Articles from GameswithDeath Article Feature Guide Impressions News Opinion Review Dec 10, 2025 Post Malone's Murder Circus Encore The Ringmaster Returns to the Bayou with New Features, Twitch Drops, and One Angry Bear Article 9 Mins by Death Dec 1, 2025 No, High-End Weapons Do NOT Need to be Buffed There's a lot Going on with the Weapons in ARC Raiders Article 6 Mins by Death Nov 17, 2025 Extraction Shooters are NOT Oversaturated Media Claims about Extraction Shooter Market Saturation are Grossly Inaccurate Article 6 Mins by Death Oct 27, 2025 100 Starter Tips & Strats For ARC Raiders Everything you Need to get Past the Initial Learning Curve Guide 30 Mins by Death Oct 9, 2025 THE EXPEDITION PROJECT REVEALED Embark Finally Details their Voluntary Wipe System for ARC Raiders News 4 Mins by Death Sep 23, 2025 Embark Drops Huge ARC Raiders News Preorders are Finally Available and Server Slam Announced News 1 Min by Death May 26, 2025 It Just ****in’ Works ARC Raiders carries the hopes of a stunted and underestimated genre Impressions 7 Mins by Death Nov 29, 2024 Immersive Playthrough Details All the Mods and Details for Death's Immersive CP2077 Run Feature 2 Mins by Death Apr 14, 2025 Death's Anime Watchlist 死のアニメ視聴リスト (This is Japanese!) Article 2 Mins by Death First Prev 1 Page 1 Next Last

Death's Article on Hunt: Showdown 1896: Post Malone's Murder Circus Encore "The Ringmaster Returns to the Bayou with New Features, Twitch Drops, and One Angry Bear" Dec 10, 2025 9 Mins by Death Post Malone’s Murder Circus Encore The Ringmaster Returns to the Bayou with New QOL Features, Mechanics, and One Angry Bear Post Malone returns to the Bayou with vengeance on his mind in the new winter event for Hunt: Showdown 1896 (2018). Update 2.6 also brings a plethora of UI and gameplay improvements, a new way to customize your in-game profile, and a holiday-themed Twitch Drops campaign with new legendaries. Here’s everything you need to know. The Murder Circus Saga continues: Post, the former Ringmaster (now “Disciple of Death”) and Giggles are back to continue where they left off after the events of last year's Circus visit. Ursa Mortis, the escaped two-headed circus bear, returns as well and has been reworked to be much more deadly than before. She adds more chaos to matches, with more health and damage, and the ability to smash through the circus fences when chasing players; she's also immune to explosive knockdowns, so Hunter should prepare for the fight of their life. Shredder Rework (Event-exclusive) The infamous Shredder is back after a significant rework, requiring more skill to use this time around: Saw blades no longer “smart bounce” toward players – bounces are now pure physics, requiring players to carefully place shots or flood an area with blades to incapacitate enemy hunters. The Shredder must be manually charged after every shot, making the rate of fire much slower. There is no auto-charge on equip; the weapon must be charged manually by pressing X on PC or Up on the D-pad on console. The blade now spins down over time and unequipping no longer stops the spin. The Shredder will keep spinning when stowed, so it can still be “primed” for a quick shot; but this carries the risk the spinning noise will give away the user. Blade projectiles no longer pierce multiple targets; instead sticking into bodies like bolts or arrows. Event Traits & Troupes The Troupes return, each with a unique Trait bought with Pledge Marks — Hunters can now pledge to as many Troupes as they can afford. The Knifethrower Troupe features the Blademancer trait for two pledge marks. Hunters can use Dark Sight to pull retrievable ammo in front of them back into their inventory, up to 100m away. The Mystic Troupe gives the Communion trait for one pledge mark. While in Dark Sight, hunters can temporarily lose 15 max HP to heal a teammate for 75 HP and cleanse statuses up to 25m away. The Trickshooter Troupe gives Crack Shot for one pledge mark. Hunters have less weapon sway and higher ironsight zoom for rifles and stock pistols. These effects do not apply to shotguns or sawed-off variants. The Strongman Troupe muscles in with the Bruiser trait for one pledge mark. This trait lower melee stamina costs and reduce aim punch when taking damage. Finally, the Ringmaster Troupe brings back Corpse Seer for two pledge marks. Hunters gain one second of Dark Sight Boost when looting downed enemy Hunters. There’s also a new High Striker booth: smack it with any melee weapons to earn Event Points; your score is shared across all High Strikers in the current mission. Player Customization Cards The new patch also brings customizable Player Profile Cards. Each card can show an avatar (Hunters, monsters, etc.), up to 3 badges (item mastery, progression), up to 3 stat trackers (kills with specific items/Hunters, bounty earned, etc. – mainly Bounty Hunt and Bounty Clash stats), a title (item mastery titles, nicknames, achievement tags), and a cosmetic frame. An example of the new customizable Player Profile Cards coming with Patch 2.6. Most of these are unlocked through regular play, Story Challenges, and events; while others can be purchased with Blood Bonds. Most stats start tracking from 2.6 onward, with only a few using historical data. Hunters will see player profile cards on the death screen, on the last mission screen, in the lobby (by clicking on their teammates), and during the pre-match sequence. Hunters can create their customizations in the reworked Career tab, alongside Story Challenges. Check out the official Crytek News post here for more details. Story Challenges Story Challenges are a new, chapter-based progression track that mixes lore and gameplay tasks; they are found on the updated Challenges screen, which now houses both Weekly and Story challenges. Each Story Challenge line is broken into Chapters, with rewards tied to completing individual challenges and entire chapters. Two storylines ship with 2.6: On the Winds of Midwinter is a Premium, time-limited three-chapter storyline. Rewards include: Krampus (Hunter), Hoof and Horn (Legendary Terminus skin), Clamor’s Carol (Charm), Profile items (avatar, frame, title), and Event Points, Hunt Dollars, Bloodline XP, etc. An Acquired Taste is a free, permanent three-chapter storyline. Rewards include: Tennessee Morgan as a returning tiered Hunter (Rookie / Survivor / Veteran), Profile items (avatar, title), and Hunt Dollars, Bloodline XP, etc. These are not the only Story Challenges hunters will see, as Crytek has stated they plan to expand on this feature in future updates. UI, Ping & Compass Rework The map screen has been significantly reworked; traits are now ordered by “last acquired”, and traits picked up mid-mission are marked; the map background is now semi-transparent for better situational awareness; new map art, icons, and boss target borders provide players with more clarity; a widget now tracks weekly and story challenge progress directly on the map. The ping system is now more detailed with more ping types per player. Pings now indicate what type of object is being pinged, including, healing, ammo, toolboxes, caches, money bags, trait charms, blueprints, barrels, traps, tools, weapons, animals, clues, and more. Standard markers last 15 seconds, danger pings 2 seconds, and trap pings 24 seconds. New contextual pings will clear up some of the "confusion" in these parts. Marker visibility got buffed too. All ping icons show on the compass, lined up with their world position. Markers fade slightly when you ADS. Lighting no longer alters ping colors, so they stay readable. The compass UI itself has been redesigned to handle multiple icons cleanly. Gameplay & Balance Changes There’s a new Doused status that interacts with water and fire. Hunters become Doused when moving through deep water, and stay that way for 15 seconds. While Doused, Hunters are harder to ignite, recover charcoaled HP faster, have louder, easier-to-track, wet-sounding footsteps. Water Bottles will instantly kill Immolators. Water Bottle is a new world item that spawns randomly in the world. Throwing it creates a big splash and applies the doused status to Hunters and Immolators. Water bottles put out most flames and burning Hunters; however, hitting an oil fire creates a bigger flame burst instead of extinguishing it. Water bottles can be shot on the ground to detonate the splash, but cannot be stored and will break if dropped. Changes to Traits, Healing & AI There are also several significant changes to traits, healing, and AI in this patch: Recovery Shots and the Relentless trait now restore HP chunks with 24 points of charcoaling, slowing their immediate benefits. Burn traits, like Relentless, Remedy, and Rampage, no longer stack; Hunters can only have one instance of each. Beetle cocoons can now spawn any Beetle variant, reversing a previous change. Immolators will become Doused in deep water, heavy rain, or from Water Bottles; while Doused, they can’t ignite, are slower, and take more damage. Hives now moves more slowly in water. The Assassin has had his HP reduced to bring its TTK in-line with the other bosses. Weapons & Meta There are several weapons and meta changes, that will impact play this patch: The Centennial Wildland's spread has been increased from 17.5 to 22.5, making it less effective at range. Rare Locked Weapon Boxes, containing a Wildland or Homestead, can now spawn at watchtowers; unlocking them costs 3 Pledge Marks. Silencer volumes, occlusion, interior gun tails, melee flybys, and more now have improved positional audio and clarity. Rich Presence is now available for Steam and Discord; players who opt-in can now show more details about their in-game status. New Player Onboarding has been streamlined. Several bugs have been fixed, but some persistent issues remain. See patch notes for complete details. Hunt Winter Twitch Drops Campaign Alongside Update 2.6, there’s a Twitch Drops campaign starting on December 12, 2025 – 15:00 UTC and ending on December 24, 2025 – 15:00 UTC. Viewers can earn rewards by watching any Hunt streams after linking their Hunt and Twitch accounts. For the first time, Crytek is providing a way for viewers to support their favorite Hunt streamer with Support-a-Streamer Rewards. Subbing to any Hunt streamer during the drops period will give the following reward bonuses: 1 subscription of any tier, gifted or direct, to any live Hunt channel awards the Hunt Twitch Chat Badge. 2 total subscriptions to one or multiple channels awards the Hunt Twitch Chat Badge and the Head Taker Legendary Hunter. Details for the Hunt Winter Twitch Drops Campaign. Viewers will also receive rewards for watching every hour, up to nine hours. Each successive hour watched gives the following rewards and a Supply Crate: 1st hour – a Random Charm. 2nd hour – a Random Avatar. 3rd hour – a Random Legendary Equipment Skin. 4th hour – a Random Sleigh Ride (Legendary Ranger 73 variant). 5th hour – a Random Legendary Hunter. 6th hour – another Random Charm. 7th hour – another Random Avatar. 8th hour – Random Legendary Equipment Skin. 9th hour – Random Death’s Caroler (Legendary Krag variant). Each Supply Crate contains one random Rifle, one random Pistol, one random Shotgun, one random Special Weapon, three random Tools and/or Consumables, and a random amount of Hunt Dollars. Random rewards take into account what legendaries a Hunter already owns; see Crytek's Twitch Drops page here for official details on how to link accounts and claim rewards. Conclusion In all, update 2.6 is a big one; the Murder Circus is back in town with a nastier Ursa Mortis and a more skill-based Shredder; profile Cards and Story Challenges give Hunters new ways to customize their appearance and something to grind for; ping, compass, onboarding, and audio all get meaningful quality-of-life passes; and the Winter Twitch Drops campaign has plenty of rewards for everyone involved, streamers and viewers. If you’re thinking of returning to the bayou, 2.6 has plenty of reasons to do so. I'll be streaming the drops everyday from 9 AM EST on at twitch.tv/GameswithDeath , so come by and join the murderous fun. Otherwise, I’ll see you on the other side, Hunters. [The audio version of this article was generated using machine-learning technology.] Hunt: Showdown 1896 2018 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 08:32 Link Copied! Post Malone's Murder Circus Encore The Ringmaster Returns to the Bayou with New Features, Twitch Drops, and One Angry Bear Article

