Insomniac Nightmares

Made a bit of progress this week, but still running behind due to the grinding in Fist of the North Star. It’s gonna take a while to recover from that I think.

This week, I’ve been playing Night Trap. Yes, that Night Trap. You know, the one that, alongside Mortal Kombat, is pretty much responsible for the ESRB. It’s fun, and I’m about halfway through the list, but the thing that strikes me the most about it is how honestly tame it really is.

That scene is sparked a lot of controversy. A very PG scene of a stereotypical horror girl being surprised by the killer in a bathroom. There’s no nudity. Her nightie would probably pass muster on anything Fox airs. There’s no blood. But that was going to warp the minds of all us impressionable children and create a legion of serial killers.

What’s really funny to me is the 25th Anniversary Edition for PS4 and Vita is actually rated “T.” Apparently, even the ESRB – spawned from this scene – agrees that maybe it wasn’t actually that bad. Hilarious.

Right now all that’s left is to trap a boatload of Augers (1987, to be specific, though I’ve got at least 700 right now, having done two perfect runs after popping the “Catch 500” trophy), watch everyone die at least once (three times for dear old Dana Plato), and fill in the movie and production still collection categories (which mostly involves seeing all those deaths and seeing every story scene in the game at least once. So a lot of sitting around, catching just enough of the vampires to make sure the game doesn’t end early. Yay.)

Also started Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It’s interesting, though not as Dark Souls as some folks would like to claim. It feels kind of like a middle ground between Nioh (which was Dark Souls, Onimusha and Diablo in a blender) and a “real” Dark Souls game, then put on fast forward and with Spider-Man movement options. I like it, but I haven’t even gotten to the first boss as of yet (mostly poking around the first area, seeing what I can and can’t get away with, grinding skill points.) I expect it to be enjoyable.

Also started getting into Path of Exile. It’s good stuff, at least if you’ve already pillaged Diablo II and III for everything they’re worth. I don’t care for the loot system, though; too much crap drops, too much of it is useless, and the vendor system kinda sucks in my opinion. Still playable, certainly, but doesn’t grab me the way it’s spiritual forebears did.

Last bit; if anyone is actually playing Borderlands 2 VR – the PSN stats say not many area, but I’m sure at least one of you out there may be – they finally gave it a patch to include most of the DLC. So far as I can tell it doesn’t have the latest patch – the one that added the “prelude to Borderlands 3” content – but it does have all 4 of the major DLC packs, adds Gaige and Krieg to the roster, and all the holiday-themed one-shot adventures plus the level cap raises. All for free. With all the trophies from the regular or Handsome editions. So that’s fun.

Spirit Hunter: NG (and why, for the life of me, they didn’t call it Death Mark 2 so it would at least have some brand recognition in this country) is supposed to arrive today or tomorrow through the wonders of GameFly. I think it will serve as a nice palate cleanser.

What about you? What games are you playing? What games do you think I should be playing? Let me know down below, or you can stalk me on PSN at Ashande, XBox Live as Typo Monster, or right here on Twitch.