#25th anniversary on top | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ophelialoveshandsomemen · 3 months

Text

Say what you will about Van Helsing 2004; hate it, love it, be indifferent, But the All-Hallow's masquerade ball went sooooo hard and it had zero right to do so! It's a fun, campy, monster mash movie with wonderfully dated ( and expensive) cgi and non-stop action meant to be a popcorn flick one takes out to watch around spooky season. And it has this* chef's kiss* GORGEOUS 6 minute sequence plopped arbitrarily in the second act, which unexpectedly surpasses nearly every other ball in the last 30+ years of film( notable exception being the Cinderella 2015 ball) for literally no reason other than to be dramatic af.

Like feast your eyes on this Gothic masterpiece!!! Who doesn't want to immediately live in this picture?!??

They used those candles with oil in them so that they would have real candles, real string orchestra( I believe), probably around 100 real life extras( something which is tragically absent in modern film), said extras are all in beautiful fully decked-out costumes( which are in luxuriously dark colours, but nearly no fully black, another thing you cannot say for much modern cinema), REAL CIRQUE DU SOLEIL PERFORMERS for all the acrobatics!!!! Hell, instead of filming in a sound stage, where they could control the reverb and the acoustics and the size of the set and the bloody lighting ( they apparently had a heck of a time emulating the firelight for this sequence) and the temperature( it's very cold in stone churches!) better, they filmed in a Baroque church in Prague! As I said, peak dramatic splendour, jfc...

Think about that a second...They filmed a vampire masquerade in a Baroque Catholic Church( St. Nicholas' in Lesser Town, if you were curious) with amazing over-the-top acoustics and marble statues and real, tiled floors and marble pillars and a choir loft which they very much utilized, covered the pipe organ and the altar with a grand brocade curtain so it wouldn't be so obviously a, you know, a church! And there's a gold gilt elevated and canopied pulpit into which they put two vampire kiddies for, again, the sake of being dramatic.

And the costumes! They remind me of the 25th anniversary Phantom of the Opera Masquerade costumes. Same quality, like they're old, well-cared-for costumes pulled out of a warehouse, instead of fast industry churn-outs. With lots of trim and colour and masks and lace and feathers and..just...ugh.. they are all perfect! Just look at all the head pieces on the ladies and the hats on all the gentleman ( save Dracula of course) and the powdered wigs on the musicians. ANNNNDD! The dresses are historically correct!!!!!! It's the 80's bustle era! Nobody does the 80's bustle era in film anymore and it's a bummer. Oh and one other thing! Anna's ( and other women's) hair, at least here in the ball, is also historically accurate because it's all pinned up! None of those fucken modern beachwaves at a ball! Everybody's got updo's!

Gah, I swear, Dracula in his gold cloak really does things to me in this scene!

By the way, the acrobatics are bonkers in here for just background stuff!! Especially the random guys on unicycles and the dude playing the violin whilst standing on a ball...Like....WHAT?

Anyways, all this to say, that this masquerade ball feels sooo real and tangible and because of that it blows every other film out of the water, and no, I will not change my mind!!!!!

Here's a few more gifs, bcuz, why the hell not, this scene is sexy as fuu*ck?

Alright I need to go to bed now.

2K notes · View notes

hev-mark-iv · 5 months

Text

We are just a couple days away from Half-Life's 25th anniversary and we've been blessed with an update to the original Half-Life with new multiplayer maps, Steam Deck support, and restored content!

On top of that, Half-Life is FREE to own (until November, 20th, 2023) on Steam!

Other honorable mentions:

- Half-Life Deathmatch: Source is $0.99

- Half-Life: Blue Shift is $0.69

- Half-Life: Opposing Force is $0.69

- Half-Life 1: Source is $0.99 and is now also unlisted (but still available) on Steam

- Half-Life 2 is $.099

- Half-Life 2: Episode One is $0.79

- Half-Life 2: Episode Two is $0.79

- Half-Life 2 Deathmatch is $0.99

- Half-Life: Alyx is $20.39

youtube

Valve has also posted an hour-long documentary on Half-Life!

[Updated post with more deals, the documentary, and descriptive images!]

#half life #half life 2 #half life 2 episode 1 #half life 2 episode 2 #half life blue shift #half life opposing force #gordon freeman #alyx vance #barney calhoun #isaac kleiner #eli vance #half life 25th anniversary #Youtube

1K notes · View notes

raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 months

Text

🎊 twst 4th year anni ABEMA stream 🎉

***TWST JP news + anniversary spoilers below the cut!***

The stream starts with Ace, Deuce, Jack, Ruggie, and Sebek's VAs replying to a bunch of quiz questions. I think Ace or Deuce responds with "810" when asked how many items there are on the Heartslabyul lounge's coffee table. Sebek's VA also has a hilarious answer when asked how many Draconians (wakasama fans) there are, he pulls out some super absurdly high number with tons of zeros in it.

There is then a Master Chef/Culinary Crucibles-type section where the VAs decorate their own cake for TWST's anniversary. It’s a team effort! Ace and Deuce put on the cream, Sebek added cookies on top, and Jack and Ruggie did the final decorations. It ended up looking pretty cute ^^ (Ace's VA is the one that added all the whipped cream peaks; it was mostly thanks to Ruggie's VA that the cake still looked aesthetically pleasing at the end.)

Actual game-related news time!!! The SR Grim card for the 4th anniversary is... drumroll please...!! 🥁Apprentice Chef Grim!!! ABGKSKVUkvuDSQEVUOFDFIHAFVA HE'S SO CUTE, HE EVEN HAS A LIL TUNA CAN CAKE 😭

For anniversary, there will be a series of free items given out if you log in during the event period (11th to 25th), which includes THREE 10-pull keys (released on the 11th, 15th, and 18th, respectively). You can receive up to 12 days' worth of freebies. There will be an anniversary banner as per usual; you can earn tokens by pulling on this and then trade them in for a SR magical key (50 tokens) and/or past event-limited SSRs (150 tokens), including past years' birthday cards (100 tokens). There will be a new "Event Recollection" feature which allows you to experience events that you may have missed getting the initial chance to play through yourself.

Mr. S's Mystery Shop will sell items from past events such as limited Groovy materials and spell upgrade materials. This is called the "Memory Shop".

You will be able to mark (multiple) parts of the story as your "favorite". This will be indicated with a pink heart icon.

Battles will have a new feature which allows you to save team compositions for them. Up to 25 compositions may be saved at a time. You can also pin your supports, so you no longer have to scroll to find a specific friend's character to borrow.

There will be 3 new item gachas added to the "Item Lotto" of the shop (for Crewel, Vargas, and Trein). Previously, there was only Sam's. You use a new type of medal (obtained by taking classes) to roll on the teachers' lottos, and can pull items related to what you'd typically earn in each of their classes.