Gaming Reviews, Guides, and Insights from GameswithDeath Post Malone's Murder Circus Encore The Ringmaster Returns to the Bayou with New Features, Twitch Drops, and One Angry Bear Article No, High-End Weapons Do NOT Need to be Buffed There's a lot Going on with the Weapons in ARC Raiders Article Extraction Shooters are NOT Oversaturated Media Claims about Extraction Shooter Market Saturation are Grossly Inaccurate Article 100 Starter Tips & Strats For ARC Raiders Everything you Need to get Past the Initial Learning Curve Guide Oct 9, 2025 THE EXPEDITION PROJECT REVEALED Embark Finally Details their Voluntary Wipe System for ARC Raiders News by Death 4 Mins Sep 23, 2025 Embark Drops Huge ARC Raiders News Preorders are Finally Available and Server Slam Announced News by Death 1 Min May 26, 2025 It Just ****in’ Works ARC Raiders carries the hopes of a stunted and underestimated genre Impressions by Death 7 Mins stream schedule Live on Twitch Hunt: Showdown 1896 w/ JonWright & Barittaneyyy Today, Dec 10, 2025, 9:00 AM UTC Hunt: Showdown 1896 ARC Raiders [SOLO] Tomorrow, Dec 11, 2025, 4:00 PM UTC ARC Raiders A Hunt Stream Will Happen... Dec 12, 2025, 9:00 AM UTC Hunt: Showdown 1896 An ARC Raiders Stream Will Happen... Dec 12, 2025, 4:00 PM UTC ARC Raiders Hunt w/ AngryTwitches & Davey Dec 13, 2025, 9:00 AM UTC Hunt: Showdown 1896

Death's News on ARC Raiders: Embark Drops Huge ARC Raiders News "Preorders are Finally Available and Server Slam Announced" Sep 23, 2025 1 Min by Death Update 23 Sep: According to an event posted in the official ARC Raiders Discord server, the Server Slam will be 50 hours in duration, starting at 9 AM EST on Friday 17 Oct and ending at Sunday 19 Oct at 11 AM EST. The Server Slam Event in the official ARC Raiders Discord Server. A lot of huge ARC R aiders news dropped today! The game is finally available for preorder on all platforms; the Standard Edition is $40 USD and the Deluxe Edition is $60 USD, with cosmetics and raider tokens being the only difference between them. Standard and Deluxe Editions comparisons. From the ARC Raiders Steam store page. Summary of the ARC Raider Preorder and Deluxe Edition bonuses. From the ARC Raider Steam store page The accompanying preorder trailer also teased at least two new ARC Enemies; the first looks to be a quadruped as tall as a human; the other is of indeterminate size as we only get a brief glimpse of a tank-like cannon turret. We got closer look at the walker arc see in the launch date trailer, which looks to be the same size or bigger than a bastion or bison. Terrifying stuff! Embark teases new ARC Enemies in the new Preorder Trailer. Embark also announced plans for a Server Slam shortly before launch from the 17th to 19th of October. The Server Slam will be on every platform and is open to everyone, no purchase required. Embark is also going to have a booth at TwitchCon San Diego this year. So while all the other streamers are lining up to play the game there, I’ll be streaming it on Twitch, ( twitch.tv/gameswithdeath ) so be sure to come and check it out. I definitely can’t wait to get back into the ARC Raiders world. October 30th can’t come quick enough. See you on the other side, Raiders. ARC Raiders 2025 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:06 Link Copied! Embark Drops Huge ARC Raiders News Preorders are Finally Available and Server Slam Announced News

Death's Article on : Death's Anime Watchlist "死のアニメ視聴リスト (This is Japanese!)" Apr 14, 2025 2 Mins by Death Until recently, Japanese anime existed only on the periphery of my entertainment world, with only very short excursions via a must-play video game or Studio Ghibli film. For the last two decades, I have engaged almost exclusively with only Western video games, comics, or movies. Anime and other media from Eastern sources have had little of my focus, despite their undeniable quality. Up until a few months ago, my literacy with anime was only enough for me to dodge an awkward conversation about Attack on Titan (2013) or Cowboy Bebop (1998) with someone who was really excited about it. Everything I knew about anime and manga was confined to the shallow education I received in the late 1990s and early 2000s, from anime like Akira (1988), Ghost in the Shell (1995), and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), and manga like Dominion (1985), Appleseed (1985), and Battle Angel Alita (1990). Movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell received my attention because of their adult subject matter, intricate plotlines, and striking visuals were just so diffrent from anything I was engaging with in the West. The dark ruminating subject matter fit my nihilistic Gen X world view, but it only got my attention when Western mainstream media got boring enough or The X-Files (1993) was out of season. This is not to say that there weren't opportunities to engage with anime. Among my friend group, a cohort of disenchanted, anti-establishment, SoCal punk rock fans who had no idea just how good they had it back then, it wasn’t uncommon to find anime DVDs alongside CD collections containing Nine Inch Nails , Bad Religion , NOFX , and Face to Face in our bedrooms and apartments. But beyond the few works above, I just never did. Any and all engagement I had with anime ended somewhere in the mid-2000s. During this time, anime’s advancement in the West was still being stifled by the 'aNiMaTioN iS fOr KiDs' stigma that has now mostly ebbed, thankfully. The only anime that really gained traction in the West were those actually aimed at kids like Sailor Moon (1992), Pokémon (1997), and Dragon Ball Z (1989); none of which appealed to me. As the last two decades or so passed, the situation drastically changed. I was sort of aware of anime’s growing influence during the 2010s by way of a lot more people in my orbit mentioning it, but I never fully comprehended how much it has absolutely taken over. With the exception of Japanese games like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015) or Dark Souls (2011), I have not engaged with entertainment from the East in any meaningful way at all. Until the pandemic, that was. During the COVID isolation, my entertainment consumption greatly increased. After exhausting the usual sources of Western media, I happened across Castlevania (2017). Castlevania is an American-produced animation series funded by Netflix and is based on the Japanese video game series of the same name. But since it is produced here in the West, you can't technically call it an anime. Castlevania 's art style was influenced by Ayami Kojima , the renowned artist of the Konami video game series. The thing that I found so compelling about Castlevania wasn't just its incredible art style, which I completely fell in love with, but I was facinated by the fact that this was an American animation product that was trying to be Japanese! Something had truly shifted in the world of entertainment and I had missed it. The Steady Rise in TV Anime Titles from 2000 to 2016, Peaking in Recent Years. [Note: There's a longer conversation that should be had about the implications of Japanese anime (and by extension Japanese culture) becoming mainstream in the West. The ascendance of Japanese cultural soft power as it has happened in the last ten years is incredibly interesting, but it is too broad a subject to discuss here. Another time, perhaps.] As the pandemic continued, I started watching more anime, this time directly from Japanese sources. I viewed Attack on Titan (2013), Cowboy Bebop (1998), and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022). In January 2025, I fully committed by purchasing a Crunchyroll subscription, giving me access to more anime than I could possibly watch in a lifetime. However, it seems I'm determined to try; since the start of 2025, the only streaming services I've used are Crunchyroll and the anime sections of Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max. While discussing my new anime obsession on stream with chat (you can view that VOD here ), we ended up creating a shared watchlist here . (It's also accessible via the main page menu bar under アニメ.) The watchlist is divided into four categories: reviewed, watched, on deck, and no interest. An anime is placed in the no interest list if it fails to capture my attention. I allow a series two episodes to make an impression. If it doesn't, that's the end of it. Sorry, not sorry. I am going to provide short reviews of all the anime that I have watched since the 1990s to now, which is surprisingly achievable since there are not a lot of them. I don't really have a goal for this project, but it should make for an interesting journey since I am really diving into a whole new world for the first time. I have also been inspired to learn Japanese from this as well... more on that later. Have your say or give me an additional watch recommendations in the comments below this article or come by twitch.tv/GameswithDeath to let me know what you think. Enjoy and see you on the other side.💀 N/A Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! Death's Anime Watchlist 死のアニメ視聴リスト (This is Japanese!) Article

Death's Guide on ARC Raiders: 100 Starter Tips & Strats For ARC Raiders "Everything you Need to get Past the Initial Learning Curve" Oct 27, 2025 30 Mins by Death 100 Starter Tips & Strats for ARC Raiders [UPDATE 28 Oct 2025: Updated to reflect the changes to the game as of the Server Slam. Any information is subject to change upon release and future updates.] This guide is based on the 100+ hours Death spent in the ARC Raiders Tech Test 2 and the Server Slam. Death also has 10K+ hours of experience in extraction shooters like Hunt: Showdown 1896 and Escape from Tarkov. Here are 100 tips & strats to get you started in ARC Raiders (2025). GENERAL What is ARC Raiders ? — ARC Raiders is a full-feature extraction shooter with a robust looting system, unique customizable weapons, and intense PvPvE combat. The game is set in an expansive, beautiful world in a distant post-apocalyptic future Earth. AI machines called ARC have wiped out most of humanity, and those that remain have been forced below the surface. You play as a raider from the underground colony of Speranza. You're sent to the surface to scavenge for any remaining supplies to keep the colony going. You'll need to avoid deadly ARC and other human raiders as desperate as you. Use any means necessary to secure the loot you need and extract. It's the ARC's world; we are just playing in it. What is the play loop for ARC Raiders ? —Put simply, you acquire loot and use that loot to acquire even more loot. As an extraction shooter, ARC Raiders accommodates many different play styles. You can play ARC Raiders in trios, duos, or solo. Whether you're looking to kill everyone on the map or stealth your way to riches, how you play is up to you. Playing extraction shooters —If all you've ever played are traditional shooters, extraction shooters can be a bit intimidating, at first. The PvPvE format and gear systems can be a big turn off for newer players. Overcome the learning curve by focusing on if you learn, rather than if you win. Consistent play will improve your skills. Extraction shooters aren’t for everyone, and that’s okay. Don’t force yourself to play something you don’t want to . However, if you want to try the sub-genre, ARC Raiders is a great game to start with. Progression in ARC Raiders —Progression in extraction shooters isn't linear. Leveling, trader quest