My final uni assessment for the current academic year was submitted a couple of weeks ago—a creative piece for children about a girl and her imaginary friend—so it means that I finally have no academic work to do. My second (technically third) year of university is over with, and I finally have some time to do other things rather than stressing about deadlines.
Compared to my other years, this one has been for more stressful and busy. A lot to read, a lot to write and a lot to revise (for my first exam since I was in college 20 years ago).
With all this free time I have, other than doing some jobs around the house, like painting walls and fixing a few things around the house. We’ve already been gardening, finally getting our trees out of pots and Into the ground; I will be taking some time to do more book/story writing, which I feel like I’ve not done enough of recently. Although having said that, I did spend some time working on a Creatures remaster and the Creatures Collection, which I released a few weeks back.
New stuff-wise, though, I’ve got a lot of stuff I’ve been working on, but what I really want to finish is the short story that I’m writing based on a 30-minute screenplay I wrote for a uni assignment. It’s titled Maze of Fears and is set in a Halloween corn maze in Iowa with a bunch of friends that start to be haunted. The script did really well in class, so I’m hoping as a short story, I can add more depth to it. I’m not sure what else I want to work on, but I’m sure whatever wants to be written will make itself known.
In addition to this, I want to get back into regularly posting blogs and reviews and update everything on the website so it’s a little more…well…up to date. I will also post regular stories and other writing content on my social media sites, including my TikTok, which I’m still trying to figure out.
And, I will be doing all this while still doing my physio for my hip-—which is hurting more again—making sure that Athena stays out of trouble, which is no easy task.
All in all, I’m looking forward to the next few months, and I’m going to do my utmost to make the best of it before I go back for my final year of uni in September.
Banishers: Ghost of New Eden is an action RPG that was released on February 13, 2024, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows.
In this game, players take on the roles of Antea Duarte and Red Mac Raith, a duo of ghost hunters embarking on a mission to explore the eerie town of New Eden. However, their investigation takes a haunting turn when Duarte herself becomes a ghost. Players must utilize Raith’s arsenal of conventional weapons alongside Duarte’s spectral powers to fend off menacing foes. Throughout the game, players will face pivotal decisions that shape the unfolding narrative.
Banishers is a game that I was looking forward to since it was announced purely based on the game studio’s previous offering, a game I’ve talked about before_ Vampyr.
I loved Vampyr, despite its flaws *cough* constant crashing *cough*, so I just knew that Banishers would be a game for me.
Some elements of Banishers are very similar to Vampyr in that you can choose to kill or not to kill, you have melee and shooting combat skills, and you wander around completing quests for various people around the map.
The map for Banishers is a lot bigger than the map of London that Vampyr had, which allows for much wider wandering. It also means that there is a lot more to do. Activities range from the previously mentioned quests to burial grounds-–where waves of enemies come at you–to scourge sits, where a harder boss-like enemy spawns. There are also numerous different types of chests to open, some locked with keys, others where you have to perform rituals to unlock them, and more that you can just open. With all this, there is plenty to keep you busy between mainline quests if you want to take a break or level up some before your next encounter.
The combat, as I said, uses a combination of melee and firearms, which allows for various combinations. Along with this you also have the charge abilities that for one character allow you to banish, which will take off a larger chunk of health, or for the ghost character a move whereby the character channels through their corporeal counterpart for a prolonged barrage of lethal attacks. This combat system is pretty simple, but it’s effective. There aren’t a wide range of different weapons, only similar weapons that do varying degrees of damage or have special stats. Again, this works pretty well for the most part.
The RPG system, the levelling up of characters’ abilities, can be a little clunky at times, and I have to say that I still don’t completely understand it. You have two different types of points, one for Red’s abilities and one for Antea’s. But you seem to be only able to select certain ones in combination with others. Several times, I’ve tried to put a point in a perk, and it’s removed one from something else. At times, this can be frustrating as you can’t put points into something you want when they’re on something else. I’m getting used to it now, but it could be so much better.
