I tried KNACK this week because it’s free for Playstation Plus members during the month of February 2018.
KNACK is a button-combo beat-em-up platformer, released in November 2013 for the PS4, with a sequel, Knack II, released in 2017. “Knack” is also the protagonist, a sentient golem powered by mysterious relics in an alternate reality where goblins attack humanity with tanks and Knack may be our only hope.
Based on the first few levels, it plays pretty much like a Lego game — smash everything in the environment, collect bits, watch cutscenes.
With two-player co-op, it would be a good game for family fun or a child’s sleepover. KNACK is rated “E10+” for “Everyone 10 and up” and seems geared toward young (or young at heart) players.
~ J.L. Hilton
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One of my Patreon patrons asked me to play CHILD OF LIGHT on Try-It Tuesday, so I downloaded the free demo for PS4 this week and dedicated the livestream to them (thanks, Counterserum!).
I don’t know much about the storyline, since the demo dropped me into chapter four, “The Deep Dark Well,” but apparently the protagonist is a girl named Aurora, and she is searching the land of Lemuria for the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars.
Aurora’s blue flame friend Igniculus can be controlled by a single player or is available as a multiplayer option. Other characters join her party and participate in battles against giant spiders, flaming hounds, and boar men. Combat is turn-based.
Buy for Playstation
CHILD OF LIGHT is a 2D side-scroller with beautiful, watercolor-style artwork inspired by Studio Ghibli and Yoshitaka Amano. The dialog is written as a sort of nursery rhyme or poem, in keeping with its fairy tale theme.
Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, this game is available for PC, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Wii U. Rated “E 10+” for Everyone age 10 and up.
~ J.L. Hilton
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Time for another Artifex Mundi adventure! This week, I wanted something with a love story, for Valentine’s Day, so I played GRIM LEGENDS: THE FORSAKEN BRIDE, a point-and-click puzzle-solving story about a sister who attends her twin sister’s wedding, only to have the bride kidnapped by a bear!
Try the PS4 demo
The game seems to be set in an alternate 18th-century, with magic, broken hearts, puzzles, ancient forests, legends, dark secrets, puzzles, hidden objects, charms, a cute little kitten, and did I mention puzzles?
GRIM LEGENDS: THE FORSAKEN BRIDE is available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Rated “T” for teens.
I lost power and internet, so the livestream is broken up into two videos on my YouTube archive.
~ J.L. Hilton
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My husband and kids played a lot of TERRARIA on PS3 about five or six years ago, but I guess I was too busy playing Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas or maybe Dishonored back then, so I never got into it. I found the game on sale for only $2.99 for PS4, so I added it to my Try-It Tuesday lineup.
TERRARIA is a 2D action-adventure sandbox video game developed by Re-Logic, available for PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS Vita, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, PS4, Xbox One, OS X, Linux, Nintendo 3DS, Wii and Nintendo Switch. By February 2017, the game had sold over 20 million copies across all platforms.
At a glance, it seems simple. A side-scrolling 2D version of Minecraft with lots of mining and crafting, cutesy graphics and happy music. But, scratch the surface, and it’s much more complicated — and dark — than one might think. I spent two hours just doing the tutorial and was torn to pieces by an Eater of Souls, snapped in half by a Devourer, and slain by Jungle Slime.
Creative players can build houses, castles, villages, temples, gardens and more. Adventurous players can explore jungles, dungeons, deserts, forests, oceans, and even a space realm of floating islands and harpies, or delve into the depths of the Underworld to fight demons, hellbats and the Wall of Flesh, whose defeat unlocks a whole new realm of unicorns, pixies and rainbow slime called the Hallow.
There are single-player and multi-player options. A recent update added Martian Madness, Celestial pillars, a Moonlord, Sky Lakes, and over 800 new items.
TERRARIA is rated “T” for teens, for Blood and Gore, Cartoon Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol. Learn more at TERRARIA.org.
~ J.L. Hilton
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I bought ROLLERS OF THE REALM on sale for $2.99 because the artwork reminded me a little of fantasy artist James C. Christensen, and the idea of a “pinball role-playing game” intrigued me.
“Persevere through the hands of tyranny; use your brains, your reflexes, and your balls…” says the Playstation game overview. By “balls” they mean pinballs, which represent the various members of your party. You start out with the Rogue and eventually manage a group of up to ten, along with bonus balls for falcons and a dog.
Click here to buy for PS4
Created by Canadian indie developer Phantom Compass on a reported $700K budget and published by Atlus USA, this 2014 game is available on PS4, PS Vita and PC. It’s currently $9.99 on Steam, where it has a “very positive” rating.
ROLLERS OF THE REALM was a lot of fun. Some online reviewers knocked it for bad voice acting and lack of story depth. Well, no, it’s not Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, but it’s cute and clever. I enjoyed the characters, from the sassy Rogue who says “yoink!” when she pickpockets villagers, to the drunken Knight trying to retain a shred of honor, to (my favorite) the Huntsman who declares he’s taking a “dirt nap” when his green leafy ball is lost.
I do indeed intend to “persevere” and continue this adventure. Check my YouTube channel for more ROLLERS OF THE REALM videos.
