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Vaesen Starter Set Review

Today I have something a little different for you guys. The people over at Free League Publishing sent me a copy of the new Starter Set for Vaesen, a tabletop game to check out, and after getting to sift through what is a relatively large set, I have to say, it is pretty impressive. For around $35 U.S. Dollars you get

Condensed rules for action skill tests, combat, damage, and fear.
The complete introductory mystery The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz, letting the players explore the headquarters of the Society itself.
Codex Occultum, the Society’s old journal of vaesen to be used as a resource for the players.
Five pre-generated and illustrated player characters.
A large full-color map with the Mythic North on one side and the town of Upsala on the other.
A map of Castle Gyllencreutz.
Three handout sheets.
Five rules reference cards.
Ten initiative cards.
Ten engraved custom dice for the game.

Now I know what you are wondering: will this allow you to play the game? Well, I was sent a PDF of this, and with that, I was able to toss together a quick round with the people I live with. We are all Dungeons and Dragons 5E players. So when they say starter set, they do mean starter set.

The real question you may have is, is it worth playing? Well, I won’t spoil the in-game story for you as The Haunting of Castle Gyllencreutz is a tale full of fantastic beasts, plot twists, and intrigue.

This brings us to an even more important question: how do you play? Well, many tabletop gamers get started on a game like D&D that focuses on a D20 system, and while there are other dice involved, most of the time you are rolling a 20-sided die. Vaesen, however, uses a D6, and in this, if you roll a 6, your roll succeeds, and if you do not, it fails. Now you can choose to take on a condition and do what’s called “push” your roll. Doing this allows you to keep any 6 you have rolled and reroll the rest of your dice in an attempt to succeed at the task at hand. You, however, must decide, it is really so important to risk the condition you will now be saddled with until you can be healed?

Now, obviously,attempting to teach you to play the game goes well beyond the scope of this post, but I do want to give you some idea of what I am about to recommend you buy. The combat takes a similar approach, with skills and magic taking a back seat to dodging and parrying as you fight anything from a random guy in a castle to ghosts and fairies. Unlike most tabletop games, you won’t always defeat them by normal means. This is a more dark gothic adventure, and you may find yourself needing something far more sinister to get the job done.

So please, if you are a fan of tabletop games, Vaesen welcomes you to the mythic north, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ed Gein: The Musical

I can only imagine what you most be thinking, but I assure you this isn’t a joke post. This movie is real. Ed Gein is one of the infamous figures in American history and inspired dozens if not hundreds of books, documentaries, biopics, as well as being the inspiration behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Silence of the Lambs, and Psycho. If you want any actual factual knowledge about Gein and his crimes, plenty of those documentaries are free on YouTube (don’t go to Netflix for the latest season of Monster; were you really expecting the dude behind AHS to give a account of Ed Gein?). Certainly don’t watch this.

So we follow Ed Gein as he’s busted after killing his final victim and through delusional songs, many parodying others such as “Luck be a Lady”, “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka, and “Hard Knock Life” from Annie, we uncover a very loose account of Gein’s story. I mean loose in the most sincere way possible.

I’m going to frank, this movie isn’t good. Did I laugh? Plenty, but I wasn’t feeling good about it. The whole thing is in bad taste at it’s core but its so flat, over the top, and cheap its not meant to be taken seriously, not even remotely (unlike Netflix’s Monster). The acting is porn level bad. The pacing is awful and feels way longer than it is. The musical numbers are funny and just trippy at times- like Gein arguing with a woman’s corpse over what style of lampshade she wants to be. The sheriff was great and his reactions to the whole thing were my favorite part of the whole movie. In the end, I can’t recommend this movie unless you’re already drunk or stoned off your ass. May the gaming god’s bring you glory.

Decktamer Steam Review

Decktamer released on Steam this week, and Assemble Entertainment was nice enough to send me a copy. The best way I can describe this experience would be if Magic: The Gathering and a Pokémon Nuzloke run had a baby and spit this Deckbuilding roguelike out.

