Bloodborne is an action-RPG with Gothic horror and cosmic horror elements developed by Japanese game studio FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as an exclusive game for the PS4 on 24 March, 2015. FromSoftware, most famously known for the Souls series (Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1, 2 and 3) took their renowned combat system and level design and applied them to a new setting with a Gothic Victorian aesthetic. Due to its similarities with the other games, Bloodborne is also considered part of the Souls series (or the Soulsborne series as most gamers have taken to call it).

The game begins with the player character waking up in a dilapidated clinic in the city of Yharnam, receiving a “blood ministration” – a medical procedure that Yharnam is famous for. Shortly after, the player character is plagues by visions of werewolves and small grey creatures known as “messengers” before blacking out once again. When they finally regain consciousness, the player finally gains control over the character. Stepping out of the clinic room, the player is shortly unceremoniously killed by a werewolf, but instead of dying, they “wake up” in the Hunter’s Dream, a location that would serve as a base for the player throughout the course of the game, allowing them to level up and upgrade their weapons.

Welcome home, good hunter. Tonight, you shall join the hunt.

The Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

Bloodborne’s mechanics are very similar to FromSoftware’s previous titles (such as those mentioned earlier) and its controls are designed for the Dualshock 4 controller (since Bloodborne is a PlayStation exclusive title). Movement-wise, it controls very similarly to most third-person action RPGs, with the ability to dodge and to lock onto enemy targets. The combat system revolves around the health and stamina bars of the player. Stamina is required to perform attacks, cast spells, to dodge and to sprint. Careful management of stamina is they key to surviving the nightmares of Yharnam.

Health is also an important resource, as losing all your health will cause the player to drop all accumulated currency (known as “Blood Echoes”) at their location of death, which can be retrieved. They will also be sent back to the previous checkpoint and most slain enemies will be revived. Healing items are also limited and have to be managed. One interesting mechanic is the “rally” system. Whenever the player takes some damage, a portion of the lost health can be recovered through attacking enemies, essentially taking back the life you lost, encouraging a more aggressive, fast-paced playstyle compared to previous FromSoftware titles.

Different weapons also have different rates at which health is regained through attacking. On the topic weapons, all weapons in Bloodborne have an alternate form, which can be some sort of weapon buff or change the shape (and therefore moves) of a weapon completely, allowing for a wide variety of playstyles and replayability.

Story

The story of Bloodborne is told indirectly through cryptic dialogue with NPCs and item descriptions. There are rarely, if any, direct explanations of the events in the game. Each item, even simple tools used by the player such as a Molotov cocktail, has an item description that depicts the lore behind it, and some items are crucial to deciphering the overarching story. This adds to the mystery in the game and at the same time allows players who interested in the story to come up with their own interpretations. It should come as no surprise that there are many YouTube videos explaining the lore and story in Bloodborne.

Aesthetics

Bloodborne’s aesthetic is very striking. The dark environments give an oppressive and foreboding feeling wherever the player goes, constantly putting the player on edge. However, the environments are very varied, including, but not limited to, city streets in Yharnam, the interiors of a cathedral, a dark forest and a few different nightmare realms. Somehow, despite the relatively constant dark colour palettes, the different areas of Bloodborne feel distinct from each other, each having its own flair or flavour. The level design in Bloodborne, where shortcuts can be opened to link older and newer areas, also help make the world feel more interconnected and real and is a signature aspect of FromSoftware’s level design.

The Gothic Victorian aesthetic makes a big first impression and can be seen in both the character’s clothes and equipment, and the surrounding architecture, with towering spires and spiked fences everywhere in the city. The blood and gore in Bloodborne further add to the oppressive atmosphere and players often find their characters drenched in blood after a battle. Aside from the visual aesthetics in the game, Bloodborne also features top-notch voice acting and music, further bringing the world to life.

