First Impressions: Project Playtime

Project: Playtime is the next game in what I will lovingly refer to as the Tag Type Game genre. Well specifically the Horror Themed Tag Type Game subgenre. Think your Dead By Daylights and VHSs of the world. This time around instead of a spooky alternate dimension or a horror film infested high school, we are instead in the depths of Playtime Co. I've personally been a big fan of the increasingly popular "Mascot Horror" IPs. Basically a Horror world where instead of ghouls or vampires, the monsters are family friendly entertainment turned evil. In Project: Playtime's case this means a vacant toy factory which serves as the hunting ground for a twisted and hungry toy.

Being a Tag Type Game Project: Playtime will drop you into one of two roles. Oddly enough unlike most games in the genre you can't straight up choose which role you would like. Instead the role of Monster will be randomly doled out to one of the players in a lobby, somewhat similar to an imposter style game like Among Us. The lack of choice does mean it's easier to find matches as everyone is funneled through one queue but it also means players that prefer playing the monster could go an entire day without touching the role. I can understand the temptation to not have a role with significantly longer queue times than other roles, especially in an Indie multiplayer game. That being said hopefully in the future there can be more options so players who prefer playing the Monster can play them more frequently.

Regardless once you are all placed in your assigned role the game of Tag begins. In this take on the game Survivors need to roam the map solving these pillars with puzzles on 3 separate sides. The puzzles themself are rather simple, but for players with memory issues or slow reflexes I can see them becoming a rather big barrier to entry. There are some perks that alleviate the difficulty of these puzzles, but that would still require you to play a significant amount of time in order to solve said puzzles. I hope this is something the developers consider as they continue to balance the game. A big plus for this genre is it's simplicity, allowing for many different kinds of people to play together regardless of their mechanical skill level.

One thing I do appreciate about these puzzles, and the rest of the survivor gameplay is how everything is done with your Grabpack. You see you have this little backpack with two hands on it and you can shoot these hands like a grappling hook. Pretty much every survivor mechanic uses this hands, which means you never have to deal with any sort of UI based quick time event. Everything you're doing is in universe. Whether you're shooting your hand at a grappling spot to swing over a gap or slapping at hungry toys crawling out of the walls as you wait for an ally to rescue you. Everything just feels much better when things feel grounded and make sense with your moveset. They could have easily made it so you would need to walk to a pit then have a pop up that says "PRESS E TO SAVE ALLY", but they went through the effort to make sure everything feels immersive, having you physically shoot your hand into the abyss and pull your buddy out like you do everything else in the game.

Once you have finished a puzzle pillar you'll receive a piece of a toy, you can take it to a deposit and once you've rounded up 6 of them you can send them through a tube, hop on a train and finally get out of there. Playing as the runners in games like this is typically pretty simple but I do like how Project: Playtime spices it up a bit more with fancy movement objects like the grapple spots as well as the more interactive puzzle spots over the passive generators of other games. The puzzles themselves may get repetitive, but hopefully the developers can add a bit more variety to them in the future. Really though, the real key to making playing as a survivor fun in these types of games is to get the monster gameplay right.

For the monster, in this game of tag you are "It". So your primary objective is to catch the survivors and stop them from completing their puzzles and depositing their toy parts. Each monster has an entirely unique way to help you accomplish this. Whether it's Boxy Boo's lullaby telling you when survivors are close by, or Mommy Long Legs grapple arm letting you get to anywhere on the map as long as you can reach it. While there are only 3 monsters so far it is nice how much variety there is, they all have a lot of abilities almost feeling akin to a hero shooter style of character. My personal favorite so far is Boxy Boo, mostly for his design but also because he can charge up his spring-like legs and leap across the map. It's incredibly satisfying to land on a small platform a whole two stories above you, grapple a survivor and feed them to the pit.

