Snipestorm
Darth Sidious
Cookstown, United Kingdom (Great Britain)
Help me play something other than counterstrike...
Help me play something other than counterstrike...
Currently Offline
Favorite Game
5,899
Hours played
1
Achievements
Screenshot Showcase
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
1
Review Showcase
Best narrative game I've played since the Last of Us and is clearly influenced by that great game. A super super game!
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Starting the game in the beautiful French countryside the developer Asobo Studio works hard to connect you with Amicia De Rune - the main protagonist. Hunting with her father and dog you begin to track a boar through the forest when you discover the blight (plague) which will become the central plot obstacle which you will be tasked to overcome. Amicia witnesses her beloved dog "Lion" dragged and devoured by a burrow in the Earth. The first of many disasters she will have to witness. Lord De Rune, more wise about the world decides to return home with haste and it is there as you try to find Amicia's mother that rumours of a plague circulate around the castle's staff. They all hush and address you halting their murmuring about evil.

Amicia finds her mother and brother, Beatrice and Hugo De Rune, Hugo is sick but before you can gain any understanding of his illness the Catholic Church's Inquisition attacks the De Rune castle. Beatrice guides her children out of the castle and this acts as a tutorial of the stealth mechanics. This game at its core is a stealth game and although you can be more brash in the final act the majority of the game is spent skulking in the shadows. You must choose to sneak past enemies or manipulate the environment to eliminate them. Amicia watches her father and castle servants be killed by the Inquisition and their imposing Captain Nicholas. Every instinct I had was to take out the enemy and exact revenge but I couldn't. The game won't facilitate your instincts, you just have to keep going and let those good loyal people die. The De Rune's reach the edge of the castle gardens, the forest and safety is in sight but they are spotted by Captain Nicholas. Beatrice De Rune pushes her children out into the forest. The wooden door closes and moments later a blade impales through the door. Amicia De Rune must find a cure for her sick brother and somehow keep them both safe. I thought the opening chapter was the best introduction to a game I had played since the Last of Us in 2013.

The main body of the story is about Amicia and Hugo searching for a cure to his sickness called the "Makula" (Spelling may vary). The journey takes them to settlements across the French countryside, forming a band of renegades to help them and learning how to fight the rats which carry/represent the blight. The story captures how the De Rune children are hardened by their environment, Amicia grapples with her morals after she kills for the first time and Hugo is extremely upset when the children sacrifice a pig to save their lives. The helplessness of innocent children is very apparent in the early chapters and it is consistently saddening to watch the characters go through the turmoil of their journey in the cruel Middle Ages. A sad story of the loss of innocence in a cruel world is however permeated by good individuals who buck the trend and give the De Rune's hope e.g the woman in the blight infested village who provides refuge to the children as they flee from villagers who wanted to burn them alive.

I was very impressed with the accurate deployment of history. It brings the game to life, set during the 1340s Asobo has created a counter factual history scenario. What if the rats that carried the Black Death were murderous and more numerous? Nothing is omitted, the God fearing nature of the people and the violent tyranny of the Inquisition in the pursuit of their goals reflects the religiosity of the age. The urban areas visited in the game have white X's on the houses of infected families and they lie desolate either through death or migration. Even the 100 Years War is represented in the game and all these little things in combination create a really accurate background meaning I could make allowances the artistic decisions surrounding the rats in the plot and get immersed in the game/story. The last historical praise I wish to lump on Asobo is the importance they placed on including detailed and relevant medieval artwork. In an age where few can read and the internet obviously doesn't exist paintings were the main way the Church could communicate the Bible's teachings to the peasantry.

I thought it was interesting that the game explores the ideas of class struggle. It's done very subtly through banter between Amicia De Rune and Meile, a thief who becomes an ally of the De Rune children. It is an important fact that the De Rune children are in the 1%. If Hugo De Rune was the son of a blacksmith he would have been taken by the Inquisition at a much younger age. A blacksmith's wife would not know about the Makula and would be unable to read anything about it (most likely). The laity often sought the help of the Church to cure sickness and this is reflected in Christian doctrine. Jesus Christ among many things is a healer of the sick. The fact the De Rune's are of the noble class is what allows this journey and story to take place.