Aside from the mainline quests, of which there are a lot, there are even more side quests, some that only become available depending on how you react to other quests. For example, if you decide to “blame” a character during a quest (basically to kill the character being haunted), you won’t have a quest available to you later from that character. Whereas if you banish the ghost that is haunting them, you will. Additionally, with these quests, you decide how people will react to you when talking to them. If you do an action that a character doesn’t like, they may not speak to you or just give you the cold shoulder. Likewise, if the character has a shop, they won’t give you the best price for their or your items when you want to buy or sell. Of course, on the flip side, if they’re happy with you, then they’ll give you a better price for items and equipment. This all means that your actions do actually have an impact on how you play the game, and if you want to experience all the game has to offer, then you’ll have to do multiple play-throughs, selecting different actions each time.
The quests themselves range in what you need to do. Some have you following spectral residues or finding items, and others have you investigating a haunting or travelling through void spaces to defect spectres. Though there are a few different types of quests, they don’t feel as repetitive as they could. They’re well mixed up, so you’re not necessarily doing the same type of quest one after another. All this adds to the overall longevity of the game.
Earlier, I mentioned how Vampyr, a good game that it was, had a lot of issues with crashing. So far, I’ve had three or four similar crashes on Banishers, but nothing that is game-breaking or that causes me to lose too much progress. They also haven’t happened for a while, so, touch wood, it’s not going to happen again.
For the trophy/achievement hunters out there, I feel like they’re all achievable and also very enjoyable to get without too much effort, apart from the multiple play-throughs.
Overall, I’m really enjoying Banishers so far, and it has surpassed my expectations despite its few issues. The game is a solid 9/10, and I’m going to play through it as much as I can to see everything I can.
Unpacking is a puzzle game released in November 2021 for Windows, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One, and in May 2022 for the PlayStation 4 & 5.
The game is divided up into multiple chapters for the years 1997, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2018 and within each year, your task is to unpack boxes from your move and place objects in the correct place while doing so. Each year represents a significant life event, such as moving to college, getting your first apartment, and moving in with your partner. As you unpack the boxes, a story unfolds about the character and their life.
So-called ‘cosy games’ are a big thing at the minute, and Unpacking is just one of many that are out there. It’s so-called because it doesn’t have any big scary’s or difficult quests; it’s purely about having the most relaxing experience possible while playing a video game. Some people, myself included, just don’t find there to be enough in many of these games to keep (or even start) playing them.
On the face of it, Unpacking doesn’t have a great deal of gameplay, and the lure of simply unpacking boxes and putting things on shelves or in cupboards just didn’t do it for me initially. However, once you start playing, you realise that although unpacking boxes is the main game mechanic, there is also a storyꟷalthough subtleꟷto be told. As you find items, you begin to learn about the character you play and their life. You follow them through the years until the game ends in 2018, presumably because the character is settled and will no longer move home.
The different levels are mostly set in different locations, with differing numbers of rooms to unpack. The rooms include bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms, pretty much any room that you might find in an apartment or house. Although there are multiple boxes in each room, as you unpack, you find some items that are in the wrong room, so you have to flick between them to place them in the correct room. This isn’t all, though. This game is a puzzle game in that, although a lot of items can seemingly go in multiple places, there is actually a correct location to place them. Once you’ve unpacked all the boxes in the level, red rings around objects will tell you that they’re in the wrong place, and in some cases, it can be a real challenge to figure out just where the game wants you to put them. Although the game has the element, compared to a lot of games, the puzzle aspect isn’t particularly difficult unless, as with some objects, you have no idea what in the hell the thing is, never mind where in the house it goes.
The graphics in Unpacking are very well done pixel art, and especially for the earlier levels, this serves to ground you in that year. The rooms and objects are exceptionally well designed, and some objects, like the DVD boxes, have so much detail on them you can tell which movie they areꟷthrough the game, I spotted Donnie Darko and Jaws, to name just a couple.
The sound is pretty pleasing too. There is no spoken dialogue (I believe this was done, so it didn’t matter if you could understand it or not), and there is little in the way of written text. The sound of the objects being placed and different snippets of music is all you get, so the fact that it’s done so well (in the PlayStation version, it makes use of the controller speaker) really adds to the overall immersion and feeling of the scenes in which you play. One nice little detail was that if you turn music on in one room, you can still hear it, although dulled, in other rooms in the apartment/house.