It can be pretty exciting to play as the monster but just like with all of these Tag Type Games it's a difficult balancing act to pull off. The monsters HAVE to be strong but they can't be too strong or else it'd feel unfair to the survivor. Then if their too weak you can end up in a situation where the survivors can bully the monster and exploit their shortcomings. The game is still too new so it's difficult to say where Project: Playtime lands on that scale but for now I want to say it's a bit too survivor leaning at the moment. Survivors can be incredibly agile and with perks they can complete their tasks very quickly. As a monster you could be chasing one guy for a minute and check the corner of the screen and see the survivors have already deposited 4 out of 6 toy parts. When the heck did that happen? I think some random elements could be put in place to make it more fair to the monster. As of right now the puzzle pillars and deposits are always placed in the same location which gives the survivors a huge knowledge advantage. Sure the Monster can see the puzzle pillars through walls, but what does that matter to a survivor that has played for 5 hours and has committed them to memory? Spicing up the layout may be the edge the Monster needs to feel a bit more balanced.

All in all the gameplay of both the Survivors and Monsters is very fun if not a bit repetitive. Hopefully by the time the game comes out of early access the game will have a much stronger balance between the two roles, maybe have a way to choose which one you want to play as well as sorting out the massive list of bugs and general lack of polish. Yes there are a ton of bugs, on top of unfinished UI and a somewhat barren soundscape. The game does feel like it launched a few months too early but there's no taking it back now, just like how there's no taking back the money you spent on the season 1 battle pass.

Project: Playtime is a very fun and unique take on the Tag Type Game genre and I'm very much looking forward to see how the team continues to expand on it's solid foundation.

Asymmetrical multiplayer title Predator: Hunting Grounds getting a fresh host of updates

Released in 2020, Illfonic’s Predator: Hunting Grounds isn’t done yet. Fans can expect both new ports, and a host of updates.

It would be great if there were more games where you get to play as the boss enemy of a dungeon or whatever

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game – Reveal Trailer | PS5 & PS4 Games my reaction video

okayyyy im ready for the online multiplayer only era of video games to be over now

Can you imagine getting the rights to something like Killer Klowns from Outer Space to make a game based on it, and instead of doing something fun, unique, or creative, you decide to make a Dead By Daylight clone? What an absolute waste.

[R15] Psycho 2: Classic

Survive the night in a 1v7 PvP horror game involving a killer known as the Psycho.

[GAME HAS NO ACTIVE SERVERS AS OF THIS PUBLICATION]

The game requires a min of 4 players to start. The only objective is to survive the night.

⬆️ This what happens when you go into 'Spectate' mode.

Sadly, I can't remember details about this game (since I just found this out in the depths of my Favorites). Here's some screenshots of the lobby tho! Also, the settings only has a button for 'Teleport to Dev Version' which doesn't work.

What's cool though is that there's an immediate prompt to teleport to the more updated version (which I'll cover soon too). And somehow the tutorial pops up repeatedly for me when re-entering the game.

Play the game through this link

Lightphobe – Smoothing The Way for Linux Support

Lightphobe asymmetrical co-op multiplayer game aims at Proton support via Windows PC and Linux. Thanks to the skilled team at Mutant Realm Entertainment for making it all happen. Due to make its way onto Steam Early Access in a couple of days. Let's talk about Mutant Realm Entertainment's first big splash in the gaming world – Lightphobe. Mark your calendars for February 12, 2024, since that's when it hits Steam Early Access. Plus there is a focus on Proton, but let me explain.

...no native support for Linux (or Mac) for now. However, I am considering adding native support for Linux in the future.

Exciting news from Mutant Realm. Lightphobe is clever to skip the need for anti-cheat, smoothing the way for Linux support. Plus, developer Allan Chew is keen on getting dedicated servers Linux-friendly. But for now, the focus is on Proton support during Early Access, ensuring everyone can dive into the game easily. And it's all shaping up nicely. So, what is the title all about? It's a mix of classic team survival shooter games, but with a unique twist – light is your biggest ally and enemy. You're in for matches with up to 16 players, battling it out to control points while fending off opponents. And these aren't just any opponents; we're talking about beings with solid abilities.

