Emily's Gaming Hub
By Emily Jacobs
Game Recommendation of the Week:
Shadow of Mordor
If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, one of the best game adaptations is the Middle-earth series: Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor. Both games were developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Shadow of Mordor was released in 2014, and Shadow of War was released three years later in 2017. We’re going to focus on Shadow of Mordor, since it’s the first (although I personally like Shadow of War more).
Shadow of Mordor is based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium (the mythology he created), in particular, his book The Silmarillion. The Silmarillion (which was published posthumously by his son Christopher) is basically a summary of the vast and in depth lore of Middle Earth, dating back to the very beginning.
*J. R. R. Tolkien
Shadow of Mordor takes place between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The player takes control of Talion, a Gondorian ranger who dies along with his wife and son at the hands of three Black Númenórean captains, who are the underlings of the evil Sauron, the central antagonist in the series. After his death, Talion is revived by Celebrimbor, an Elven wraith who cannot remember his past (I won’t spoil it for you), but he believes they are connected by their deaths. Due to his merging with Talion, Talion is granted wraith-like powers (for example, he cannot die). Celebrimbor also seeks vengeance against Sauron, and this is where the game begins.
*Celebrimbor (left) and Talion (right) looking at each other rather lovingly (?).
The gameplay is in the third person point of view, and the setting is an open world, so it can be explored. The player can ride monsters, do parkour, and also discover Forge Towers across the land, which allows the player to teleport between places and also use it to find Gondorian artifacts or Elvish seals. These are also side quests, such as killing or ‘dominating’ different Orc captains to make them a part of your army. You must amass a great amount of armies.
*This is an example of the gameplay in Shadow of Mordor. Torvar and Talion are trying to wrangle a Graug. It...is...hard.
*Shadow of Mordor parkour. As one can see it, it is very similar to Assassin's Creed.
Along the way, the player meets a lot of allies, such as a dwarf and a fellow ranger, and even Gollum helps Celebrimbor remember his past. Another one of my favorites is the Orc Ratbag, who will help out along the way. The dialogue between him and Talion is my favorite.
*Ratbag and Talion engaged in dialogue.
Something else I would like to highlight about Shadow of Mordor is its famed Nemesis System. If the player dies at the hands of an Orc, whether he be a captain or a simple soldier, they are promoted and will become more powerful. That’s the problem with being a Wraith; you just come right back to life. The Nemesis System is one of my favorite features, considering it can be very frustrating if you’re killed and you just end up making more enemies. However, it does add a lot of motivation and keeps you playing forever until you get rid of that Orc.
*Example of the Orc captains featured in the Nemesis System. Sometimes they can ambush you. Other times, you ambush them.
Another great feature in Shadow of Mordor is that there is an appendix that stays true to Tolkien’s mythology. You can learn all about the different kingdoms, the medicinal plants (you harvest different plants in order to heal yourself), artifacts, characters, and the creatures.
*This is an appendix for the characters.
Shadow of Mordor is full of beautiful graphics and amazing characters, and the combat is absolutely amazing since you can do various things. I highly recommend it to people that love the Lord of the Rings. It really does Tolkien’s lore a great justice, and I doubt anyone could hate playing it.
As for a rating, I give it a 9/10 just because it can get so frustrating and it doesn’t have features that are included in the second game Shadow of War. Oh, and when you decide to play these games, you must play Shadow of Mordor first and then Shadow of War, or else you might be confused as to what’s happening.
Top Pick of the Month: Vampyr
Vampyr is an open world, third person perspective, role playing game developed by Dontnod and published by Focus Home Interactive. Even though it was released in 2018, it is still a great game that you can get lost in for hours. I'll give you a rundown, and you can choose whether to play it or not.
Vampyr takes place in Victorian Era London during the Spanish Influenza. The main character is Johnathan Reid, a renowned surgeon and recently turned vampire. He is now torn between saving his patients and feeding off of them due to his thirst, which goes against everything he believes.
There are four explorable districts in London, and Johnathan can only go out at night. There, he meets all the citizens from different districts and gets to know them through various dialogue choices.
