protocol sound design is excellent. We remember standing inn an area and hearing a foe going through the vents. We heard it go up, then to the side, then down and we looked down and saw a vent point and moved some distance away and got the weapon ready. It soon popped out off the vent and it was greeted with gun fire. Excellent sound design. We could hear everything and sometimes… that was a bad thing. As noises would be heard and you hear foes but nothing came for you. Atmosphere nonsense. Trying to get in your head.
Now is The Callisto Protocol perfect? No. Only very few games are actually perfect. We will go over some negatives but first let’s defend the game from bad critics and reviewers. Most people bashed the game for having bugs on launch. That’s not that common with games today. No one wants bus but it does happen. Games should not be down marked for bugs as bugs are fixable and not intentional. They aren’t a feature of the game itself. So they shouldn’t be counted. Even Markiplier stated this in his The Callisto Protocol gameplay videos on youtube. It’s not a reason to say the game is bad. Most of the bug issues are coming from people who played on pc. While the true gamers who play on console like Xbox Series X didn’t have much problems. X35 Earthwalker didn’t experience any bugs at all. As for the visuals, we went into the settings and basically turned on performance mode and got 60 frames per second and smooth gameplay. Guess it pays to be on a gaming console. Sounds more like a pc issue. People want to bash it over the combat but it’s better than the combat in Dead Space. Melee in Dead Space is useless, except for Dead Space 3 where you build a melee weapon. If you want to fight like Dead Space, then use your gun and fire at a distance. If they come close, you can dodge and fight back. It’s a weak argument and excuse. We never had any problems with camera except for one moment. Some described the game as unfair or cheap. It’s a survival horror game, you are in an unfair situation by default. You have to find things and be disciplined with your ammo. The Callisto Protocol has a realistic healing process. Not some magical instant heal like in other videos games. By the way, angry joe has one of the worst reviews of this game. We had a counter to every complaint they had. Their arguments weren’t even good.
Now what we think that’s negative with The Callisto Protocol. The inventory. Now we get that as prisoners and only prison clothes, we don’t have much space for items nor would we have access to a storage box like in pokemon. We are on our own. Just hated the lack of space at the start and mid of the game. Wish there was some sort of system to help with inventory space but we made it work. It’s intentional design and it fits the situation of the game but the real issue with the inventory was when you got multiple weapons and you therefore got ammo for each individual weapon. Our space was filled with 5 different ammo typos and they all shared the space. You couldn’t store weapons and their ammo so you had to carry it all… all the time. It was very annoying. We wished we could store or remove some weapons so we only get ammo for certain weapons that we liked. The next issue is the weapons themselves. Some weapons are far more useful than others. Some weapons, we rather didn’t have. The tactical pistol is cool and its projectiles reminds us of Star Wars guns. It’s cool but not needed. We only want three guns and that’s it. There should’ve been a better variety of weapons. A sniper would have been a better weapon. Maybe weapon mods to add more variety to the firepower. The skunk gun and the riot gun just basically do the same thing. Shouldn’t have both. The assault rifle needs increased damage. It’s a full on weapon and yet the pistol is stronger. That ain’t right.
Next complaint is the upgrade costs. The Callisto Protocol was designed for new game + which was recently added to the game. You cannot afford all the upgrades in one play through. You have do decide what matters to you and what to invest in. Some stuff was far too expensive and discouraged us from aiming for it. The top upgrade of the assault rifle is like 4500 Callisto credits. That’s ridiculous. Other’s were 3600. No way. No thank you. We know inflation Issa thing and energy costs have risen but this is so unfair. Next issue is their use of the variety of enemies. The variety isn’t strong but how they use them is weak. We needed more enemies thrown in the mix or utilise more based on how they work. We may have to go into more detail on the X35 Earthwalker podcast. Next up is the length the game. It’s too short for us. We wanted more for sure. It’s solid and great for what’s in it but it being a bigger game would have added more to the experience. There was room for more. Lastly though is that there should have been a gallery mode for players who have beat the game. A gallery where we can view all the executions the enemies can get on the player. The developers clearly worked on these animated kills so make a mode for us to view it.