Crewel's gacha may provide an herbal tea which can be used to boost Buddy Levels, including those for characters that are otherwise unable to take Alchemy classes. That means Crowley, Rollo, etc. are fair game. (Yes, you can force feed them tea to obtain FRIENDSHIP✨) The tea may also drop during Special Lessons or Alchemy class.

We finally get magical key conversion! On the summoning screen, you can turn 10 single pull keys into one 10-pull key (which guarantees at least 1 SR; single keys do not have this benefit).

The Guest Room will receive a second floor to decorate. This will be unlocked once you reach a Guest Room rank of 31.

The Guest Room rank cap will be increased from 30 to 40. Additionally, all properties of floor 1 appears to carry over to floor 2. This means the same comfort level and attributes will be present across both.

New BGMs will be added to Mr. S's Mystery Shop. There will also be new voice lines added to Alchemy, Flying, and the outfit selection screen. The official TWST soundtrack will be released on the 29th of May, though preorders are tentatively open now. It is 140+ tracks (149, to be exact!) across 4 discs and goes for 4620 yen (inclusive of tax; without tax the soundtrack is 4200 yen). Japanese retailers are offering different dorms' A5 sized holographic sticker sheets as bonuses for preordering.

That's it for now, mostly quality of life changes! There will most likely be a 4th year anniversary PV/animated short on the actual anniversary day (the 18th)!

571 notes · View notes

yridenergyridenergy · 3 months

Text

Burrn! Japan vol. 23 Individual Interview Translation Notes

Kyo's favourite movies are those that leave a really bad aftertaste, which he just can't watch more than once or twice. Besides Holy Mountain, some of his highlights have been Pearl, MEN and Midsommar. Ideally, he'd love to replicate this in a live show: as a fan, you would be so shocked and blinded by tears that you couldn't even see Kyo. He thinks that Dir en grey is more and more working toward this kind of mission. Kyo would also love to perform in Las Vegas' SPHERE venue, with this type of overwhelming shock.

If he had to make a movie, it would also be one that leaves a bad aftertaste and which nobody could sanely watch more than twice, but since he would have to do multiple reviews as the director, it won't happen.

Kyo finally explained the focus on Uroboros more: he feels that Dir en grey was able to build something more from this point onward. The worldview started with Withering to death. too, but the base was set more firmly with Uroboros.

For Kyo, the inclusion of Oboro is what totally changes a setlist. He feels that it's a bottomless pit, like he's cutting deeper and deeper into a wound. For Die, The World of Mercy is the song that can make a whole difference in a setlist, because of the change of tempo in the middle.

Die described that when they try to compose songs, sometimes, after 25 years, they can have the impression that the melody's already been done before. But then, let's say Kyo adds his singing on top of it, and it goes through the filters of the other members too, and in the end, Die feels like: "Wow, it's something totally different now!"

Die doesn't usually work on melodies in his free time. The ideas come to him the most when there is a concrete release decided and deadlines, even if he doesn't like deadlines.

Regarding the upcoming European tour, Die reflects that Withering to death. was the first time that they toured in Europe, and in general they have never done "concept tours" overseas. He feels that the band will be able to do things in 2024 that they weren't able to do back then.

Apparently Dir en grey is thinking of celebrating the 30th anniversary since their formation!! And they are wondering whether to release the next album before that or around the same time.

Kaoru mentioned that at first, only Acro no Oka and Zan were supposed to be recorded with Yoshiki in LA, but when they arrived, it was decided to add Yurameki. About Acro no Oka, Yoshiki commented that it was a concern because of the lack of "collision of sounds", whereas Zan was a problem of collision of sounds.

In Yurameki, apparently they recorded some strings separately and overlapped them in post-production because Yoshiki asked Kaoru to play something in a specific way that was impossible, because the string couldn't be held down simultaneously. They figured: "No one will notice."

This European tour was supposed to happen in 2022 to coincide with the band's 25th anniversary.

Shinya would have preferred to sleep until 4PM on the day of this interview. He also appreciated that the songs of Phalaris were introduced in three segments/tours, because he had trouble memorizing the structure of the songs. It would have been impossible for him to play all of the album's songs at once live.

His favourite kind of ending is when the show doesn't end with a bang, but that it instead leaves a lingering worldview, which was accomplished with Kamuy. His favourite part is when the curtain was lowered in front of the stage as soon as Kamuy started. Ideally, he would always just walk off the stage without throwing drumsticks or anything.

For the first time, the rehearsal for Tour23 Phalaris Final –the scent of a peaceful death- was not just [rhythm section] then [whole band]. At Die's suggestion, they had rhythm first, then the four musicians, and finally the whole band rehearsed together.

Shinya was ecstatic that his composition, Yurameki, was chosen for the major debut and that it was produced with Yoshiki. Ever since then, he felt like he could die happy, and all the way up until now, Shinya has continually felt like he could be content to die at any moment.

For ten years now, Shinya has wished to record simple drum melodies. Also, he thinks that he will struggle to re-learn how to play the Uroboros songs.

Toshiya reveals that the imagery projected on the curtain in the opening (during Otogi) and ending (during Kamuy) of the shows in Tour23 Phalaris Final –the scent of a peaceful death- were generated by AI.

It seems that a lot of people have commented that going to see Dir en grey is more like a spectacle than seeing a rock band's live performance.

Toshiya was initially opposed to the idea of re-recording the three singles of their major debut. He feels that old songs are out of their hands, and some things about them belong to the listeners and their past experiences of it. In other words, he is worried that re-recording could destroy something about the memories associated to the songs. In his view, it's better for the creators to re-imagine the songs, like they have done with their remakes so far. At the same time, in retrospection, Toshiya is glad that they decided to do it, because it made him realize that a lot has changed in 25 years, but a lot also hasn't changed, with the band.

#Dir en grey #interview #translation #magazine #burrn #volume 23 #Burrn! Japan #19990120 #Kyo #Die #Kaoru #Shinya #Toshiya #scans #scan #live #tour23 Phalaris Final -the scent of a peaceful death-#Phalaris

254 notes · View notes

ashxketchum · 2 months

Text

Now it feels like we’re celebrating the 25th Anniversary 😍

This new art for an upcoming collaboration with Karatez is just simply stunning. The theme is (very obviously) “idol” and I personally love the futuristic pop concept they’ve added to the outfits. Although exact date and merch details haven’t been shared yet, they shared a few layouts of the key art.

The outfits are also great this time around because of their little references to the partner Digimon’s Perfect evolutions. Listing them down one by one as always.

Taichi: The blue markings on his jacket plus robotic arm markings on his right sleeve are a nice shoutout to MetalGreymon.