*Dialogue Options
Being a doctor, he can also heal them from various ailments, such as pneumonia and fatigue, since their blood quality is lowered by disease. Also, the district's health bar must be listed as either 'sanitized' or 'healthy.' That means the citizens are in good condition. However, if that bar falls to the bottom (stable, serious, chaos), then the district will become more dangerous with more monsters lurking around the corner, and sometimes the citizens will go missing and their quests will be lost.
*Citizen Menu of Pembroke Hospital. Stable is okay, but Healthy and Sanitized is where you want to be.
Considering the era, most of the dialogue is quite elaborate and wordy, but it's written in such a way that makes it very believable. The characters are all very dimensional, and you can buy all sorts of medicinal ingredients, weapon components, and weapons from the merchants. Most citizens have different quests, which can be as simple as finding one of their belongings or locating a missing person. Either way, if you help them, you are always rewarded.
One of the most important and notable features of Vampyr is that it is a choice-driven game, and it also autosaves. You cannot go back and change your actions, and the way you interact with the citizens (such as helping them or drinking their blood) influences your ending. There are four different endings, and it's incredibly hard to get the good one. You must not kill any of the citizens, even if they are difficult to deal with it. However, it's very tempting. You can gain experience points from 'embracing' (a nice way of saying 'killing') the citizens.
*With every amount of people embraced, Johnathan's eyes get darker.
However, you also gain points from completing various quests and also the main one. You can use the points to buy or increase all sorts of vampiric abilities. There is a vast array of powers to choose from. You can also modify your weapons, which can be either melee or guns (personally, I'd work on updating your shotgun), and make your own serums to heal yourself during combat.
*Different skills you can purchase. I find this very funny because Johnathan doesn't have a hat. Someone got a modification for that.
One of the criticisms of Vampyr was its difficult combat. If you've ever played the Final Fantasy games, you'll find that it is quite similar. In the game, you go up against the Guard of Priwen (a group of vampire hunters), Skals, (a lowly class of vampires that are terrifying), werewolves, and other types of vampires. Vampyr is not a hack and slash game either. You have to develop a unique strategy against the various bosses in the story.
*Example of the gameplay. The enemy is a preacher who uses light to burn you.
The good thing about being a vampire, however, is that you can respawn near wherever you died. You also don't lose any belongings.
Another unique thing about Vampyr is the hideouts. There are various hideouts hidden all over London. Each of them include an ammunition crate where you can store ammo, a bed where you sleep to spend points, and a desk where you can develop different serums and make medicine for the citizens.
*One of the hideouts in Vampyr. Most of them are cautioned off due to the influenza outbreak.
The overall plot of the story is about 15-18 hours, but since it is an open world game, you can go at your own pace. The story is very unique when it comes to vampires. Johnathan takes up a job at a hospital and studies different blood samples, hoping to find a cure for himself and the cure for the Spanish Influenza, which ties in with the sudden appearance of the Skals, whose minds have deteriorated entirely due to vampirism. Johnathan meets different characters, such as the ambitious doctor Edgar Swansea and the beautiful vampire Lady Ashbury. Johnathan is also on the quest to discover his 'maker,' a disembodied creature that wants him to descend into chaos.
*Johnathan and Lady Ashbury. She is his love interest if you play the game right.
In conclusion, a lot of stuff happens. The game is so detailed that almost every key part of the plot fits in together, creating an amazing, thought-provoking storyline that can almost move one to tears. Personally, it's one of my favorite games. I love the high quality graphics of Victorian era London, the character design, the interactions, practically everything (some of the boss fights are kind of hard).
So, I give this a 8 Star Review. The .5 deduction is due to the lengthy conversations, the 1 is from the difficult comat, and the other .5 is the difficulty of deciphering the map and lack of fast travel. However, having no fast travel allows you to fully explore the various districts of London.
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Interview with Hal
by Emily Jacobs
Video games have become incredibly popular due to tons of people quarantining themselves at home. Although some games have a bad reputation, video games are actually a great way to hang out with your friends or just have a lot of fun. Thus, I interviewed Hal Stoltz, a 12th grader who is incredibly knowledgeable about all sorts of video games.