Technology

Bloodborne was developed in an in-house game engine and does not feature any pre-rendered cutscenes. All cutscenes are rendered in real-time. The load of the game on the PS4 was noticeable in some locations, but for most parts of the game, it ran quite smoothly at 30 frames per second. I think that the graphics of Bloodborne is very good especially for its time, with dramatic lighting and clothing physics that bring the world to life and gives the player a sense of the speed at which their character moves respectively. If this game had been brought to PC however, I feel that it could be even more graphically stunning (not that it needs to be).

#38: The Lens of Challenge

The Soulsborne series is known for being very challenging, and Bloodborne is no exception. The main challenge in Bloodborne comes from the brutal combat. Enemies can kill the player very quickly, especially a new character. Normal enemies also tend to swarm the player, with both melee and ranged attacks. Bosses generally fight the player 1-on-1, but have even stronger, more varied attacks that must be memorised, so that the player can dodge them and fit in some attacks. In addition to just avoiding attacks, players also need fight opportunities to attack, lest the boss fight last forever. The limited amount of healing resources and the time needed to use them also pose a challenge, as players would need to decide when to heal and generally avoid damage to not run out of healing items. While the game is indeed hard, I think the challenge is appropriate and the feeling of triumph that comes with defeating a difficult boss is well worth the effort. It also forces the player to gain mastery over the game mechanics in order to win, which brings me to my next point.

#34: The Lens of Skill

The game, being so challenging, requires many different skills from the player, which are developed over the course of the game. What I like about Bloodborne is that most fights are determined by player skill with low amounts of randomness (except for a certain boss fight near the end of the game). Being able to read and react to enemy movements, having good spatial awareness and being aware of opportunities to attack or to heal are all essential skills required to beat the game. With practice, I feel that most players would be able to improve their skills and eventually beat the game. The game is hard and demanding, but not unfair. Since the game focuses on PvE content, improving these skills is a reward in and of itself, allowing players to clear content with more ease and derive more fun.

#84: The Lens of the World

Bloodborne’s world, while grim and dark, is at the same time beautiful and intriguing. Exploring the different nooks and crannies of the game world fills my head with myriad questions about the nature of this world. Through NPC interactions and hidden side quests, we can also witness change in our environment and the characters around us, making it feel like a horrific but nevertheless living world.

#85: The Lens of the Avatar

As the player character is created by the player and is not set by the game itself, it allows players to project their ideals onto their character. This can be in the form of the weapons and armour they choose, or in how they develop their character as it levels up. By allowing players such freedom of choice, the game allows us to create an ideal beast-slaying badass that best fit our own imagination, making for an unforgettable experience.

Conclusion

Bloodborne is an amazing game with a well-developed combat system and an enigmatic world. The visual style stands out and the music complements the different bosses in the game. While I’ve stopped playing it regularly (since I had already beaten it multiple times), it would forever be one of my top video games and I hope for a sequel. Alas, I had to leave out many parts of the game lest this review go on even longer. Nevertheless, I hope I had given you, the reader, a good initial idea of the game. Maybe you’ll even give it a try, if you own a PS4/5.

Farewell, good hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world.

Description

Spiritfarer is a peaceful management game about dying. The game was a finalist in Seumas McNally Grand Prize during 2021’s Independent Games Festival (IGF). In the game, you play as Stella, who is the master of a boat for the spirits of the deceased. It is a platforming game that mainly takes place on said boat. The boat may be upgraded as you explore the world and befriend new spirits. The goal is to spend time with the spirit passengers, create memories with them and ultimately say goodbye to them and release them into the afterlife.

Game website

Steam link

Elemental tetrad

Mechanics

• The game is somewhat about resource-gathering, town management, and crafting, like many other games. Yet, it is very unique.
• Core mechanics are very simple and the real emphasis is on simplicity.
  • For example, there is no need to maximize efficiency, grind, or hurry. Instead, the game offers a peaceful, relaxing, and feel-good experience.
• The game is very linear in its progression.
• You interact and progress in the game through text-based interactions with the spirit companions.
• One unique mechanic is that you can give every character in the game a hug, something that fortifies the emphasis on wholesomeness and feel-good.

