I was getting hyped for Axiom Verge this week until I realized the PC version doesn't hit til May! I was able to overcome the gnawing desire to grab a PS4 only for Bloodborne, so it looks like I'll be waiting another month for Axiom Verge. But, this allowed me some time to revisit a classic:

Majora's Mask (3DS)

Stupid me didn't pick up Ocarina of Time 3D upon release, and now the price has skyrocketed! No, I don't want to buy the digital version. I wasn't going to pass up Majora's Mask, and having finished Fire Emblem: Awakening (more on that later), I wanted to give my 3DS some more love. Even as a kid, I remember Majora's Mask being weird as hell. Now as an adult, I was looking forward to playing it again and maybe picking up more of what was really going on in Termina.

Right away I noticed just how much better this version looks than on the N64. I was expecting a port, but instead was given smoother character models and animations. The 3D actually looks alright too, which is a feature of the 3DS that I almost never use. The only stuff that makes my head spin is when this game applies the dream-like, blurry traces during cutscenes.

I was a little weary of dealing with the time mechanic again, having played this game completely with a guide back in the day. I was only 9 years old at release, and even with a guide it was tough to handle exactly what was going on at all times within the game. This time around, after a few three-day cycles, I have total grasp of the situation and the Bomber's notebook is a great way of keeping the smaller tasks straight. I'm looking forward to collecting every mask again - and wow did I forget how much I love this game's music!

I will spoil the next two games a bit.

Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

I barreled through the last couple hours of Fire Emblem as I was beginning to get antsy after losing some key team members. It became too common for me to restart battles after one or two Shepards would get cut down, and I was making little progress. So I rolled with the punches and pushed on, relying more and more on only a handful of specific characters: my own custom character (who was a fucking beast!), Chrom and Vaike. With a smaller group of powerhouses, I could cut through the later missions much more quickly, since the endgame win state began to lean more towards "Defeat the Commander" instead of defeat all enemies.

Story wise, there wasn't much out of the ordinary, but I felt the way this game spent so much time building up personal relationships really made the overall experience much more gratifying. I felt close to these people as we were tearing down the Grimleal's plans to reincarnate the Bad Dragon. I liked the small tidbit of information about the Grimleal clan, and how ready the people were for Grima (the Bad Dragon) to come back and eat them. What utter devotion to a deity!

Overall I loved the game and am looking forward to more. Maybe I'll check out some of the previous releases someday if I feel like dropping a ton of money.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)

This game made me realize that, while I love Metroidvania's, backtracking can be taken a little too far sometimes. This game required juggling two versions of Dracula's castle, and there were a few points where progress HINGED on happening to whack a piece of what looked like background art with the whip. I spent well over an hour running back and forth before finally checking a guide. Frustrating.

Also, with the multiple endings, its possible to not even fight Dracula! I'm not well versed in Castlevania (yet) but that really struck me as odd.

So how was your weekend? I also recorded a podcast, as usual.

I took a break (sort of) from the blood and guts of Hotline Miami 2 and dove into my backlog of games; I found a pleasant surprise!

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)

Last spring, I took a vow to revisit the classic Metroidvania games that I missed over the years, starting with Metroid II: Return of Samus. I'm a huge Metroid fan, but this one was always collecting dust in a box once I had moved on from the Gameboy. I completed it relatively quickly and I realized the only Castlevania game I had ever played was Symphony of the Night and I had never purchased any of the others - to eBay!

I started with Circle of the Moon, basing my play order of the GBA titles on a friend's suggestion. I definitely enjoyed CotM, but having SotN as my only Castlevania benchmark, I immediately didn't like how immobile I was in CotM. I got very frustrated by not having the dash/dodge, and the game was honestly more of a challenge of "I need to complete this" more than a challenge of "this is tough and I'm not good at it."

Fast forward to this spring, and I finally started the next GBA title, Harmony of Dissonance. Immediately it reminded me of SotN, due to the art style and dashing ability, and I was hooked. I've put about 4 hours into the game now, and I can definitively say I enjoy it more than CotM. Circle had the DSS card system that was actually really interesting, so I'm waiting to see what abilities are like for HoD. Currently, all I have is the flame spell book. In CotM, boss battles were rough because I always felt like I couldn't dodge attacks, but with HoD, I haven't lost to a boss yet. That dash, man!