lines, the skill tree, raider decks are all ways to progress in ARC Raiders . However you define it, building a reliable stash value is an essential component of progression. Extracting is profitable —Apparently extracting in an extraction shooter is a great way to make money. Traders are expensive. Use them in your workshop to augment your loadouts, but remember that extracting is your primary source of wealth and resources. Raider den —Your raider's living space, or raider den, will visually change as you acquire more stash value, gaining more amenities and luxuries. I wonder how far this goes? Your Raider Den gets more luxuries as you build your Stash value. Feats —Feats are challenges which reward Cred, the currency used to level up your Raider Deck, the game’s version of a battle pass. The Raider Deck contains in-game rewards like weapon attachments and cosmetics. You can see available feats in-raid under the Feats tab, or in the top left of the lobby screen. Also, your friends' actions count towards your feats, so work together to finish them quickly. Projects —Project are timed special events that award exclusive cosmetics for those who complete them. The first project in ARC Raiders is the Expedition Project, the game's take on character progression resets, or wipes, similar to what you would find in Escape from Tarkov (2025). Raiders contribute resources to projects over time. Projects are then finalized by a specific date, and then raiders receive their rewards. The timeline for the Expedition Project, ARC Raiders' take on progression wipes. Leveling —Earning XP allows you to level up, which awards you skill points for enabling new skills in the skill tree. You earn XP for almost any action you take in a raid, including scavenging. Search every container and body you find to maximize the XP you earn in a raid. Searching raider bodies awards just as much for downing them. You still earn XP for searching containers your teammates have searched. The skill tree —The skill tree is extremely important. It provides critical buffs to your character's mobility, carrying capacity, survivability, and more. Leveling up the right skills early on can make a big difference in the long run. MOVEMENT Always keep moving —As with all shooters, standing still will get you killed. Move randomly in the four cardinal directions, forward, back, left, and right if you're unaware of the enemy's location. Only stand still if you're in cover or absolutely sure if no one can get an easy headshot on you. Some decisions are better than others. Be ready to adapt. Move faster on ladders —You can climb and descend ladders faster with the shift button. Climbing faster will consume stamina. Descending faster consumes no stamina. Run faster while unarmed —Putting your weapon away allows you to run faster. Stow your guns to zoom in and out of the action. Use this ability to make your rotations faster, but be careful not to run into enemies unarmed. Sliding —The slide mechanic is great for moving down hills fast and coming around corners while shooting, but slides cannot be canceled. You can dodge roll out of a slide, but the inertia-based movement system in ARC Raiders prevents you from stopping in your tracks. Use caution or you may slide into difficult situations. Use caution or you may slide into difficult situations. Environmental Ziplines —You’ll find Ziplines all over the world of ARC Raiders . Use them to get to high ground or enter high-value loot areas. Be careful on Ziplines around teammates. They can easily get knocked off and fall to their death. Yes, I find this hilarious as well. Extracting while downed —You can still activate the extract if you're in a downed state. Also, the animation is pure cinema. Never ever give up. Prioritize stamina skills —Being able to move faster and further than your enemy is a huge advantage in ARC Raiders . Prioritize maxing out youthful lungs and marathon runner first in the mobility branch of the skill tree. If you are having stamina issues, see your doctor or the Skill Tree. Conserve stamina —Even if you max out all stamina skills in the skill tree, take care not to drain your stamina bar, especially in danger areas like open fields and roads. Running out of stamina when in the sight of ARC or other players is usually a death sentence. Always be thinking of escape routes and save enough stamina to use them. Nimble climber —Nimble climber allows you to climb walls and vault railings faster. Max out this skill early and use it to survive dangerous situations. Simultaneous actions —Unlike some other games, ARC Raiders is able to walk and chew gum at the same time. You can perform most actions even if your teammate is interacting with you. For example, if your partner is downed and they're activating the extract, you can revive them at the same time. OPERATIONS Vision during daytime —Seeing into buildings is easier than seeing out during the day. Use cover near windows to avoid being spotted by enemies outside that you cannot see. Get closer to windows to improve your vision. The world of ARC Raiders is intricate, beautiful, and worth exploring. Explore the maps —You naturally learn the world of ARC Raiders as you play, but being more familiar with your surroundings than your enemy is a huge advantage. Explore unfamiliar areas when you have time and look for unlikely flanking routes or firing positions in the high ground. Use them to surprise your foes the next time you're in the area. Solo play —As a solo, the odds are stacked against you. Do what it takes to win. Finish-off downed opponents, disengage for better positioning, third-party fights, or use stealth and deception to ambush enemies from the shadows. Use proximity chat to gain your enemy’s trust and sink a dagger in when the opportunity presents itself. It is just you against the world, so do whatever is necessary to secure victory. The solo life is a dangerous and lonely one in ARC Raiders . Have a backup plan —Mike Tyson once said, "Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth." Set secondary goals to accomplish in raid in case your primary goal cannot be completed. This allows you to get something out of a raid even if it all goes to hell, which it probably will. Teams spawn in waves —Not all players spawn at the same time. Teams enter raids in successive waves at timed intervals. Keep this in mind, since you may have fresh teams arriving at the worst possible time. Spawning early means you can loot high-value areas first, but you will have to fight your way out to the extract. Spawning late means you may miss some of the best loot, but you're more likely to survive. Note the time at the beginning of your raid. dapt to the changing situation —Exercise sound judgment and fire discipline when in contact with the enemy. Hold fire if raiders would have the advantage on you or a member of your team is not combat operational. Use decisive violence of action to gain the initiative and be ruthless maintaining it. Knowing how to act takes time and practice, so value your losses and the lessons they contain. Balance risk and reward —You don't have to kill everything in a raid to make a profit. Yes, the dopamine flows when the bodies start dropping, but extracting with a valuable quest item or a rare weapon will serve you better in the long term. Learn to recognize when it's time to take risks or cut your losses. Cover and concealment —Cover blocks vision and fire. Concealment only blocks vision. Know the difference. Fire into suspect concealed positions to root out enemies. Use grenades on suspected positions of cover. Avoid engaging the enemy without adequate cover. Do not fall for the false sense of security that concealment offers. Aim —Obviously, aim is a fundamental skill in shooters like ARC Raiders. Even if you're a God-tier strategic genius who could out-flank Sun Tzu himself, at some point, you will need to shoot the enemy before they shoot you. Aim is a function of reaction time, accuracy, and volume. Work on improving your aim, even if you feel confident about it. Use aim trainers like Aim Labs or even websites like aimtrainer.io . Warm up in the shooting range before your first raid of a session. Make sure that you have a light mouse and a wide desktop area to use it on. Do your research on the best settings for your equipment and setups. Fire positions —The surest way to get downed by your enemy is to keep using the same fire position over and over. Use a fire position once, then move on. Avoid using a fire position that your teammate just used. Only reuse a fire position if enough time has passed or the tactical situation leaves you no other options. Never hold angles in ADS —Holding angles in third person differs from first person. In third person, awareness is more important than beating the enemy to the shot. To effectively hold an angle, stay behind cover, keep your weapon down and reticle in line with where you suspect the enemy to be. When your opponent peeks, move out and take the shot. Corners can block your weapon in ADS if you're not careful. Give yourself time to master this skill if you usually play FPS games. Quick swapping —Switch to your secondary weapon instead of automatically reloading while in close contact with the enemy. Quick swapping allows you to maintain pressure in a fight while reloading gives your enemy a chance to respond. When it's time to reload, find cover and reload your weapons fully. Swapping to your secondary weapon helps you maintain the pressure. If you're an OG Hunt Showdown degenerate like myself, you can map the ‘Q-key’ to next weapon and leave previous weapon empty. Now you can quick swap back and forth like it's 1.3 all over again. Always be rotating aggressively —Seeing around corners in third person perspective allows you to catch enemy raiders off-guard if you position correctly. Inexperienced players tend to hold position when they become aware of an enemy's location. Avoid tunneling on a specific location and aggressively rotate to find new arcs of fire. Never stay in one area too long, or you risk being slowly cut off from other fire positions. Grenade corners before pushing —Third person view allows players to see around and over cover without exposing themselves. Make sure to grenade areas where you suspect enemies to be before pushing to avoid being caught in the open. Avoid danger areas —A danger area is any area that could expose your team to effective enemy fire without cover. Rivers, roads, doors, windows, hallways, and more are examples of danger areas. Coordinate with your team to provide covering fire when crossing danger areas to minimize the risk of a teammate being downed in the open. Team spacing —Maintain distance in open areas. This provides awareness of enemy actions over a greater range and lessens the effectiveness of weapons like grenades and machine guns. Keep closer in buildings. This will allow you to concentrate fire and support your teammates faster. But, never stay too close for too long, as a single grenade could take out your entire team. Always try to keep your teammates in view, no matter the terrain. Stay with your team —Nothing can hinder a team more than someone getting downed while out of position. It's important to take risks, but there's only so much you can do to detect an enemy ambush. If you're unaware of the enemy's location, use caution and stay with your team. Move as a team to concentrate firepower and overcome your foes. Sound traps —Everything in ARC Raiders is designed to make noise and draw attention to players in the environment. Simple things like opening containers, being spotted by security cameras, or going through metal detectors, is intended to alert enemies to your location. Enemy raiders and ARC in your vicinity will investigate sounds they hear. Learn to move quietly and avoid detection. Use what you know to detect enemies near you. Even simple tasks like opening a crate can give your position away. CRAFTING Recycling & salvaging —Right-click an item to recycle or salvage it. Use the materials you get from recycling and salvaging to craft other items in your workshop. You can also salvage items in-raid to condense your inventory. The Workshop —Buying from traders can be expensive. Level up the crafting benches in your workshop to craft items for cheap with the recipes you find in-game. Prioritize the weapons bench for access to better weapons and weapon attachments. Use the basic bench to craft basic healing items like shield chargers and light shields. Unlock the refiner and always ensure that it is crafting valuable items or crafting components before starting a raid. Vendors are very expensive and unfriendly. In-round crafting traits —ARC Raiders was initially developed as a survival game, and some of that DNA has stuck around. There are two traits in the survival branch of the skill tree that allow you to craft items in-raid. In-round crafting gives you the ability to field craft items, while traveling tinkerer unlocks additional items for crafting later on. Use these to augment your free loadout runs and help your team's chances of survival. Tracked recipes —You can track recipes from the workshop to help you find specific items while in raid. The recipes you are tracking are listed on the map below your current quests. You will receive a notification when you loot enough of an item. Items you are tracking will have an eye-icon in the top right-hand corner, as well. Refer to your tracked recipes in game to help you progress your workshop and crafting. Salvaging in raid —You can right-click on items to salvage them for basic crafting components in raid. Do this to save inventory space or deny enemies powerful weapons that you cannot extract with. Carrying capacity —Salvage weapons to free up carrying capacity. Weapons weigh a lot. With basic raider augments, you're limited to about two weapons before you become over-encumbered. Salvage low-tier weapons to free up your carrying capacity. ARC Power Cells and Fabric —Always fill excess slots in your inventory with ARC Power Cells and Fabric as you find them. ARC Power cells can be used to refill shields and will fill 20 charges, which is half of a light shield. If you or your teammate have in-round crafting, you can use the Fabric to make bandages. Fabric restores a small amount of health on its own. RESOURCES Traders —Traders specialize in things like security or selling guns, but two are especially important early game, Celeste and Lance : Celeste will trade basic crafting materials for seeds, smoothing out your crafting requirements. Seeds are light and can be easily salvaged from plants in raid. Use them to get the materials you need, like metal parts, which you will need a lot of. Lance will upgrade free loadout augments into uncommon augments. Bring him any you find to get the Combat Mark I, the Looter Mark I, or the Tactical Mark I. Selling items in your stash.* *Current as of the Server Slam. There are more higher rarity augments to come. Quick selling —Right-click on an item and select sell. No need to visit the traders to look for the best sale price either. Easy. Rarity & value —Higher rarity does not always mean more valuable. Items that stack are sometimes more valuable than higher rarity items that don't. Assess value based on sale price, not the color of the item. Rare isn't always better, do the math before picking up some items. Memorize sale prices —Right-click on things in your inventory and practice memorizing their value between raids. This will help you make faster decisions about what to loot. Memorizing is faster, but if you forget the sale price of an item, your inventory's value is listed next to your raider augment slot. Watch this value change as you pick up or drop an item. Comparing item value —Use sale price and weight to assess the value of an item. Lightweight items that stack are worth more than expensive items that are heavy. If you want to maximize loot during a raid, pay attention to the sale price per kilogram of an item. For example, an Accordion is only worth 667 credits per kilogram, while a full sack of ARC Alloy is worth 1,000 credits per kilogram. Choose accordingly. You can only carry so much, may as well take the most valuable. Max out your Stash early —There are hundreds of items in ARC Raiders , upgrade your stash early will help you sort through them as the come in. Keep your inventory small and diverse —Keep at least one stack of each unique item on hand unless you're certain something is not needed for a quest or crafting. Sell items you have no immediate need for. Scrappy, the Rooster —Scrappy is your pet rooster who ‘secures’ items for you while you are away on the surface. Scrappy does his work while you're online and in a raid, not while you're offline. Level him up early, and don't forget to tell him he's a good boy. Scrappy, the noble rooster and friend. Claim Scrappy's loot —Scrappy works hard for you, but the items he brings you have a limit. Be sure to collect them before your next raid if you're nearing capacity. Use the legend on the map —If you're looking for a particular type of item, the in-raid map can tell you where to find it. Loot has a designated type, like commercial, technological, industrial, and more. The corresponding icons are listed on the map. Go to these locations to find what you need. Hidden raider caches —There’s hidden loot all over the map if you know what to look for. You can find hidden raider caches by looking for the interaction prompt that appears when you get close. The caches also emit a ticking sound during a special event. Loot them fast, or, well… I'll let you figure that out. Field Crates contain valuable loot if you can open them. Field Crates & Field Depots —Field Crates you find on the map can be opened at nearby Field Depots. If you're close by a Field Depot, you'll see the symbol for it on your map. Read th e tooltips —It may seem obvious, but a lot of players miss vital information right in front of them. The tooltips in ARC Raiders are very detailed and tell you what an item is and what it can be used for. If you don't know what to do with an item, look in the tooltip and save yourself some time. Inventory status icon —It’s not always necessary to open your inventory to see if it's full. Picking up an item activates an indicator under your reticle, showing you the status of your inventory. Empty slots have nothing in them. Gray slots have a stackable item with more room. White slots are completely full. Blinking slots indicate where the item you just picked up was placed. Learn to read this indicator to spend less time in your inventory menu and more time scanning for enemies. EQUIPMENT Loadouts are unrestricted —There’s no restriction on the type of weapons or equipment you can take with you into a raid. You can even take backup equipment. Having a full shield in reserve or another weapon can give you the initiative in a fight. Unfortunately, this is incredibly expensive and leaves little room for the loot that you find. Use with caution. Use your flashlight —Thanks to the glory that is Unreal Engine 5, bright and dark areas in ARC Raiders can greatly obscure your vision. Some areas and buildings are incredibly dark, so use your flashlight to illuminate campers sitting in corners with shotguns. Always carry at least a light shield —Light shields have no movement reduction, and they're relatively cheap to craft. You can also equip them without having to have a raid or augment. Always carry Ziplines —Use Ziplines to flank unsuspecting enemies in high ground or create escape options when backed into a corner. Always try to carry at least one. Ziplines cannot be recovered once placed, meaning enemies can use them to counter-flank if you don't cover them with mines or observation. Carrying a spare barricade also provides some creative solutions to this problem. Always heal first —In ARC Raiders, shields mitigate damage. They're not an extra health bar. It is possible to be downed with shields remaining, so your health is more important than your shields. Always heal first before refilling your shields. "I'm just gonna take a nap right here. This is fine." Keep meds in safe pockets —Meds and shield chargers can be expensive, especially in the early game. Keep these in your safe pockets until you find more valuable items to replace them with. Shield movement reduction —Some shields reduce your movement speed. Heavy shields reduce your movement speed by 15%. Medium shields reduce it by 5%. Light shields have no movement speed reduction. Shields give protection to the detriment of movement speed. Raider augments —There are four basic types of raider augments, looting, combat, tactical, and free loadout augments. Each of these varies in the type of shield that you can equip, the number of quick use slots, and their weight limits. You cannot swap raider augments while in a raid. Raider augments must be equipped and unequipped in the lobby. If you find a raider augment that's better than the one you have, you must extract with it to use it next time. Consuming items in raid —Food like Expired Pasta can be consumed for a small amount of health. Fruit like Lemons can be consumed for a small amount of stamina. And items like ARC Power Cells can be used to charge your shields if you find yourself in a desperate situation. Gain access to locked areas —If it's locked up, it's probably valuable. Use key cards to open doors to high-value loot areas or enter by other… ‘methods.’ Raider keys —Raider Keys are very valuable items. They allow you to extract from raider hatches, which are much faster and less risky than normal extracts. Carry one in your safe pockets whenever you deploy with valuable loot. Raider Hatches only open for a short time, so enter immediately to avoid being left behind. These keys are extremely valuable. WEAPONS Low-tier weapon proficiency —Being effective with low-tier weapons will help you immensely in the early game when you're getting your stash built up. Find a cheap gun that fits your play style and learn to love using it. Rely on it like an old friend when the going gets tough. Lower tier guns may be outmatched against higher tier weapons, but they will still down players if you maneuver correctly and hit your shots. Upgrade your weapons —You can use crafting materials to improve your weapons and get more power from them. Upgrade them if you can afford it. Level IV low-tier weapons are highly effective against most enemies. Upgrade them when you can. Ammunition —Take a lot of ammo. You're useless without ammo. Try and fill the first row of your loadout's inventory with just ammo. Always fill excess slots in your inventory with ammunition you find in raid. There's no excuse for running out of ammo. The right ammo is key when dealing with the ARC threat. Pool your ammo reserve —Carrying weapons that use the same type of ammo allows you to pool the ammo reserve, giving you more flexibility in a fight. If you take weapons of a different ammo type, like a rifle and a shotgun, make sure you take enough ammo for both so that you don't run out. Durability —Weapons and shields deteriorate with use or when damaged. Make sure you repair your equipment regularly or it will fail to function in raid. Upgrade items to reduce their durability wear when possible. The practice range —The practice range is a great place to experiment with the game's mechanics before you go into a raid. Items or weapons you use in the range will not be consumed or lose durability. There are practice dummies you can beat up on to your heart's content. Basic weapons, attachments, and equipment are available in the range for you to experiment with. Weapon ballistics —Generally, the travel time and bullet drop for the weapons in ARC Raiders is not too punishing. It is noticeable enough to require your attention, however, especially at long range. Use the practice range to get a feel for each weapon when you have time. Adopt a custom crosshairs that