Yamato: We see WereGarurumon’s pattern on his jacket and a few belts wrapped around his hands that captures the punk-grunge vibe of WereGarurumon well. It may be Yamato’s affinity to music, but he looks extremely in his element in this art, it’s not often we see him so raring to go in official merch art (he’s more of a soft smiles guy usually).

Sora: Her gloves and the red bandana on her arm coupled with the feather in her hair are clear shoutouts to Garudamon. It’s kinda funny to me that being the girl who’s crest is a heart symbol, she’s making a victory sign while Mimi and Hikari are both making different types of finger hearts 😆

Koushiro: Honestly they were really subtle with the reference for him and even twitter couldn’t exactly answer my doubts so I’m gonna have to see Koushiro stans step up and answer whether the reference in his outfit limited to the markings on his jacket resembling AtlurKabuterimon’s chest?

Mimi: I think she’s the one with the most easy to catch references, her skirt resembles Lilymon’s and her hair tie looks like Lilymon’s flower canon. I love that she’s making the big finger heart because it’s just so very Mimi. If Yamato suits the passionate side of being an idol, Mimi is definitely meant for the cutesy visual vibe that can make fans go crazy over just a wink and a smile.

Jou: He’s wearing three belt like bracelets around one wrist like Zudomon which makes his a minimal reference though not as subtle as Koushiro’s. I do feel that they could’ve done a bit more with his look, maybe add a horn to the side of his headset? I also can’t wait to see the full art for each kid individually cuz I do think him and Yamato are wearing similar bellbottom pants!

Takeru: The feather on his headset and the yellow suspended straps are a decent reference to HolyAngemon. Considering that they wanted to keep the outfits limited to one colour per kid, I think this is the best way they could slip in the reference, though I wouldn’t have minded a few rings.

Hikari: The feather on the headset, the corset-ish belt around her waist and her gloves are very nice references to Angewomon. Keeping Hikari’s innocence as a kid intact while referencing a Digimon that is undoubtedly considered one of the most sexiest mons in the franchise would have been really tough and I salute the illustrators for coming up with this design! I also like the OG Korean finger heart she’s making, such a cute look on her.

The cherry on top are each of the Digimon partners holding supportive cheering goods for their kids. Piyomon’s love for Sora goes hard with her big name banner. Meanwhile, Agumon and Palmon kept it simple with haoris, Tailmon and Patamon too decided to go the simple route with light sticks. Gabumon, Gomamon and Tentomon seem normal from afar with their hand fans but when you get a closer look on all the hearts around Koushiro’s name on Tentomon’s fan, you know the three spent time making those themselves.

All in all, a pretty amazing illustration to be able to get merch of!

But wait that’s not all, andGallery has also teased a future cafe collaboration with Digimon Adventure on their twitter, more info will be announced on 19th Feb but they did share a preview of what to expect.

174 notes · View notes

jamesunderwater · 2 months

Text

Jily Microfic - Sentimental

@jilymicrofics- feb 25th, prompt: sentimental - words: 397

It was not difficult to know what James Potter liked, as he never stopped talking about himself. So of course Lily knew that his favorite team was Puddlemere United, his favorite dessert was sticky toffee pudding, his favorite spot was the very top of the quidditch stands at sundown, and his favorite chocolate frog card to get was Salazar Slytherin, because he enjoyed repeatedly flicking him in the face. Anyone plagued by his proximity, Lily was sure, would know these things as well.

The difficult task had been deciding which of his favorites to use, but in the end, dessert seemed the obvious choice.

Lily arrived at their shared office twenty minutes before they were set to meet. Charming the pudding and sauce to stay warm and the ice cream to stay cold, she set the plate at his desk, ready and waiting for when he came in.

“What’s this?" James asked, standing beside his desk and pointing at the plate. His eyebrows were knit in confusion, but Lily thought she saw a grin waiting in the rafters.

Lily leaned back in her desk chair and said, "Happy anniversary," as way of an answer.

An eyebrow flicked skyward, and Lily relished in James’s awkward hesitation before he replied, "...Anniversary?"

"Yes," she said, and stood to join him by his desk. “Don’t you remember?”

The paused grin had disappeared altogether now, his expression one of total bewilderment. “Er… No.” His hand went to his hair, and Lily’s heart did a small flip, as it always did when she elicited his infamous fidget.

“This day last year was the first time – and only – time you made a potion better than mine,” she explained, speaking as though it should have been obvious. “I thought it worthy of celebration.”

His face split into an amused grin. “I didn’t know you were so sentimental, Evans.”

She shrugged, smiling to herself. “It was a once in a lifetime sort of moment.”

He snorted. “Quite a claim when we’ve got a lot longer to go in this lifetime.”

“Mm,” she hummed, “I’m not worried.”

Looking down at the dessert again, James glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Did you know sticky toffee pudding’s my favorite?”

Lily crossed her arms. “Really?” She shook her head. “How funny. Lucky guess, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” he replied, lifting the spoon with a smirk. “Lucky guess.”

#jily microfic #james potter #lily evans #academic rivals #my writing #jily*#jily #jily fic #jple #hp #jilymicrofics

131 notes · View notes

adelliet · 1 year

Text

JOEL MILLER X F!READER

Birthday gift

Summary: It's your birthday today and you have a family reunion, where is of course, invited your boyfriend Joel, who wanted to give you the biggest gift from they all.

Warnings: 18+, teasing, unprotected sex piv, little public sex ig?, rough

A/N: I am sorry of there are maybe some mistakes, my first language isn't english! Sending love <3

You sat cultured at a large rectangular table where your family sat around you. Everyone was here, your parents, your grandparents, your cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers...everyone.

You were glad that everyone could find time to celebrate your 25th birthday together like this. You don't even remember the last time you celebrated someone's birthday like this, so you really appreciated it and after all, you only turn 25 once.

So far everything has gone smoothly. Everyone was laughing and telling each other their life stories about what they experienced when you were not together. The only thing you were worried about was Joel, who was sitting right across the long table from you, and he hadn't stopped staring at you ever since you brought everyone's food to the table.

His look clearly indicated that he was up to something, that he wanted something. But you tried to ignore your boyfriend and focus on the moment you had together now. You see Joel quite often, after all, he is your neighbor and since you are also partners, it is clear that you meet often, so of course you appreciate his presence at your celebration, but after all, you prefer your family in this situation.

Whenever your eyes landed on Joel, he had that mischievous smirk on him that always meant something fishy. You've learned that this often means that he imagines you doing unchristian things with Joel. But you tried to clearly indicate to him with your eyes that this is a family gathering and now is really not a good time for it. You had no idea if he couldn't get it from your looks, or if he's just a guy and didn't get it either, but still, the smirk still remained on his face, and it didn't go away, like it was tattooed.

