As I work to get the site up and running, one of the core ideas I want to implement is a weekly update post on everything I’m playing, watching, etc. in addition to any interesting news items to highlight, as needed. I know, very original, the blog is going to make blog posts. When I first decided I wanted to make a site, the focus was to post reviews, recommendations, etc. like a standard video game website or channel, but that’s obviously an extremely crowded space in 2023. So, the intent of these posts is to make things much more personal than when I post a formal editorial piece, hopefully allowing people playing the same new release the chance to enjoy them as a normal conversation we’d have when talking. Either way, we’ll see how it goes and go from there.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
This week, I beat and platinum’d Jedi: Survivor after around 42 hours, and, I must say, it really exceeded my expectations. Even though I enjoyed Jedi: Fallen Order, I wasn’t really focused on getting to this game this year, but the timing ended up working out and I’m glad it did. I didn’t watch any trailers or read anything about the game in the lead-up to release, so I was completely blind outside of hearing it was another buggy mess, especially on PC. After a few patches, performance had some issues on PS5 but, overall, it was an extremely strong experience that improved upon the core concepts of the original by toning down the “Dark Souls” combat and upping the Metroidvania exploration in semi-open world environments. I should preface that Metroidvanias are my favorite genre of games, so it ended up no surprise that I liked this game, but it went above and beyond what Jedi: Fallen Order set out to achieve. This is easily one of my favorite Star Wars games today and I’m currently working on a full review.
HoloCure – Save the Fans!
Wrapping up the week, I finally decided to give a little fan game centered around the Hololive VTubers, called HoloCure, a try, and the next thing I knew a whole day passed. For the unaware, HoloCure is a free Vampire Survivor “clone” made by Kay Yu, fueled purely by his passion for the VTubers of Hololive. I never tried Vampire Survivors, despite how popular it was online, but I very quickly understood the appeal and addictive nature of the genre. I’ll also say I use the word “clone” loosely because while it is very much Vampire Survivors at its core, there’s enough variance between the two that calling it a clone does it a disservice. A lot of love is going into this game and it’s insane that it’s a completely free fan project.
As for the game itself, it’s already sporting 38 different characters, each with their own weapon, special ability, and unique skills that, as far as I can tell, help separate it from its original inspiration. I’ve only played three of my favorites so far but there’s enough variance in builds due to the unique skills to keep the gameplay unique. There’s also the HoloHouse mode, which I’ve yet to try, so, if I’m not careful, I could be sucked in for an obscene amount of time. If you’re interested in VTubers, I highly recommend checking it out on Steam or from the website directly.
One Piece – The End of an Era
As of this week, I’m finally nearing the end of my One Piece anime journey, having passed the threshold of less than 100 episodes until I’m caught up. For the uninitiated, that may seem like a lot left but, at this stage, that’s a cakewalk and it’s very bittersweet. I spent the last year and changed journeying with the Straw Hat crew in what became my favorite anime of all time. So, the idea that I’ll soon be out of content and join the weekly episode is kind of heartbreaking after 1000 episodes. It’s been an incredible ride and, to be completely honest, I have consistent unholy thoughts of starting over from the beginning and doing it again. Luckily, well, depending on how it shakes out, this post is at the same time that the Netflix live-action adaptation of One Piece is about to release and I’m morbidly curious, so at least I have a little extra content to keep me going. I’d like to write some editorial content on One Piece at some point, but for a series so expansive, I’m not sure where to begin. Either way, there’s certainly more One Piece in the future of this blog, so buckle up.
Next Week’s Plans
Wrapping up this week and looking towards that next, there are some exciting releases inbound:
- Sea of Stars – August 29th
- Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 continues – August 31st
- One Piece Live-Action (Netflix) – August 31st
- Baldur’s Gate 3 (PS5 Early Access) – September 2nd
Going into next week, I want to dabble with Sea of Stars, but it’ll be put on the back burning as soon as Baldur’s Gate 3 drops for its early access. Maybe I’ll write up some early impressions of Sea of Stars for anyone interested in checking it out and then circle back to it. Well, maybe by December with this jam-packed fall release schedule for video games. For those who quickly noticed a big missing item from the list, Starfield is a game that I’ll get to one day, but for now, I ended up picking Baldur’s Gate 3. I don’t own a gaming PC, so I want to see how the game runs on Series X and wait for bug patches. Starfield isn’t going anywhere and will deserve at least a solid month carved out to dig into it. Sorry Bethesda fans, your RPG is getting put on ice by this weeb.
After a couple weeks break, Jujutsu Kaisen is returning with the Shibuya arc and it’s my main pick for the summer anime season, so I can’t wait. Hidden Inventory was a fun five-episode journey into Gojo’s past and made Geto a much more interesting antagonist for the series, so I can’t wait. I’ve managed to go unspoiled and let’s hope nothing screws that up.
And there you have it, another week in the bag and one of the first posts on this blog. I look forward to continuing these and hope that readers can get something out of various video game and anime ramblings, hoping to take the place of what could be a solo podcast or something. Either way and until next time, good luck out there.