allows you to gage these factors on distant or moving targets. Camera swapping —Third person places the camera behind your character above their shoulder. Make sure to swap from left to right as needed to avoid overexposing your body to the enemy. Map this ability to a button you can always press and let it become second nature like crouching, jumping, or sprinting. No friendly fire —Tragically, there is no friendly fire in ARC Raider s. You must find other methods to kill your teammates. Yes, I am very sad about this as well. Melee when possible —Your Raider's hammer is a versatile tool that allows you to travel on Ziplines, breach doors, and open containers. Use it to maintain stealth and save ammo by killing small ARC within reach and disabling sou nd traps. When all else fails, pull out your hammer and charge at your foes. It takes several swings to down an enemy raider with a hammer, but it's exceedingly rewarding when you can pull it off. Put skill points into sky clearing swing and fly swatter in the skill tree to increase your melee damage on drones and turrets. COMMS Communicate quickly & effectively —Hearing the audio in fights is vital, so keep comms as clear as possible. Do not unnecessarily backseat your teammates or offer complaints and excuses. Communicating while downed —When you're downed, your primary objective is to remain silent and find a safe location where you can be revived. Only communicate with your team to convey crucial information that they absolutely need to know. Once you've reached a safe area, observe potential flanking routes. If the tactical situation allows, eliminate downed opposing players who are reporting on you to their team. Use proximity chat —Spontaneous organic interactions with other players are some of the most memorable moments you can have in gaming. Use proximity chat to your advantage. Form ad hoc teams in the heat of battle, or take pressure off your team by getting enemy teams to fight one another. Disable proximity chat if it becomes a distraction to your gameplay. Mute overly toxic people immediately and never become toxic yourself. Enemy callouts —If you spot an enemy, ping their location and communicate the following to your teammates. Description of the enemy, direction and method of travel, weapons, probable intentions, and your actions and recommendations. Here's an example of a good call out: Enemy callouts convey crucial information in a timely manner. Not all of the above information may be necessary, especially if time is short. Use your judgment. Good call outs take practice, so give yourself time to become proficient. The ping system —You can ping pretty much everything in ARC Raiders . Your character will give a contextual voice line when you ping almost anything while in a raid. You can ping items in the world, consumables, weapons, ARC, buildings, other raiders. You can ping items in your inventory. You can even ping empty slots in your inventory by right clicking on them. Ping other pings to confirm that a ping, your teammate is pinged, has been pinged. Use the ping wheel to provide more context to your pings. The ping system in ARC Raiders is robust and detailed. SETTINGS Sort out your settings —Get comfortable with your settings in the practice range to avoid distractions in your first raid. Make sure your sensitivities are set for your mouse, remap your key binds as desired. Controller players, you're on your own on this one. Get your setting sorted before you start raiding. Custom crosshairs —You can customize your crosshairs in the settings menu. I use a bright green dot with a black outline. The human eye can see more variations of green than any other color, so bright green makes it less likely that I'll lose my reticle in visual noise like foliage. Maximize your field of vision (FOV) —Awareness in combat is essential. Widen your FOV to see more of the battlefield and find enemies in your peripheral vision. Quick use hotkeys — ARC Raiders uses a hybrid of a selection wheel and hot keys for your consumables. To use a consumable quickly, press your quick slot use key and then the corresponding number from three to six. You can always select the last item you used quickly by pressing on your quick slot key once. Hopefully, we get the option to remap these keys in a future patch. ARC ENEMIES Deal with ARC or it will deal with you —ARC should never be underestimated. Before starting any engagement, take a moment to assess the ARC threat first. If possible, quietly eliminate ARC in the area so that they don't become an issue during a fight. Some ARC are more deadly than opposing players. Never take them for granted. ARC will call for reinforcements —Deal with ARC quickly to avoid being overrun. If you're spotted by a snitch, you only have a few seconds to destroy it before it drops ARC on your location. Never linger in an area too long after engaging ARC. ARC has a tendency to swarm and can easily overwhelm your team. Cut off their limbs —ARC enemies are intricately designed, and use physics for their mobility. Destroying a limb or a thruster will be destabilize them for a short period of time, giving you the opportunity to deal damage to the main body. ARC are terrifying and deadly, just how we like it. ARC deaggro while downed —ARC enemies are mean and powerful, but they seem to be nice enough to stop attacking if you go into a down state. They will attack teammates coming to revive you, however. Use caution when assisting downed allies. ARC armor —Ammo varies in its effectiveness against ARC armor. Light ammo is the least effective, while energy ammo is the best. Always have a way to deal with ARC or you risk being overrun. No matter your primary weapon, carrying a heavy ammo secondary, like an anvil, isn't a bad idea. Fear —Games like ARC Raiders are designed from the ground up to make you feel fear and ramp up the tension. Focus on relaxing in tense situations, more than on whether you win or lose. Over time, this will give you more control over your actions in fights. Control your fear, but don't get rid of it entirely; fear can be fun, even addictive. The excitement that accompanies fear is why most people play extraction shooters in the first place. MINDSET Gear fear —Among the worst types of fear is gear fear. Having good gear gives you an advantage, but valuing it too much creates a mental block known as gear fear. Gear fear will hinder your performance, so don't reinforce this behavior by hoarding your good equipment. Try to take in your best gear on a regular basis. This will make you more effective when using it, but most importantly, you'll be accustomed to losing it. All of your gear is borrowed. Get the most utility out of it while you can, then pass it along to the next person. In the long run, overcoming your gear fear will enhance your progression and profitability. That Torrente in your inventory needs to go for a walk every so often. Get over losing quickly —The odds are stacked against you in ARC Raiders , so don't exaggerate losses. When you lose, try to learn from it and move on quickly. Dwelling on a loss distracts your focus from the things you can control, like doing better next raid. Never criticize your teammates —Literally, the whole world is against you in ARC Raiders . You're gonna lose at some point. Blaming anyone for a loss is a waste of time. Most people tend to be hard on themselves. Reminding people of their mistakes is destructive to teams and friendships. If you lose, say, "Good try," and move on. Accept that you will die, often — ARC Raiders is a hard game. You can do everything right and still lose. You'll be fighting lots of enemies, deadly ARC, and even your own incompetence at times. Don't sweat it if you don't extract a lot when starting out. The game is designed to be difficult and punishing. Focus on getting better, having fun, and as your skills develop, the wins will come. Enjoy this ride — ARC Raiders is potentially the best extraction shooter we will ever have. Play at your own pace and enjoy this game without worrying about stats or rankings. It's not a race, and rushing through the content will only frustrate you in the end. Savor this experience. This is a fun one. The real fun is the friends we made along the way. These tips should be enough to get you started in ARC Raiders, but ultimately how you play the game is entirely up to you. Don’t take anything here too seriously; it’s more important that you play in a way which is the most fun for you. Remember to check out the full length video version of this guide on YouTube. Good luck and I’ll see you on the other side, Raiders. ARC Raiders 2025 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 31:45 Link Copied! 100 Starter Tips & Strats For ARC Raiders Everything you Need to get Past the Initial Learning Curve Guide

Death's Review on Black Myth: Wukong: BMWK Attains Enlightenment "Incredible Boss Fights Make Up for a Narrative Designed with a Specific Audience in Mind. " Sep 17, 2024 15 Mins by Death After years of anticipation, Black Myth: Wukong (2024) was finally released in August 2024. On its first full day, BMWK reached a staggering 2.4 million concurrent players on Steam, with a reported gross revenue of $850 million at time of writing. This was the second-highest concurrent player count ever recorded, with Counter-Strike 2 (2023) retaining the top spot. By all accounts, this is a remarkable feat, especially for single-player games. Undoubtedly, one of the most significant reasons for this success is the game’s source material, the beloved Chinese fable Journey to the West . it's obvious that this is a work of deep cultural and artistic meaning to these developers. It is hard to overstate the role of Journey to the West in Chinese culture. From an early age, Chinese children fantasized about the stories of Sun Wukong, the fabled Monkey King, who arose from a stone and went on a series of incredible adventures, even attaining immortality. The myths act as a cultural touchstone in Chinese culture and are comparable to the works of Shakespeare or Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the West. At its heart, BMWK is an action game with an easy-to-understand but hard-to-master combat system and incredible visuals, thanks to Unreal Engine 5. BMWK is heavily influenced by games like God of War (2005) and Elden Ring (2023) and shares many of the same features with these games, like drawing on mythology for its narrative, the bonfire system, and punishing epic boss fights. The bosses of Black Myth: Wukong (2024) are truly something to behold. Despite the apparent influence of these games, BMWK still finds a way to create its own identity and is a strong contender for Game-of-the-Year on its own merits. But, as impressive as BMWK is, issues like an inaccessible narrative, questionable world design, and a poorly implemented camera keep it from achieving greatness. BMWK is a game that unapologetically assumes that the player knows Journey to the West intimately and relies heavily on this knowledge to build out the world. Knowing or not knowing these stories makes the difference between following the narrative or experiencing the disorientation of something like Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland . BMWK ’s narrative is grand and incredible, but it is intended for insiders familiar with its traditions; this game is not made for a Western audience despite being fully translated to English and heavily marketed in the West. Everything is strange and wonderful; it also makes no sense. Before playing this game, I highly recommend that players familiarize themselves with Journey to the West to maximize their enjoyment of the game. It is disappointing that Game Science hid the narrative this way; it’s like making a movie and telling the audience they should bring the book to the theater so they can understand the plot. There are themes of redemption, forgiveness, and self-awareness that arise from what I can understand, and I am