The Backlog Check-in Vol. 219: 3/12/22: Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: The Last Stand: Aftermath, Resident Evil Remake, Tormented Souls

Finished: Tormented Souls

Playing: The Last Stand: Aftermath

Added: Hitman Definitive Edition, Hitman 2, Hitman 3

I stopped playing Resident Evil Remake because it was feeling too familiar, I have too many games that I haven’t played yet to be replaying ones that I have.

I was still in a survival horror mood, so I started playing one called The Last Stand: Aftermath. It reminds me of a mix of Dead Nation, How to Survive and State of Decay. It’s an isometric view zombie apocalypse action survival game, and I’ve been enjoying it.

While it’s another zombie game, it has a somewhat unique premise. Uninfected people live in a safe colony, but have to venture out to get supplies putting them at risk of getting infected or eaten by the zombies that are everywhere outside of their compound. So instead they have people who are already infected and are going to eventually turn into zombies go out and gather supplies and turn on tracking beacons to their locations making them easily attainable for pickup from people in the colony.

You play as an infected person going out and gathering and scavenging as much as you can before you either turn into a zombie, or get killed by them. You have an infection meter that is continuously slowly depleting, and once it depletes completely you turn into a zombie and your run is over. There are different stages to its depletion, and each time that it depletes a certain amount you start to mutate a little from human to zombie gaining a new ability. You always begin with one syringe shot that stops the infection meter from depleting for a while, and can find more in the environments but they’re scarce.

Whenever you turn into a zombie or die, the run with that character is over and all travel progression is lost and you start again from the beginning with a new character. You’re trying to reach a certain destination, and you travel by car (scripted not gameplay). The car can only go so far before running out of gas, when it does you come to a stop and have to get out and look for gas canisters to refill it so that you can travel some more.

The stages are somewhat small in scale, and semi-open. While the main objective is to find gas so that you can continue on, there’s zombies everywhere that you have to contend with so you explore to find guns, ammo, melee weapons and health items. Ammo is scarce, so you need to explore and find more. Melee weapons break after being used a bit, so you want to find as many of them as you can too. Thankfully, your fists do a pretty good job against the weaker zombies.

Another reason for exploring is to find items that give you knowledge points, and supply points. You don’t lose these when you die, your next character will still have them. Knowledge points are used to purchase character specific upgrades that will help you be able to survive longer so that you can get further with each run. Supply points let you purchase supplies before each run so that you can survive longer, and make it further.

I really enjoy the gameplay loop of exploring/scavenging for better loot and knowledge/supply points to be able to make it further in the game with each new character that you play as. The core gameplay is fun, it has solid shooting and melee combat and there’s a good variety of different guns and melee weapons. Unfortunately, there’s no stealth attacks which is a missed opportunity. You can crouch and sneak to not be detected, but you can’t do any stealth kills which is a shame. The game definitely lends itself to be played stealthily, so it’s too bad that it can’t really be played that way.

What makes each run less redundant and repetitive is that the levels are procedurally generated, so they take place at different times of the day with different weather conditions and have different layouts and item placements. This makes it feel like you’re never really playing the same level again, the only thing that makes them somewhat same-y are their visuals.

There is a story and some character interaction, but these aspects are fairly minimal. This is definitely a gameplay driven game, and since it’s primarily a linear action survival game I’m ok with that. The only thing about it that I could have maybe done without is the whole being infected thing, and slowly turning into a zombie. I don’t really like this, I would rather just be able to try and survive as long as I could without this somewhat annoying gameplay gimmick. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but I would be enjoying the game a little more without it.

The bottom line is that I’m really having a good time with the game. The core gameplay is entertaining, I always look forward to the different level layouts and attempting better runs each time to try and make it further than before.