"And honey, how are you two doing anyway?" suddenly your mom asked you and all heads turned towards your face causing you to feel slightly anxious. Joel always knew what to do at events like this, so he shifted all the attention everyone was giving you now to himself. "We're doing great! We even have our six month anniversary next week" Joel saved you and everyone started whispering about Joel right away, but he didn't mind, instead he was happy to help you. Joel has no idea how lucky you are to have him.

“Okay I have some other food in the kitchen, so I am just gonna bring it” you cut off the chatter and got up from the table to go to the kitchen. As you walked past Joel, you suddenly heard "I'm going to help her". You smiled a little at the fact that Joel was going with you to the kitchen alone, but you still kept an eye on discipline and how nerve-wracking it would be to have a cojitus right next door in front of your family.

When you walked in, you started taking the bowles out of the drawers, which were too high even for you. You went all the way up on your tiptoes to reach them when a boy's muscular hand handed you that one chosen bowl, very carefully and slowly. "Little struggling with that huh?" he said provocatively and you hit him gently on the shoulder as you took the bowl from him. "Shut up!" you laughed and placed the bowl on the table, right next to the cookies. You were about to open the package when you felt an unexpected movement behind you. Suddenly, there were two massive hands on your hips that traveled up to your stomach and back to your hips. Joel was standing right behind you placing soft kisses on your neck which made you giggle a bit because it tickled.

At first you thought it was just innocent touching when you started to feel a dangerous pressure in what looked like a lump in your ass. On top of that, Joel's touches were starting to slowly lose control, so you decided to calm Joel down. "Stop it” you said but not angry or aggressive, just in a warning tone so that he would really stop.

But Joel didn't listen to your words, he didn't react to them in any way and continued what he was doing, even more strongly. The bulge in your ass began to grow, and Joel's touches moved downwards under your pants. At that moment, you had to do much more than just words.

You moved his hands away from your body and turned around so you were facing Joel. You were small compared to him, after all he was almost 20 centimeters taller, but that never stopped you from going after Joel. "Joel! My whole family is sitting over there and-" you wanted to continue, but your gaze narrowed at Joel's already rather erect cock, which was directly trapped in his pants and wanted to be free so badly.

Staring at the huge bulge in his pants for a moment, you swallowed and looked back up at Joel, who had his smirk back on. "No Joel! Not now" "Come on" he tried to convince you and placed his arms on your hips again, while gently stroking your neck.

You tried to dodge his mouth, but he still held you and you had no room to dodge anymore. "Joel, later okay?" So you tried to be kind and tactful to him, so that after everyone leaves he can do whatever he wants with you. But Joel is stubborn. "Give me a few minutes, please" he said persuasively as he subtly began to suck your neck creating purple spots. "A few minutes? Joel that's-" "5 minutes" he cut you off, alpha male energy emanating from him. He confidently said this number, which not only interested and surprised you, but also made you laugh a little. "You would bring us both to orgasm in 5 minutes?" you asked in disbelief and when Joel heard your ironic voice he stopped sucking on your neck and pulled away from him so he could look you in the eye.

“What? You don't believe me?” he asked you with a smile and his hands ended up on your back, specifically your juicy ass, which Joel just had to squeeze. You jumped a little at this unexpected move, but you still tried to answer his question. "No and I don't even want to find out" you retorted and wanted to turn back to the table so you could finally pour the chocolate chip cookies into the bowl.

But Joel didn't let you go, he held you tightly by your hips so that you couldn't go anywhere and you had to stand in one place and look at Joel, who was throwing his hungry face at you. "Bet?" he said in such a sexy and rough voice that you would have gone after him long ago, but you're not alone and you don't want to risk your family catching you fucking your boyfriend a few steps away on your birthday. You can save that for the evening, as a conclusion.

“Joel, just try to hold it okay?” “I can't look what you do to me” he said, still looking at you but you know what was he talking about. He was talking about that huge bulge in his pants that was really trying to come out and fuck you hard right on the table behind you. Joel didn't care that your family was right behind you, that everyone was there and you'd sink to the floor in shame if you got caught, no, he didn't give a single shit.

“It's not my fault” you tried to defend yourself and resist his accusation that his now standing with a hard cock was your fault. You wouldn't say if you were somehow provoking him, or teasing him, but you were just breathing. You weren't even wearing any revealing clothes.

"Actually, it is, if you weren't so fucking beautiful..." he said the last words to your neck, which he bit and sucked again, but no longer gently, but very aggressively and passionately. You had to sigh at his biting the sensitive spot on your neck, but you tried to be quiet so as not to attract attention.

“Joel, let’s leave it for the evening-” “Give me 5 minutes, I swear” he mumbled into your ear and returned to your neck, this time from the other side where you still didn’t have the purple pacifiers, which Joel had to correct immediately. His kissing on your neck made you hot and excited, you stopped noticing your surroundings for a moment, how good you felt. You couldn't control yourself and started moaning quietly, making Joel even more turn on.

“Oh fuck, don't do this to me” he groans, as he heard your heave girly breathing, that Joel loved. Whenever he hears you like that he can't help but go after you whether you like it or not and he did that now. He grabbed your rear thighs and lifted you up so that your hips were level with his. You automatically wrapped your legs around Joel, and all your thoughts and good conscience about leaving naughty things for the evening suddenly dissolved and you, you don't even know how, glued your lips to his.

You stopped kissing Joel for a moment, leaning a little back from his face. “You said 5 minutes?” you assured yourself with a devilish smirk on your face. Joel immediately nodded in agreement. “Okay…” you whispered to yourself, setting the timer on your watch. As soon as you set them, Joel came after you like a wild animal again. Now it remains to be seen whether he can do it or not.

There was no going back now. Both of you were glued together not only by lips but also by body, Joel held your thighs tightly and quickly walked to the kitchen counter which was at least more covered from the room where everyone was sitting.

As soon as he put you on the line, Joel started taking off his pants and you helped him. You didn't even blink and Joel's hard cock was already in the air, twitching with anticipation. As soon as he had his flesh out, Joel slid his massive hand under your dress where he grabbed your red sexy panties and pulled them down to your ankles with a sharp movement. But during all these movements, you never once stopped the passionate kisses.

Even though your naturals were practically completely bare now, you were still waiting, or rather, Joel was waiting. But he couldn't hold it for too long, so he took you by the hips with both hands and pulled you in such a way that he had a good passage inside and at the same time so that you wouldn't fall. Meanwhile, you had one arm wrapped around Joel's muscular neck and the other leaning against the kitchen counter from behind to keep you from toppling over.

Joel stopped kissing you and looked down at your legs and his bare cock. Both of you breathed excitedly and roughly, tensely waiting to finally be inside each other. Joel tried to coordinate himself so that he could finally enter you while you tried to help him by opening your legs more. Joel grabbed his cock and gently slid it into your entrance, causing a gasp not only from you but also from him. You were so tight. You wrapped Joel's cock right up and he fucking loved it.

