Outlast Review (Spoiler free) and Gameplay Videos

I’m someone who’s fairly new to the horror genre when it comes to games, and being a huge fan of scary films – I was desperate to find a game that could capture the same experience. Most people would agree that 'Amnesia' is the go-to game for horror, so I was rather sceptical about the potential of Outlast. But every game deserves a chance, and Outlast does not disappoint.

The game opens with the main protagonist, who is a journalist investigating the strange going-ons of an asylum known as Mount Massive (yes I did giggle at the name). Even standing outside the asylum with the thunder in the background, I felt extremely tense and yet eager to see what horror awaited me inside.

Outlast incorporates the fatal-frame notion of using a camera to look through. While you don’t need it to see the ‘monster’, you will need it for its night vision feature. However, the more you use it, the quicker the battery will deplete, potentially leaving you stumbling around in the dark with god-knows-what chasing you. Batteries are fairly easy to find though, perhaps making them more abundant would help to create a greater sense of panic.

Much of the gameplay is focused around completing objectives while staying out of the way of the frenzied inhabitants of the asylum. Along the way you collect confidential documents, which provide a small insight as to why they are set on cutting you into pieces. Although the story itself is not much to write home about, and probably won't be the reason you keep coming back to Outlast.

Perhaps the scariest element of the game is the fact that you can’t actually fight back. Although there are a number of objects which could potentially be brandished as weapons, your character seems to have an innate fear of confrontation and much prefers to hide away in lockers (or under beds, in toilet stalls, etc) instead.

The closest you will get to a battle is flinging the mouse around wildly if someone grabs you, or slamming a door in their face. Wondering around with only your camera to protect you, is a truly terrifying experience (the bits of body parts scattered around don't help much either). Although this is not a new concept in horror games, it is definitely one that works.

Aside from getting dangerously close to horror clichés (crazy people in an asylum doesn’t scream originality) and an overuse of jumpscares, Outlast is definitely a strong contender in the horror genre market. The game itself is fairly short (although that depends on how much time you spend cowering in lockers), but overall it is definitely worth a play through. And if you are as much of a scaredy-cat as I am, you will be in for a frightening experience.

If you want to see more, then you should watch my Let's Play series - videos are below.

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Scrolls Draft Format: Judgement

Out on the test server and hopefully coming to the Beta server towards the end of the month, is the new scrolls draft format Judgement. For those not aware, a draft game is where you will build a deck from a restricted card pool, which is (to a degree) chosen by yourself, from a few options and a smaller deck size. In the Scrolls draft you will be presented with four Scrolls of which you can choose one.  You can see the next groups of Scrolls for you to pick from, so you can attempt to plan ahead.

The challenge of playing draft is trying to make a strong deck from a limited card pool and restricted choices. Often you will find cards that are sub par in the standard constructed format of a TCG, are suddenly very strong in a limited format such as draft. An example of this in scrolls would be Charge Coil, perhaps not the greatest scroll in constructed rank play, but in draft format if you get enough of them down you will dominate the field. Something to be noted is in this format, you can have more than three copies of any scroll in your deck. So if you are lucky enough to get the picks, it's possible to have more than three copies of Charge Coil in a minimum 30 card deck! A scary prospect indeed.

A nice addition to the Scrolls draft UI, is the stats which will help you round out your deck and make sure you have plenty of creatures for the resource (or resources) you wish to play. This feature greatly assists in the drafting process,  as by no means is drafting easy (as Rastien found out in his draft game against Blinky).

Here is a video which demonstrates how Judgment works:

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Scrolls ESL Opening Cup

The first official tournament which Mojang have been involved in will be commencing this weekend, and we couldn’t be more excited ! After we both finished in top positions in the unofficial ScrollsGuide tournament, we are keen for more competitive play. You can sign up by going to the official ESL page here http://www.esl.eu/eu/scrolls/news/228445/ (and also have a sneaky peek at who’s already registered).

It seems that Decay splash Growth is still the predominant deck in Scrolls, however this may also prove useful to those who have attempted to make ‘anti’ Decay decks. Either way, most players will be playing around Puppet Solider + Nutrition, or playing it themselves. It will be interesting to see what decks players have come up with; original decks are always fun to play against. New scrolls have introduced on the test server, but they won’t be released before the ESL tournament begins, so everyone should be on equal footing in terms of available scrolls.

It would be surprising if the winner of the tournament wasn’t playing Decay, but we would be pleasantly surprised ! There are some top players signed up to the tournament, so winning will be no easy task. However, the top prize is well worth the struggle ! If you haven’t seen it yet, this is what you could win https://scrolls.com/2013/09/look-what-the-winner-of-the-esl-tourney-gets#more-3375. We will both be recording our tournament matches, and hopefully we won’t fail on the first match. I suspect a lot more people will be online this week, sorting out decks and getting some much needed practice.