Hotline Miami (PC)

Ok I said I didn't play HM2, but I did go back and check out the original! Only a year or so has passed since I first played it, but after seeing a consensus from the internet hive-mind that the first game was better, I needed a refresher course. There is a definite focus to the first game, the levels really are much smaller, and occasionally bursting into a room hoping to kill everyone instead of thinking too much proved successful.

But I found similar situations occurring where I was relying on guns, and in a few levels, relying on drawing enemies around a corner and blowing them away. In the level shown in the screenshot, it was even possible to get shot from off screen, which is a major complaint about Wrong Number.

I won't argue that some aspects of Wrong Number are frustrating, but going back to the first game immediately after, honestly made me appreciate Wrong Number more. The formula needed a change and I guess for some it was a change for the worse.

Bonus: if the weird narrative/characters intrigued you in Wrong Number, I suggest going back through the first game to see the connections to everything that occurs. There's a good amount of easter eggs strewn about that are pretty cool. I completed a whole play through in under 2.5 hours, and it was a lot easier after playing through 2.

Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS)

This game is fucking awesome and I seriously love it - 15 hours in and I'm still learning new ways to play and utilize different character classes.

Misc.

- 2v1 Podcast - Ep. #18

So how was your weekend?

SPOILERS

This entire week, and a majority of the weekend, consisted of a single game:

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)

Sequels are tough to deliver, especially when the first title is original and explosive. I'm not surprised that Wrong Number is a little divisive, and I have a few small issues as well, but this game was just as wild and trance-inducing as the first.

Let's get the negatives out of the way:

- Getting killed off screen was awful, and happened fairly often. I guess you could chalk this up to "learning" a level, but the game still has a bit of randomness when it comes to enemy paths, so even once you learned standard placement, there was always a chance an enemy decided to think for themselves and stray from their path, while also blasting you without you even knowing they were there. Oh well, it was never game breaking, just irritating.

- I had a bug occasionally on the Hawaii levels where an enemy would wander off screen, and I guess leave the boundaries of the map. Thus, they disappeared and I couldn't kill them to get the "area cleared" message to pop. I had to replay the entire scene a few times because there's no restarting a level in a scene. You only have the choice of restarting from the very beginning, unless you die. That's pretty shitty. I wish there was a way to hit restart like when you die, only whenever you want in case there's no enemies to kill you.

- A little too much of a focus on guns this time around, however, I barely used guns in the first HM, so it wasn't that much of a negative.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this game, and I prefer it to the first. The soundtrack is better (didn't think that would be possible), the attempt at narrative actually isn't too bad, (as it reminds me of David Lynch films), and I thought the different characters with specific abilities was a welcome addition. In the first HM, it was too easy to rely on a handful of masks, instead of experimenting with some of the more odd ones. The only character I didn't love was the reporter. There were too many instances where you had to draw enemies around a corner to avoid getting shot, which I guess is how you would really need to approach that situation in real life, but those segments just came off as kind of boring.

I loved that Dennaton actually tried something new, instead of relying on the formula of the first game and just cashing in. Even if some aspects didn't work so well, it's wonderful to see developers not afraid to mess with what worked. I also had a much more difficult time with this one than the first HM. Whether that's due to the heavier focus on guns, or the larger open maps, I'm not sure. Regardless, I couldn't wait to jump back in trying to A+ levels, and hopefully beating it on hard. However, I've already hit a wall with the first reporter level on hard (go figure).

The overall aesthetic of the first game is turned up a few notches for this one. I can't think of another game (recently) that blends gameplay, art and music so well. There were moments in this game where my heart began to race, and I felt giddy, at what was happening on screen and what I was hearing.

I grew up with VHS tapes, and I really liked how each scene was presented as a stand alone film. It really immersed me because despite the game's gore, the body count associated with each scene reminded me of this era's films, where the hero (antihero?) would murder hundreds of guys like it was nothing. And it was expected, because he was a badass, always.

I've said before I let myself get sucked into games if I feel their worthy, and just like the first HM, Wrong Number really put me in this weird, trippy mindset. It had so much to do with the soundtrack and more focus on dialogue, even if it was still vague and mysterious. I truly hope this is the last entry, because I'd hate for this idea to get beat to death. As they stand, Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2 are an excellent pair of rather unique experiences.

Misc.

- I completed my first webcomic, but I'm not ready to show it off yet! I want to have a few complete, and have my website looking...serviceable, before I see how the scary internet hivemind feels about them. More to come about that!

- 2v1 Podcast!