Story

• The game is very linearly story-driven.
• You explore the world, upgrade and rearrange a boat filled with spirits who ask you to perform quests for them.
• You are never forced to do a quest, and you can prioritize which of the spirit’s quest lines to perform next.

Aesthetics

• It tackles the very heavy topic of death, but it does so with colourful graphics and hugs that make you feel good.
• Beautifully hand-painted illustrations and animations.
• The soundscape of the game is one of the best I have experienced in a long time. The whimsical soundtracks that play make the player settle in a good mood. The ambient sounds are peaceful and relaxing. The soundscape is just enough, not too little sound nor too much, and the quality manages to create a peaceful experience.

Technology

• Although the game has astonishing 2D graphics, the requirements to run are not too high.
• Available for PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.

Lenses

Lens #1: The Lens of Emotion

This game is about caring for other people, and then letting them go. This can lead to some parts of the game getting very emotional. Even though you do not spend a lot of time with the spirits, you can make deep connections with them, and parting ways with them and releasing them to the next realm can get very sad.

This is something that I think was very much intentional by the creators of the game. The game creators have a completely unique take on death, and prioritises feeling good and staying positive even when faced with such an emotional topic.

Lens #20: The Lens of Pleasure

When applying the Lens of Pleasure to Spiritfarer, there are some attributes (from LeBlanc’s Taxonomy of Game Pleasures) that have been emphasised by the game creators.

• Sensation. The game is very much about using your senses, seeing beautiful illustrations, and hearing calming music that appeals to the pleasures of sensation.
• Fantasy. There is pleasure in imagining a fantasy world and embodying a character that you are not. In this game, you play as Stella, and make very real connections, even though it is just in a fantasy world, which is very pleasurable.

Lens #21: The Lens of Flow

The game does not have a predefined, communicated goal. You play at your own pace, without any need to hurry up and you do what you enjoy. The overarching goal is to say goodbye to every spirit that you have made connections with after fulfilling their requests. The game only has one set ending so the long-term goal is the same for all players. But this is not a game played for completion. Actually, it more often than not invites the player to get distracted from the goals. Instead, the player may do what they desire, take how long they want, and prioritize to their own liking.

Since the game is not oriented towards completion or challenges, the goals are not designed to be challenging. The quests get a bit more complex over time, but there is no real way to fail with the tasks. This definitely requires a certain type of player, and a player in a certain mood to play this game. For the game to be enjoyable, the player must be willing to explore and experience, else it will just be a very straightforward and non-challenging game that does not bring much joy.

Lens #79: The Lens of Freedom

When first playing the game, I thought it followed a very clear predefined route with little to no choice or branching available to the player. For example, the dialogues are text-based with no interaction. Additionally, for the first three spirits that you connect with, they are pretty much along a path determined for all players. I thought this was very constraining which was not what I desired with the game.

After that, there are more degrees of freedom and the linearity of the game gets less apparent. It is important to realise that you should not feel any stress when playing this game. Since it is not about completion, it is about the player’s experience. When you zone out of the tasks and play at your own pace, the game gets so much better.

Far Cry is a series of first-person shooter games. The first game was developed by Crytek Studios and published by Ubisoft in March 2004 for Microsoft Windows. Since then, Ubisoft started to take care also of the development of the game, using Dunia Engine, a software fork of the CryEngine, used to develop the first episode of the series. 

Six main games have been developed in the series, all of them share a theme of placing the player in a wilderness setting where he must help fight against one or more despots that control the region as well as surviving against wild animals that roam the open spaces.

The main point of strength of these games is the single-player mode, which features awesome narrations and stories, as well as magistrally designed maps and landscapes.

