J's Journey

Hello Neighbor recently released its full game and it has blown peoples minds, connections were made with the story line and The wacky crazy neighbor we met from the beginning is seen in a different light, i actually feel sorry for him. Hide and seek came out in August 2018 with a planned release in December 2018. Hide and Seek deals with the events of the Neighbor’s family that caused him to become a recluse. The game was released on December 7, 2018.

This sequel or prequel to the game focuses on the neighbors family and answers many questions left over from hello neighbors alphas and betas. besides the safari chapter we get four more chapters, each with there own representations, themes and puzzles. We cant forget the puzzles, my favorite part of this genre of games, we go from creating pressure in geysers to reach high places to outing fires and defrosting lakes. We go from safari hunter to robber to firefighter to zombie, barbie isn’t the only one who does everything.

We went from collecting toy animals to money bags and babies and brains. The fun never ends really. Each chapters cut scenes reveal more of the story and give us insight into whats going on, In the beginning it seems like child’s play, two children having fun playing hide and seek but we soon come to realize the deep dark truth that will come to pass as the game goes on. We go from playing and having fun to escaping to fluctuating emotions and things start coming together like a puzzle.

Hello neighbor never fully made sense, it had too many loopholes, too many unanswered questions and people were left wanting more. Months later we got our answers and it was darker and sadder than anyone expected, we learned that the neighbor had a family and things went from heaven to hell in minutes. In hello neighbor we play as a guy who gets evicted from his city apartment and moves to a neighborhood except our neighbor is acting weird, fighting mannequins, locking up a door like fort Knox. something is definitely rotten in Denmark. What we don’t know until hide and seek is that this crazy, wacky, off his meds neighbor is simply a man in mourning.

We see the neighbor and his family moving in, happy without a worry in the world then we join the children for hide and seek and watch as it goes from fun to tragedy. My theory which i shared on captain sauce, 8bitryan and KindlyKeyins game play videos is that sometime after moving in, the neighbor and his wife leave the children home to go somewhere, we don’t know if its the grocery store as we saw in alpha 3 or the beta levels i’m not sure which it was. The children realize time is passing and don’t know where their parents are, their worried but can’t really do anything except keep playing and hope they come home soon. After chapter 2 we see the neighbor come home and drop to his knees with his wife’s purse, we can tell by this that the wife has died, we know how she died through alpha 3 when we saw the accident and the waiting room scenes.

The next 3 chapters show us how they cope with her death, the neighbor is out of it, mourning. not really there for his children. The son is angry and sad, not sure how to move forward and the sister seems to be the strong one, we don’t see her cry but we can safely assume she is just as sad as her brother and father. We see her try to cheer her brother up despite his being mean to her. The last chapter isn’t really a chapter but more of an ending scene, it all comes down to this kinda thing. we see the brothers anger go to far and cause his sisters death by accidentally pushing her off the roof. we are then met by an ending scene of the neighbor burying his daughter.

The answers are clear when we take this information back to hello neighbor itself, we can assume the grave in alpha 2 is the sisters and the mattress and teddy in the basement is the brothers because we can only assume that he went cray losing his mother and sister. The neighbor not wanting to lose the only family he had left locks him down there and lives with what he has done, until we come along. The shadow figure that sparked curiosity could represent the brother, the missing children poster is his children because he would have to cover his tracks somehow, people who knew him would notice his children not around. All the things we saw in the alphas and Betas the hidden things, the things in the basement scenes were almost a vision of what was coming even though they made no sense.

Is this the end for hello neighbor and hide and seek for good ?  we’ll just have to wait and see. I couldn’t resist doing this blog, since the day hello neighbor dropped the first alpha iv’e been hooked on it like a bear to honey. The story line grew and myself and other fans wanted to know more, we couldn’t wait for the next alpha or beta to drop. Tiny Build and Dynamic Pixels did a great job on this one, granted we had our share of glitches and spaz out moments but the journey was wild and unexpected and full of surprises at each turn. I hope to see more games of this type in the future i hope this isn’t really the end for our wacky friend the neighbor.

 

Minion rush was the beginning of the minion craze, people fell in love with the little yellow guys and the movies were successful. Minion rush’s first release was in 2013          2 years after the first despicable me movie and the same year as despicable me 2. GameLoft did it right as it became part of many peoples gaming list. My list included.