Unpacking isn’t a difficult game, and if you’re a trophy hunter, it’s a pretty easy platinum, with having to place certain objects in specific locations or interacting with others in a certain way. But the game has enough there to keep you playing, and I think if you’re in a period where your mind is loud, it would be a good game to play just to get out of that headspace.
Another thing that I think really helps is the way it handles. The controls, at least for the PlayStation version, are really easy to use. Even the main mechanic is a mouse pointer it moves smoothly across the screen, and even selecting items to be moved feels fluid.
As I said at the beginning of this blog, Unpacking is a game that I will rush to play, but I found the entire experience calming and enjoyable. So much so that I’m going to give it a higher rating than I thought I would with a 9/10. And I will say that even if you’re not a fan of games like this, you should give it a try. I’m sure that you won’t regret it.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is a 3D platformer released in September 1997 for the PlayStation and a year later for the Sega Saturn and Microsoft Windows.
The game takes place in Gobbo Valley and follows a young crocodile named Croc who has to venture through levels rescuing furry creatures known as Gobbos from an evil magician known as Baron Dante.
Back in the original PlayStation days, I never actually played the full game of Croc. We had a demo disk that had a few levels on it, so I got really good at playing those, but we never ventured to purchase the full game. I don’t really know why. I know that I’ve never really been a fan of 3D platformers like Mario 64, Spyro and the like, so this probably played a part in it.
When doing research for my book, Blindsighted, I had a character that has PlayStation, and I needed a game for him to be playing in one scene. After filtering through old games, I remembered Croc and decided it would be a good game for him to be playing as I remember enjoying what I played of it. Recently it was on my mind again, and both Alex and I wanted to play it again. After trawling through eBay, I managed to find a copy that was decently priced, so I took the plunge and bought a copy.
When it arrived, we dove straight in, but for me, it was just so hard. As with a lot of retro games, the controls are vastly different to those of newer games. I quickly got frustrated and left the game on the shelf. I’ve given the game a go a couple of times since then but always struggled with the controls. However, I knew that I wanted to do this blog post about it, so I thought I should give it another go it deserved. I’ve played a few levels this morning, and I’m actually getting the hang of it and enjoying it. I got stuck when I came to a boss as I struggled to time my attacks right, but I’m now willing to try and try again as I still think that Croc is a good game.
The levels, unlock games like Spyro, are pretty short, so finding the Gobbos and collecting gems is pretty easy in most cases. The combat isn’t difficult, but sometimes getting the timing right is. You can think you’re close enough and still struggle to get a hit on an enemy, or on the other side, you can think you’re far away enough not to get hit, but you still do. Where the game falls down like a lot of 3D platformers of this era is the camera. There is no using the analogue controller to move the camera. Instead, you have to use L2 and then move using the d-pad; this can be an issue when you’re trying to move or enter combat as it’s not easy to flick between character movement and camera movement. The graphics are standard early 3D, and as such, the game hasn’t aged particularly well but having said that, it still doesn’t look too bad. There are plenty of games that came out around the same time that just look God awful now.
Croc is a worthy addition to my retro game collection, and it’s probably one that I will go back to time and time again. However, I would love for this game to get a remake or a reboot on modern consoles. Even perhaps if it were added to the new PlayStation Plus subscription service, it would control better.
I’ve been writing for just over four years now, and so far, I haven’t written any kind of short story, well, until now, that is.
The other week I had an idea for a story, and it was one of those where I just had to get it down to get it out of my head. I knew going in that it probably wasn’t going to be a novel, but I still didn’t know how long it was going to be. Over the weekend, I finished the story, and at the end of the first draft, it comes out at just over 9000 words. I’m pleased with where it is at the minute, but there are definitely bits that need tweaking or adding in the next couple of drafts.
As much as I wanted to purely work on Creatures 3, having this break to work on something new feels like it’s been a good thing for me. I was starting to get blind to the story in the next Creatures book, so this idea came at an opportune time. As much as I want to get the next book out there, I also don’t want to rush it, and it be less than it could be. I’m going to work on this short story, which is titled The Tasks, until I release it and then go back to Creatures 3.
When I’m a bit closer to releasing The Task, I will reveal more about it, like the synopsis and cover, so for now, I’ll leave you in the dark a little bit, but I will say that the story is a little bit Portal and a little bit Squid Game.