Back to positives. The attention to details in The Callisto Protocol is immense. There is lots of details. Even angry Joe stated that it was best graphics of the year which is mighty praise. We have to almost agree but the graphics and visuals are crazy good and very few games can compete with it. Look at the snow, the dome, the biome, the icicles and even the sweat on the face of our characters and others. The first, the marks, the blood stains. Come on. You have to give it that. The lighting was top level too. In a horror game, lighting makes a big difference. Sometimes you can’t see the threat… well sort off. Some areas don’t look safe to enter. Speaking of safe to enter. There are optional side areas that in real life, we would never set foot in there… but it’s a video game and we want the loot so we literally jumped down into infected red water with cysts and goopy stuff everywhere and something moving in the water. Nope, nope and more nope. Some areas make you literally not want to go. Now there is much more to say. Another positive which most ignore but it should be said. They’re a photo mode for the game. You can access it at anytime in gameplay and take pictures with the enemies, posing, weapons in hand, remove things in view, put on filters, zoom, rotate and so much more. The photo mode is actually very in depth. More detailed than we thought. It surprised us. You should give that mode a try. Work went into it.
There’s the characters. We hated Dani, then disliked Dani and now care for Dani. She has a good character and it makes sense the way that she is. Once you know more about her. Elias is our favourite and we loved Elias. We trusted Elias and we were right to do so even though others doubted him. Elias was honest, helpful and changed to become a better person. Wish things turned out differently for him. Captain ferris is a piece of crap and will always be crap. Typical abusive guard who needs his but kicked. The warden was a bad guy and we knew its right from the start from how he talked. There’s more but let’s leave it there. The characters are good and interesting individuals. You understand them and get to know them pretty well. We can talk about the story and what is the cause of the infection, what the warden wanted and that he is part of something much bigger, we could talk about the alpha and captain leon ferris and so much more but if you want something more fluid then check out the X35 Earthwalker podcast on Anchor and Spotify. This G-blog is already really long. Spent hours on this.
Overall The Callisto Protocol is an excellent game. It’s not average or as some of these ignorant people online wants to ay it’s bad. They even think 7/10 is bad for some reason. No. The Callisto Protocol is easily 9/10. We aren’t mad at anyone who can argue that it’s a solid 8/10. That’s fair but we see all the work and effort. We enjoyed the combat, we enjoyed the story, we enjoyed the atmosphere, the lighting, the good weapons, the suit upgrade, the characters and more. Another example of do not listen to the dumb reviewers and critics. The Callisto Protocol is not a 6/10. It’s excellent and lots of hard work went into it. The developers ‘Striking Distance Studios’ have done an excellent job and they can learn from this. X35 Earthwalker knows how to review games. is Now The Callisto Protocol may be an excellent game but it’s not good enough for… the ‘Earth Walk!’
Chasing Static is a horror adventure game developed by ‘Headware Games‘ and published by ‘Ratalaika Games‘. Chasing Static is said to be coming out the 12th of January 2023 on the Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PS4. It’s already out on the pc. X35 Earthwalker knows of many games and has taken notice of this one. Chasing Static has a usual setting. Let’s take a look.
Chasing Static is set in the “untouched wilderness of rural Wales.” Now this is unique. How many games can you name right now that is set in Wales? Exactly. So automatically we are interested a bit and listening. So basically what’s happening here in Chasing Static is that something mysterious and not good has happened to the villagers of Hearth. They are missing. There’s also a facility. You got no good information about this place. It’s clearly been abandoned… but like any “good” protagonist in a horror movie, who isn’t black, you’re going in to investigate.
Players will have to actually investigate what’s happening here. Use equipment and rely on your ears to understand what’s going on. Now take note that this is a short game. It’s been described as a bite sized terror. The average playtime is approximately 2 hours. You can tackle the story at your own pace as Chasing Static is suppose to be non-linear.
We checked out some Chasing Static gameplay and it’s what we expected. We do like that this game went for the whole PlayStation 1 (PS1) look. The graphics looks old but the sounds are suppose to be excellent. Think of it like the game Infernax… designed to look like an old school game but has modern mechanics, feel, sounds and design. So yeah, we can appreciate that from time to time.
Overall Chasing Static seems like an alright game. A quick horror experience for players. nothing deep but what should be a good experience. We do like the sound mechanics of it. There’s big scare opportunities for when player5s use the experimental Frequency Displacement Monitoring Device. Don’t waste it. The developers ‘Headware Games’ have done an alright job. This isn’t for X35 Earthwalker. Not our thing at all but others will be interested.
