VIRTUAL BASTION

From Noob to Master to Noob Again

I recently started up Destiny 2 again after about a year away from it, and I discovered that much of my old knowledge no longer applied. Quite a lot changed in Destiny 2 over the past year, and I had kept up with it for the most part. Still, I hadn’t actually played the game…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #158

Up this week: Fe (Switch, 2018) – journey with us through this beautiful, meditative adventure game where secrets abound and songs serve as communication. Not Zangief (multiple consoles) – our occasional series that’s all about having fun with fighting games. Yoshi’s Island (SNES, 1995) – it’s up to Yoshi to reunite two young, and famous,…

First (and Second) Impressions of The Talos Principle

After putting in a solid dozen or so hours into The Talos Principle, I can safely say that I remain both delighted and intimidated by puzzle games of this sort. I’m not sure what this might say about my gaming tendencies generally, only that my recent years in gaming have shown that I’m super cautious…

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time Looks Incredible!

Well, it looks like the fan response to the Crash N’ Sane Trilogy actually managed to impress Activision, because it’s just been revealed that we’re now getting a direct sequel to Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Yup, that’s right. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is a sequel to the very last PlayStation 1 Crash Bandicoot….

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair Renews My Hope in the Franchise

Back in 2017, I played and reviewed the original Yooka-Laylee game, the spiritual successor to the much-loved Banjo-Kazooie series, made by the very same people who brought us the famous bear and bird duo back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I had some mixed feelings about the game, and owing to the fact…

PS5 Looks Good, But Will Probably Be All Kinds of Expensive

So Sony has finally revealed the PlayStation 5, and, all router jokes aside, I think it’s looking pretty good. It think it looks cool, but more importantly it looks like it’s going to have a healthy selection of games coming to it in the first few months post-launch. Now the only thing left that we…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #157

Up this week: Not Zangief (multiple consoles) – our occasional series that’s all about having fun with fighting games. GRIS (various, 2018-2020) – in a game quite like no other, we take an evocative trip through the manifestations of painful emotions as experienced by a girl names Gris. [FINAL] Yoshi’s Island (SNES, 1995) – it’s…

Gaming impressions from the PS5 Livestream Event

A week ago, we FINALLY saw it — the PlayStation 5. Two versions of it, in fact. One for physical media, the other, digital only.

Death Stranding PC Specs, Content Announced

Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding is about to hit the PC, and the specs have finally been released. One won’t need a monster of a machine to run the game, but it’ll help out quite a bit for those who’d like to get the most out the experience. Once they pick up the game, PC players…

A New Ratchet & Clank is Coming to the PS5

I tried to firmly tell myself that I wouldn’t be getting the PS5 for at least a year or two after its release. Consoles are expensive, after all, and I can’t just keep…what’s that? They’re making a new Ratchet & Clank? Dang it. Okay, so you might already be aware, but I’m a huge Ratchet…

Exciting Things are Coming in the Destiny Universe

Earlier this week, Bungie revealed what’s coming next for Destiny 2, and it’s actually pretty interesting. I mean yeah, the gameplay additions, new locations and new loot sounds really cool, but what I’m psyched about is what’s going on with the lore!

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #156

Summer Games Done Quick Goes Online This Year

Continued concerns over COVID-19 have prompted the producers of Summer Games Done Quick to cancel its physical event and go online. This year, for one week in August, GDQ fans will be able to virtually watch various gaming sessions featuring their favorite speedrunners speedrunning from the comfort and safety of their own homes. As is…

Bungie Reveals What’s Next for Destiny 2!

Recently, I made a post talking about what were basically the glory days of Destiny as I see them. For me, Destiny’s best days have been in the past with Destiny 1. I’ve often been excited about Destiny 2 and expansions like Forsaken, but I’ve never been able to make an investment similar to that…

Top Changes I’d Like to See in New Horizons

With Animal Crossing: New Horizons receiving frequent updates to add new events and other features, I started thinking about other improvements I’d like to see in future updates. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so if you have any changes of your own that you’re hoping Nintendo will implement, please share your thoughts…

Minecraft Dungeons is the Plainest Dungeon Crawler Ever…And I Love It!

Minecraft Dungeons finally released last week, and it received pretty average scores across the board. After playing it for myself, I can see why. Minecraft Dungeons doesn’t really have any depth to it. There are no character classes, and item upgrading is limited to randomly rolled enchantments. Combat is differentiated mostly by weapon type and…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #155

The Sims 4: Love and Loss

This is an ongoing series about my experience playing The Sims 4 for the first time. For other previous posts in the series, click here (part 1), here (part 2), and here (part 3). If Peeps seemed to be something of a mild, computer-addicted introvert in her twenty-somethings, middle-aged Peeps is proving to be something…

New Gameplay Released for Fairy Tail RPG

Fairy Tail fans got some more gameplay footage from the new Fairy Tail RPG earlier this week. In a pretty lengthy video, the game’s hub city of Crocus was on full display along with more combat scenes and story beats. Speaking of the story, it looks like the Koei Tecmo is taking the opportunity to…

I’ve Got Big Plans for Quackville

Last week, I wrote about how I finally got a 5-star rating in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. With that milestone now out of the way, I decided that my next goal was to terraform the island of my dreams. After watching a whole bunch of island tours on YouTube and general brainstorming, I had a…

Looking Back at Destiny

“Nothing lasts forever” and “all good things must come to an end.” These two phrases are perhaps the most universal of all the proverbs floating around out there. Time is always progressing, and in no other context is that more apparent than in the world of video games. As we move closer and closer to…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #154

[Revisited] That Time I Made Friends with a Deathclaw in Fallout 4

This week, I’m revisiting a special moment I had with one of the great beasts of Fallout 4. It serves for me as a gentle reminder that doing good can lead to good things…even if that good thing is not having your face ripped off by a Deathclaw. When I first started up Fallout 4…

Fall Guys Shows-Off Customization Options

Mediatonic has released a new developer diary for their upcoming party title: Fall Guys. If you haven’t heard of the game before, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a party game made in the mold of a game show like Wipeout or Takeshi’s Castle (the better showout of the two). Players take control one out of…

Quackville is Now a 5-Star Island!