- Did you watch The Jinx on HBO? I hadn't even heard about it until the man it follows, Robert Durst, was arrested recently. Within minutes of the first episode, I was on the edge of my seat for the next 5 hours. It was truly an excellent documentary, and it will be interesting to see how he weasles his way out of murder this time (I really hope not).

So how was your weekend?

I didn't get a chance to play much this weekend, so this one will be short(er)!

Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

I'm a negligent 3DS owner. I've only played maybe...2 games since I bought it? For some reason, I just never get around to picking up games, or doing enough research to find something that might interest me and is 3DS exclusive. With my recent interest in tactical games, I thought it was finally time to grab Fire Emblem. I decided to give Valkyria Chronicles a break, because, again, it has disheartened me.

But Fire Emblem! I love the speed of this game. The dialogue gets a little long winded, but battles fly by. This is a major contrast to Valkyria Chronicles, where each character animation/turn feels like it takes ages. Fire Emblem spends half a second showing the enemy's turn and then you're right back in it. So far, the game hasn't been too difficult. I've never played a Fire Emblem, but I knew of the permadeath aspect and I really wanted to play with the "classic" difficulty. Unfortunately, I still find myself quitting and restarting a battle if a character dies, instead of rolling with the punches. I can't help it. In some ways (and this is ridiculous) I almost wish the game saved immediately after a character died, and forced you to finish the battle, losing whoever you lost. It sounds extreme, (and it definitely is since that could be game breaking), but having the option to just start over is tough to avoid - an itch too easy to scratch.

The game is beautiful, the cutscenes look 2D but are actually 3D, which always looks impressive. Character portraits also look great during dialogue, and I was surprised by how good even the 3D modeled characters look. Except...why doesn't anyone have feet...?

Unreal Tournament: Pre Aplha (PC)

I only played one quick match of this after seeing the Unfinished here at Giantbomb, but had a blast. I didn't get to take part in the early arena shooters since my home PC was shit back in the day, so it will be fun to see how this evolves as the game moves forward. I'm decently excited about the community aspect. I spent too much time playing Doom 2 multiplayer years after it was relevant (2007-2012) and that was mostly due to user created content. Something as old as Doom, still had appeal for me based on that aspect alone, so I have high hopes for a current game with great visuals.

I also briefly checked out the Unreal Engine 4, since its now free to everyone! I have slight experience with modeling programs, so my initial look got me excited to possibly contribute to the community aspect - until I learned that models can't be created (unless I'm wrong) within UE4, but must be imported from other programs (that cost money!) If I was a little more confident, I'd maybe look into buying something, but I want to get more experience with coding, and brush up on my artwork before taking a plunge.

Misc.

- As usual, there's a new podcast (every Monday!)

- I'm continuing to draw, a lot, and am currently piecing together a small comic based on my time with Dishonored. Web comics have always been something I wanted to try, ever since I first read Penny Arcade 7 years ago! The general idea is to draw whatever comes to me, but we'll see if I come up with a consistent character. I even bought my first web domain in order to start curating my drawings. That is nowhere near ready to show, but regardless, I'm excited!

- I finished House of Cards season 3, it was...ok

I'm a little late for New Year's resolutions, but one I'd like to at least attempt this year is to write more. I spend lots of time writing down my thoughts about games, but I rarely ever post them online - this is where I'll try to change that!

The title for this...series?...is because a majority of my time for playing games/hobbies is over the weekend due to my standard, monday through friday, white collar job, (ugh). So let's get to it!

Spoiler warning just because.

Dishonored (X360)

If I keep up with this blog, a common feature will be games that have been out for some time. Dishonored was apart of Games With Gold a few months back, and I had some interest when it was released, just not enough to buy it. Lucky me it was free!

I knew very little about the makeup of Dishonored. For as much time as I spend on a video game website, I still make an effort to avoid most specifics for games I see myself playing at some point. I had heard it compared to games like Deus Ex, but it took me a few missions to really see how open ended it was. Initially I considered quitting, due to what I think was a bug, that prevented me from completing a mission non-lethally. One of my main problems with a majority of games is the focus on murder. I know, I know, Corvo is an assassin/body guard, but whenever there is an option of non-violence in games, I jump at it immediately. I only killed 5 people over the course of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and it was out of total necessity to continue making progress. Other than that, I loved that I didn't have to kill every enemy.