interested in reading the stories myself. Still, not putting the actual tale of Wukong in the game seems like a missed opportunity. Whether you find the narrative enlightening or nonsensical, depending on your perspective, graphically, BMWK is one of the most beautiful games ever created and is a visual triumph. Every asset is beautifully crafted, and each area is stunningly detailed. The power of Unreal Engine 5 is very much on display in BMWK . I have never seen a game with graphical fidelity, detail, and jaw-dropping visuals like I saw in BMWK . During my playthrough, I must have stopped at least thirty times to marvel at the scene around me, even taking the odd screenshot in photo mode. Visuals to drool over. Unfortunately, as beautiful as this world is, it is empty. Between the boss battles, there is nothing to do except collect herbs, open chests, or wander aimlessly through the game’s all-to-frequent empty spaces. I encountered many beautiful yet dead areas that seemed to serve no purpose. After a while, moving through BMWK ’s world becomes tedious. The lack of an in-game map doesn’t help, and the game forces the player to navigate by memory. The verticality and similar visuals in many areas make getting lost frustratingly easy. In a later chapter, I received a cloud to fly on, and I was excited that my navigation frustrations were finally over. But, it is only usable in a single specific area. After about ten minutes of flying, I found only a few scattered bosses and many more empty spaces. Cloud flying quickly became a chore since I was again in these vast areas with little to do but slowly fly through them on my cloud. I appreciate the developer’s attempt to immerse the player and avoid an Ubisoft-like in-game map and icon system. Still, I was often frustrated by the lack of things to do or a direction to head in. Navigation was a definite low-lite of my playthrough. At least, it's a dry heat. Compared to a game like Elden Ring (2022), BMWK ’s world design sadly feels shallow and confined. In Elden Ring , every space serves a purpose or has a reason for the player to be there and a way to access it; you can go anywhere you see if you find your way to it. BMWK , however, is filled with invisible walls—a relic I thought games had ditched decades ago. Throughout my playthrough, I walked towards areas that seemed accessible, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier. Eventually, I gave up trying to explore off the beaten path, likely causing me to miss some of the game's secrets. Similar to Destiny (2014) at its release, BMWK tries to compensate for the world's lack of purpose with beautiful visuals. While the scenery is stunning, players will quickly become bored without any reason to be there. Much of the game’s world feels like it could be cut without losing anything meaningful—less is more, as the saying goes. More isn't always better, even when it is this beautiful. The levels also seem designed without enemy encounters in mind. Some areas are so large that the enemy population density was sparse, and their placement felt like they were just there as filler. One area was more reminiscent of 90’s MMOs than a modern triple-A action game; enemies were wandering around in plain sight, evenly spaced apart, with little thought to making the encounters unique. Regular enemy encounters were mainly bland compared to the boss fights, and I spent more time skipping them than engaging with them. Rendering this world, as empty as it was, was not an issue. I had no problems getting BMWK running on my primary gaming PC, with an Nvidia 4090 and 64 GB of RAM. With all settings on cinematic, ray tracing off, and DLSS enabled, the game ran smoothly at around 130 FPS with stunning visuals. DLSS introduces some blurriness for distant objects, which did not detract from my enjoyment; BMWK isn’t a competitive FPS where details at a distance matter. I strongly recommend avoiding ray tracing. It adds to the visual fidelity but eats up a lot of resources, even on high-end PCs. I experienced severe stutters during fights with ray tracing enabled, which got me killed more than a few times. The simulated lighting looks excellent anyway, so you won’t miss much. I would advise prioritizing a smooth frame rate over visual fidelity since BMWK ’s combat system requires split-second timing for success. BMWK ’s combat system isn’t doing anything other games haven’t done before, but it is doing a lot well, considering this game has a single character who only wields a staff. There is a surprising amount of customization for players to discover. Players are not confined to one play style and can tailor their builds using spells, stances, primary abilities, or transformations. There's a surprising amount of depth and flexibility to the combat system. Your build will flow from the unique abilities of the armor you receive from chests and defeated bosses. Each armor set comes with one or two of these abilities and activates if you wear a specific number of pieces from that set. Players can mix and match pieces from different sets if they want to utilize effects from other sets. It is an easy-to-understand system that hides a surprising amount of depth, which matters much more in the late game. In the early game, I did not have to think much about the armor I was wearing. The set with the highest defensive rating was usually the best. I mainly focused on learning the skill tree and doing damage with light strikes, trying to proc the critical hit chance and critical damage as much as possible. (This is how I play most games. I’m a burst damage one trick, and I feel no shame. I know who I am.) In the first few chapters, players will frequently receive new armor sets with higher armor ratings, making my old ones obsolete. Later on, there is a blacksmith who will upgrade armor sets to keep pace with higher-level ones, making all those old abilities relevant again. Introducing armor this way is a clever way to nudge players to explore the armor sets' abilities without forcing them to stick to the set that appears to be best on the surface. This plants the seeds for late-game builds, which are needed when the difficulty spike comes in later chapters. This guys ability to upgrade your armor outweighs his incessent scarcasm. Around the middle of Chapter 4, BMWK goes from feeling like a God of War action adventure clone to one of the more challenging Souls games very fast. Refining your build and knowing what type of damage your enemies do becomes incredibly important, regardless of the fighting style you find yourself drawn to. I completed most of the game with my light-strike crit damage build, but eventually, I had to switch to an armor set that would give me a base damage boost based on a status effect while still offering a lot of damage mitigation. If you have cat-like reflexes and can time your dodges better than me, some late-game armors have more damage output at the cost of damage reduction; they also look really badass. You gotta admit, I look damn good in this. Overall, the combat system is accessible, allowing players to use their preferred playstyle. There is also a surprising amount of depth to explore, making NG+ runs worth it for those who want to hone their builds even more after their initial playthrough. As interesting as the combat can be in BMWK , the camera can sometimes ruin the experience, especially when fighting in enclosed spaces. The lock-on works well in open areas, but in enclosed areas, like the cells of the Pagoda Realm, the camera becomes your enemy. While fighting enemies in this area, the camera would zoom in extremely close, causing more than a few deaths and much frustration. Video: The camera is an enemy npc when fighting in enclosed spaces. If an aggressive enemy attacked my character against a wall or into a corner, the camera would pile on to ruin the encounter. This didn’t ruin my overall experience, but I hope it gets addressed before the DLCs are released. Thankfully, this issue didn’t affect the best moments in the game, the boss fights. I hate the Pagoda Realm, with a passion that will burn through the ages. At its core, BMWK is a game about fighting incredible bosses in dramatic setpiece battles that are so detailed it should be considered a privilege to get your ass handed to you over and over again. If one thing makes BMWK worth its admission price, it is the bosses. There are over eighty bosses, secret and non-secret, to be found throughout the game. Having fought about seventy-five during my playthrough, I was pleasantly surprised that no two bosses were the same; even if I did encounter a reskinned boss, they still felt like they had a unique fighting style and personality. I did face some similar skills, with minor variations in their timing and frequency, but this was infrequent enough that it didn’t affect the individual personality of any given boss. BMWK is undoubtedly not the first game with challenging bosses; any Souls-like game does the same. However, what makes BMWK different is the level of detail the bosses possess and their pacing. Traditionally, players only get to fight the boss after fighting through an army of boring lesser enemies. Failing a boss means making the ‘walk of shame’ from the last checkpoint and fighting everyone all over again, ad nauseam. Game Science does away with this tired formula and makes the interlude between the epic boss battles, the place the players would rather be, as short as possible. Shrines locations are placed with player convience in mind. It was appreciated. It is a simple enough spin on the traditional action game formula, but it’s a refreshing take on something no one has innovated for the last forty years. I spent more time fighting bosses than regular mobs. Almost every boss lair has a shrine close to its entrance, making return trips painless. It’s as if Game Science understands what the players want (i.e., to fight fantastical epic creatures in heated pitched battles) and provides it; it sounds so simple said like this. The boss fights deliver some truly incredible moments. On almost every encounter, some big moment would arise where my eyes would widen, and I’d yell out in excitement. I never knew what to expect from any individual boss, and even if a fight failed, I was mainly happy to return and reengage, even taking over twenty times to beat some bosses. (Except for the Yaksha King. That guy can go fuck himself!) Would you believe I lived through this? I didn't think so. As engaging as the boss combat is, it would only be half as engaging if not for the exceptional character design. The artistic design of the characters is the best I have ever seen in a video game. The character artists, modelers, and animators did their absolute best to make the characters look incredible and tell me something about their backgrounds. Above, I talked about how the narrative is somewhat inaccessible without knowing the source material; the incredible characterization on display partially recovers this. Every character model, weapon, item, and special effect is so detailed and exacting, down to the pixel, that it makes other action games look like they belong on a PlayStation 2. With Unreal Engine 5 powering these stunning visuals, this game sets a new industry standard for characterization and graphical design. This level of detail is impossible without a caring and dedicated team who is passionate about their work. The developers at Game Science should be applauded for what they have accomplished in BMWK , and I look forward to what is next to come from this first-time developer. With its engaging combat systems and obsession for detail, BMWK delivers some of the best-designed boss fights to grace your GPU this year. The game’s focus on big epic moments, when they matter most, makes it a memorable outing into the mythical Chinese countryside, one that will surely be on the minds of gamers and other developers going forward. Despite an inaccessible narrative and questionable world design, Game Science’s Black Myth: Wukong is a strong contender for Game of the Year. Black Myth: Wukong 2024 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! BMWK Attains Enlightenment Incredible Boss Fights Make Up for a Narrative Designed with a Specific Audience in Mind. Review