After finding the cure for Hugo it is revealed to him as it previously had to Amicia that their mother Beatrice was not killed on the night of the Inquisition attack and is instead being imprisoned at the Bastion. In the night Hugo leaves the safety of the groups castle and travels to save his mother. Chapter 13 and you now play as younger, weaker, smaller and less equipped Hugo De Rune. The equipment and crafting items you have built up as Amicia are lost and you are back to Chapter 1's gameplay. You must rely on stealth alone to find and save Beatrice De Rune. This is an excellent reset of the gameplay loop and it rehooked me back into the story just as "game fatigue" was setting in. Chapter 14 unlocks a new skill, after being reunited Beatrice teaches Hugo he has the power to control the plague rats. They will move where he wants and more importantly they will kill for him. Asobo makes Hugo into a killer just like Amicia, the cruelty of the Middle Ages strikes again. Beatrice and Hugo are captured once more by Captain Nicholas and brought before Vitalus, the head of the Inquisition. He is an Emperor Palpatine style character who brainwashes Hugo De Rune (Anakin Skywalker in our Star Wars analogy) to join him and continue to harness control over his sickness/superpower. They see the Makula as a gift.

Captain Nicholas and Hugo attack Amicia and the others using the rats to breach the castle defences. Hugo appears different, with hate in his eyes and clear skin for the first time in the game he looks about to set his rats upon the group. Amicia embraces him and sibling love overcomes the Makula, reunited as brother and sister the player now uses Amicia and Hugo's skillsets in tandem to defeat Captain Nicholas, the man who murdered their father. Then the finale of the game has you storm the Bastion and face Vitalus in one final boss fight set in a cathedral. The credits roll. Amicia and Hugo are in a village once more - it's unclear if it is the same one from earlier in the game. Amicia plays a fair game, she has to knock down six rat targets to win an apple. Mirroring the game she played with her father at an apple tree in Chapter 1. You have come full circle , the village is back to life and they are hosting a fair. Hugo wants to go and play but the villagers apologetically shoo the De Rune's along, there is still a warrant for their arrest but this time the villagers don't want to capture you. Amicia races Hugo back to the cart where their mother is being cared for by one of your companions, you set off and it is revealed your other long term companion separated themselves from the group after seeing Hugo's powers in the showdown with Vitalus. I was left wondering if the De Rune's would ever be accepted in a post blight world or would they forever be pariahs?
Screenshot Showcase
Profile Showcase #5
1 1
Tyrone Among The Bushes
I'm weary of the city ways, the hurry, din and bustle,
I'm weary of the scorchin' heat, the crowds that gape and hustle,
I'm longing for a bit of green, the quiet evening hushes,
In my own land, my homeland, Tyrone among the Bushes.

I hate the groomed-up city swells, the way they have of talkin';
I hate the look of city belles, their flouncy style of walkin';
I'd like to hear the colleens speak with tongues as sweet as threshes,
With modest eyes and quiet mien in Tyrone among the Bushes.

I'd give my soul to sit again beside the fire at even',
And see the neighbours gather round, their fancy tales of weavin';
Ye'd wonder for to see them here, with balls and spreads and crushes,
We'll learn them what's Society in Tyrone among the Bushes.

Edith Wheeler.
Review Showcase
7.3 Hours played
If Micheal Bay was a game designer he would make Tomb Raider. The game has a really fun and quick pace. It is packed with cool action sequences and set pieces. And it has a great setting - modern day remote island somewhere in South East Asia. Tomb Raider's non-stop action is supported by a great movement system, there are lots of different methods for moving through levels which interlock fluidly. Interestingly more movement options become available as you progress. This is typical (and indeed happens in TR) with weapon upgrades but fewer games regularly expand movement options.

"We shouldn't discount the irrational" Dr Whytman in the early game
Whytman is right, you cannot discount the irrational in TR because if you did there would not be much left. Many people have arrived and never returned from this island for decades and no major international effort has ever been made to discover why. Furthermore, people keep going there expecting to be okay!

"I can do this" - Lara Croft
LC says this a lot in the early parts of the game as motivation to carry on with her mission to save her friends. If she knew how many terrible falls she would survive over the course of the game she would realise she is invincible. There is no better motivation than that,

Tomb Raider is fun, that is the main takeaway and the team actually have placed a little thank you for finishing the game at the top of the credits which was a nice touch. Fun action, plenty of shooting, fun movement in a variety of locations and fun puzzles including in optional tombs which at times are oddly placed during the story. The storyline itself is not Shakespeare nor is it even Eastenders so if you want an enthralling narrative you should play something else.
If - Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your hear and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold On!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count on you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my Son.

By Rudyard Kipling
Recent Activity
3.4 hrs on record
last played on 31 Aug
5,899 hrs on record
last played on 31 Aug
1,341 hrs on record
last played on 29 Aug
🧿Yokai🪐 26 Aug @ 11:11am 
excited to play with you
azpect 20 Aug @ 12:04pm 
added from r/recruitcs, saw your post about a pugging discord
Mikeyy 19 Aug @ 3:57am 
Added from reddit
Nualore🌂 3 Aug @ 11:57am 
Ready to face the ultimate challenge?, add me, please
76561199417449947 14 Jun @ 8:17am 
+rep clutch master
Snowmoon 3 Jun @ 11:31am 
+rep good profile, strategic plays