Archive for category games

The Witcher and Fisstech

the witcher header The Witcher and Fisstech

The Witcher treads a lot of common ground when it comes to RPGs, but it does so with a distinct swagger. To illustrate this, here’s a quick story.

the witcher 1 The Witcher and Fisstech

Early on in the game, the protagonist Gerlat can accept a quest to deliver a package into a quarantined city. When he finally makes his way in, he’s arrested and his possessions confiscated.

He eventually recovers them all, except for one: the mysterious bundle he was asked to smuggle.

the witcher 2 The Witcher and Fisstech

Jethro, the city jailer, non-chalantly informs Geralt that he’s lucky not to be in more trouble. The package contained fisstech, an illegal drug similar in properties to cocaine. It quickly becomes obvious that Jethro himself is an addict and the confiscation wasn’t exactly legal.

Geralt can get his hands on more fisstech by dispatching Salamander troops, henchmen of main antagonist who tend to carry the illegal substance. The drug can then be used to bribe more information out of Jethro, shedding some light on the local crime syndicates.

the witcher 3 The Witcher and Fisstech

Eventually it’s revealed that the Salamanders were trying to squeeze out their competition by framing Ramsmeat, a local crime boss, in hopes of Geralt going after him and the two sides weakening or eliminating each other.

the witcher 4 The Witcher and Fisstech

Following a clash between the religious Order of the Flaming Rose and the Scoia’tael, a terrorist group (or a freedom-fighter one, depending on how you look at it), the Salamanders expand their operation into the swamps.

Various factions Geralt had dealt with in the past are affected by this: the woodcutters are slaughtered, numerous brickmakers are kidnapped and put into slave labour, and a large Salamander band move into the former Scoia’tael encampment.

the witcher 5 The Witcher and Fisstech

When Geralt rescues the brickmakers, he discovers they were made to gather plants for fisstech production. The Salamander’s treasures even contain a book on swamp plants, the very same book Geralt had to have read in order to loot local flora.

the witcher 9 The Witcher and Fisstech

Back in Vizima, Jethro requests that Geralt follow a lead on a fisstech pusher under the guise of cleaning up the streets. In reality, the jailer simply wants to secure the source of his addiction by cracking down on its suppliers.

The trail eventually leads Geralt to the sewers and an abandoned crypt where the Salamanders produce fisstech. Among their servants he finds a frightened alchemist who rewards Geralt with a potion-recipe if he promises not to report his slacking.

the witcher 6 The Witcher and Fisstech

When the hideout is cleaned out, the crooked jailer and the city guard storm the area in order to secure the contraband. It’s at this time that Geralt bluntly tells Jethro that all the drugs better stay confiscated or he’ll come after the jailer next.

Finally, the documents Geralt retrieves from both the Salamander cells point him to the ultimate stronghold. As Geralt storms the base, a cutscene plays out showing a Salamander leader requesting more money following the group’s recent failures.

the witcher 7 The Witcher and Fisstech

All these events make perfect sense from gameplay, plot, and setting perspectives. The slaves need proper skills and instructions, the bad guys require funding for their operations, and powerful factions constantly vie for supremacy.

Every element serves as a gear snugly connected to another, and when the switch is pulled, the machine doesn’t grind to a halt.

the witcher 8 The Witcher and Fisstech

What’s more, the game itself is not homogenized. Fisstech doesn’t come across as a bullet point on a worldbuilding checklist that needs to be adhered to at every turn. It’s just part of the tapestry, and there’s a lot more of it to experience.

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Montezuma’s Revenge Bits

montezumas revenge header Montezumas Revenge Bits

Summary

Description: One of the first examples of a climbing game morphing into a single-screen platformer.

Conveniences: Enemies that kill the player are removed from the screen, often making a particularly difficult room easier to traverse.

Annoyances: The order in which the coloured keys are meant to be collected is very specific, creating some scenarios where it’s impossible for the player to proceed.

Standouts: An excellent sense of exploration and cohesion despite severe hardware limitations.

montezumas revenge 1 Montezumas Revenge Bits

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Dawn of War II Bits

warhammer 40k dawn of war II header Dawn of War II Bits

Summary

Description: An RTS that feels a bit like controlling all four characters in a multiplayer game of Diablo.

Conveniences: The story is largely delivered through voiced text boxes that appear between missions. Although these pop-ups block some of the navigation, they still allow the player to access the inventory and level up individual units.

Annoyances: Pathfinding attempts to automatically position units in cover, and previews their destinations with coloured indicators. However, it also tends to position units on both sides of cover, often leaving parts of the squad completely exposed.

Standouts: A combination of mechanics from various genres help to enhance the single-player RTS template.

warhammer 40k dawn of war II 1 Dawn of War II Bits

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Starship Patrol Bits

starship patrol header Starship Patrol Bits

Summary

Description: A fun tower defense variant on the often-ignored DSiWare Store.

Conveniences: Falling health powerups are spawned on the top screen, giving the player plenty of time to spot them and get ready to grab ‘em as they descend.

Annoyances: Occasionally an entirely new enemy type will be inserted into the list of oncoming waves, largely invalidating all the weapons that were set up to deal with the previous enemies.

Standouts: A graph paper aesthetic captures the typical starship doodles that often seemed to materialize during math class.

starship patrol 1 Starship Patrol Bits

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Shadows of the Damned Bits

shadows of the Damned header Shadows of the Damned Bits

Summary

Description: Resident Evil 4 in hell.

Conveniences: The outline of the healthbar begins to flash and drain while exposed to darkness, giving the player a clear indication of when the real damage will begin.

Annoyances: Poorly balanced one-hit-kill sequences; various game breaking/crashing bugs.

Standouts: A juvenile but often humourous Grindhouse vibe.

shadows of the damned 1 Shadows of the Damned Bits

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