Painkiller

The 2000s and early 2010s were a weird time for the classic FPS. With military shooters starting to take over with the boom of WWII games that would eventually become the modern military FPS, alongside the regenerating health and limited load outs of Halo, the torch for the classic run and gun monster massacre was limited to just two franchises, before later attempts started to compromise with ideas from the aforementioned Halo and Call of Duty. The most famous of the two was definitely Serious Sam, which has entered a sort of creative renaissance with the boomer shooter revival. The other series, however, might have an even bigger footprint of impact, one most people may not even be aware of. That series was Painkiller, starting with a 2004 PC game by People Can Fly. You may remember the studio more as the co-developers of Gears of War, Bulletstorm, and a little cult title you may not have heard of called Fortnite. Painkiller was their start, and the beginning of a massive domino effect that would shape the landscape of the FPS genre for decades to come. This is due mainly to former studio staff leaving to form their own studios, creating a surge of games that bare the DNA of this one game. This even includes project lead Adrian Chmielarz, who went on to create The Astronauts, the studio behind The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and share hot takes. If you’ve played, say, the Shadow Warrior reboot series from Flying Wild Hog, congrats, you have experienced work of Painkiller devs, and there’s so many other examples.

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The Wild Iris by Louise Glück

At the end of my suffering there was a door.

Hear me out: that which you call death I remember.

Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting. Then nothing. The weak sun flickered over the dry surface.

It is terrible to survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth.

Then it was over: that which you fear, being a soul and unable to speak, ending abruptly, the stiff earth bending a little. And what I took to be birds darting in low shrubs.

You who do not remember passage from the other world I tell you I could speak again: whatever returns from oblivion returns to find a voice:

from the center of my life came a great fountain, deep blue shadows on azure seawater.

“And I do think,” [Kate] added, “that you might at the least say you were happy to see me.” “Happy!” retorted Christopher. “What would you do if you met your best friend in hell? Say you were happy to know he was there too, and isn't the pitch hot?”

Elizabeth Marie Pope, "The Perilous Gard"

Bob and Gary try to escape Hell.

@killacharacterbingo

Thinking a LOT about Lucifer in the latest Hazbin episode. Idk what I was expecting but not this??

As I was watching my immediate thought was just "huh... Lucifer is kinda of weird..." but as the episode went on I realized the issue

the dude is off the chain depressed, like he says it as a joke but holy cow it is SO BAD

He's manically just creating rubber ducks cuz his daughter really like it that one time but it's empty, it's never good enough but he keeps doing it, maybe cuz he doesn't know how to pass the time otherwise.

like I get the feeling he HAS better things he SHOULD be doing than making rubber duck after rubber duck. At first I was like, "Bruh why isn't the king of hell doing anything?" aaaaand then it became clear...

The dude is disassociating so bad he can barely hold a conversation let alone remember information. He clearly WANTS to, he wants to be involved with his daughter so bad, he wants to care about the things she's doing so bad, but his depression keeps interfering. It's like he can only hear every other word and he grasps onto the ones he does hear semi-out of context. Like you can see every time he catches something that he hadn't before and he just "well shit I didn't catch that part"

and that's why he reacts so weird when people talk to him. He is struggling so bad to engage with the conversation he's only getting 50% of it

does that look like the face of a man who knows what the hell the conversation is even about??? he is STRUGGLING

like Charlie spent so long telling him about the hotel, and he STILL didn't understand what she wanted. Yeah it comes off as ditzy but literally I've been in that position where your brain just "nope, not doing this right now" and nerfs your conversation comprehension. So as someone who's BEEN in that position, to me it feels exactly like what he's dealing with. He's sorta engaged with the conversation, but only as much as his brain will allow

For example, when I'm dealing with this, this is what someone talking to me feels like this where the crossed out parts are what I missed and bold is what I catch, "Hey! You know I was thinking for dinner we could either make some chicken with rice? But if you don't feel like cooking, pasta is super easy and you love that right? What do you want to do?" you can kinda get that someone is trying to talk to you about dinner, and towards the end you get the impression that they asked something that needs your input so you can decently put 2 and 2 together and try and pass off, but crucial bits were left out, I would have no idea that either chicken or pasta is in the conversation only having heard "rice". When someone is just talking at me, I can decently pass off as being engaged but the second I'm required to participate in the conversation I'm screwed. Seem familiar? At which point I have 2 options, try to give a bullshit answer, or admit that I missed what they were saying and ask them to repeat

Lucifer, unfortunately, is trying so damn hard to hide that he's dealing with like 24/7 dissociation, so he can't admit that he's missing entire chunks of the conversation, hence his really weird replies. He does eventually get the full picture and then he and Charlie start having the real conversation

Also, the Alastor/Lucifer rivalry was hilarious but also really indicative of more of what Lucifer is dealing with

