By ALEX CAMBOURIS
Fall break is next week, which means one last weekend before Beloit’s supposed night life is tanked. Whether you’re homeward bound or stuck on campus, here are three video games to occupy your time and help you have fun over the break.
DUSK
The good Daniel Sysmanski blessed first-person shooter fans with 2017’s DUSK, an adrenaline-fueled shooting gallery of butchers, cultists, and monsters. After discovering ancient ruins beneath the ground, the small, rural town of Dusk, Pennsylvania is plunged into madness. You play the everyman, a random dude looking to get rich by plundering the town. Things don’t go too well for you, however, and you’re forced to fight for your survival. Armed with a pair of sickles and a double-barreled shotgun, you slash and blast your way through cornfields, farmhouses, and barns, and even military bases and secret laboratories.
DUSK is about as camp as it gets, yet it takes itself seriously, and is all the better for it. The game is aware that ghosts and ghouls are somewhat silly, yet it embraces the tropes in full, immersing the player in its world. If you’re looking for some Halloween fun, you’re in luck.
Batman: Arkham
Yes, the entire series, not just one. They are all good. From Origins to Knight, there’s plenty of Batman for the whole family to enjoy. The Dark Knight has never been cooler on screen than he was in the Arkham series. Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as Joker revise their roles from the animated television series, facing off again in every title. Their story is a cornerstone of modern pop culture, one which the Arkham games had no small part in building. All are filled with that dark, gritty, atmosphere that defines Batman, but each is special in their own way. Each has its own horrors, its own mysteries, to discover. Being Batman never felt more terrifying. Superheroes are a staple of Halloween, with Batman and his rogue’s gallery easily being the most famous of the holiday. For this reason, I encourage readers to play The Batman: Arkham series this fall break.
Bloodborne
Last but not least (if you know me you shouldn’t be surprised to see this entry), it’s FromSoftware’s 2015 Playstation 4 exclusive masterpiece Bloodborne. Bloodborne creates a unique vibe that will immerse even the most blasé player. You play as The Hunter, an outsider looking to cure their illness by undergoing a special blood transfusion. In Yharnam, the city in which Bloodborne takes place, a church has access to unique blood that cures any ailment. Only, it has a dark, maddening secret. No spoilers!
Other than that, the sound and visual design is top notch. The towering Victorian-Gothic architecture of Yharnam is lit by the evening sun, with narrow streets wrought with filth and death. Dead, writhing trees canopy the sky, and chained coffins and empty wagons are strewn about haphazardly. The haunting screams of beasts and the wet splotches of blood echo throughout dimly lit alleyways. In Yharnam, nowhere is truly safe. It is the quintessential Halloween game. There are mad townsfolk, werewolves, vampires, witches, skeletons, mad doctors, zombies, ghosts, and even strange cthulhu creatures.
The gameplay, too, is fantastic. Anyone familiar with Dark Souls may have some trouble getting used to the increased speed at which your character and the enemies move. The game encourages player aggression, making every encounter a frantic fight for survival. And when each foe is constantly shrieking at you and trying to tear your head off, it can be easy to lose composure. However, Bloodborne rewards skill and focus. Take deep breaths, pay attention, and you might just live.
The oppressive atmosphere weighs you down, and your foes show you no mercy. Bloodborne is brutal, gory, and full of lovecraftian nightmares. For this reason, Bloodborne is the perfect fall game. It’s plenty of fun, full of scares, and holds deeper mysteries that will only lead to madness. If you’re looking for something to play over fall break, I could not recommend Bloodborne enough.
Featured image: gamezone.com
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