Lens 2: The Lens of Surprise

Far Cry plots are full of surprises and twists that make these titles enjoyable even when played for the third time. Most of the games of the series include different possible ways of ending the game. For example, in Far Cry 5 there are two possible endings for the storyline, depending on whether the player decides to arrest the main antagonist of the plot, Joseph Seed, or to ignore him and let him continue his practice of terrorism on behalf of the extremist religious terrorist cult organization “Project at Eden’s Gate”.

When first experiencing this, the player is surprised by the possibility of not arresting the enemy and just walking away and he feels like having the ability of shaping his own storyline for the game. By allowing this, players are also encouraged to play the game again and try out how different choices can influence the plot. 

Lens 4: The Lens of Curiosity

In Far Cry games curiosity plays a core role in the process of keeping players stuck to the screen. Players have at their disposal an entire environment to explore and tons of challenges to face, as well as a wonderful story to discover.

At any time during the gameplay the player is bombarded with dialogues with AI characters and interactions with the environment that stimulate his curiosity and aim to always offer him new things to do in the game. The game is designed to push him to explore and to go further the main storyline by rewarding him with special weapons or additional resources.

Lens 5: The Lens of Endogenous Value

In every Far Cry game, hunting represents a core mechanic: by opening the map the player can understand the place to go in order to hunt a specific species of animal. Once there, it’s possible that he has to wait for some in-game hours in outposts before being able to see the animal he is looking for. Players can also kill an inoffensive animal to use as a bait to lure a predator, such as a bear, a tiger or a leopard. Hunting rewards the player with animals’ skin or other items which can be used to upgrade items or to craft new ones. This mechanic also tend to reward more “fair” ways of fighting an animal, like using a bow or bear fists, instead of weapons and explosives.

By doing this, the player is encouraged to exploit the maximum amount of resources from fights with animals, trying to fight them in the most difficult way. Hunting represents a great example of how Far Cry puts endogenous value in side-challenges through its open world. 

Lens 7: The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

Technology:

The first Far Cry was developed using the CryEngine game engine, designed by Crytek. Thereafter, all the other titles of the series were developed using Dunia Engine, which is a software fork of the original CryEngine, containing some modifications made by Ubisoft Montreal to include destructible environments and a more realistic physics engine. The last version of Dunia Engine, Dunia 2, includes features such as ray tracing support on the PC version and support for AMD’s FidelityFX. The series has been distributed on PC, Playstation and Xbox.

Mechanics:

Far Cry features some mechanics in common with every other FPS, such as fights using rifles and explosives, or healing the player using medications. However, it introduces tons of innovative mechanics like vehicles or animals riding, animal companions, hunting, fishing, powering up equipment using different collectibles, applying beautiful skins to weapons.

Story:

Each Far Cry game has its own self contained story. However all the titles of the series share a theme of fighting against one or more despots that control a region, collaborating with the local population. Moreover some characters, particularly appreciated by the community, appear in more than one title. One example is Pagan Min, an autocratic self-proclaimed king of the kingdom of Kyrat and the main antagonist of Far Cry 4, who has been recently announced to appear also in a DLC of the latest Far Cry 6.

Aesthetics:

The series is set in different locations: Himalaya mountains, Montana countryside, Caribbean islands, etc. All of them are transposed in beautiful in-game landscapes and detailed maps. Also the characters are extremely detailed and curated, not only in their aspect, but also in their attitude and behavior. One aspect I’ve always truly appreciated about the aesthetics of Far Cry is the outstanding appearance of animals. I think that 3d models and animations of Far Cry animals are the best among all the other AAA titles.

Lens 15: The Lens of the Toy

Like every respectable open-world game, Far Cry isn’t just the main campaign. When a player enters the game, it’s attention is drawn by tons of things to do other than just completing missions. Hunting, fishing, side-missions, mini-challenges, clearing outposts are just some of the infinite possibilities that a player has to enjoy the game even when the main campaign is finished. In my opinion this is critical not only to keep players playing the game even after the end of the storyline, but also to complete the main plot with tons of side aspects that can be known only if the player spends time taking on these side activities.