Alastor is, unfortunately, really good at picking up people's insecurities, and thanks to Charlie's description earlier and watching Lucifer clearly trying to overcompensate, he immediately picks up on the fact that Lucifer KNOWS he struggles to be a good dad (we know cuz it's cuz of the depression, hard to be engaged when your brain keeps turning off) and decides to rub salt in the wound by pretending he's been acting as a surrogate father to Charlie. Now why Alastor decided to pick a fight with the king of hell is beyond me, I do not understand Alastor (and I LIKE IT) (maybe it's cuz Alastor thinks he's hot shit and was expecting Lucifer to at least have heard of him but Lucifer just treats him like a nobody? who knows)(why would Lucifer listen to radio anyways when he can't even pay attention to a conversation it'd just be white noise)

But yeah I just was expecting someone who oozed either charisma or presence and instead I got a depressed dad who's dissociating so bad he can barely function and be present in his life. The only thing it seems he CAN do is make rubber ducks cuz his daughter really liked it that one time

Idk Lucifer is tragic to me. Whatever the full details of what heavan did to him absolutely broke him and he can't deal with it. He's aware of it, and he doesn't know how to fix it, so he tries to over compensate and sorta makes an ass out of himself but no one says or does anything cuz this guy is supposed to be THE king of hell

Suddenly it's making a lot more sense why he just rolls over and lets heaven do what it wants and even told Charlie to go in his place the start of the show. He's not in any headspace to hold a basic conversation let alone negotiate! He didn't even know who Alastor was, he's been so out of touch

idk I like him, he seems sweet, I hope Charlie brings some light back into his life. He really needs to get out of that rubber duck room

Thoughts of a newly resurrected girl

FNAF Glitchtrap really HATES Mike specifically

Lap Pillow

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Painkiller (Expansion Sequels)

So, something weird happened. People Can Fly wouldn’t continue with Painkiller, working on another game called Come Midnight with THQ that was sadly canned, leading to Epic buying them up in 2007. You may have also noticed there are four Painkiller games listed above. You can blame this very serious crime on DreamCatcher Interactive, the IP owner and series publisher. They’ve done some good work, including creating The Adventure Company and helping games like Syberia and Still Life get more reach, but they are also responsible for allowing mod groups to make official Painkiller games they actually sold, which did not go well.

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Jack and Maddie Fenton got in trouble with CPS after Danny's accident. The portal was shut down, Vlad was deemed mentally unfit to adopt, and Danny and Jazz were adopted by a kind farming couple in Kansas.

Danny and Jazz kept Danny's powers a secret from the Kents, as the Anti-Ecto Acts were still in effect (they were one of the first laws abolished with the initiation of Meta Rights) and they didn't expect a farmer couple to readily accept a superpowered teen.

Then Clark crashed into their life.

Danny loved being a big brother, and when Clark started showing powers? Danny refused to let him think he was alone.

Clark was taught how to fly from his big brother Danny. Clark was taught strength control and how to control his power from Danny.

Danny ended up being Smallville's local Engineer, giving up going to college so that Clark could go. Farming didn't pay a lot, and they'd only saved up for one kid, really. Danny couldn't get a scholarship, his grades weren't good enough. Jazz did get a scholarship, so he didn't have to worry about her.

So Danny stays on the farm, inventing a million odd little things until the Kent farm is the best defended farm in the world.

And Clark...Clark feels guilty. He feels like he robbed his big brother's chance at higher education.

Then Clark meets Batman.

Batman, who is Bruce Wayne's sugar baby.

Bruce Wayne, who has a lot of grants and scholarships to get people into college.

Batman stops Superman mid-pitch and leaves, only to return with Green Arrow.

"No Supers allowed in Gotham, talk to Green Arrow about grants."

I love you albums. I love you songs connected by similar themes. I love you listening to songs in a specific order picked by the artist. I love you reoccurring motifs throughout the same album. I love you album covers. I love you albums with extended editions. I love you songs that reference each other.

Wow. That could not have turned out worse.

Part 23 || First || Previous || Next

--Full Series--

This comic will be on Holiday Hiatus this December and January! While on a cliffhanger? What a scam! >:/

I got a really tough question.

What’s your favorite Twst event of ALL TIME?

I like Harveston

this truly is the hardest question. :( but after much consideration, I think Endless Halloween Night wins out for me, because it's nonstop Characters Being Silly the whole way through. the whole thing is just lots of these little dorks having the most ridiculous interactions, which is always my favorite! and of course the big twist is SO delightfully stupid and doubles down SO hard that it becomes AMAZING and I 100% unironically adore it. AND it's Halloween! everyone is in their cute little costumes and having a spooky adventure! it's great!

however, I am ALSO a big fan of the Harveston event! how can I not be! everyone is wearing comfy winter outfits and getting along really weirdly well with Epel's grandma and he's getting a little worried about that! my terrible loud son sews a plush squirrel and then gives it a silly little nickname and refuses to leave it behind when it breaks! the ending shot with the sled! I LOVE IT.

obviously we need the best of both worlds now

dogpile!!!

alt version below readmore ooo spooky

they sleebgy......