You started quietly moaning his name, as he started thrust into you with his huge dick, making you throwing your head back. Your whole body were bouncing to the rhytm of Joel's thrusting, whichc started getting faster every second. You both were groaning and moaning, but you cannot control your voice anymore, as you were focused on Joel inside of you.

You started moaning louder but luckily Joel covered your mouth so no one could hear you but him. He didn't look at your face, but only at your body, at your breasts trapped in your clothes, at your legs that rippled like the sea every time his pelvis touched yours.

His breath was warm and strong, you could feel it through your clothes to your cold chest. The wet and juicy sounds were getting louder, but you couldn't control either. Your vagina was filling with juice, and Joel's cock was starting to lose its hold. Every time Joel gets damn close, he starts doing incredible and unimaginable things with his hips. He stops controlling them and lets them do whatever they want, do whatever it takes to get into you. He didn't even pull his dick completely out of you, just a few inches at a time. You felt yourself getting damn close, the sensation of releasing liquid onto Joel's cock was starting to rise, your legs stiffened and your toes curled.

"Do you want to help there?" suddenly you heard your mom yelling at you and you curiously looked into the kitchen but you were perfectly hidden. You wanted to answer, but you couldn't because the feeling of pleasure and orgasm kept fast approaching. "N-no!" you finally yelled, very jerky. You could feel Joel's sneer as you answered your mom.

"Joel I-" "I know baby" he whispered in pleassure, his voice low and deep like a husky. He started feeling his cock twitching and his veins popping, as his precum started getting out of his tip. You both knew that you're not far from your orgasm.

Few more thrusts and you sighed loudly and very softly as a warm feeling enveloped you and you finally relaxed your entire body, including your walls that were wrapped tightly around Joel's cock the whole time. Joel moaned loudly too, right after you as his cock stopped moving inside you so he could squirt his cum into you. Joel's cum and your juice mixed together like some new potion.

You panted heavily trying to catch your breath. Your heart pounded continuously and the blood in your veins began to rush through your body. Both your and Joel's chests moved up and down rapidly to finally get enough oxygen into your lungs. Suddenly, you heard a beeping from your phone, that Which clearly indicated that 5 minutes had passed. Joel laughed proudly when he heard the alarm clock, it gave him confidence and proved to you that he really can do anything. "See?" he said haughtily and you stared at Joel's face in disbelief. He was right, he even made it before 5 minutes. He is incredible. Literal god of sex

"Are you sure you don't want to help?" you heard your mom again which made you laugh a little as she asked again. "Yes mom, don't worry" you reassured your mother again, this time in a normal tone. It wasn't long before you were both breathing calmly. Joel therefore slowly pulled his cock out of you, making both of you groan a little, and then he put on his pants and handed you your panties from the ground that had fallen off your ankle during sex. You thanked Joel with a smile and jumped off the kitchen counter to put on your panties.

“Don't underestimate me like that next time” he added when he has finally his pants on. He took the bowl of cookies to your family and left you there with a provocative smile on his face. You shake your head and smirked at Joel's confidence.

Well that was the best birthday gift anyone could possibly gave you.

#pedro pascal #smut #joel miller #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x reader #joel tlou #joel x reader #joel x y/n #joel x you #pedro pascal x reader #joel miller smut #joel the last of us #joel miller x y/n

427 notes · View notes

evercries · 4 months

Text

! Christmas Special

➹ Sukuna / YN • Angst • Not proofread. Inspiration finished towards the end, make up your own ending.

➹ Merry Christmas. I appreciate the support and I apologize for my sudden disappearance.

December 25th, the day where everyone gathered together to celebrate the holiday while you found yourself sitting down, your chair directly opposite an empty seat. The table was decorated with different items containing food you spent hours on, the smoking heat fog it produced disappearing as the seconds passed by. Everywhere was silent, almost like there was no single noise being produced in the entire life with you just sitting there, your arms crossed, elbows on top of the dining table, and your eyes intensely focused on the clock handle that moved slowly making that “click” sound.

“I can’t do this.” You finally told yourself, your voice utterly interrupting the awkward silence. Gently removing your apron, you cleaned the dining table, placed the food into different containers, and left the dirty dishes in the sink before heading back to the table to clean the remaining items.

Once you were finished, you took your apron off, grabbed the refrigerator’s door handle and pulled it open, grabbed a piece of plastic wrap that contained cut up strawberries you had cut for the cake you later baked. Putting it in your mouth, you used your free hand to close the refrigerator, and enjoyed the taste of goodness.

The sound of the front door opening surprised you, but you just glanced slightly before recognizing the silhouette.

“My love.” He called out to you, but you continued stuffing yourself with the strawberries as if he wasn’t there. Sukuna dropped his bag by their door, his hand trying to untie his tie while he approached where you stood. His eyes stayed on you, but he said nothing.

Finished with the final strawberry, you threw away the plastic bag in the trash before heading towards the sink to wash your hand.

“Love.” He called out again, this time it was less sentimental, it was filled with curiosity that you knew would turn into annoyance. Again, not answering, you turned open the tap, pressed the soap dispenser, but the water was turned off. Glancing up at Sukuna, an eyebrow was lifted on your face, but his hand stayed on top of the tap.

“Talk.” His voice sounded harsh, but his facial expression was worse, his eyes glared down at you, his eyebrows brushed against each other while his mouth did that thing. When you’re chewing on something, but it’s stuck, that position your mouth is in looks like what he was doing.

“What time is it?” You asked him, your eyes trailed down to the soap on your hands.

“Love, listen.” When he started talking, you gave him a warning glare before heading towards the living room bathroom. He walked behind you, the ruffles of his hair heard probably because he was being aggressive with it. “They were low on staff, so I had to help out. I know we’ve talked about this before, but can we, can you try and understand this from my own perspective?”

You spun your head around, a very offended expression written on your face. “Who calls staff in on Christmas Day? Wait, it isn’t even about Christmas, but you promised.” You hissed those words at him before finally being able to wash the soap off your hands. As you dried your hands, Sukuna grabbed the towel, tossed it somewhere behind him, his finger pointed towards you.

“I did not promise, do not put words into my mouth, Y/N. Maybe if you weren’t stuck in your head you would realize that things happen, I did not intend for it to happen, but it happened.”

“Yes, everything happens. It happened on our anniversary, my birthday, Valentine’s Day, so tell me, how do you expect me not to become annoyed?”

“By being grateful.”

“Excuse me?” You paused, your hand in front of you with a, “he did not just say that” look on your face.