Death's Review on Alive: Barely Alive "A Neglected Zombie Apocalypse Narrative Lacking Depth" Jan 31, 2024 2 Mins by Death Many films considered titans of the horror genre came from incredibly low-budget projects: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Evil Dead (1981), The Blair Witch Project (1999), and Paranormal Activity (2007) were all made on budgets that are dwarfed by most films today. In horror, a lack of funds does not necessarily mean a lack of quality. Of all the genres movies are known for, horror possesses a unique and powerful ability to establish a deep connection with its audience without having to do much. The reason that horror can make such a connection is in our biology and evolution. Over millions of years, humans evolved survival instincts to protect us from danger like animal predation. This instinct is driven by one universal emotion in all humans: fear. Fear is a cornerstone of our biology. No other emotion except fear can motivate us to form social groups, create new technologies, and even build civilizations. Fear is also the most accessible and reliable human emotion. Bad actors in the media, in politics, and consumer societies rely on fear to manipulate our thoughts, cast our votes, and buy their products. Horror filmmakers are exceptionally aware of (or, at least, they should be) how easy it is to access our fears. Legends of the genre, like John Carpenter, accessed our fears by obfuscating scenes to fire the audience's imagination and make them question the shadows. This is why low-budget independent horror films can be so compelling; the special effects in billion-dollar movie franchises can never invoke the fear of a terrifying story and a darkened corner shot the right way. Sadly, Alive (2022), written and directed by David Marantz , foregoes these fundamentals and ends up being a production that lacks value unrelated to the budget. Alive gives the viewer the impression that it came into being because a community theater troupe was spontaneously interested in making a zombie movie. The end result is a disjointed, unprofessional mess that hopefully was at least a fun weekend for some of the younger actors. Before covering the film's shortcomings, let's cover where it exhibited at least some value: writing and cinematography. Marantz demonstrates good narrative ideas, even if they are somewhat derivative. The film's story focuses on Helen ( Ellen Hillman ), a teenager caught in the zombie apocalypse, accompanied by her boyfriend, Kevin ( Kian Pritchard ), and her little brother, Barney ( Andrew and Daniel May-Gohrey ). Helen's primary motivation is ensuring the survival of Barney, who has been infected by the zombie. Alive's plot has heavy overtones of 28 Days Later (2002), I Am Legend ( 2007), Warm Bodies (2013), and The Walking Dead (2010). Marantz combines narrative tropes from these influences in a way that is as interesting but only slightly more than the source material. The film's opening introduces at least eight possible protagonists before Helen becomes the primary focus. If audiences can get through the frustrating start, they will feel invested in a mildly compelling story focused on Helen. The focus on Helen makes it easier to endure the film in the second act. Still, it finishes on a narrative low note that disposes of a pillar of the zombie genre and deflates much of the previous tension. The narrative proves to be the film's best part, even with these problems. Neil Sheffield and Ellen Hillman in Alive (2023), Court esy of Gravitas Ventures Cinematographer Tom Allen does his best to support Marantz's story with a washed color pallet rooted in dark greens and sepia undertones. These choices complement the emotion of the scenes, making Alive somewhat enjoyable to look at. Unfortunately, the camera work is inconsistent, especially in the later acts. Marantz uses noir shots with heavy shadows to save on backgrounds and avoid inflating the budget. This means that the audience must watch the actors in close-up static shots against black backgrounds, which is very noticeable. This use of obfuscation works in some scenes, but it quickly overstays its welcome and becomes overbearing. The camera angles multiply rapidly in the film's action scenes, making these scenes difficult to watch. As turbulent as the camera work is, the actor's performances are weak and lack emotion. The zombies are unbelievable, with many extras just walking like normal humans going to their cars to retrieve their phones. The actors display no confidence in their delivery or characterization. Gillian Broderick , as Lucy, delivers a few good moments, but these only stand out because she displays a basic competence missing in the performances around her. The director and cast needed to take more risks. There is more potential beyond the performances on display in Alive . Issues holding the movie back were more than just the performances. Alive’s technical production was amateur at best. The audio engineering was terrible. Towards the film's end, a microphone track is laid only for the left channel, which completely ruins the scene. There are disembodied heavy breathing sounds in other scenes, which could have been a zombie, only there were none on the screen. It can only be attributed to a sound boom operator unknowingly leaving a microphone on and neglecting his cardio at the gym. Some of these issues, especially the one-channel sound error, could have been fixed in post-production, but they weren't. It raises the question of whether the filmmakers even watched their own film. Alive is a film that lacks any charms audiences look for in low-budget horror projects like this. It just doesn't work, and the narrative potential, which one can only assume motivated this group to make this movie, remains safely locked away. Despite interesting cinematography, Alive lacks execution, motivation, and inexcusable neglect. Even the infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957) was unintentionally entertaining at some points; Alive could only hope for such heights. Note: A previous version of this review appeared on slayawaywithus.com on 4 Apr 2023. Alive 2023 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! Barely Alive A Neglected Zombie Apocalypse Narrative Lacking Depth Review

Death's Review on Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge: A Love Letter to Horror "A Satirical Critique and Love Letter to Horror" 3 Mins by Death [THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS] On the surface, Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge (2020) is just another entry into the long line of horror anthologies that have proved popular in recent years. Viewers would be right to expect it to be what is typical of this kind of film: over-the-top characters, lots of screaming, and plenty of gore, garnered with a hearty serving of comedic suffering for our viewing pleasure. Yes, the film is all these things — for the most part. Unlike anthologies that came before, Scare Package II comes together to convey something greater than its individual parts can alone. Be it intentional or not, the film functions better as a nonsensical and satirical indictment of the horror genre than, as a horror-comedy, an anthology, or a sequel. Directed by Aaron B. Koontz , it is obvious from the outset, for better or worse that Koontz is obsessed with the horror genre. He does not spare the viewer the burden of his obsession either — the film is not for the horror uninitiated. There are so many references to horror canon and tropes that even the most seasoned fan may struggle to catch them all. It’s a film by horror fans for horror fans. Scare Package II opens in the aftermath of Scare Package (2019) at the funeral of titular ‘Rad’ Chad Buckley ( Jeremy King ), with several returning characters in attendance including Jessie Kapowski, the lone survivor of the Devil’s Lake Impaler’s recent killing spree. Things quickly descend into chaos as the attendees are captured by an unidentified foe and forced to play deadly games, à la the Saw franchise. This narrative encompasses most of the film, with the contributing segments acting as short intermissions to the pacing of it. Courtesy of Shudder, AMC Networks Featuring four segments, the shorts begin with Alexandra Barreto ’s Welcome to the 90s , starring Revealer ’s Shaina Schrooten is an examination of the transition of women in horror from needing punishment for embracing their sexuality during the 80s (Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street) to finding empowerment in that same sexuality in the 90s (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The segment conveys its points effectively, if not in the most obvious manner, and sets the stage for additional meaningful critiques of horror tropes later in the film. Anthony Cousins directs The Night He Came Back Again! Part VI: The Night She Came Back , a sequel to a sequel inside of another sequel, which will probably get another sequel, because, as we are reminded, “Sequels are the lifeblood of the horror genre.” There’s a missed opportunity here to examine why a ‘horror sequel’ is almost contradictory, but Cousins wisely sidesteps the larger issues and effectively critiques the tired serialization that plagues so many horror franchises. Jed Shepherd , writer of the wildly popular Zoom horror film Host (2020) directs Special Edition , a segment that features the return of the Host cast and stars Jemma Moore . A group of women on the hunt for a ghost of a child who was killed by falling on swords on the set of Three Men and a Baby (1987) according to an urban legend that began circulating in August 1990. Shepherd’s effective use of light, obfuscation and CGI makes for the only segment in the entire film to stray from comedy into actual horror. More importantly, he asks the question we’ve all been wondering for decades, “Who the fuck is Ted Danson?” Courtesy of Shudder, AMC Networks Rachele Wiggins rounds out the selected offerings with We're So Dead , written by Koontz and Cameron Burns . It’s an ode to Stephen King film adaptations like Stand by Me (1986) and Pet Sematary (1989) with a side of The Fly (1986) and Re-Animator (1985). Of all the contributing segments, Wiggins most closely mimics the overarching absurdity and nonsense of the main narrative. The segment plays out in such a ridiculous fashion that makes one wonder if the kids on the set of these films are going to be okay or if they are going to keep weird things in their fish tanks years from now. There are some issues with Scare Package II’s execution: the pacing in some scenes drags and for every reference intended as a nod to horror fan solidarity, there is a dialogue that almost makes audiences want to go watch the films referenced instead. None of the characters evoke attachment or concern and many of the actors feel detached from the urgency of their predicament. The film is not entirely successful as a horror-comedy either. A lot of the jokes get lost in themselves or esoteric references. Koontz tries to rescue these moments with a gratuitous injection of gore and violence, but these seem like transparent attempts to make us forget how they were just laughing. There are a few humorous moments, but these are sparse and likely won’t land for some viewers if a horror film reference is missed. Scare Package II is more aptly described as horror-nonsense or horror-satire if such sub-genres exist. It is so shameless in its self-awareness, so willing to break the fourth wall, and so absurd in its devices, that it ends up subverting its very subject matter. Which forces us to examine the irrationality of horror itself. At times, the film would have made even Lewis Carroll pause. Courtesy of Shudder, AMC Networks Throughout the film, Koontz concedes that horror is tired, predictable, and mostly rehashed from the glory days of the 70s and 80s but, at the same time, attempts to comfort weary horror fans by saying what we already know, “Yes, they could have just gotten in the car and drove away the whole time, and, yes, Laurie could have run out of the house instead up the stairs, but isn’t it just better that she didn’t? They may be idiots, but they are our idiots, right?” In the end, the film comes together to be something more than even the filmmakers intended. By unconditionally embracing the horror genre, faults and all, it manages to reinvigorate the audience’s suspended disbelief and remind them why they became fans in the first place. Scare Package II is an effective satirical critique of the horror genre that audiences are unlikely to have seen in a very long time. Note: A previous version of this review appeared on slayawaywithus.com on 22 Dec 2022. Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge 2020 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! A Love Letter to Horror A Satirical Critique and Love Letter to Horror Review