Rated “T” for teens, for fantasy violence and alcohol use.
~ J.L. Hilton
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There are tons of scary, horror, creepy, supernatural and monster games to play for Halloween, but it’s not as easy to find games to play during Christmas. I tried Overcooked: The Festive Seasoning in December and figured, why not Lego? Legos are toys, toys are part of Christmas, right?
But then the holidays got really busy, so my Try-It Tuesday date with the 2016 LEGO MARVEL’S AVENGERS video game got postponed to the new year.
Lego games, in my experience, are simple and easy to play, with lots of bashing, looting and clever cutscenes. This PS4 demo was no different, though I did struggle to progress while switching back and forth between Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America. There’s a big focus on puzzles and cooperative actions. Single-player is possible but I recommend enjoying LEGO MARVEL’S AVENGERS with a friend or family member.
It’s rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and older. Though the demo is limited, I’ve read that there are potentially 100 playable characters to unlock and scenes from Marvel’s The Avengers, Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Avengers assemble! Hulk smash!
~ J.L. Hilton
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ILLOGICON is a community based convention dedicated to Science Fiction & Fantasy in TV, movies, animation, comics, visual arts, pod casts, and video games. This year, I’ll be a participant in the following panels:
The Art and Music in Science Fiction – FRIDAY – 3PM – Spaceships are cool, but so are costumes that reflect a culture, in-universe cantina music, and sprawling space-murals that tell the story of a people. But in space. Join out panel talk about those human details that make a world a home, even when it’s alien. Moderator: Michael G. Williams. Panelists: Darin Kennedy, Andrew Greeson, J.L. Hilton.
Sex in Other Worlds (18+) – FRIDAY – 11PM – How do aliens… do it? Moderator: J.L. Hilton. Panelists: Julie Steinbacher, Natania Barron, James Maxey, Jim McDonald.
Fanfiction: Fun and Fundamentals – SATURDAY – 5PM – Fanfic!What it is, why we love it, where to find it, how to do it. Moderator: J.L. Hilton. Panelists: Stacey Lantagne (GoH), Alyssa Wong (GoH), Tracy Walker, Gerty McHenry.
Living the Dream and Getting Paid – SUNDAY – 2PM – So you’re ready to turn that hobby into a career (or a least a decent side hustle)? We gotta talk shop on financial planning and the business side of creativity. Moderator: Ian Malone. Panelists: Jim McDonald, Ada Milenkovic Brown, Fraser Sherman, J.L. Hilton.
~ J.L. Hilton
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The music and gameplay gave me a warm fuzzy flashback to Kingdom Hearts on the old PS2, but third-person button-combo games aren’t really my thing any more. I prefer first-person games, and NIER:AUTOMATA constantly shifted between over-the-shoulder, side-scroller and top-down camera angles, which made it frustrating for me.
I’m not into anime, and I’m not a fan of the anime tropes such as teenage characters (or characters that look like teens, even if they’re old and/or androids), soft-spoken emo dudes who have to discuss their feels in the first three minutes you meet them, and fighting giant machines while wearing stiletto hip boots and flashing your panties at everyone.
But that’s what Try-It Tuesday is all about — having new experiences and trying games I wouldn’t usually play.
NIER:AUTOMATA is rated “M” for mature audiences, for blood, partial nudity, strong language, and violence. It’s available for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
~ J.L. Hilton
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After playing Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink, I wanted to do another Artifex Mundi demo so this week I tried EVENTIDE: SLAVIC FABLE.
Try the PS4 demo
Clockwork Tales was inspired by steampunk, and EVENTIDE by Slavic myth. You are a botanist, Dr. Mary Gilbert, whose grandmother, Baba, is the caretaker of a heritage park that turns out to be a kind of magical preserve.
After grandma is captured by a gargoyle (called a “moth” in the game), Mary sets out to rescue her. On her adventure, she makes an herbal poultice to heal a magical boy, solves puzzles, and meets some mythical creatures.
Like other games published by Artifex Mundi, EVENTIDE is a point-and-click puzzle-solving adventure story. It’s rated “T” for teens, for fantasy violence, mild blood and mild language.
I enjoyed it so much, I bought the full game and streamed it all, including the bonus “Midsummer Night” adventure, unlocked after completing the main story.
~ J.L. Hilton
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7 DAYS TO DIE is a survival horror sandbox game developed by The Fun Pimps. Alpha 1.0 released on PC in December 2013. The most recent version, Alpha 16, released in June 2017. The game became available for PS4 and Xbox One in June 2016.
With a post-apocalyptic theme, combat, scavenging, crafting and building, 7 DAYS TO DIE is a bit like Minecraft,Don’t Starve, and Fallout 4. You can fight monsters, farm, hunt, mine, dig, and build anywhere. You start the game with nothing but underwear, a can of chili and a bottle of water. The main challenge is that every seven days, you’re attacked by a zombie hoard.
My husband’s loved this game for a few years. I’ve watched him play, and watched him watch other people play, but I never played until now.
7 DAYS TO DIE is rated “M” for mature audiences, for blood and gore, strong language and violence.
~ J.L. Hilton
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