[Phaseknox]

Games releasing this week
ANNO: Mutationem
The Cruel King and the Great Hero
Curious Expedition 2
Dark Deity
Dawn of the Monsters
Gal Gun: Double Peace
Monster Energy Supercross 5
Onde
Paradise Killer
Phantom Breaker: Omnia
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Shredders
Siberia: The World Before
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Tunic
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?
WRC 10

[Phaseknox]

While Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is the big release this week, I’m personally looking forward to ANNO: Mutationem:

[crimson_tide]

Phase my friend, you sure have a funny way of spelling Persona 4 The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold (one of two games I am paying day one full price for this year so far) for this week's title .

Played: MKX, Front Mission 3... that's it .

Beat: MKX. That was a fun story. So was MK9. They should just turn those into movies. I don't get it.

Done with: MKX. I don't see myself getting into this as a fighter go to. I hate the block button so I cranked it down to the easiest setting to get through the story. But it was fun and will surely make the list this year . On to Tekken 7, DB Fighterz, MK11 & P4 Ultimax...I think that's it .

Bought: Nothing yet surprisingly given the 47 sales PSN is running lately.

So trying to find a fighter to settle on for some quick on and out play sessions because the school year and life are like...hard and time consuming. I had been meaning to do this forever now but just getting around to it now that I need it .

Oh and Phase, I want to come back to what you wrote later. It's a lot to parse through so I want to give it some time. I enjoy your insights, fam .

[isthatallyougot]

Playing: The Last Stand: Aftermath

I've had that on my steam wishlist for a while too. It looks fantastic to me too. Glad you're having fun with it.

[argyle]

Bought nothing, finished nothing, played Elden Ring.

Elden Ring is...*glances at izzy*...it's a'ight I guess. I mean, if you LIKE awesome genre-redefining games. If that's your thing, it's ok.

Also, The Cruel King & The Great Hero is the new game of the week. It's the follow-up to The Blind Prince & The Liar Princess, which was awesome. Looking forward to playing it after I'm finally done w/ ER. Whenever that is.

[Phaseknox]

Phase my friend, you sure have a funny way of spelling Persona 4 The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold (one of two games I am paying day one full price for this year so far) for this week's title .

Bought: Nothing yet surprisingly given the 47 sales PSN is running lately.

There’s some good games on sale, I bought a few because as we all know I need more games.

Oh and Phase, I want to come back to what you wrote later. It's a lot to parse through so I want to give it some time. I enjoy your insights, fam .

Thanks.

Playing: The Last Stand: Aftermath

I've had that on my steam wishlist for a while too. It looks fantastic to me too. Glad you're having fun with it.

It has an addictive “git gud” gameplay loop to it that’s hard to put down, I think that you will like it.

The Cruel King & The Great Hero is the new game of the week. It's the follow-up to The Blind Prince & The Liar Princess, which was awesome. Looking forward to playing it after I'm finally done w/ ER. Whenever that is.

We all seem to be interested in different games this week. By the way, I have The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince in my backlog, and I’m looking forward to playing it based on the praise that you gave it in one of your GotY lists. Speaking of which, I’m still waiting for your 2021 GotY list.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Final Fantasy VII Remake, Horizon: Forbidden West

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 41 games

78 hours into Horizon and 64% complete. Just got to level 50 and worked on clearing the middle of the map of all side stuff. Also continued the story a little bit and finally made it to the West coast as seen in a lot of the trailers and videos. There's still so much to do in the left 1/3 of the map!

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Valkyria Chronicles 4, Elden Ring

Finished: VC4

Added to backlog: Elden Ring

Current backlog: 21 (17 PS4, 4 Switch)


Yeah, izzy, I think you might enjoy Elden Ring. I sure am so far.

[isthatallyougot]

Elden Ring is...*glances at izzy*...it's a'ight I guess. I mean, if you LIKE awesome genre-redefining games. If that's your thing, it's ok.

Yeah, izzy, I think you might enjoy Elden Ring. I sure am so far.

You guys are going to make me get it aren't you. I'm patient, but how patient? The Souls franchise is my favorite series of games in all of gaming, but I also love delayed gratification...hmm. I don't even know what I will do. Life is an unfolding mystery.

I'll rest easy knowing the you guys (and the world) are enjoying it until I get to it.