The concept is simple: you start with a deck of cards, which are living monsters. You delve into this cave and fight other monsters, where you can capture new ones when you weaken them, assuming you have the right food. For example, herbivores won’t join you if you try to toss them a hunk of meat. Creatures that prefer fish aren’t likely to accept plants. Worse, if your creature dies during a fight, it is gone forever.

Each card has a health and speed rating, while their attacks do different amounts of damage and have different abilities. Some are weaker but may do damage to every monster on the side. A slower monster may have stronger attacks; it is up to you what you want to try to do. However, remember that if that health reaches zero, it is gone forever. It is very high-risk high high-reward sometimes. Knowing when to switch your monster means more than in most games.

The artwork is also amazing; this is honestly where I thought the game would fall short, considering its $16 price tag. I was very wrong; the sound and art are nothing short of amazing, and I really thought going into this, these would be the areas I would have complaints. In fact, if you look at the Steam reviews, which are very positive with over 150 currently the only complaints you will see are that the game is insanely hard.

This is honestly true; this game is not for the faint of heart. I love the game, it is fun and I am having a blast with it, but damn, will it wreck you. Each battle and each move involves some strategy. Each item matters the further you go. It may even need some balancing tweaks to be honest, but in the meantime, it is a 9/10 experience that fans of the genre must experience. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Space Chef PlayStation 5 Review

Space Chef is a survival RPG cooking sim sent to me by the fine folks at Kwalee, a company that is always great to work with. The concept is straightforward in this case. Your grandmother left you to cook for the people in the local solar system. You start out learning to create a spatula, kill some roach-looking things, and cook them up.

I don’t know why people are ok eating these things that live in your basement, or why you are ok with them living there in the first place, but hey $20 is $20. So get cooking and deliver some bug kabobs. This will get you out exploring and meeting people and introduce you to other in-game mechanics, such as picking up space junk. This will let you craft new weapons, cooking surfaces, and upgrades for your ship.

It won’t be long before you are landing on planets for better ingredients to cook better food that you can sell for more money. This will also lead to a better reputation and even a real restaurant.

This all sounds good, but does it function well? The short answer is yes; the long answer is absolutely yes. I never felt lost or out of things to be doing while playing. I always had some place I could go or something I could be working towards. Even when I was simply grinding out materials, I had a business to run, and when that got in the way, I could close up shop at the push of a button.

My only real complaint was combat. There isn’t anything wrong with it; it feels fine, but it simply isn’t all that fun or engaging. Just equip a weapon, mash a button, and hope for the best. You could manipulate it so enemy attacks miss by moving at the right time, but for a survival game, the fighting really felt like an afterthought sometimes.

But is the game worth buying? Without a doubt. When I first heard about it I thought this could only go one of two ways: it would either be amazing or it would be a train wreck. This is definitely one of those games that will be in my rotation for a while. It won’t be for everyone, but for fans of this type of game, it is an 8/10 experience. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Batman: The Long Halloween

It began with Johnny Vitti on Halloween. Every holiday, another murder linked to the once untouchable Falcone crime family. Each month, more bodies, more unrest as the Falcone’s numbers dwindle and there bloody feud with the Maroni family comes to a head, and less answers for the Dark Knight, Commissioner Jim Gordon, and DA Harvey Dent. The trio of Gotham’s heroes face a bitter line between taking down the biggest threats to Gotham, but at what cost? How far will the old crime-lords go to to preserve there empires? After a fateful tragedy and a shocking reveal, the year long caper comes to a close but nothing will ever be the same.

So first and foremost, this is one of the best Bat stories put to page. Hands down, no contest. The book is well written with dark themes, a genuinely well written mystery, and well done characters. The book was a huge inspiration behind The Dark Knight as well as The Batman. The art style is interesting with some seriously iconic imagery and sets up a creepy, vintage noir mood.