In the latest titles Ubisoft also introduced some DLCs to feed players with some wonderful challenges and mini-stories, so that they can continue enjoying the title even months after it has been released.

Conclusion

Thanks to this analysis I learnt to appreciate one of my favourite games from different points of view. I also really understood the deep reasons behind the success of Far Cry, and how developers are continuously trying to improve the features of this series by listening to the community of players. I think I won’t look at a AAA game like Far Cry with the same eyes as before, after having realized the incredible work behind it.

https://www.ubisoft.com/it-it/game/far-cry/far-cry-6

Total War: Warhammer II is a turn-based strategy war game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. Similar to other Total War series, the game involves conquering or engaging in diplomacy with other parties (either AI or other players) in the world map as well as small-scale battles where players format and control troops.  Players choose a race and a lord to start with where each race has its own unique characteristics and each lord has his/her own strong spots. Total War: Warhammer II is different from other Total War series where the background of the game is set in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe instead of real historical background.

Link to Total War: Warhammer 2 Website: https://www.totalwar.com/games/warhammer-ii/

Lens 1 : Essential Experience

Just as the name suggests, the main experience of the game is to experience the elements of war. The game provides two types of game modes, campaign, and customized battles. In the campaign mode, a player gets to see the more holistic picture of war where players have to decide resource allocation, research tree directions, diplomacy with other players, etc. in order to achieve victory. This game mode is challenging as there will be many unforeseen circumstances that might happen due to the unpredictable environments and other players’ actions which in turn makes it more satisfying and accomplishing for players to successfully conquer. However, if one simply wants to enjoy being the commander in real-time battles, the game also provides a customized battle game mode for players to format and control troops.

Lens 4 : Curiosity

As the game is set in Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe, a player gets to play unique races such as Lizardmen, High Elves, Dark Elves, and Skaven and their respective lords, buildings, technology, and troops. These are things we don’t usually hear/see in our normal life, therefore making it attractive for players like me to try out all combinations to find out how are they like and what they do. Furthermore, there are different objectives and background stories tied to different races and lords which make me want to delve deep into the game and explore more.

Lens 6 :  Problem Solving

As a strategic game, during each turn, the player has to make careful considerations and even calculations before making a move. Often time the player is required to balance between economy and military, plan on troops placements/destinations, decide the track of research tree, etc. in order to out-perform enemies or to merely survive in the game. 

Lens 7 : Element Tetrad

Mechanics

 Diverse but brain-draining game mechanics in a campaign mode:

• Troops recruitment
• Constructions of buildings
• Research Tree
• Lord’s ability
• Troops movements on the map
• Diplomacy with other players

  Exciting but intense game mechanics in the real-time battle:

• Troops formation
• Troops movements on the battlefield
• Lord’s ability (for eg. magic, warcry, etc.)
• Troops ability (for eg. wall of shields)

Stories

The game tells the tensions/background information about races/lords through the use of text and an in-game narrator. However, given how complex and massive the Warhammer fantasy universe is, often time these stories told in the game are generally insufficient for players to understand the whole picture. The developers do put all the detailed background information on their own wiki page, however, it would require additional efforts for players to read up before understanding the full story of the game.

Aesthetics

Character/unit modeling as well as their dialogs/voices are fantastic where it fits my imagination and expectation of fantasy creatures. The battlefield is immersive with impressive styling of the environment.

Technology

The game is powered by TW Engine 3, the third engine created and used by The Creative Assembly for the development of the Total War series. The engine uses Warscape, a graphics engine developed by The Creative Assembly. Although it does provide high-quality graphics, the time taken to render is considered too long for me, especially for real-time battles which could take 2-3 minutes before I can start making actions.

Conclusion:

Total War: War Hammer 2 meets all my expectations about how a turn-based strategy game should be. Its next series Total War: War Hammer 3 will be out on Feb 17, 2022 and I looked forward to better performance and more enriching storylines in this next series.