Lightphobe - Early Access Trailer

The plan is to keep Lightphobe in Early Access until the devs decide it's fully ready with content. They're thinking about a year, but it's not cast in stone. They want to use this time wisely: gathering feedback to make upgrades, and seeing how much attention it creates. Due to figuring out the overall direction and scope. Now, let's dive into the gameplay. This is an asymmetrical co-op multiplayer experience. You get to pick sides – either as a soldier defending Earth or as a Lightphobe, these ethereal skeletal creatures that are all kinds of terrifying. They are beasts in the dark but don't count the soldiers out. They come equipped with five different loadouts, offering various ways to tackle these nightmares. Gameplay is a blend of competitive shooting and stealthy melee action. It's a strategic cat and mouse battle where dynamic lighting plays a crucial role. Choose to play as a Soldier in first-person shooter mode or as a Lightphobe in third-person melee action. Each with multiple loadouts. And you can play with up to 16 players, with options for peer to peer networking or dedicated servers. As for future additions, they're planning on introducing new abilities for both Soldiers and Lightphobes, plus a couple more multiplayer maps. Play the Demo!! So, keep an eye on Steam Early Access. Due to release of the asymmetrical co-op multiplayer on Linux with Proton via Windows PC, with plans for a native build. Also, get this, it's priced at $5.99 USD / £4.99 / 5,99€. HINT: Keep an eye on the Linux_game Subreddit, you might get a Free Steam code.

Vast: The Crystal Caverns (boardgame, 2016)

What an incredible premise. What a fun game! If only it were playable without constantly referencing reams of paper on rules, errata, and commentary on the rules and errata. Vast is admirably ambitious. It’s designed for up to five interlocking, competing, asymmetrical roles that all fit together beautifully to make this boardgame a nail-biting, neck-and-neck race toward victory. With a few…

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I know dead by daylight is the top asymmetric multiplayer survival horror online game, but do the other games of that genre get anywhere close to that popularity?

to me talk about vhs, evil dead the game, Friday the 13th the game, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, and Predator hunting grounds had fizzled out.

it would seem like a bad idea to pull your franchises out of Dead by daylight. especially now with licensed tomes.

they put some kind of slinky in my online asymmetric multiplayer survival horror game 

Level Zero is an asymmetric multiplayer Sci-Fi horror game where light-phobic aliens use telepathic powers to hunt humans!

Read More & Sign Up For The Beta (Steam)

Friday the 13th, Predator, Puppet Master, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and bloody Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Alongside Dead by Daylight, the saturation of asymmetrical multiplayer based on horror icons is boring the heck out of me.

Video Game News Stories for February 25th, 2024

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Soars to Critical Acclaim, But Questions Remain

Square Enix's highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second installment in their reimagining of the classic RPG, launched yesterday to generally positive reviews. However, the critical reception has been mixed, with some praising the game's stunning visuals, emotional storytelling, and expanded combat system, while others criticize its pacing issues and deviations from the original narrative. Regardless, the game is already a commercial success, topping sales charts worldwide.

Elden Ring DLC "Shadow of the Erdtree" Announced, Pre-orders Discounted

FromSoftware surprised fans by announcing the first DLC expansion for Elden Ring, titled "Shadow of the Erdtree." Details remain scarce, but the teaser trailer hints at new areas, enemies, and challenges. Interestingly, pre-orders for the DLC are already discounted on some platforms, sparking speculation about a potential release date in the near future.

Surprise! Dead Island 2 Launches on Xbox Game Pass

After years of development hell and numerous delays, Dead Island 2 unexpectedly launched yesterday on Xbox Game Pass. The game picks up the zombie-slaying action in Los Angeles, offering a gruesome and comedic open-world experience. While reviews are still trickling in, early impressions suggest it might be worth checking out, especially for Game Pass subscribers.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Gets Leatherface DLC

Gun Interactive's asymmetrical multiplayer horror game, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, is getting a chilling new DLC character: Leatherface himself. This iconic slasher joins the roster of playable killers, bringing his brutal chainsaw and signature mask to the hunt. The DLC is expected to arrive in March, just in time for Halloween season... or should we say, Massacre season?

Baldur's Gate 3 Mod Support Comes to Consoles

Rejoice, console RPG fans! Larian Studios announced that Baldur's Gate 3 will be receiving mod support on PlayStation and Xbox consoles later this year. This opens up a world of possibilities for user-created content, allowing players to experience new quests, stories, and even custom classes.