I’ve also seen the 2 part, R rated, animated movie counterparts that also do the story justice. Jensen Ackles (the GOAT of Red Hoods) was great voicing Batman but I was more surprised at Josh Duhamel doing a fantastic job voicing Harvey and eventually Two Face.

The story has a few flaws and some things I felt like in the book should’ve been expanded on more like Catwoman’s vendetta against Falcone and Gilda Dent’s mania in correlation to her husband’s ( the movie versions go much deeper into this). Another small gripe I have is I wish we got more Grundy, Scarecrow, and Mad Hatter in both versions, but that’s just me.

In the end, I can’t recommend the book enough and the movies are damn good adaption to follow up on. May the gaming god’s bring you glory and an end to your own Long Halloween.

Vacation 2015 Movie Review

If you are like me, you probably grew up watching the Griswold family go on assorted vacations, such as Christmas Vacation. 2015’s Vacation was a very poorly received continuation of this series, with Rusty all grown up, played by Ed Helms. Ed does a great job alongside Christina Applegate, continuing the tradition of family vacations that just don’t go so well. Even Chevy Chase returns as Clark towards the end of the movie to guide Rusty at the end of his adventure to get the family to Walley World.

The humour is very hit and miss, unfortunately, with some of the scenes very much being throwbacks to the original films. These are nice for nostalgia purposes, but they don’t exactly age well for newer audiences, and the rest of us have already seen them in the original. Even back in the 80s, these scenes weren’t considered great scenes, such as the woman flirting with Clark while driving down the highway.

That isn’t to say the movie doesn’t have charm in its own right; the entire section where the Griswolds visit Rusty’s sister is fantastic, and Chris Hemsworth really steals the show as Stone, his brother-in-law. The movie isn’t great and deserves the criticism it gets, but it is a fun movie that is worth watching. I would have liked to have seen the cast return for Christmas. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Deadpool and Wolverine

You know you’re in trouble when Deadpool is your saving grace….Wade’s been through alot after the events of Deadpool 2. By that I mean, he hung up the guns and katanas and tried living a normal life, sucking at it, losing his spark when getting turned down by the Avengers. When the TVA shows up offering Wade legendary hero status in a new universe, he’s elated, until he realizes his universe is dying. To save it, his universe needs a new Wolverine. So it’s up to the Merc with a Mouth to find a Wolverine, escape a wasteland of banished Marvel characters, and become a goddamn Disney hero. Ain ‘t the multiverse fun?

Deadpool took the world by storm in 2016. Even with comic book movie fatigue setting in and many fans giving up on the MCU, the end of the Deadpool trilogy was the last hurrah for many. I had mixed feelings going in. My opinion of 2 soured over time, I didn’t trust Disney, and after Logan and the brilliant end to Hugh Jackman’s time as Wolverine, bringing him back, albeit as a variant, still soured things for me. After multiple rewatches, it still does. However, overall, the six-year wait was well worth it. Reynolds and Jackman bring their A games and have fantastic chemistry. The fights are bloody and memorable. Finally seeing Wolverine in his classic yellow and blue was a nerd dream come true. The cameos were outstanding and 1 in particular stole the show (I don’t want to spoil it but it was damn good to see some classics come back).

Not every joke lands, and I wish we got more crazier Deadpools for the final fight (namely Pandapool), and this movie doesn’t work nearly as well unless you’re a Marvel fan or grew up with 2000’s movies. I’ve heard casuals say the movie was a little confusing, but it’s much easier to follow than a lot of MCU stuff. In the end, Deadpool 3 is a great end to the trilogy and an even better send-off to the Fox Marvel era. Its packed with blood, fights, and nerdy fanservice that’s hard not to love. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Thunderbolts (New Avengers)