Back to Dishonored, apparently I had angered the gang that hung out at the Dunwall Distillery, so when I tried to turn in the non-lethal quest to them, the only options I had was to kill their leader, or leave the mission be. Any attempts at conversation led to me being attacked. Unless I majorly missed something, the fact an option was taken away from me, without me even knowing why, was extremely frustrating. I had almost walked away from the game entirely until I caught one line of dialogue in the same mission. My mission was to murder a friendly character's brothers for...whatever reason. It didn't matter really, much like the rest of the story. Since I could no longer complete the mission non-lethally, I was resolved to murder every person I could in the rest of the game.

This mission took place in a brothel. I didn't want to hurt the ladies, it wasn't their fault. But I did stab a few dudes. Unfortunately I was not stealthy enough, so I had set off the alarms. I made my way to where one of the brothers was hiding. I was planning my attack, considering crashing through the window and plunging my knife right into his neck, or sneaking around and...plunging my knife into his neck. While planning, I heard him say "I wonder if they caught the guy yet," or something along those lines. Looking through the window, I see that he is standing, almost waiting, for the door to open, while his lady friend is trembling beside him. The instances are scripted, but even the smallest shred of adaptability to a player's actions is so intriguing to me. I officially liked Dishonored from them on.

I won't summarize my whole playthrough, but my favorite thing to do was to use the Blink ability to teleport right behind enemies, stab them, and then Blink away. I got such a kick out of the speed with which I could dispatch guards, all without being caught. Dishonored had a really great feel, which is great, because the gameplay was all that kept me going. The story was very...meh.

Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)

I have not yet completed this game, because mostly what I want to talk about is the difficulty. I've had a game going for over a year now, because I keep taking breaks after a punishing defeat in battle. I haven't played many tactical RPG's, so it is very possible I'm just not good at planning. I sort of forced my way through The Banner Saga, and Final Fantasy Tactics was so long ago that I don't remember.

Last spring was when I first started the game, and only now have I got back to it. I had hit a point in the game where the mission was so tedious, and I kept failing, that I considered putting my controller through my TV multiple times. The mission was just Welkin and Alicia, trying to sneak through a forest while dodging mortar shots. Seemed simple, but for some reason I was having a lot of trouble. I picked it up again, and I realized, this whole time, that I could save in the middle of battles. Yes, I'm an idiot. Yes, this changed the whole game for me.

I'm now making progress, and loving the game again, but I still forget to save at times and lose a good amount of progress. I will prevail, because I like the story and I really want to see it through, but man is this game rough.

Misc.

- For the past few months, my weekends have also included recording a podcast with friends. Here's the newest episode.

- Another resolution was to get back to drawing, so I purchased a cheap sketchpad for my PC so I can finally experiment with digital art. Someday I hope to contribute to the amazing Giantbomb fan art!

- I have taken the dive of trying to learn Game Maker by following the Tom Francis videos. If anyone is on the fence, I promise he explains things very clearly, as I had no coding experience at all. Who knows if it will ever go anywhere for me, but at least I can say I tried!

Thanks for reading and how was your weekend?

Metal music, and its many forms, is a major part of who I am today. The first time I heard Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" was a turning point in my life. Fast forward to today, and I'm still consuming anything I can that is labeled as metal.

Normally I just do a top 10 list with friends, but this year, I thought I'd try something new by posting it to Giantbomb! I'm not sure how many duders listen to metal, but maybe I can introduce you to a genre you never gave a chance!

#10 - Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral

Bloodbath is a death metal supergroup. The lead singer has changed a few times over the years, with a mostly consistent lineup of instrumentalists. This year's release saw a brand new vocalist introduced, of whom I was initially not a fan. But, as with other Bloodbath releases, multiple listens were needed in order to get a full understanding. Grand Morbid Funeral feels more fun, and thrashy, than previous works. But still present are some of the most crushing riffs you'll ever hear. You can check out the full album here. I think this is my least favorite album from them, but it's still a competent release.

#9 - Occultation - Silence in the Ancestral House

This is Occultation's sophomore album, and man is it an excellent follow up. Their first album was good, but it lost me at times due to some meandering passages within songs. This band isn't heavy in the sense of blast beats and down-tuned guitars, but heavy enough to where you'll find yourself banging your head. Featuring a female lead singer, Occultation builds dreamscapes that are both beautiful and terrifying. The band could be labeled as doom, but there's no sludgy slow riffs here. The guitar is fuzzy and fast, with constant tempo changes to keep it interesting. Check out "Laughter in the Halls of Madness".