I’m currently working on the second draft, but I’m hoping that it being a short story will mean that I will go through the drafts quicker. I don’t really know; I’ve not done this before.
As far as my other books go, it was a great month last month for sales and Kindle Unlimited pages read. I think that putting them all back onto KU was the best decision for me as more people now seem to be reading them.
For now, though, I will get back to it. Have a good week all.
When you struggle with your mental health, it’s sometimes very difficult to find things to occupy your brain when it’s screaming at you. And sometimes, when you do find something that calms you or distracts you, it can be something that you didn’t expect.
I’ve never been big on gardening. When I was younger, I would help my parents doing bits and pieces, but it was never something that I fought to do, and as I got older and moved out, the only plants I generally had were either cacti or chilli plants (because who doesn’t like growing their own chillis?) But, when Alex and I moved into our first home, we both found that we enjoyed doing things in the garden. The first house we moved to was a rental, so we couldn’t do a great deal with the garden other than mow it, but we still enjoyed looking after indoor plants and the few potted plants like raspberries and strawberries that we had outside (see my previous blog “Plants, Mental Health and the Tale of Momma”) and we found that this, at bad times, helped us feel marginally better. However, we have since moved into our new home (which we bought), which we can do a whole lot more with.
We’ve only been in this house for just over a year, and when we moved in, all we had was a huge patch of grass, but we’ve spent most of it trying to figure out what parts of the garden get the most/least sun, and which get wetter etc. so that we know where the best place to have plants would be. Our aim is to ultimately have beds and a greenhouse. For now, though, we have multiple things in pots and planters, as well as continuing to grow our house plants.
One of our dreams is to have an allotment where we can grow and harvest edible plants, but for now, we do what we can in our back garden. So far, we’ve had garden peas, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies, bell peppers, courgettes, aubergines, lettuce, rocket, leeks, and spring onions, as well as a host of herbs such as basil, mint, rosemary, thyme, coriander, and chives. We also have a few plants purely for the bees, such as roses and wildflowers.
Before we even had plants, we had plenty of wildlife, including frogs, toads, and newts, but now we have plants, we have even more visitors like bees (even a leaf cutter bee), butterflies, dragonflies, various beetles, and even small bats. We also have a lesser spotted ginger feline sneaking in occasionally
So what has this got to with mental health? As I said earlier, looking after the few plants we had in the old house helped our brains relax and gave us something to concentrate on, so with a bigger garden that we can do a lot more with it helps us even more. We find that growing our own plants from seeds and nurturing them is something to be proud of. Along with that, repotting them when they outgrow their current situation is also a very calming activity. Trying to work out what size pot to put them in and then repotting them keeps our minds busy. This goes for both the outdoor and indoor plants. I’ve found that watering the plants and making sure that we don’t kill them is less of a chore and more something that I enjoy doing. It takes me back to those times when I would help my parents.
Sometimes it’s hard to look after yourself during a mental health crisis, let alone another living thing, but with plants, the act of caring for them is a great way to give you something other than the bad things in life. Plus, with our ultimate goal of wanting to grow things to eat rather than relying on buying fresh stuff, it gives us something to concentrate on with a longer scope.
We have so far been planning what we want to do with the garden. But for now, we’re happy with what we have growing in pots. I’m sure there will be more updates on this in the future.
I’m not saying that gardening is a sure-fire way to stop intrusive thoughts at bad times, but it’s definitely something that’s worth a go. Even if it’s just looking after a houseplant, it gives you something else to focus on. I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I do, but I do, and I’m glad that we have a large garden that has so many possibilities.
Last month the “all-new” PlayStation Plus went live. This new subscription service combined what was PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now. With this new version of the subscription service, there are several levels, the top of which is premium. Being a subscriber of both the old plus and now, I was automatically given access to the premium tier. Along with this came access to the classics catalogue, which includes games from all the previous generations of PlayStation. As far as PSOne and PS2 games are concerned, there aren’t many on the service so far, but there are a few, and they are worth playing. Below are some that I’ve had a go of so far.