This game helped me a lot during those immobile times when i was really on the wrong side of Bechets, the game quality and colors were pleasing to the eyes allowing comfortable game play. The minions wacky antics made it addictive, the games concept is relevant to despicable me 3, our beloved minions now work for the AVL and must do a wide range of missions which include collecting bananas, jumping obstacles and completing many mini games.

This game has so many levels, themes and mini games that its never monotonous, there’s always a new group of levels with new and exciting themes and characters. The game originally was more of a endless runner where you would transition from one environment to another but after many updates it became more structured same environments and themes but you move from level to level once you’ve collected the required amount of bananas, which in turn fills up the jelly jar/tube and once full the next set of levels unlock.

 

 

 

 

One creepy neighbor, basement full of secrets, a crazy house of horrors and a story line that keeps you hooked but thats only the tip of the iceberg; Hello Neighbor has quickly found its way from PC to Console after its release last year and did i mention Puzzles for days ?

This game was one of the most interesting games I’ve played, Using all kinds of creative tactics to get into his house and find what secrets lie in his basement. As if that wasn’t enough story line after numerous updates, Tiny Build brought us Hello Neighbor Hide and Seek. We meet the neighbors family, see the house as it once was at some point; we learn a bit more about whats going on. Here we play as the neighbor’s daughter finding the hidden toys and placing them in a basket while avoiding her brother dressed in a tiger costume as well as other traps and puzzles.

I got inspired to play this game while watching you tubers like 8bitRyan and Captain sauce play. Each games puzzle base was interesting, as wacky as the neighbors house was the 30 rooms of puzzles is enough to drive anyone over the edge especially with the neighbor not giving you the time of day. did i mention he is a learning AI, he remembers your previous attempts and lays traps so just look out for bear traps, this game kept me busy so my brain didn’t get time to dwell on life’s problems.

 

Hide and Seek brought a different perspective, shed light on the neighbor who we knew very little about until now. Since the first games release, everyone had there own theory and the developers seemed to love it, run with it even. My theory, the short version is that the neighbor had a family and things were normal in the beginning and then we learn through cut scenes that his wife died in an accident resulting in the family being torn apart and the neighbor being depressed, frustrated maybe since now he’d be a single parent to two kids but something else is at play here. In hide and seek’s trailer we see scenes where the brother an sister seemed to have fallen apart, the sister dies eventually or at least thats how it seems so far and the brother is either possessed by something evil or simply run away. It makes more sense to think the neighbor is probably keeping his son in the basement rather than the mannequin we see him fight with in alpha 2. In many of hide and seeks game posters the kids seem a bit obsessed with this raggedy Ann doll that can be seen in the trailer, this doll most likely has some significance or it wouldn’t be so prominent in the trailer.

Their obsession with crime scenes is a little disturbing. None the less in hide and seek we explore the vast landscape that is the next room, the rabbit hole that is hello neighbor. we enter into a safari landscape with traps and puzzles and Timmy oh my; here we must find all the toys and that includes duplicates and put them in the basket sounds easy right ? wrong,  we have to avoid Timmy and the traps that alert him. If he catches us he takes our toys and hides them again making it a long day in hide and seek land so get the snacks ready.

 

My only issues with the game is the items that don’t spawn in and The lag, its not as bad as the lag in hello neighbor but it needs work. besides that Hello neighbor hide and seek is one of those games that peaks your interest and keeps you coming back and the fact that they kept players waiting and wanting to discover more about the neighbors secret proves this. I don’t think Hello Neighbor is done, it has so many possibilities and unanswered questions what do those scenes in the hide and seek trailer mean, what happened to the children and what does the black ghost like entity represent ? i need answers Tiny Build. I love these games it is a great time killer, full of puzzles to keep my brain active and busy, and full of fun wacky colorful designs that you just gotta love.

 

One of the first games I ever played was Slime Rancher, i watched a you-tuber called Captain Sauce play it for a while. It seemed silly at first, a game this babyish; its colors, graphics and wiggly weird characters; I was inspired to try it and those characters became like pets, the music was relaxing and enjoyable but nothing kept me coming back more than the graphics and landscape.