This Wheaties box is one of the funniest jokes in the film, and I laughed way too hard…Thunderbolts picks up with a group of the MCU outcasts (Yelena, US Agent, Red Guardian, Ghost, and Taskmaster) being ordered to infiltrate a shady testing facility. After duking it out a bit, they come a scrawny dude named Bob, the last living subject of a certain medical test. Bob, a former drug addict suffering from mental illness, stands out of this group like a sore thumb. But what if I told you Bob was a force that outmatches the powerhouses of Marvel like Hulk, Thor, and Captain Marvel? Under the devious influence of government head Valentina de Fontaine, Bob is molded into the Sentry, the world’s greatest hero. Can the outcasts, aligned with Winter Soldier and Red Guardian, stand a chance against Fontaine and the darkness inside Bob-for every light there is a darkness, and that darkness is the Void…

Going in, I knew what this movie was: MCU Suicide Squad. Basically, it’s what the comics are, and honestly, they’ve never been my thing, but I gave it a shot. With Captain America: Brave New World being a dud and Fantastic 4: First Steps being the best MCU flick since Spider-man: No Way Home , I was curious where this lay.

The cast is the biggest positive in my opinion. Everyone gives it their all. Florence Pugh, since her Black Widow debut, has been a bright light in the MCU’s darker days. Luis Pullman did great as Bob/Sentry/ Void. The final act goes for emotional character stakes instead of a giant boss battle, easily the best climax to a MCU film in a while. I liked the darker, mature themes like mental health, drug abuse, trauma, and guilt. The movie handled them well without going overly dark or trying to preach.

Unfortunately, the MCU itself, or rather its formula of forced humor, is this movie’s biggest weakness. I didn’t laugh much, but I rolled my eyes a lot more than I wanted to. Most of the action scenes were meh overall. Taskmaster is utterly wasted and is just a body to drop for pretend stakes (sorry for the spoiler, but seriously, the marketing spoiled it pretty quick). Valentina has been built up for a while, and her endgame didn’t really feel like much of a payoff.

In the end, the movie is ok but easily could have been above average. What it does good, it does great. The flaws kill it. It’s worth watching and I’m not mad they’ll return for Doomsday. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Gotta start by thanking Savior for playing through the game with me because, honestly, like most multiplayer games, who your crew is means a whole world of difference. Firetam Elite is essentially an online horde shooter in the Alien universe. There’s 4 chapters, 3 missions each to play through. You pick a class, pick up consumable buffs like shock grids, sentry guns, and proximity mines and jump into action with 2 other players. Is there a story? Barely. You’re a colonial marine tasked with killing xenos- that’s it in a nutshell.

I highly recommend having at least 1 battle buddy if you’re going to play this game. Solo, the gameplay isn’t too engaging. As for any online multiplayer, we’ve played with cool people and a couple that made things way harder than they had any right to be; if you can’t find someone, the game fills the slot with an Alpha, which mostly means you’re pulling extra weight and better not die. With a buddy, the game is pretty fun at times, but not full-price fun. We had it as a PS+ freebie and neither of us had any desire to get the Pathogen DLC.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the game, just nothing spectacular. The highlight for me was the iconic scenery that harkened back to Alien and Prometheus. I will say the ending of the final mission does the Queen Alien a massive disservice, even more the finale of Aliens: Colonial Marines. There is a nice sprinkling of Working Joes (a nice nod to Alien: Isolation ) and prequel monsters, but the Aliens themselves don’t really spark much terror.

In the end, Fireteam Elite isn’t bad if you and a friend want a pretty quick game to burn through or you’re a diehard Alien fan like I am, but there’s nothing great either. It’s one of the most average games I can think of. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Wolverine PS5 trailer reveal

Am I the only one who thought this game would never come? After years of rumors, we finally got a trailer and all I got to say is- damn. Graphically, it’s beautiful and oh so bloody. Seriously, I love that they went all out on the gore. The characters look great. I’m personally stoked for Omega Red. My only worry is how to do a full game on Logan without it getting repetitive. Also, much like making a game based on Hulk, Superman, or Thor, the question also arises how to pull the indestructible death machine that is Wolverine without making him feel nerfed. I guess we’ll find out next fall. I can’t wait to see more. May the gaming gods bring you glory.