Syphon Filter
When it was initially released, I loved this game. It’s a third-person action/shooter in which you take control of Gabriel Logan as he tries to apprehend global terrorist Erich Rhoemer before he releases the titular biological weapon. The game takes you to worldwide locations such as Washington D.C., Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. It was successful enough to spawn two sequels that continue Gabe’s story.
It’s been a long time since I played Syphon Filter, but it’s a game that I’ve wanted to make a come back for quite some time. It’s a game that, in this world of remakes and reboots, I think would really benefit from a renewal. Sadly I don’t think this will happen. But, having the first game released to play on current-gen consoles is a step in the right direction.
Within the game, there are few updates except for the addition of trophies now being available. Compared to more modern games of a similar ilk, the controls are clunky and difficult to use at first. But after playing for a while, I got back into the swing of it. Syphon Filter doesn’t make use of the analogue controls (I can’t remember if the original did or not), so you’re left control movements with the D-pad, which can be frustrating at times. Still, again, this is due to not having to control newer games in this way. The graphics appear to have been smoothed out some, but it’s still presented in 4:3, leaving you with a black border around the game screen. However, this doesn’t detract from the gaming experience at all.
Being able to play Syphon Filter once again has been a pleasure, and I look forward to delving deeper into the game. Of course, I still live in hope for that remake/reboot, but for now, I’m happy with what we’ve got. Fingers crossed that the sequels find their way onto the service too.
Ape Escape
This is another blast from the past, and like Syphon Filter, it is a game that I put many an hour into. Ape Escape is a 3D platformer where the aim is to capture apes with your net and other gadgets which have been released by Spectre, an ape who has put on a helmet that has increased his intelligence and turned him evil. You net your way through various locations from history, including the dinosaur era, medieval times, and the modern era.
I spent hours catching all the apes in my copy of Ape Escape that I got as an ex-rental from Blockbuster Video (I know, right? I still have it, too!). I was never a huge fan of 3D platformers, but something about this game drew me in enough for me to 100% it. So you just know that I’ll be going for that again now. I wonder if I’ve still got what it takes as someone in their mid-30s.
Like many platformers of the day, the challenge comes from collecting everything in the game, even though to finish a level, you don’t necessarily have to capture all the apes in it. There are some levels that you need to go back to as you progress in the game and acquire new gadgets in order to capture some of the pesky apes.
Thankfully, unlike some of the classic games released on PlayStation Plus Premium, Ape Escape, makes use of the analogue controls, as it was one of the first games to make use of this controller on the original PlayStation. This makes navigating the world a tad easier, but again, compared to new games, there’s something a little off about the controls that takes a bit of getting used to. The graphics haven’t been updated any as with the other titles, but Ape Escape again has the addition of trophies to collect, which will make catching all those apes all the more rewarding.
Ape Escape 2 is also on the service, and surprisingly despite my love of the first game, I didn’t even know it existed but rest assured, I will be giving that a go too.
There are numerous other games on the service, ranging from classics like Tekken 2, the older Ratchet & Clank games, Everybody’s Golf, and Wild Arms, to newer classics such as The Last of Us, the Batman Arkham series, and Bioshock. There are so many games that it will take me a while to get through, but I’m looking forward to playing what’s on there and seeing what will come over the next months. Despite numerous people reporting issues with the emulation of the older era games, I haven’t seen any, so I say that if you’re not at the premium tier, it’s well worth levelling up to it. I’ll do more posts on other games when I get through them, but for now, I’m heading back into some of these excellent games.
What are some games that you’d like to see appear on the service?
A few weeks back, I did an interview with Andy N on his Spoken Label podcast. The podcast features interviews with authors and artists from around the UK. During the interview, we talk about how I got into writing, my latest book (at the time) Blindsighted, and where I see my career in writing going as well as future projects.
The podcast is available in many different places, including the Spoken Label website, YouTube, as well as Google & Apple podcasts.
First off, I apologise for the title; it had to be done.
Stray is an adventure game that was released on 19th July 2022 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. In the game, you take control of a cat that has fallen into a world of robots as it traverses the new environment to return to its family. Throughout the story, you meet numerous robots with different stories and tasks for you to carry out, all while doing things that a cat in the world would do, namely purring, sleeping, and knocking things off shelves to the annoyance of those around you.