“You heard me, Y/N. You should start being grateful for the things I do for you, for this marriage, instead of whining about the unthinkable. You’re acting like I’ve abandoned you, despite my busy schedule, I make time for you. I miss five minutes and you throw a fit. Did I marry a child?”

“Did I marry an arrogant man? That should be the correct question.”

“Y/N, for the love of Mary, do not start with me.”

“Oh, but I’ve started.” You answered sarcastically, your hands up in the air as you added a dramatic gesture.

Sukuna just stared at you, his beautiful reddish eyes gazing through yours, but you couldn’t read what he was thinking.

“What are you angry about?” He finally asked, but from his expression, he looked frustrated, but finally allowed you to be right.

“Uh.” You answered back, your eyes gazing up and down his body, especially his face where the evidence of tiredness was evident. You could understand why you were feeling abandoned because of how much he prioritized work over you, but you couldn’t help but feel sorry.

“I’m telling you to talk, why aren’t you speaking?” He asked, his voice strained while his arm rested against the door of the bathroom, his eyes remaining on you.

“Nevermind.” You mumbled before walking away, a loud sigh escaped from his lips before he walked behind you into the living room and collapsed on the couch. As you walked past, his hand grabbed your wrists, pulling you down beside him. With both of his hands, he placed you on his lap facing him.

“You’re stubborn.” He said, his arms wrapped around you, pulling you into a soft embrace before placing a kiss on your head. Saying something would be too much at the moment, the comfort had to stay, you thought.

Sukuna leaned in towards your ear, whispering, “Merry Christmas, darling.” A kiss was placed on the corner of your ear before he moved to your face, your forehead to your cheeks, to finally your lips.

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #fanfic #jjk #sukuna #sukuna x reader #sukuna x you #sukuna x y/n #sukuna fluff #sukuna angst #jujustsu kaisen smut

115 notes · View notes

novelmonger · 2 months

Text

Some highlights from the Director/Writer Commentary of The Return of the King with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh:

As they mentioned in TTT, they were originally going to put the Smeagol vs. Deagol fight as a flashback during the Dead Marshes. Before they decided to use it to open RotK, their placeholder idea for a scene to open RotK was to do a sped-up helicopter shot from the Paths of the Dead, across the plains of Edoras, to the Golden Hall where Aragorn wakes up from a nightmare (and then goes and talks to Eowyn). Very glad they went the direction they did!

In the final shot they used when Smeagol takes the Ring out of Deagol's hand, the actor playing Deagol actually blinked, but they liked Andy Serkis' performance so much, they had Weta go in and freeze Deagol's eyes so they could use the shot XD

You know, I forget sometimes that they didn't even have Saruman in the theatrical cut at all. Boggles the mind.

In the scene where Aragorn comes out of the Golden Hall and goes to stand next to Legolas, who's looking out at the night...Viggo and Orlando weren't in the country at the same time, so they shot them separately and then put them together @_@

You know, I never thought about this before, but when Gandalf touches Pippin's face, they had to make sure his hands looked extra big! So they used an actor called Big Paul, who had the biggest hands they could find, and Ian McKellen directed him for how to move his hands in the shot XD And Big Paul is the Rohan guard who gets shoved aside when Merry and Aragorn rush up to the top of the wall to watch Gandalf and Pippin leave!

THEY SHOT A SCENE OF LEGOLAS TALKING TO TREEBEARD ABOUT THE ELVES LEAVING MIDDLE-EARTH?!?!?!?!?!?! :O Originally, it was going to link the Isengard scenes to the scene of Arwen and the other Rivendell Elves going through the forest, but then because of all the Edoras stuff in between, the connection was lost. They also said something about Legolas reciting a poem! And joked again about putting it into the 25th anniversary edition. THAT TIME IS COMING UP, PETER JACKSON!!!! I WANNA SEE THIS SCENE!!!!!!

a;lkdsjs;kdfljds;fjl NOW THEY'RE JUST TEASING US. They talked about a "library scene" during the whole sequence where Arwen goes back to Rivendell and confronts Elrond about how he saw her son, etc. They wouldn't say what happened in the "library scene," but talked about how they should include that in the 25th anniversary edition too. a;ldkfjs;dkfljsd;kfljdslfk

The people on set who had a crush on Sean Bean were called "Beanstalkers"! XD That's the best; every fan to this day ought to call themselves that!

Similarly to the scene with Legolas and Aragorn, the little bit with Legolas and Gimli as everyone's getting ready to leave Edoras was filmed separately because Orlando and John weren't in the country at the same time. So they filmed Legolas' shots with Brett, John's scale double, then filmed John's shots later, filming both of them against greenscreen. Then they took some unused footage from the Edoras set and put it in the background. It just boggles my mind how many of these cobbled-together scenes there are, because it feels so much like all the characters are together in the real location!

RED ALERT RED ALERT THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!! They mentioned Beregond!!!! 8D When talking about why they put in the scene where Pippin and Faramir talk (when Faramir says the uniform Pippin's wearing was made for him when he was a child), in order to forge the connection between them that will ultimately lead to Pippin saving Faramir's life, they talked briefly about Beregond! They describe him taking Pippin under his wing, showing him about the city, and called the relationship between them "quite sweet" :3

Another little connection between Pippin and Faramir I don't think I've ever thought about before, that apparently Billy Boyd thought about when doing these scenes, is that Pippin is the only son of the Thain of the Shire, so there may have been a certain amount of pressure and expectation on him. Obviously, he's so young and probably didn't spend too much time worrying about that while scampering about the Shire, but maybe that's something he thinks about while watching the way Faramir and Denethor interact. Maybe a contrast to the way he would interact with his own father, maybe a reminder of the way he would be scolded? Hard to say, but it's interesting to think about.

Uuuuuuughghghg, so frustrating to listen to them talking about the scene on the steps where Frodo sends Sam away DX No matter how many times and how many different ways they explain why they did it, the explanations never quite make sense to me. "We needed there to be more tension." WHY WAS IT NOT TENSE ENOUGH THAT THEY WERE GOING INTO THE LAIR OF A HUGE EVIL SPIDER?! "There wasn't really anything happening on the steps otherwise." YEAH, BECAUSE YOU PUT THE WHOLE CONVERSATION ABOUT STORIES IN THE PREVIOUS MOVIE! Also, why not just cut from one or two shots of them climbing this awful staircase to a shot of them entering the cave? "There needed to be a payoff for Gollum's scheming." WHY WAS GOLLUM BETRAYING THEM TO SHELOB NOT ENOUGH OF A PAYOFF?! "We knew InStInCtIvElY that Frodo needed to enter the cave alone." WHY? WHY?! I've never understood that. They get separated eventually in the book, so why not just ramp up the tension of that in the movie, instead of making the characters so OOC? "We knew it would shock readers of the book, and if we'd changed that, what else might we have changed?" You know...I really, really love these movies, and I appreciate what these three were able to accomplish so much...but sometimes I kind of hate them too -_-

The horses didn't want to walk down the hill on the cobbled streets of Minas Tirith, because their steel shoes were so slippery on the stones. So they all had to be re-shod with rubber shoes. What were horseshoes made of back in ye olden days, though? Iron? Did people run into the same problems back then?