Death's Article on Steam Deck: A Steam Deck Revolution? "A Christmas Day Surprise Changes Death's After-life Forever" Sep 17, 2024 3 Mins by Death If you're like me, a North American semi-hardcore PC gamer with disposable income, no impulse control, and a fiber internet connection, you likely have a Steam library with hundreds of games that have sat unplayed for years. For those who don’t know, Steam is a PC gaming service from Valve Software, the makers of Portal (2007) and Half-Life (1998). Steam is a juggernaut of the online gaming industry and, in 2021, had 133.0 million active users, with 69.0 million daily active users. [1] In 2023, Steam had an estimated revenue of $8.5 billion, down from its 2021 high of 10.0 billion. [2] The Valve Steam Deck was released on 25 Feb 2022. One method Valve uses to create this much revenue is the seasonal Steam sale. Steam sales are an excellent opportunity for most gamers to get a discount on a game they have been waiting to play; for gamers such as myself, Steam sales drain my gamer wallet every time they happen. For almost every sale, I fall prey to the cute marketing art on the Steam store front page and those little green tabs advertising 75% or 80% off some critically acclaimed titles I have yet to try. Oh, you didn’t play Death Stranding ? It's weird, but good. Kojima, right? 50% off! Red Dead Redemption II was on PlayStation, and you didn’t get to play it? How about now for $20? Art for the 2023 Seasonal Steam Sales. Objectively, Steam Sales are, more or less, a pretty good deal. If you are interested in various games and genres, you can save a lot of money, which is good for the consumer. Typically, a good Steam sale will contain significant discounts on games that generally cost $70-80. These discounted games are suitable for gamers with finite resources and generate extra revenue for products nearing the end of their natural life cycle. The problem with Steam Sales is that they are almost too good sometimes. Oh, are they discounting an entire franchise this time? What do you mean by all Bethesda games being on sale? Skyrim , again? How can you not buy every game in the Resident Evil series for less than $15 each? It's one of the most incredible video game series of all time. You'd be losing money if you didn't. Capcom executives would be justified in showing up at your front door and guilt-tripping you on why you hate them so much. Did you want every Dark Souls game on PC and their corresponding DLCs you didn’t play for less than $50? Here you go. Have an excellent time repeatedly kicking yourself in the balls, gamer. And remember how much Our Lord and Savior Gaben loves you. Gaben, Our Heavenly Father. I have tried in the past to resist the temptation of these sales. Still, every year, I finance a no-small portion of Gabe's lavish island sex fortress hidden somewhere in the South Pacific with my hard-earned gamer dollars. (He's a billionaire. They all have them.) As sure as the tide comes in and out with the movement of our flat disc-shaped planet, I knowingly buy several games that I know I will not play. Steam sales have gotten to the point where there isn't much I can even buy anymore. For most sales now, see the blue "in-library" tag more than the green sale tag. Even during the vanilla weekly sales, if I filter out the garbage games with less than very positive reviews (I'm not playing a game with mixed reviews; I have some standards), I have to scroll far until I see something that interests me and is not already in my library. I often see the blue "in library" tags during Steam Sales. I am sure some of you are thinking, “This man has a massive spending problem, and his wife needs to disconnect some credit cards fast.” And, I agree... but not for the reasons you think. Yes, husbands left unsupervised with credit cards is never a good thing (There are plenty of reasons why my Amazon account should have parental controls enabled.), but buying games and not playing them is not bad because it wastes money. (We’re a double income and no kids couple. DINKS4LYFE, baby!) No, the real problem that keeps me awake at night, that burns in the core of my self-centered, oblivious to the pain of other, self-gratifying, entitled lizard-brained soul with the power of a thousand suns set on fire by even more suns, is that I am being deprived of the one thing that sustains the reason I exist, my very essence. Yes, dopamine. And not getting my dopamine is fucking unacceptable! To fix this problem, we first need to understand it. Specifically, I need to know how much time and money I spend on my gaming obsession and if any optimizations are possible. (‘Obsession’ is the right word here. This train passed ‘Hobby’ station about three decades ago and has not looked back. Full steam ahead!) Looking at my Steam summary for 2023, I played thirty-eight games and bought twenty-four new games. I played more games than I purchased, which is good. However, I spent 95% of my playtime on only two games: Hunt: Showdown and Baldur's Gate III. (I’ll argue that +700 hours last year on Hunt is justified because I main it for my content, and 500 hours on Baldur's Gate was because of… well... Shadowheart. If you know, you know.) While I have more fun (i.e., dopamine) per dollar spent on a few games, much more potential fun is locked away. In my mind, money spent on a game is justified if I get one hour of game time per dollar spent (I would love to say one hour of ‘fun’ per dollar spent, but given the current state of modern gaming, you can spend a lot of time having something I like to call ‘negative fun,’ but that’s a discussion for another time. Looking at you, Diablo IV.). Over the past thirteen years on Steam, I have spent $3,339 on games, which is all things considered (not bad). That equates to roughly $250 per year on gaming, which is quite reasonable. If I include microtransactions or in-game purchases as Steam lists them, the total comes to... $10,947. That’s $7,608 on microtransactions alone. (…I already deeply regret writing this article.) Moving quickly to any other topic, I have roughly 10,805 hours played on Steam. This makes my current dollar-per-hour-played ratio $1.013, or about a dollar an hour, which is on target, but since it is my duty to min/max everything, this could be much better. (It’s a gamer thing. If you know, you know.) Of the 417 games in my Steam library, 118 (or 28%) remain unplayed. About 50 or so other games with under an hour of playtime could be counted as unplayed. (I go where the ADHD tells me to, folks.) There are thousands of hours of quality gaming to be had without spending additional money. (In-game cosmetics aside, cause baby needs that drip in Guild Wars 2 . Again, if you know, you know.) So, there's a lot of room to drive down the dollar-per-hour-played ratio; the only real issue is how. How do I find a time-effective way to play all these unplayed games while maintaining my marriage, friendships, and work commitments? Guild Wars 2 shop outfits are absolutely worth my money. Thankfully, I found the solution on a quiet Christmas morning late last year. Or, more accurately, Mrs. Death did. “What is this solution?” you ask—first, a little context. Besides being amazingly sexy, super successful, and highly intelligent, Mrs. Death has another quality that sets her apart from every other woman: she is a gift-giving god. Mrs. Death has an uncanny ability to know what you want before you even know you want it. Being a literal Saint, Mrs. Death uses this superpower for good, specifically, spoiling her loving and adoring husband, who happens to be me. I will agree that her power is a little scary. I could be browsing Amazon, looking at some item that is tangentially related to something else I want, and, like magic, Mrs. Death will have that very same item months later when I least expect it. Sure, her ability to know you better than you know yourself is like living with an NSA agent who is constantly profiling you, and, yes, I should probably clear my browser history more often. But, even if my marriage is similar to living in a dystopian surveillance state, should I care if I receive the perfect present every 4 to 6 months for years on end? So, on a quiet and cozy Christmas morning last year in the Democratic People’s Republic of Marital Bliss, I was completely caught off guard as I unwrapped a brand new Valve-made Gaben-approved, nay Gaben-blessed, Steam Deck with a 1TB of internal storage and a state-of-the-art OLED screen. And when I say “off guard,” I had no idea. I still don’t know where she got the idea from. I think I mentioned in passing that the Steam Deck looked cool, but other than that, I have no idea. Putting aside that mystery, it was an extraordinary Christmas morning. That was until the initial surprise wore off, and I was sitting on the couch, new Steam Deck in hand, wondering, “What am I supposed to do with this thing?” The OLED version of the Steam Deck. - Serenkonata - stock.adobe.com As a PC gamer, I don’t equate handheld gaming with real gaming. (Sorry, not sorry, mobile gamers.) For me, the true peak of gaming is sitting in front of my 1440p 240 mhz ASUS ROG monitor, Logitech G502X mouse in one hand, and a Corsair k70 tenkeyless keyboard holding up the other, eagerly waiting to suck down all the juicy visuals that my GIGABYTE AERO 4090 can shoot all over my wanting face. By their nature, handhelds cannot deliver graphically intense experiences like a PC can. (Not to mention how awkward that would be in public.) I have always thought of handhelds as stand-ins for real gaming while traveling, the methadone to the real smack if you will. Handhelds are for disgruntled teenagers in the back of mom’s minivan who want to be anywhere else or for sedating iPad kids on airplanes who have no clue what the hell they are doing in Super Mario Bros. Wonder . (How is this 8-year-old kid going to survive life if he can’t even hit the first Goomba?) Or better yet, they are for introverting in the corner of your in-law's living room as your wife tries to justify her marriage to your mother-in-law, who openly ponders whether or not you are on the spectrum somewhere. (I may not make eye contact, but I have ears, Susan.) Honestly, as someone who has not ventured beyond the end of the driveway in over two months, why would I want any handheld, let alone something that could make me spend more money on Steam? For a while, I thought this gift, like all those games in my Steam library, would be a colossal waste of money. But, I could not have been more wrong after using the Steam Deck for over a month. Steam Deck 2022 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! A Steam Deck Revolution? A Christmas Day Surprise Changes Death's After-life Forever Article