I could easily do an entire gallery of screenshots of this game, it is just that beautiful, not assassins creed black flag level but it’s definitely up there. I spent 95% of this game like a tourist looking around at everything and snapping pictures of everything at every angle. In this game you play as Beatrice who owns the old beaten down ranch that Hobbson used to own, no one knows where Hobbs is now but he left letters all over the far far range. Our job as Beatrice is to bring the ranch back to its former glory by farming a variety of cute, dangerous little slimes and avoiding Tarrs in the process.

Throughout the game you encounter different areas and species of slimes and learn more about the far far range and the other ranchers there; there are quests and a few puzzles to solve such as the entrance to the ruins and the special fountains in the glass desert. During the times i was sick and immobile for the most part, i would cheer myself up by playing this game, its landscapes and graphics made me forget about my immobility, forget about how i felt; there were no stressful thoughts flooding my mind when i played this, just me, my ranch and the objective of catching slimes and selling the plorts they made to get upgrade the ranch and all my stuff.

I couldn’t help looking up for most of the game, that full moon is beautiful. I learned many things from playing this game, bright colors didn’t just make me happy, they helped with my memory loss. I started using this in everyday life to help with remembering important things and I discovered that when i used bright colors and doodles on notes i tend to go back to them more, helping me remember. This game is also a great stress reliever, with the vibrant but easy on the eyes colors and soothing ,fun music you just cant say no to this game.

I discovered how this game helped me mentally as well since during my bad relationship with my boyfriend, whenever we fought and i would get stressed out or upset usually to the point of crying. Instead of wasting tears on him since i knew he didn’t care anyway, i would take refuge in my games and it felt good not arguing, stressing out and having whatever stresses you plaguing your mind. I give Monomi park big props for what they’ve created, what started off as silly and me not sure i’d even like it ended up with me finding new solutions to everyday problems and never looking down after that.

 

Over the past few months it has become difficult coping with bechet  syndromes effects. I guess you could say it’s wave 4, after multiple endless clinic visits for rheumatoid arthritis,eye and oral. It feels like the road ahead has gotten longer and longer.

Bechets syndrome affects different parts of the body, in my case it’s my eyes and joints, my challenges over time are doing simple house chores which have become harder for me making me extremely fatigued and leaving in me with bad joint pains. especially when the weather is cold outside. spending extended time on my feet or even sitting too long causes me pain and numbness in my joints. i know for some this may seem mundane and not very serious but when your used to being active like myself and pushing yourself and getting things done, to slow down and suddenly it’s like you’ve aged inside but not outside your body. suddenly simple things become harder than they should be. It makes me feel less of myself, weak and seldom like i’m not myself anymore. I feel my body slowing down and it worries me, my diet has changed besides the obvious no alcohol because of my steroid medication, i can’t drink certain things or eat certain foods and it seems like i’ll be on this medication for a long time because nothing else has been working up until this time. But i haven’t let that stop me from enjoying life, i didn’t come this far for an annoying boss to whoop my butt and send me to the game over screen , no sir.

I’m going to keep on pushing forward and keep a positive mindset, like any “good ” video game even after the game over screen you get another chance, might have to insert a few coins but second chances exist and this is mine so i’m making the most of it. One game that has played a significant role in my second chance is slime rancher, an amazing little game with so much to offer. Great graphics, cute animations, breathtaking landscape and so much more. But this i will cover in the next blog so stay tuned and stay wiggly.

Sims free play is really fun mobile game that has made its way to my collection. It’s a great time killer and always introducing something new with each update. This game is full of surprises, though it is not like sims 4 where your sims are independent simply meaning they interact with one another and do things on their own.

They have their own personality and make for hours of entertainment. The sims of sims free play are a little independent, you do see them walk around and interact with different things just not at the same level as sims 4. Sims free play still gives the player a variety of fun things to do, such as quests that unlock a variety of goodies to make gameplay even more enjoyable, Hobbies such as fashion designer, cooking (i still think this should be mandatory and not a hobby), woodwork and much more. they have jobs and some of them you can go to work with them, schools for the teenage sims and toddlers, everything we have in the real world and the kitchen sink. My favorite part of  sims free play and what keeps me playing is the house building and decorating; it is just mind blowing what can be built in this game, from shacks to mansions and all the in betweens.