#8 - Mortuus - Grape of the Vine

Another sophomore release, Mortuus falls within the black metal genre - but not due to incessant tremolo picking or blast beats, but from the dismal atmosphere they create. This album has a bit more accessible vocals (only a bit) than their first. Instead of screaming or screeching, Mortuus employs more of a gravelly, quiet, chant - and brings the vocals forward in the mix compared to the previous album. Grape of the Vine is dark and contemplative, with a slower pace than normal in the black metal scene, and is a complete album with no chaff - every song has a purpose. Favorite track: Sulphur

#7 - Behemoth - The Satanist

I wouldn't call myself a big fan of Behemoth. I've liked certain songs from certain albums over the years, but never did I like an entire album like I did with The Satanist. (Though their previous album, Evangelion, got close). I don't subscribe to any religion, including satanism, so what I took away from this album was 100% the music - fast, heavy and heartfelt. I may not agree with the band's views, but you can feel their conviction, and that alone makes this album an excellent experience. Behemoth has always blurred the lines between black and death metal, and you can expect more of that here. Favorite riff: Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer

#6 - At the Gates - At War With Reality

At the Gates is one of the original Swedish death metal bands, and they had been split up for almost 20 years since their previous release, (and one of my favorite death metal albums ever), Slaughter of the Soul. Comebacks are hard to do, and after last year's triumphant returns from Gorguts and Carcass, there were high expectations for At the Gates. I honestly hoped for more, but this is a great album on its own. I wanted more At the Gates, and that's what they did. Check out "The Book of Sand". If you've never heard of At the Gates, I implore you listen to Slaughter of the Soul before anything!

#5 - Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen

Every time I think Primordial may disappoint me, I end up kicking myself. Can they do no wrong? Primordial shifted from folk-inspired black metal to a more toned-down folk heavy metal band quite some time ago. But let's emphasize heavy. They may have evolved in terms of sound, but their raw energy has not. The lead singer has an epic, empowering clean voice that can devolve into primal, gutteral screams that will make your blood freeze. Primordial has a knack for making me feel like I've been wronged by the world, and that I should stand and fight. A smattering of songs can be found here.

#4 - Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise

What's this? A band that hasn't been around for 20 years, let alone 5? Thantifaxath is a breath of fresh, but suffocating, air. I had never heard of them until this release, and I'm very glad I did. Sacred White Noise is a progressive, black metal piece that leads the listener down a dark path of despair and hopelessness. But amidst the misery, there is something uplifting about this record, that can only be explained through listening. Check out their bandcamp.

#3 - Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry

BAN is an enigma of sorts. Yet another band that has been around since the 90's, BAN has gone from black metal, to industrial, to experimental, back to black, and so on. The main man behind the project, Vindsval, is superbly talented at juggling multiple schools of thought in music. This year's album is a return to black metal, and is part of a "trilogy" that started all the way back in 1996. This is the form of BAN I prefer: fast, cold and focused. Vindsval is another example of a vocalist who can balance clean vocals with scratchy, grating growls. You can stream the entire album here.

#2 - Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere

This was a tough call for #2. Agalloch has been pumping out excellent albums for a long time, and they didn't decide to just phone it in for 2014. This is a band that pushes themselves on every release, never quite sounding the same, and always evolving in some way. They're much more than black metal. This album will beat you to a pulp, pick you up with intermediate acoustic passages, until you're carried away again by walls of sound. Agalloch is excellent at creating gorgeous imagery with music alone, a talent not many bands possess. Bandcamp.

#1 - Winterfylleth - The Divination of Antiquity

In only a short 6 years since their first release, Winterfylleth have gone from a standard folk-tinged black metal band to a top-notch folk black metal band. There was never enough time for stagnation with these guys. Every release saw them refine their sound until they arrived at The Divination of Antiquity, which is their 4th full length in those 6 years. Nothing is perfect, but this album is damn close, and has my favorite closing track of 2014. Another complete, worthwhile listening experience with no wasted space. Check it out.

I'd love to hear some more opinions on this year's metal releases, there were a lot! Here's some honorable mentions that I just couldn't squeeze into the top 10:

Mayhem - Esoteric Warfare listen

Triptykon - Melana Chasmata listen

Morbus Chron - Sweven listen

Impetuous Ritual - Unholy Congregation of Hypocritical Ambivalence listen

And last but not least, my EP of 2014:

Bolzer - Soma

Bolzer is easily one of the most interesting new bands to the scene. They have a wholly unique sound that I had never heard before, and so far they only have a demo and 2 EP's. I'm anxiously waiting for a full length.