I never really noticed this before, but Aragorn never wears Anduril on his belt! He straps it to his horse, and every time you see him with it, he's just holding the naked blade. This is because they made Anduril so long it was really hard for him to wear it from his belt or to pull it out of the scabbard in a natural way XD

The aerial shot of all the Rohirrim leaving Dunharrow was originally shot to show Gandalf's cart heading into the Shire, but since they didn't use it for that, they repurposed it for RotK!

To get Elijah Wood to foam at the mouth when he's stung by Shelob, they gave him two Alka-Seltzer tablets to put in his mouth and work up some foam with his saliva. I've always wondered how they do that sort of thing in movies, but no one's bothered to explain until now....

Sean Astin's audition scene was holding Frodo after Shelob ;A; Apparently, they (or at least Philippa Boyens) were a little skeptical that an American actor would be able to do Sam's character right, but actually a lot of the English actors who auditioned for the role had a hard time with the Shelob aftermath scene, but Sean nailed it :')

Other than the close-ups, they used a dummy for Faramir on the pyre most of the time. Now I'm just imagining John Noble crouching on top of the pyre, cradling a dummy XD

The first Orc that Aragorn kills on Pelennor fields is played by his son Henry! XD

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME. They actually filmed Sam pushing past the sort of psychic barrier of the Watchers at the gate of Cirith Ungol, but they didn't put it into the extended edition! I love that part. Like...I'm not even sure why, but I've always thought that was such a cool little detail, and I've always been a bit bummed it wasn't in the movie, though I was thrilled to see the actual Watchers at least there as a sort of homage. And all along, they'd actually filmed something for that after all and I never knew! :O

You know, I never thought about it before, but it makes sense that they had to replace the sky digitally in a lot of scenes in Mordor, because of course when they filmed it, the sky wasn't always completely cloudy, but Mordor needs to have a complete cloud cover at all times.

When Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens first saw the footage of Sam carrying Frodo up Mt. Doom, they sent a fax (lolol 1999/2000 technology) to Sean and Elijah. They made the first page look all formal and official, and then on the second page it just said, "You made us cry." :')

Andy Serkis refused to have Gollum stand on two feet until the scene in the Crack of Doom. There were a few times that PJ directed him to lurch onto his feet or something, but Andy wouldn't do it. He wanted to show the difference in Gollum physically when he has the Ring again. What a cool detail!

Originally, the whole part where Frodo's hanging off the ledge and Sam is begging him to reach for him happens after the Ring is destroyed. It's really interesting to consider the slight nuances of how different that would be. The final version makes it almost seem like the Ring is still calling to Frodo, like he wants to fall into the lava and join it, whereas originally it was more like "I've lost the Ring and now I have nothing left to live for."

PJ made a sweet comment in the scene where everyone bows to the four hobbits: "This is a moment where there's always a huge sniffle in the audience when the movie's going, and it's usually me." XD

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! They shot scenes of what happens to the other characters when the hobbits return to the Shire! There is footage out there somewhere of what Legolas and Gimli do, what happens with Faramir and Eowyn!!!! ;aldkfjsd;fkldslfkjd 25th anniversary edition LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

#lord of the rings #lotr

126 notes · View notes

sennaverstappen · 2 months

Text

ROUND 4/23 ⸺ azerbaijan grand prix ✩ 30.04.2023

maple's rating: ★★★★ (8.5/10)

☁︎ click read more facts, highlights & experiences ☁︎

✩ facts

this is red bulls 25th 1-2

checo is the first driver to win more than once in baku

checo won twice in a weekend

max surpasses ayrton senna's total podiums, one day before the anniversary of his death

charles scored more points here than in the first three races combined! (22)

this is fernando's first time in the top 5 in baku

george has the fastest lap

this is nycks first dnf!

✩ raceweek highlights

max yapping in the garage about how him and charles used to be rivals in karting 😀

nyck de vries in the wall. again. 🫣

pierre in the wall…

george not making it through q2 🧍‍♂️

0.000. yeah.

first non-rbr pole of the season!

the. HOLD. 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

max praising charles during the press and during the interview FUCK 😭😭😭‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️💥💥💥💥

lestappen on the phone post quali (morons)

charles in the wall during sprint shootout 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

yuki’s tyre going off during the sprint 😭😭😭

gax drama in the sprint my beloved 💥💥

(charles liking the gax princess tweet afterwards)

rbr fucking up max’s strategy for literally no reason 💔

nyck in the FUCKING wall jesus CHRIST 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐

charles and max standing on each others podium spot 🧍‍♂️ (and thus max was monegasque and charles was dutch)

charles running over to spray max 🥺🥺🥺💓💓💓💍💍

✩ maple's diary

67 notes · View notes

milesluna · 4 months

Text

My Favorite Games of 2023.

Hi. Hello. Thanks ever so much for clicking on this page. Happy to have you.

First thing's first: I'm a little freak when it comes to video games. I don't feel the need to beat most games I play. From Software is one of my favorite studios in the industry and I've never finished a single one of their games. This means, fortunately, that I get to play a LOT more games than the average bear.

I've written up some blurbs about my top ten favorite games from 2023, but before that here's the list of every game I remember playing this year that left any sort of lasting impact on me (in no particular order):

Dead Space Remake Resident Evil 4 Remake F-Zero 99 Humanity Dredge Metroid Prime Remastered Anemoiaplois Alan Wake 2 Baldur’s Gate 3 LoZ Tears of the Kingdom Counter Strike 2 Hunt Showdown El Paso Elsewhere Jusant Slay the Princess| Remnant II The Finals Street FIghter 6 Lethal Company BattleBit Remastered Don’t Scream Homebody The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog Pizza Tower World of Horror Super Mario Wonder Mr. Sun’s Hatbox Fifa 23 Sea of Stars (Demo) Half-Life (25th Anniversary Update)

And the games I played that were NOT released in 2023:

Unpacking Persona 4 Golden Picross 7 The Order 1886 Shovel Knight Dig Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Spider-Man: Miles Morales Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Project Zomboid Quake LoZ The Minish Cap Drill Dozer Wario Land 4 Pokemon Pinball Resident Evil Revelations Summer of ‘58 Trackmania TwinCop We Were Here Visage Cursed Halo CE Half-Life 2 (I probably play this once per year) Witch Hunt Red Dead Redemption 2 Cyberpunk 2077 Borderlands 3 Brutal Legend Cultic Slay the Spire PUBG Rez Infinite Batman Arkham City Alan Wake Alan Wake: American Nightmare Max Payne LoZ: Majora’s Mask 3DS Metroid Prime Metroid Prime 2 Tunic Everhood Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII Remake GOODBYE WORLD Yakuza: Like a Dragon Critters for Sale Dome Keeper Phasmophobia Hades Nintendo Switch Sports

Now that you understand the kind of freak you're dealing with…

Let's dive into my top ten favorite games from this objectively fucked up year.