I’ve built cinema/cafe combos and wedding chapels; anything my imagination can think up while playing this game and with new building materials and new things to build with certain quests like the DIY homes lovey dovey balconies and back to the wall quest. which allows you to build balconies and feature walls its like HGTV in sims. When i build and decorate a house in sims free play, i think of it as playing house you know that doll house you always wanted as a child but never got, yeah except with a little modern touch.

After that it’s the different seasonal things to do such as Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Year and many more. These seasonal quests bring new content to the game and keep you playing with the premise of unlocking new stuff for your home as well as other things.

This game and its sims 4 counter part will always have a place in my heart and on my list of favorite games for its quirkiness, craziness, fun game play and amazing building and decorating ideas. If I had to complain, it would be about the cost of the homes available for sale and the time it takes to complete quests; it just takes forever for some actions and its not realistic. As for the cost prices i still think can be revised and lowered since it is a game after all.

Despite all the defense I have to put up against Bechet’s, I still had my sense of adventure. I wanted to make up for lost time, I wanted to regain a sense of normalcy in my life and once I did all that I wanted to play another game and PC games weren’t the only types.

Rayman Adventures quickly become one of my favorites, it was only released in December 2015 and has become very popular worldwide. The objective of the game is to save all the incrediball eggs and the sacred tree; we go through four different worlds or countries (the way it looks on the map) Olympus Maximus, Sea of serendipity, Medieval Mayhem and Wild Wild East. Playing as either Rayman or Barbara from the start we go through level after level of colourful, funny, intense, edge of your seat madness. Despite the occasional frustrated outburst I enjoy this game in all its crazy glory.

Rayman Adventures is a running game just like its UbiArt mobile predecessors, but unlike Jungle Run and Fiesta Run, the player can change the direction they are running.  It remains an auto-running style of gameplay, but with a differing approach. New to the game are small roundish creatures known as the Incrediballs. Once rescued, they will assist the hero in their quest. Each Incrediball have their own unique ability to help the hero, such as being able to detect nearby Teensies, protecting the hero or being able to collect a bunch of Lums for the hero.  I’ve played this game for quite a while now and its the first game that hasn’t given any problems or little at all, I see maybe one Ad but at least I’m not bombarded with them like other games.

The Cartoony colorfulness of this game, puts a smile on my face and the intense madness that only a crazy person could come up with for some of the levels keeps me coming back but my favourite thing about this game is the music. If you guys have ever played the land of the livid dead level then you know what im talking about. The same song also plays in the online running challenges that you do in Rayman adventures and we cant forget the Lums song, it plays everytime you catch the Lum king.

 

You know those tower defense games where you have to defend your tower or some castle against waves of enemies that get harder and harder as you go along ? that’s how Bechet’s Syndrome felt.

Up until this point I thought I had the upper hand, finally I got my life back, I could go out and socialize again after months of laying in bed in pain. Then Wave 3 comes along to remind me Bechet’s is still there, From then to now I have continued to visit doctors to keep up with its progression and keep me stable. Bechet’s Syndrome has many effects and slowly but surely I was starting to show signs of a few of them. Once diagnosed with Bechet’s Syndrome a person can have bumps that look like acne on the skin, pain in the knees, ankles, wrists and elbows. If the Brain or Spinal cord is affected a person can have Fever, headache, stiff neck, memory loss and trouble speaking. If the Digestive system is affected stomach pain, diarrhea and stomach bleeding can occur. Bechet’s can be hard to diagnose but the most telltale signs for doctors is sores in the mouth, genitals or skin and swelling in the eyes or vision loss.

Right about now would be a good time to use a health kit and heal everything; if only it was that easy. Bechet’s manifests itself differently in different people. I was lucky enough not to experience half the symptoms I mentioned above but I am battling the arthritis and eye problems. Steroid and Corticoid medication are used to treat Bechet’s symptoms since doctors do not know what causes it or how a person gets it. Because of these heavy medications my diet has changed, my routine has changed and it has become a battle to do simple chores with the joint pains constantly bugging me. But video games haven’t failed me yet and they won’t fail me now, I have recently rediscovered Fallout brotherhood of steel. An old game with equally old charm, it may lack the puzzle and landscape aspect unlike the other fallout games but  what it lacks in cosmetics it makes up for in story and lore.