Soma is only 2 songs.

Thanks for reading!

Spoilers.

I purposefully held off on playing Far Cry 3 until I had a new PC built, (and for a reasonable sale). This past weekend I had a ton of time set aside to devote to the base game, and the...expansion? - Blood Dragon. I have a hard time devoting a ton of time to shooters anymore, so I knew I needed to get through the game before I lost interest or it felt like a chore.

For the most part, I really enjoyed 3. I have some complaints, but this post is about one in particular - the ending. I know I'm late to the game in general, but it really ended with a binary choice? I wish games would get away from this mechanic. For a game to have barely any choices for its entirety, having one at the end makes no sense.

In order for this to be a comparison, I should just get to it. (I played a lot of this game today, hard to keep my thoughts straight!) Far Cry 3 had a very typical build up to the end. After Vaas' death, the player is set on finding Vaas' boss, Hoyt, and killing him. I didn't have a problem with the privateer segment, as the fast traveling instantly with no fear of alerting guards was a nice breather. Through a few missions, the player slowly tears down Hoyt's operation in order to get close to him.

The climax ends with a somewhat lengthy escape sequence, which is where the ending began to fall apart for me. I'm not a fan of when games wrap up with shooting galleries upon shooting galleries, throwing as many enemies as possible. That's just never been fun to me. Also, "Ride of the Valkyries" as you escape in the helicopter just didn't seem to work. I get the game had a lighthearted feel at times, but that just came off as silly in the final moments where everything was very serious.

I'm typing too much. Here's my point! Blood Dragon was an absolute blast. Sticking to the main story quests made it even more enjoyable, (that map felt very lifeless and I had no desire to explore). The entire campaign was short but a perfect length. The 80's goofiness didn't have enough time to overstay its welcome. I laughed constantly and had a smile on my face the whole time. The ending sequence was again, shooting galleries, but this time it was fun.

There was no stress because your weapon was basically a one shot kill. Instead of worrying about failing and having to replay, I could just waltz right through the insanity of everything exploding in neon colors with synth music playing.Then it got even more insane by riding a blood dragon wearing armor! At the end I was treated with a literal fireworks show as I brought everything to ruin.

Playing these both together in a short amount of time was an interesting experience. Blood Dragon was so short that I didn't even have time to dislike anything about it. I think by the time I was finishing 3, I was worn out on Jason Brody's incessant attempt to sound like a badass, so I didn't care what happened to him or his friends. Overall though, Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon were awesome and I highly recommend them.

If you stuck with me, thanks for reading!

I first dove in to Spelunky when I picked it up on a steam sale a little over a year ago. I had always had interest, but I was hesitant to pick it up for full price for fear that it wouldn't grab me. The learning curve was daunting, so much so that I walked away after only playing for a few hours. Being no stranger to difficult games, I couldn't help but feel disappointed in myself.

Not much later, Patrick started his "Spelunkin' with Scoops" feature. I try to consume most content here, so I kept up with it, mostly only listening while I was at work. Never would I have imagined how deep the game went in terms of mechanics. I was under the impression it was a "get as far as you can with the highest score" kind of game. Patrick's interest renewed my own interest, and I began playing every day for months.

There was success, there was failure, but I was always learning. I was hooked and had a desire to get better and better. Eventually, I "beat" the game. I made it to Olmec, stomped him, and then...now what? There were still the daily challenges, but I was no where near skilled enough to race to the top of the leader boards. The only leader boards I ever took seriously were Super Meat Boy's because it's probably my favorite platformer ever. "Spelunkin' With Scoops" introduced the path to Hell to me, and the secret boss, Yama. But was I dedicated enough to do that? At the time, not so much.

Now, after having stepped away from the game for months again, I'm back at it. This time, I'm set on defeating Yama. The fact that this game keeps drawing me back in is impressive. I'm nearing the 50 hour mark on playtime. I spent $5. I couldn't ask for more value out of such a small package. And I'm not stopping there.

I'm documenting this process on youtube, a first for me, so not only am I excited to be interested in the game for a third time, but I'm also trying something new. There isn't much of a plan, other than I love this game and want to tell people about it, (and there's something intriguing about having tangible evidence of the process).

Shameless self promotion.

If you stumbled upon this, thanks for reading! And if you haven't played Spelunky, go play it!