Other noteworthy news:

Twitch was hit with a hefty fine by South Korea for failing to properly classify and filter gambling content.

A popular 2018 RPG is finally coming to the Nintendo Switch, with details expected soon.

A Red Bull ad cleverly reimagines the iconic Final Fantasy VII intro with a twist.

Sea of Thieves is on the verge of breaking a 39-year record for consecutive weekly content updates.

Looking ahead:

Mark your calendars! The next Nintendo Direct is rumored to be happening in March, showcasing upcoming Switch titles.

The highly anticipated open-world Pokémon game is expected to be revealed soon, potentially during the next Direct.

The debate surrounding the controversial Hogwarts Legacy continues, with both supporters and critics making their voices heard.

THE GROUP

Very few coed groups can touch IDOLMAKER in fame, concept ambition and of course, number! Set under the managment of MBN Entertainment and japanese game developing studio FURTA since their conception in 2016, IDOLMAKER is a franchise like no other, setting their ever expanding roster of K-Pop Idols to voice act playable chracters in their sci-fi asymmetrical multiplayer survival game, Crewmaker Battle Universe. If that doesn't already make them unique enough, the group functions under a voting system, meaning comeback lineups and asthetics get voted on by their fans, MAXIs, via their official website.

IDOLMAKER, often shortned to IDMK, defies all odds and rumors of there being no such thing as healthy competition: united like a true dream team, with some people having ties going deeper then blood amongst them, they know that while stuck inside of a trancherous money empire like MBN, all they can really do is watch each other's backs and pray for the worse won't get them.

THE MEMBERS.

1st Gen - i. Yoo Eunhyuk. / ii. Jung Eunyoung. / iii. Hong Seunggi. / iv. Baek Yoojin; 2nd Gen - v. Yuthakon 'Ring' Chaiprasit. / vi. Lee Gayoung. / vii. Yang Taehyeon. / viii. Grace Elizabeth Lao; 3rd Gen - ix. Kim Hosung. / x. Kwon Dabin. / xi. Jeon Jeonghun. / xii. Cho Yejung. / 4th Gen - xiii. Im Daewon. / xiv. Yoneno Tomomi. / xv. Chuya Yuzuriha. / xvi. Nakashima Kina; 5th Gen - xvii. Kim Ilseong. / xviii. Julia Lee, Lee Haseon. / xix. Jang Wookjin. / xx. Tabitha Choi.

THE CONNECTIONS

LOOPiN - Colleges: While the bubblying romance between Seungsoo and Gayoung is what brings the two groups together, the friendship and music exchange between LOOPiN and IDMK is what keeps them all together. Seeing Dylan's growing necessity for friends outside of his band, Ring and Tabitha attempt to take him under their partying set of wings, not without it's fair share of complications. In order to get back on the good graces of his fleeting, long distance situationship with former Boy Of The Week member Kohei, Daewon attempts to reunite him with Haruki, his good pre-debut friend, as well as get to the bottom of who sabotaged him out of the project back on the day, and why.

NIGHT CHILD / NTCD - Rivals: With IDOLMAKER's company being a subsidiary of MBN, they've had one too many sour encounters with NTCD. Yongho has the nasty habit of never letting Seunggi, IDMK's main rapper and his once boyfriend, take a step without his consent now that they're reunited; Hyunbin's obsession on pursing Tomomi has tired her and every single one for her members beyond cooling down; Josh's rising influence over the innerworkings of the company reminds Hosung too much of his deceased and despised brother.

MBN'S GOLDEN AGE SENIORS (EXTENTH & SUNDATE) - Rivals: A misguided game of 'Senior Romance Speedrun' with the founding groups of MBN, EXTENTH and SUNDATE, has left the majority of the IDOLMAKER members heartbroken, embarrassed and more importantly, pissed off. Still, Julia ignores the years of historical battles between the two as she finds herself in the middle of an office affair with SUNDATE's golden girl, Park Suhyun - a desperate attempt to subside her intese feelings for her icon, Yoojin. Little does she knows, she's not the only IDMK member that she's secretly trailing along. Recently discharged from the military, Grace's never forgotten first love and ex-boyfriend, EXTENTH's Changmin, asks her once for her hand in marriage, as well as for Grace to retire from daunting Idol life with him.

