Today on YouTube I’m playing Rule of Rose. I apologize for the audio on this one. I’m still learning how to use all of my new equipment. The issue has been fixed since this video. Let me know what other horror games you want to see me play! And stay tuned for PART TWO of Let’s play Rule of Rose!
Continue reading “On YouTube: Let’s Play Rule of Rose // Part One”
With Halloween at an end, I though it’d be a great time to take part in one of Normal Happenings’ Daily Inklings! I’m spinning the prompt just a bit… What do I do after playing a horror game to calm down? I’m going to share my tips and tricks with you on how I chill out after playing some of my favorite horror games! Here’s 7 steps to help you decompress after playing a scary game.
I totally blame my husband for this one. Drinking a hot cup of tea wasn’t something I did until a couple of years ago when he was visiting from Ireland. He made me a hot cup of tea, and since then it has become something I turn to when I’m in need of comfort. Tea not really your thing? Hot chocolate can do the trick.
The Sims can be a great distraction. The mundane tasks of making sure your Sim eats, sleeps, and goes to work can be enough to calm your racing mind and heart. Creating a new Sim, picking out a house and decorating it is also a great distraction. Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley are great alternatives if you don’t have the Sims.
My husband and I do this all the time, especially if we’re feeling a little down. Cute animals can be the answer to shutting down your fear as well. Hit up your favorite subreddit or look around on Pinterest or Imgur for pictures and GIFs of cute animals doing cute things. It’s easy, and you’ll feel so much better.
This is a tried and true method of mine for literally all aspects of my life. If I’m feeling some negative emotions, I turn on a good Disney or Pixar film that’s sure to lift my spirits. Netflix has Coco and Moana right now! Both are excellent feel-good films that are sure to calm your nerves after a night of playing a horror game.
Does anyone else find home improvement or decorating shows to be oddly soothing? I know it’s not just me… Right? Anyway, HGTV on Netflix or Hulu can be another great distraction if you can’t bring yourself to play a calming game. Mr. Kate and The Sorry Girls on YouTube do a great job of scratching that same itch!
Find yourself uncomfortable in the dark after that particular scary cut scene? There’s nothing wrong with leaving on a night light or a lamp when you crawl into bed. Once you’re feeling sleepy enough, you can turn off the light or leave it on if you are able to sleep with lights on.
If you have a pet, they are the perfect cuddle buddy to hold while you recover from a horror game. Give your pet some attention, and let them calm you down. My sweet Padme (above) is the perfect snuggle bug after a scary encounter in a game. You and your pet could benefit from this tip!
What tips and tricks do you have on how to go to bed after playing a horror game? Tell me in the comments!
Follow A Geeky Gal!
For the month of October, I am pulling away from my regular 5 Fandom Friday and Saturday Suggestion posts. Every Friday for the month of October I will be presenting my 5 Freaky Faves in honor of Halloween! This week’s 5 Freaky Faves are my all time favorite horror games (which you may have seen during the 30 Day Video Game Challenge).
May is looking to be a busy month blog-wise and personally. I know we’re already a week into the month but there’s so much planned! Our wedding shower is this month as well as some exciting immigration news (blog post coming on that)! For the blog, I have my first tech review in the works as well as another Top Ten post and more! Let’s relax a bit before things get too crazy with a tagged post! This awesome tagged post is courtesy of The LDG Mag. Check out their blog!
The Rules
Just for some fun, I’m going to pick horror games and try my best to roast them with one line. Tell me how bad I failed in the comments and try your hand at some witty liners on the games I picked yourself!
Instead of finding your wife, you decided to explore a terrible town and replace your wife with a hooker who looks like her.
You make all the dumb decisions for horror movie characters.
Maybe if the lead character would PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON, she could actually get away once in awhile.
When your sister has a bum leg, you end up doing all the work.
All of the kids are little shits.
If the grotesque scenes of violence don’t scare you, the endless running and simple puzzles will.
So maybe some of those weren’t that bad. I would love to hear some witty one liners in the comments for these games though. Take a shot at a few! As for nominations, I nominate anyone that reads this post and wants to take on this challenge. If you link back to me, I’ll be sure to like and comment on your post. Let’s spread some laughter!
Just a few tags of people I think would enjoy this challenge:
Let the roasting begin!
Briefly mentioned in another post, Outlast has been insanely popular for Youtubers and Let’s Player’s alike and not without reason. Outlast was praised for its horror elements and game-play, but also criticized for its environments and character models.