Question #1: What is your favorite video game genre and why is it your favorite?
Hal: I’m really interested in horror video games. As someone who’s really explored most genres available, I really find myself coming back to horror. A big part of this is because horror games tend to focus on story and atmosphere, usually casting aside dynamic and convoluted controls for something more simple and stylized. Of course, not all horror games are this way, but they tend to have a similar pattern between them. Also, I just love the feeling of being scared.
Question #2: The most popular game of 2021 was Fortnite. What do you think about that?
Hal: I can’t say I’m surprised. Although Fortnite took a new, stylistic choice towards third-person shooters, I can’t say there is anything remarkable about it compared to some other games that have been released/updated this year. The developers are very good and roping more and more people in all the time, which is quite impressive.
Question #3: What gaming platform do you prefer the most?
Hal: I can’t really choose a favorite. I haven’t explored many options available, and so would not be able to make an informed decision. However, I’ve become quite attached to my PC as of recently, because Steam* is such an easy and accessible way to play games.
Question #4: What is your favorite underrated game that people may not know about?
Hal: It’s become more popular due to its switch remaster, but I think Ōkami* is an amazing game that’s overlooked quite often. The beautiful traditionally Japanese art style combined with an open world rpg* is such a great idea. Not to mention, the music alone is a masterpiece. “Ryoshima Plains,” is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Question #5: Are you excited for any of the new games being released in 2022?
Hal: Yes! In 2021, I was quite excited for Psychonauts 2, and this year I’m looking forward to a few new games, including: *Slitterhead (a new game made by the creator of Silent Hill), *Splatoon 3, *Spirit Hunter 3, and *Sonic Frontiers. (Since this game has had more development time than other modern Sonic games, I’m hoping it’s better!!!)
Question #6: Last of all, which game do you recommend to noobs*?
Hal: This might be a basic choice, but I believe really all of the Animal Crossing* games have an easy difficulty, one where you’re only limited by your own creativity. It’s extremely relaxing and the ability to talk to animal neighbors makes you invested in the world you’ve created. No one game will satisfy everyone’s needs, but these games are great for people looking for a relaxed gameplay.
*Steam is a popular video game distribution service created by Valve. It was originally released in 2003, mostly to provide automatic updates to their games. However, they expanded their services and included other game publishers in their network.
*rpg: Role-playing game
*noob: A person new to the world of video games
*Sonic Frontiers is an upcoming platform game, which was developed by the Sonic Team. It is the first Sonic the Hedgehog game to have an open-world gameplay. The player is able to explore the Starfall Islands. The Islands contain various biomes, such as deserts, forests, and ancient ruins, and the graphics have been considered to be on par with The Legend of Zelda games.
*Shinigami: Shibito Magire (Spirit Hunter 3) is an adventure game developed by Experience. The game follows Kazuo Yashiki, a detective in suburban Tokyo. He is hired to infiltrate a school as a teacher in order to investigate supernatural events that happen every ten years. The gameplay is a sideview perspective, and the player can choose various partners to help them investigate.
*Slitterhead is an upcoming horror game developed by the indie Bokeh Game Studio. Not much is known about this new game, but you can see the trailer right here https://youtu.be/C2wj65MimUc
*Animal Crossing is a social simulation game developed by Nintendo. The player is a human who resides in a village filled with anthropomorphic animals and can do various activities with them, such as fishing, bug catching, and hunting. It features an open-ended gameplay and also simulates the real passage of time. You can also play with your friends.
*The first game Hal mentions is Ōkami. Ōkami is an action and adventure game developed by Clover Studio. It centers around Japanese folklore and mythology and follows the story of the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu, who takes the form of a white wolf and embarks on a journey to save Japan from darkness.
*Splatoon 3 is a third person shooter available on the Nintendo Switch. It features squid-like creatures who can change from squid to kid form to move around the battlefield. The objective? To ink more of the battlefield than the other team. Using all forms of weapons, including: toy guns, paint brushes, and washing machines, you can spread your team's ink color along the map.