Stray is one of those games that was a must on my to-play list as soon as it was announced. Of course, there wasn’t a great deal about it, to begin with, but the fact that it was a game you play purely as a cat intrigued me.
On day one of its release, Stray was made available on PlayStation Plus, so of course, I had to get straight into it. The game itself starts off quite slowly as you get to grips with controlling your friendly feline. It shows you how to jump to different surfaces (one of the game’s main mechanics) and how to navigate the strange world that you are thrown into. It’s a calming pace that never really leaves the game, even with those moments when you are more at perilꟷI’ll come back to that in a bit.
When you reach the robot-inhabited town, you learn that there is an elevator that will take you back to the surface, where hopefully, you can reunite with fellow cats after you fell down a hole. The robots themselves are mainly friendly and helpful, and through the slow unveiling of the world, you come to discover that humans are long dead after a pandemic, and only the robots now inhabit the world.
At the start of the game, you discover a small floating robot, B-12, who becomes your companion and helps translate the robot’s language as well as helping you collect objects from the world to further quests, and even gives you hints on what to do next.
As you explore, you discover numerous different locations, from robot towns and cities to sewers that have their own unique challenges for you to overcome. The quests range from collecting items to give to certain NPCs to scaling buildings to fix apparatus, along with sections of stealth where you must sneak through areas undetected to reach your goal.
Now for the peril. This comes in the form of strange creatures known as Zurks that, in certain sections of the game, will attack your cat in swarms. It’s your task to either outrun or just plain avoid these creatures. There are also the occasional sentry bot enemies which will shoot at you should they detect you. Attacks by these enemies are pretty much the only way you can die. There is no fall damage as your cat will refuse to drop to another surface unless there is a clear way down, so this makes scaling buildings and objects that bit easier.
I’ve played about 5-6 hours of the game and so far haven’t really come up against any negatives. But the one thing I will say is a little annoying at times is the camera. You’re allowed to rotate the camera at your leisure, but at times, if an object is in the way, it may block off the camera, so you can’t really see what’s going on. The story, although simple, is well written, and you really do find yourself invested in getting your purry friend back home. The environments are beautifully crafted, and the robots themselves all look unique. The controls are easy to get a handle on, and the gameplay mechanics don’t have anything complicated within them.
As I said earlier, Stray is a calm experience and one where you could spend hours watching your cat curled up on a pillow, listening to the gentle purring through the DualShock controller speaker. There is enough within the game, alongside the main story, that will keep you busy for a good few hours. For example, you could spend quite a while exploring all the first town has to offer on and above ground level. I don’t know how much replayability Stray will have, but if you’re going for the platinum trophy, you could probably have at least a couple of playthroughs and still enjoy the experience. I’m going to give Stray a solid 9/10 and say that anyone, lovers of cats or not, should play this game. It’s a well crafted game and one that deserves recognition. Me? Well I’m looking forward to continuing my playthrough soon.
Throughout my writing career, I have tried to make my books available to a wide variety of readers and have had them up for purchase on a wide range of platforms. Still, over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about what is best for me and have to come to the decision that due to having zero purchases on other platforms that, I will return to my roots and throw everything I have at the Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited market. I have weighed up all the pros and cons of this decision, and the pros of sticking with Kindle far outweigh the cons. I’m aware that some people don’t like to buy anything from Amazon, and that’s fair enough, which is why I made my books available on platforms like Google & Apple Books, but after several months of disappointing sales, I have realized that it’s just not viable to remain on these platforms. Yes, one of the factors is that I do not have any sales, so I’m not earning anything, but for this exact reason, when no one buys the books, there is no reason to be on them. Re-enrollong all of my work into the Kindle Unlimited program still allows a broader audience, and it’s an audience that I actually reach.
In the couple of weeks that I have been purely on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited, I have seen more sales and book reads than I’ve had in the past 12 months of being on other platforms. Some people may see this as a cash grab, but for me, it makes more sense to be on platforms on which people read my books; after all, that’s why I write them.
Rant over.
I will be updating my website to acknowledge where my books are available in due time. For today though, as in the UK we’re currently going through a heatwave, I’m going to spend the rest of the day in front of a fan playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Gareth Ellis - Author 