Using only a camcorder, players must navigate through an insane asylum riddled with enemies. Players can only run or hide but enemies will come looking for you. Squeezing into small spaces and closing doors can deter your attackers for a few moments. The camcorder has night vision and can record important events. Be aware though that batteries can become difficult to find and some black out areas basically require night vision on the camcorder in order for you to navigate.
Outlast was one of the first “modern” horror games I enjoyed. There’s plenty to gripe about but the actual survival horror part of the game was fantastic. I obviously didn’t play this one on my own. I played it with my brother (then later played Whistle Blower). He was the cool and calm one while I shrieked at every jump-scare.
I already have a strange fascination with serial killers (looking at you Criminal Minds and Serial Killers Parcast) so being inside the psychiatric hospital with those who actually belong there with dead personnel literally everywhere was unsettling. Reading the documents and slowly piecing everything together kept me on my toes. The few “main” enemies we encountered made me feel gross and disturbed.
Overall, it’s a great game. The character models could have been better, but I personally didn’t have much to complain about. Did the game take some cheap shots with jump-scares? Sure, and maybe they even numbed you a bit because you “knew” they were coming. I knew they were coming, and they would still scare the shit out of me. Don’t play this one alone.
Want to see more of the 30 Day Video Game Challenge? Want to try the challenge yourself? Read this post here!
What game scared the crap out of you? Let me know in the comments!
Until Dawn has seen many changes from its prototype debut in 2010 to its Gamescom 2012 PS3 trailer and after that we got a taste of the beta. Two years later, Gamescom 2014 debuted a PS4 trailer that looked more like the Until Dawn we know today.
Over 4 years of development went into Until Dawn. It was originally scheduled to be released on PS3 with PlayStation Move support. Eventually it was slotted for a PS4 exclusive without PlayStation Move support. It received praise for visuals (hands down some of the best character models I have ever seen: Hayden Panettiere character model looks like Hayden Panettiere; no uncanny valley here), music, characters (Hayden Panettiere is another perfect example as her mannerisms really showed through in Sam), voice acting (top notch cast in my opinion), and game-play design.
This game was crafted into an amazing experience that any horror enthusiast will enjoy. Throughout the game, the player will alternate between all eight characters, making critical choices as the story advances which will drastically affect the game’s outcome. The beauty of Until Dawn is that it’s meant to be played multiple times. Each play through gives you another piece of the puzzle until you have the whole story.
Until Dawn is about a group of teenagers who spend the weekend in a ski lodge on the anniversary of their friends’ disappearance, unaware that they are not alone…. One year after the disappearance of Hannah and Beth, eight friends return to the cabin in the mountains belonging to the parents of their friend Josh, the brother of the missing twin sisters. Shortly after arriving, Mike, Matt, Chris, Emily, Ashley, Jessica, Josh, and Sam realize that they may not be the only people on this mountain. The friends find themselves under attack by a psycho and must attempt to survive until sunrise.
Game mechanics include quick time events, finding clues, finding totems that drop hints about possible futures, a unique in-game system called “butterfly effects” in which a choice or action made by the player may cause unforeseen consequences later on in the game, and difficult moral and ethical choices that the player must make. Butterfly effects bring something unique to Until Dawn. Theses butterfly effects will blur the right and wrong between choices the player makes leaving it totally possible for all 8 characters to live… or die.
Want to see more of the 30 Day Video Game Challenge? Want to try the challenge yourself? Read this post here!
What game can you tell have had a LOT of passion put into it? Let me know in the comments!
On Day 7, I mentioned Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain will be the only game repeated in my 30 day challenge for one reason only: the emotional impact it left on me.
I had never played a game like Heavy Rain before and went into it completely blind. In fact, I picked up a used copy from GameStop, and the associate said he loved it. With a recommendation so high from a Game Stop employee, I figured it was worth a shot. After all, I do have a fascination with serial killers.
Heavy Rain is about four separate protagonists and the Origami Killer, a serial killer who uses long periods of rainfall to slowly drown his victims. Each of these protagonists have a choice-driven story and can die based on how you play the game. These protagonists are Ethan Mars, Norman Jayden, Madison Paige, and Scott Shelby.
Without spoiling the ending(s), the interactive story telling very much sucks you in. I beat this game in about a week (that’s with taking breaks from so many emotional scenes). You are these characters and watching their stories unfold to save a child’s life hits home in more ways than one.
“How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love?”
Want to see more of the 30 Day Video Game Challenge? Want to try the challenge yourself? Read this post here!
What game had a big emotional impact on you? Let me know in the comments!