Released on January 13, 2004, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel was the fourth video game to be set in the Fallout universe and the first to be made for video game consoles. It was also the last Fallout title to be released before the franchise’s license passed from Interplay to Bethesda Softworks. The game chronicles the adventures of a Brotherhood of Steel initiate as they go through carbon Texas years after the bombs dropped in search of some missing brotherhood of steel paladins. Although this game is not officially a part of the fallout universe due to inconsistencies in timeline and story. It does still have connections to the other fallout games.

The game quality is low but seriously it was made in the early 2000’s enough said; but its gameplay and story keep me coming back after all this time. In the game we meet characters such as Vidya, Ruby, Richard, Armpit and Jesse these are some of the main characters and as we go through Carbon, Ghoul City and the Vault we meet a few more. When we explore the vault we scrape the tip of the iceberg that is Vault Tech, human and animal experiments, Bioweapons research and the Force Evolutionary Virus. This game has enough storyline for a movie or a book if you ask me, despite is non-canon connection to the other games if you look up information on certain characters online you see a slight connection. Bechet Syndrome may feel like a wasteland to me right now as things keep looking a little bleaker as the days pass, but if I fight like I do against the raiders, ghouls and monsters of the wasteland then I’ll get through it no problem.

After setting up the foundation with God of War i discovered assassins creed, not as exciting as other games and doesn’t have the puzzle aspect but the open world concept and landscape kept me going back for more. We play as Altair in bloodlines or Edward in black flag and we have this huge open world to run around in and explore. not to mention the story line to follow, despite its lack of puzzles this game makes up for it by use of stealth for example when one might have to get information from a another character but they may be surrounded by guards and you have to think of the best way to approach the situation. Running in head first could mean death, trying to take them out one by one may be a better option or even waiting for the character to make his rounds and try getting him in a secluded spot.

with my brain thinking like this for most of the game, i was having fun and grasping another way of thinking that i would apply to daily life, especially with Bechets syndrome looming over me. The landscape plays a major role in what games i play on console and PC because i am such a visual learner and i usually use colorful sticky notes or draw colorful funny images or emoji’s on notes so i would automatically look back at them or notice important information; because of my bad memory this is how i help myself remember important things both inside and outside class. Assassins creed has some of the most beautiful landscapes, especially black flag which is set in Trinidad so all of the breath taking imagery we see is our own gorgeous island just set in the 18th Century in the time of Pirates and Sugar plantations.

I could sit for hours just admiring the landscape in this game, it’s like going on vacation but on your couch. There is so much to explore and discover in this game as well because of the open world concept and the story line which keeps you going till the end and different characters make it an interesting adventure.

I started playing God Of War as a stress relief and the “hack and slash” aspect of the game provided that. Most of the game you fight the biggest most annoying bosses enemies in some of the most brutal ways and in a strange way it helped relieve stress, maybe because i often pictured whoever pissed me off in place of the enemy i was fighting so it felt satisfying defeating them, but there is an aspect of the game that is hardly noticed and played an important part in helping me cope with everything going on. The puzzle aspect of this game is hardly talked about and there are many puzzles throughout the game.

From moving platforms to get to another location to working various mechanisms just to open a door. God of Wars puzzle aspect intrigued me, puzzles exercise your brain and promote dopamine production which your brain needs for learning and memory. So this game didn’t just provide me with a stress relief it helped my brain to focus on the task at hand rather than the problems that i was experiencing. Although i have only played God of War 1 and 2 on console i have also played chains of Olympus and ghost of Sparta on PlayStation portable. These games besides the attractive story line that keeps you coming back for more and action packed boss fights with the Gods themselves; they have some of the most beautiful landscapes and backgrounds. Sony entertainment spared no expense in that department.

One of my favorite things in a game is background graphics and when done well can be super relaxing to watch as you go through and they also set the tone for different levels. for example in God of War ghost of Sparta nearing the end of the game you come to a bridge that after crossing it you fight one of the two end bosses, Thanatos’ daughter. the background is foggy and mysterious but you can still see the path ahead, the mood is definitely set as you just know something is about to go down once you start crossing that bridge. Bechet syndrome may have gotten 1 up on me but i found a foundation that i would be building many more games with similar aspects, i finally had a victory over Bechets and found relief both mentally and emotionally.