The Medium for SX looks like a next gen version of your classic 90s PC point and click adventure game. It’s just far scarier. But it seems like a lot of them, you got a female protagonist who walks around casually looking at thing that she can’t fix and going “I can’t do that right now” while you figure out what was either a very easy puzzle or a super convoluted puzzle. There’s no in-between with those old adventure games.
The most egregious example I always think of is the bartending puzzle in Syberia. You need to make some old lady her favorite cocktail so she can sing because reasons. But the bartending machine is hooked up to a freaking PIANO. And corresponding notes activated dispensers that you had to fill manually, and you’d only know what dispensed what if you can read SHEET MUSIC.
The Longest Journey, a definitive P&C classic has it’s fair share of obtuse puzzles, but there comes a point where you try to leave your city for another and the amount of weird crap it puts you through defies logic. You have to distract a gay policeman coz reasons. You have to fish a thing out of the water with a deflated floating ring and a stick because reasons. You have to mess with the electricity in the rail system, also coz reasons, it’s absurd.
The Observer, on the other hand, is a wholly new experience. Jacking into the minds of dying people to rice their traumas is harrowing. I played the original, but the System Redux version brings not only visual upgrades, but additional content. There’s extra missions, new “interrogations” and some reshaped gameplay settings. My only concern is I don’t know how they managed to cobble this content together considering well…
Rutgers Hauer, who plays the main character Daniel Lazarski, has unfortunately passed away. How do they pull off the new content? Was this some cut content being added back in? Or are they using some creativity to get around that? Icd like to find out soon. The game is available NOW but I’d prefer to wait til I have a Series X to play it. My PC can handle editing 4K videos, but 4K gameplay is a different story and my rig couldn’t keep up with the original without some serious frame drop.
Bloober has really cut out a name for themselves. Their foray into horror games is a sort of unceremonious passing of the torch from Frictional Games, makers of the Amnesia games. With Layers of Fear 1 & 2, Blair Witch, and these two other titles, I eagerly await getting my hands on them. Hopefully soon.
Should I play Observer System Redux? Yes, yes you should.
It presents a horrifying, and entirely plausible vision of our future. Where every person who’s poor lives in tiny apartments that used to be single rooms in an old buiding. Every body stays in their apartments and keeps themselves entertained with whatever VR experience, game, or show. People don’t want to talk, they don’t want to interact, and they are all deranged. Living in a world like this is an absolute terror on its own right.
Observer System Redux is available for Xbox Series X and is sadly not compatible with older systems, even the Xbox One X.
So, that went just okay. I need to learn how to talk more. And probably get a mic. I’ll get a better mic if 50 people comment on this exact page. Good Luck. Anyway, watching me watch something other people are also watching is fun and all, but what if you want to just get to the nitty-gritty? I’ve got you covered.
Games Unveiled
This is the list of games that made an appearance on the show. Each title will have initials indicating repeated features throughout the presentation, such as:
WP – World Premiere
XGP – Xbox Game Pass
SD – Smart Delivery
The first 3 are pretty self explanatory but just in case, let’s go over that. World Premiere means the game has officially been revealed. Xbox Game Pass is a monthly subscription service where you can play a rotating selection of over 100+ games, and all Xbox Exclusive titles end up on it. Smart Delivery is the new big thing. Anyting denoted with Smart Delivery means if you own it on Xbox One, you also own it on Xbox Series X. The game will most certainly be a higher quality experience on the XSX. It may sound mundane but this is the first time this has ever been done for consoles Alright, let’s see what we have…
Senua’s Saga: Hell Blade II
They didn’t actually announce anything. They just wanted to remind you that Microsoft owns Ninja Theory now and is looking promising. Here’s last year’s E3 trailer if you wanna know more on that. Fun fact, the song being chanted is a real European folk band called Heilung. XGP
Bright Memory Infinite
An FPS game with wallrunning and a grappling a hook, and that’s all you need to know. Okay maybe I should point out it looks absolutely awesome and was made by one person, Zeng Xiancheng. Check it out, great gameplay demo, albeit a short one. SD
Dirt 5
Dirt is the top dog of the rally racing game scene, and this one looks spectacular. There’s not much else to say. You have all the new features the other racing games are doing, various weather conditions and times that affect the tracks in different ways. Oh, also it has four player LOCAL multiplayer, that’s a novelty! WP SD
Scorn
This is a game that disgusted me so much I had to mentally bleach it from my brain. Then this presentation reminded me the game exists. It is genuinely too grotesque for me to play. Not much is really known about it gameplay-wise. XGP
CHORVS
It’s Starfox but with creepy cult scifi tones Lots of dark red and black contrasts with level design that reminds me of the Astral Plane from Astral Chain and Control. WP SD
MADDEN 21
Fuck off EA. WP
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
Thanks to the internet, this cult classic is finally getting the sequel fans have been craving. Appears to have the same game mechanics as the prior title, only better in some way. Can’t tell, the trailer is another pre-rendered cinematic. SD
Call of the Sea
This game appears to be a narrative experience game (AKA Walking Sim). It takes place on an island, has wonderfully rendered artistic graphics and… that’s it. The trailer was pretty vague. WP SD
The Ascent
A cyberpunk twin-stick shooter. Yeah that doesn’t really narrow it down. It’s very mech and exo-suit oriented. WP SD
The Medium
The latest horror game from Bloober Team, who overall have a good track record. They appear to be branching out, as they’ve brought AkiraYamaoka of the Silent Hill soundtracks, to do the sound and music for this one. WP XGPSD
Scarlet Nexus
What if I told you the next Platinum Games game has you playing as anime characters fighting living breathing ferocious house plants and gardening creatures? Well, it’s not Platinum, it’s Bandai Namco, and it looks dope. WP SD
Second Extinction
Presenting, the Turok/Dino Crisis spiritual successor that you never asked for. This game has dinosaurs, guns, and what appears to be 4 player co-op. WP SD
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
And now, the new Yakuza game that has been fixing to shake up the formula. From what we see in the trailer, it is still definitely a Yakuza game, but there are plenty of elements that make it unique. SD
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
In case you didn’t hear the hubub, Ubisoft said they were premiering the first “gamplay trailer” for the game. This was a lie. It most certainly contains in-game animations, but still has not shown anything representative of how the game actually plays. Either way, the trailer is still very cool and of course the graphics look amazing. SD
That’s it. I saved you some time, you’re welcome.
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