I’ve done it, folks! I finally achieved that coveted 5-star rating for my island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons! It took a lot of work…a lot of visits to Isabelle to see what she wanted me to do next. And boy…does my island look awful!

Final Fantasy VII Remake is Surprising!

After playing the demo for Final Fantasy VII Remake, I figured I had a pretty good idea of what I was in for. In some ways, I was correct. The released game’s battle system is the same, unexpectedly-satisfying fusion of action and the classic ATB system. It’s also continuing to take opportunities to expand on…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #153

Up this week: GRIS (various, 2018-2020) – in a game quite like no other, we take an evocative trip through the manifestations of painful emotions as experienced by a girl names Gris. Yoshi’s Island (SNES, 1995) – it’s up to Yoshi to reunite two young, and famous, brothers in this classic and stylish 1990s platformer….

Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Brings Back Friendships

As brutal and bloody as the most recent Mortal Kombat games have been, they’ve still done a decent job of preserving the series’ past goofiness. Even so, there was one big feature that was missing: Friendships. In past Mortal Kombat games, pulling these off saw the combatants put aside their differences and realize that the…

The Sonic Movie was Actually…Pretty All Right

One of the most amusing things that happened on the Internet over the past year or so has got to be the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. More specifically, Sonic’s original nightmare-inducing design, complete with realistic chompers. In a turn of events that probably surprised everyone, Paramount actually redesigned Sonic and made him…actually really adorable. My…

I Wish I Could Be Excited For Paper Mario: The Origami King

I used to be a big fan of the Paper Mario series. Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door are still two of my all-time favorite games. I even enjoyed Super Paper Mario and its more action-oriented play-style. It’s been 13 years since Super Paper Mario, and Nintendo has yet to make to…

Tetris 99 Visits Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Nintendo’s been running monthly competitions in Tetris 99 ever since it launched last year. These competitions are all iterations of the “Maximus Cup,” and the 13th Cup is right around the corner. Each competition functions as a cross-promotion for Nintendo’s other games, and this time it’s Animal Crossing that’s on-deck!

Resonance: Twin Demons

Okami is one of my favorite games of all time thanks to its unique art style, gameplay, and an amazing soundtrack that includes several of my favorite songs of all time. In the past, I had discussed Wawku Shrine in the snowy land of Kamui. It is here that Ammy encounters some of her toughest…

The Value of Rubbish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

In past Animal Crossing games, the only things of value were actual items. Clothes, furniture, fossils, etc. were the things that players wanted because they were what advanced the game. Clothes made you look cool, fossils and fish looked nice in the museum and furniture is what made your house. All of these are still…

You Can Try Dreams For Free Right Now

Video game creation…game? Dreams is now free to try for anyone who wants to take a crack at developing their first game. Being the highly experimental product that it is, giving players/creators a chance to try Dreams first for buying is probably for the best. Game development isn’t for everyone, and you can’t know whether…

Ranking Cuphead Bosses: Easiest to Hardest

Since Cuphead‘s release in 2017, the game has become known for two major things, its 1930’s art style and high difficulty. Now that I, too, have suffered through the many challenging bosses of Cuphead, I thought it would be fun to rank all 19 from easiest to the ones that walloped me the most thoroughly. …

Persona 5 Royal: It’s Good to be Back!

Ever since I first gave it a try back in 2017 I’ve been a pretty big fan of Persona 5. I love it’s stylish presentation, its rockin’ soundtrack and thoughtful gameplay. The story has some decent twists and turns to, but the real stars of the show are definitely the characters. I genuinely enjoyed my…

Dark Souls Remastered, Dying Light To Be Featured in Games with Gold?

It looks like the cat might have gotten out of the bag just a little bit early for next month’s selection of free games in Sony’s Games with Gold program on the PlayStation 4. As is the case with all free game bonus services, the value fluctuates from month to month, it all depends. Well,…

Cuphead: A Swell Time

When Cuphead was originally released in 2017, people just wouldn’t stop talking about it. And based on the screenshots I had seen, the game looked cool enough with its 1930’s style graphics. Nevertheless, I was never actually tempted to try it myself, but rather decided to watch a playthrough of the game on YouTube. And…

Animal Crossing: New Horizons and My Quest for the Perfect Island

As this is my third week in a row writing about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it’s probably safe to say that I’m still thoroughly addicted to the game. There’s just so much to work on that I find myself chasing different things each day I log in. Some days I want to make some bells,…

Super Mario Maker 2 Adds World Maker!

Super Mario Maker 2 was already pretty fun when it launched back in June 2019, but Nintendo has been doing its best to make sure that the fun has kept going over these past few months. They added a big update in December which added plenty of new maker parts for players to mess around…