10. El Paso Elsewhere Developed by Texas indie studio Strange Scaffold, El Paso Elsewhere is a Max Payne-clone with vampires, an opinionated narrator, and lots and lots of bullet time. As a small studio punching well above their weight class, Strange Scaffold leans into abstract, PlayStation 1 minimalism when it comes to visuals and pairs them with a soundtrack that will make your hands sweat. The vibes are here and they're ready for the end of the world. I'm personally also a big fan of everything this studio stands for.

9. Mr. Sun's Hatbox I want you to imagine Metal Gear Solid V. Now I want you to imagine that game as a 2D, level-based, slapstick platformer you can play with up to three friends. If you think that sounds stupid, you'd be right. And it's beautiful. As you build up a secret army of soldiers with various skills (and disorders), you'll start to develop *favorites*. This game constantly asks if you're willing to send those favorites on a harrowing mission and risk losing them forever… or if you'd rather send an idiot you recently captured who blinks constantly and can't kill anyone without fainting.

8. Dredge Every year I feel like I find one game that falls into the “just one more round” category, and baby… Dredge was it for 2023. As a weary fisherman in strange waters, you'll make the most out of your 12 measly hours of sunlight only for your daily voyages to inevitably pull you into the darkness of night, and night is when things get weird. Rocks emerge from the fog that you swear weren't there before, your equipment malfunctions, and you're pretty sure you just saw something in the water… something big. Despite only containing a small collection of islands, the world of Dredge manages to feel vast - perhaps vast enough to swallow you whole.

7. Resident Evil 4 Remake I was curious to see what sort of changes would be made to the timeless classic and father of modern 3rd person shooters, Resident Evil 4. I wasn't let down. RE4 Remake takes all the things that didn't age well about the original, tossed them out, and replaced them with only good things. And MORE things! It's campy, fun, and better than a game of bingo.

6. Jusant I really feel like this one didn't get the recognition it deserves. Jusant is a rock climbing game that combines the quiet contemplation of Journey with the mechanical specificity of Death Stranding. Unlike Death Standing, though, there is very little story to interrupt your flow. There are plenty of collectible bits to find for those curious to learn more about what happened before the events of the game, but the environmental storytelling does most of the heavy lifting. For me, the joy of the game comes from how it feels. Right trigger controls your right hand grip, and left trigger controls left hand grip. Plan your route, manage your stamina, and climb high above the clouds in search of answers.

5. F-Zero 99 This. Shit. Slaps. I've never been a big F-Zero guy, but this MADE me one. The “battle royale”, 99 player format is the perfect fit for the ruthless, high octane world of the game. Races last about three minutes, and friend, they are the most intense, white-knuckled three minutes of your life. The decision to make your boost meter the same as your health meter started in F-Zero 64 (I believe), and it is so much more HARROWING in this game when another player could side-swipe you mere meters from the finish line and blow you to bits. Sadly it's only playable via Switch Online, but it made me cheer, laugh, and scream enough this year to earn a spot in my top 5.

4. Alan Wake 2 Remedy makes weird games that also manage to exist in the AAA space and for that I will forever love them. Although Alan Wake 2 resembles a 3rd person shooter survival horror, I'd honestly say it's more of a narrative game than anything else. There's sidequests, there's puzzles, there's upgradeable skills, but at the end of the day the characters, world, and story are what kept me playing. If you haven't checked them out recently, you should definitely watch a story recap of the original games before diving into this sequel, but the wild swings for the fences this game takes are well worth that small price of admission. There's a god damn musical number, for Christ's sake.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom I've really got nothing to say about this game that most people don't already know. It's incredible. The fact that Nintendo made a game that redefined an entire genre and then made a SEQUEL to it that ups the ante is remarkable. To be honest, I've only cleared the Rito, Zora, and Goron cities. I got a bit tired of exploring the depths and guiding Koroks to their friends, but I can't deny the sheer level of complexity and polish on display here. I saw someone on TikTok build a functioning Mecha Godzilla in this game. Good God. I've heard that the ending of this game is one of the best in the franchise, and if I'd seen it this year then it may have wound up higher on my list, but for the time being I'll continue picking up this masterpiece from time to time, chipping away at it until the day comes that I can finally smack the tits off thicc Ganondorf.

2. Half-Life (25th Anniversary Update) I know I'm gonna get shit for this, but I don't care. This year was the 25th anniversary of Half-Life and Valve released an update that made playing it (and it's online Death Match) much more accessible. I threw it on my Steam Deck out of curiosity, expecting to play for 20 minutes. I could not put it down. It is unbelievable how modern this game still feels. I simply had so much fun sprinting through the corridors of Black Mesa with a dozen weapons strapped to my back, blasting aliens and military Spec-Op chumps as a 24(?!) year old theoretical physicist.

1. Baldur's Gate III This game is fucked up, man. The sheer amount of writing in this game scares me. We can all talk about how BIG this game is, it deserves it, but the thing BG3 does better than any other role playing game I have ever experienced is actually encourage roleplaying. I've played through Act I four times now, with four different groups of friends, and it has felt fresh every time. I have seen the same events play out in so many different ways that it boggles the mind, but in every one of those play sessions I see players asking themselves “What would my lil guy do here?” rather than "what is the best thing to do here?" The game rewards players constantly for just trying shit and the D&D 5e rule set means playing like the character you said you were from the start leads to frequent Points of Inspiration. Maybe one day I'll see the end of this story (probably not), but I don't have to in order to feel a connection with BG3's world, characters, and most impressively, the characters I made myself.

Honorable Mentions for 2023

5. Dave the Diver 4. Homebody 3. Sea of Stars 2. Humanity 1. Super Mario Wonder

Top 5 Favorites NOT from 2023

5. Metroid Prime 4. Final Fantasy VII Remake 3. Cursed Halo (Halo CE Mod) 2. Red Dead Redemption 2 1. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (3DS)

Games I didn't have a chance to play from 2023 but still want to when I find more time...

Viewfinder Venba Chants of Sennaar Thirsty Suitors Hi-Fi Rush Moonring Armored Core VI Laika Aged Through Blood Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

OKAY THANKS BYE!

#video games #2023 #GOTY

79 notes · View notes