[REDCATED] - ???: After [REDACTED], a private country club in center Seoul -- one that deems itself as a 'place for connection between former child stars' -- gets a grip hold of Taehyeon, suspicion of their members real intensions, motivations and face of leadership rises in Eunyoung and Yuzuriha. A spiralling Hosung takes dangerous inspiration in [REDACTED]'s 'detachment' and 'healing' methods, to Dabin and Jeonghun's utter horror.

THE BATCROOKS AWARDS 2023

This year, I kept track of every piece of media I consumed for the whole year. I didn't keep track of individual Youtube videos (which I watched hundreds of, they're my main background noise), but I did track every Book, Video Game, TV Show/Web Series, and Movie. Here are my BEST OF 2023 (year of release may vary).

Best Movie: Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse I only actually saw 3 new release movies this year: Spider-verse, Barbie, and The Boy and the Heron. So the competition wasn't very fierce, but I was glad to sneak Heron in there at the end just to make sure (I found it very pretty, but too nonsensical and weirdly paced.) Spider-verse was a little disappointing (toooo long) but it was definitely the funnest new movie I saw this year.

Best TV Show: Silo I saw a couple actual TV shows this year, but for pure fun had watching and theorizing, Silo wins. Is it the actual best TV of the year? Almost definitely not. But these are my awards so it wins. You can't leave the silo!!!!

Best Web Series: Game Changer Season 5 I'm not sure if I can properly justify the category difference between Silo (on Apple+) and Game Changer; both are technically web series. But I watched Silo on a TV, and it just seems more like a TV show. So I have awarded Best Web Series to Game Changer, because I like it just a little more than Make Some Noise. I also watched a lot of Dimension 20 this year for the first time, but they're not 2023. I'm being wishy washy on the category requirements lol.

Best Video Game: Baldur's Gate 3 This game was so good at one point I was playing two saves simultaneously, just for fun. I don't think I can say anything that hasn't been said about it before lol. And it was MULTIPLAYER. Sourdeer and I played this game all the way through TWICE. We finished it the first time and then spent like 4 days trying to find something else to play before deciding we just wanted to play it again, evil-style.

Best Video Game I Didn't Directly Play: The Curse of the Golden Idol A lot of (usually bad) video games I experience through "Cat Plays a Game" and its twin show "Sourdeer Plays a Game"; the hit show streaming exclusively on discord between my friends lol. Sour played this one, technically, although as an asymmetric multiplayer experience it's hard to beat. I want there to be five million games just like this one. I wish I could wipe my memory and do it again. We already devoured the DLC. There's a sequel coming out thank god.

Best Video Game I Played All By My Lonesome: Pentiment I don't tend to play a lot of single-player video games due to lack of time mostly, but this year I managed to play Pentiment, an incredible game that really played well with the weird amount of knowledge I have about the time period and setting of the game from reading The Pillars of the Earth and its sequels. It was completely engrossing and I will probably play it again some day despite its pretty slow pace. I know I can't save everyone. But maybe I can try.

Youtuber of the Year: Jenny Nicholson I rewatched a ton of her videos this year and joined her Patreon so that I could watch the huge backlog of "ramble" videos she has. There are TWO sequels to the Evermore video in there! Hours and hours of entertainment that makes me wish I could experience more weird theme parks.

Best Book(s): The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik The last one came out in September 2022 but this is a "non-reread, new to me" category, not a new release category. Novik's Temeraire series is one of my favorites of all time, and Spinning Silver is also really good, but even still I was wary to start what initially seemed like just a snarkier, edgy magical boarding school series. But the mechanics of the world-building and the characters really won me over quick, and this has ended up being another of my favorite series.

This spreadsheet has the full 2023 list if anyone wants to see/judge me/discuss video games or books: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X7u2F_9FSvvyys5v006eQg1hIvx0bT3QuLDgy_TJasw/edit?usp=sharing