Good luck to everyone who enters, and maybe we’ll see you in game !

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Gone Home Review

Gone Home is more of an interactive story than an actual game, but this shouldn’t stop you from enjoying this unique and refreshing experience. The opening of the game sets an unsettling mood; you are in control of Kaitlin Greenbriar who arrives home at night, in the middle of a thunderstorm. There is a note from your sister Sam on the door, who says she has gone away and that we are not to worry (which of course, has the opposite effect).

If you go into the game looking for an ‘Amnesia’ like experience, then you are going to be disappointed. Upon entering the gloomy house, my first steps were quite timid as I was rather expecting a sudden jump scare – but my fears were senseless. No matter what dark secrets I uncovered, or hidden passageways I descended down, the house remained silent.

But this sense of fear soon fades and you are then immersed into this unknown family’s world, with fragments of their lives scattered around like pieces of a jigsaw, just begging to be exposed. The house itself is a pleasure to explore, with so many interactive items you can inspect; although not all of them serve any actual purpose. However, there are some real gems amongst the dispersed objects, such as a piece of paper with Chun Li’s Street Fighter moves written on it.

While these items seem like junk at first, they do create the feeling that you are in a real house, occupied by real people with typical yet troubled lives. They also help to create a sense of the characters personalities, which is critical as they are physically absent for the duration of gameplay. This can be as subtle as a cinema ticket stubb, or as glaringly obvious as a hotel matchbox with a time on it.

The real backbone of the story comes in the form of snippets from Sam’s journal, which are played to you when you pick up a particular ‘trigger’ item. The voice acting of Sam’s character really brings her to life and creates a deeper understanding of her motives for leaving. The unraveling story does leave you feeling slightly dejected, but this is just part of the experience.

There is no right or wrong way to make your way through the main story, although if you plough right through it, the game is rather short. Your experience of the story is really what you make it, and even once you have come to ‘the end’ you can still continue to explore the house and perhaps uncover something which you missed earlier on. Although truthfully I did feel slightly empty at the abrupt ‘ending’ of the game, perhaps because I was hoping for something more sinister.

The £15.00 price tag is fair considering the attention to detail and the interactive-ness of the game, but those who want something a bit more fast-paced should stay clear. Overall, I would recommend Gone Home to more patient players who really enjoy sinking their teeth into a gripping story.

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Decay Pre-Constructed Tutorial

The week of Decay is finally upon us and Scrolls has now released its fourth resource. Many of us have been anticipating this moment for months, and those who don’t have access to the test server could only await it’s arrival. Player numbers soared during the release day, and it’s been great to see so many people getting back into the game.

As is the nature of TCG’s, it’s difficult to keep people engaged with the game and there is a pressure to keep releasing new scrolls. We hope that Decay will bring some much needed excitement among the community, as well as some new and challenging trials !

The artwork of the Decay scrolls is both creepy and beautiful. You should also take the time to read the Decay scrolls lore, my personal favourite is “Miasma Well: DO NOT DRINK”. Also, some of the creatures have been renamed since their appearance on the test server. ‘Lumbering Muckhead’ is now ‘Harvester’, and ‘Staggering Muckhead’ is now ‘Mire Shambler’.

As we have done a Tutorial for the original resources, we have also made one for Decay pre-constructed. We hope this video will help players get to grips with basic Decay gameplay strategies and combinations.

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Shiny new avatars!

On Thursday this week, both Rastien and Grumpcat of  hurrandurr.com were lucky enough to receive their very own hand drawn Scrolls avatars! The exceptionally talented Poi from Mojang was kind enough to create these amazing avatars below. She asked us which unit in scrolls we liked the most and she personified us into them! I have to say that her work is very impressive and we are delighted with the results. 

As we are part of the Scrollstream on Thursday nights at 8.30pm BST (http://www.twitch.tv/scrollstream), she has also made Seemescrollin his own avatar, as well as a beautiful splash screen for us! We cannot thank her enough for all this kind work.

Whilst you're viewing these amazing avatars, we would like to request you take the time to read Poi's go fund me page. She is trying to raise funds to pay for a friends operation, and it would be great if you could help her out. http://www.gofundme.com/helpnoelle.

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Scrolls Mono Order Ranked Matches

We know that everyone is keen to see some decent ranked matches, and so we have delivered ! Rastien takes on two serious contenders in some close games. His ranking is in the 1700s, and this will give you a real insight into the competitive nature of Scrolls.

 

 

 

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