Soundodger 2 is a music-based bullet hell game by Studio Bean. It’s the sequel to Soundodger+, and is currently in Early Access on Steam. This game is level based, as each level is usually set to a song, similar to rhythm game levels. The main objective in each level is to score the highest possible rank, achievable by dodging all bullets and collecting hearts. The game is made up of several of these levels, some of which are locked until you get a specific amount of points needed to unlock them. The main objective of the game, then, is to unlock and beat all of the levels. There are currently 30 levels in the game. However, as the game is still in Early Access, new levels and features are constantly getting added into the game. 

Here are some levels currently available in the game:

Hopefully, after watching those videos, you can get a feel for how the game looks and sounds. As here comes the Tetrad:

Lens 9: The Elemental Tetrad – (I’m using lens numbers from the app)

Let me start with the Story, or the lack thereof. There is nothing stopping a level-based game to have a story. However, this game’s current selection of levels don’t feel like they’re telling any story. It still could, though, as this game is still in Early Access. This lack of a story is not a problem; this game does not need a story. 

As I mentioned, this game is a bullet helI at it’s core. So, what is a bullet hell? In short, it’s a game whose main mechanic revolves around the player dodging hellish amounts of bullets, usually in a pattern. In this regard, Soundodger 2 is a solid bullet hell: it has a wide variety of bullets and collectibles, and since most bullet types are projectiles, it has a robust physics engine, as bullets can be manipulated after it’s fired.

This game mechanic puts some restrictions in how the aesthetics of the game is constructed, and the combination of both requires more recent advances in technology to be pulled off.

This games’ aesthetic is made to match and extend that of Soundodger+, its predecessor, whilst keeping visual clarity for the players. Soundodger 2 achieves this through shapes. Soundodger 2 has 10 bullet types, and all 10 behave differently. To keep levels readable and consistent, these 10 will always act according to their shape. The cones (called ‘arrows’) always move in a straight line, the octahedrons (‘homings’) home in on the player, and ‘hugs’ always need to be collected.

Technologically, as this game is rendered in 3D, the game engine needs to be able to handle the physics and rendering up to tens of thousands of individual bullets, particles, effects, et cetera. It has to be able to do this whilst maintaining a consistent frame rate and physics simulation tick, so that the game does not stutter, slow down, or desynchronize from the music.

Lens 33: Rules 

The main rule of the game is simple: dodge the music, touch hugs and hearts. These are pretty much the only rules, so the game is easy to understand for new players. But these aren’t the only set of rules in the game. 

There are rules that the bullets must follow as well. For example, bullets can only appear from where an enemy currently is, or ‘arrows’ must go in a straight line. These rules on bullets give the player a sense of security. “Oh, that ‘arrow’ is pointing away from me, I can stay here and not worry about that ‘arrow’ anymore”. However, if you had watched the videos or played this game, you would know that that’s not always true. 

Soundodger 2 likes to break its own rules. We have established that Soundodger 2’s bullets behave according to their shape, but they are also affected by level-wide ‘events’, such as timewarp and gravity, breaking that rule and player expectation.

Lens 48: Simplicity / Complexity 

These events are the main source of emergent complexity in this game. Despite being simple on their own (gravity pulling bullets up or down, timewarp changing the speed of bullet physics simulation), these events can affect the simplest of bullet motion into something challenging and complex. Not only that, Soundodger 2 lets individual bullets disobey certain effects, breaking more of its own rules, and creating more complexity. 

For example, take the passage from 12:32 to 12:40 in the gameplay video above. Observe how the brown ‘arrows’ moving backwards in time juxtaposed against the green ‘bubbles’ create a complex pattern from simple rules that are broken in different ways. Now we’ve almost reached peak Soundodger.

Lens 17: The Toy and Lens 13: Infinite Inspiration

What do you do after beating all of the main levels in the game? Or maybe, you just wish you can play a level based on your favorite piece of music. Well, Soundodger 2 offers a level editor, allowing you to play around with the game mechanics and make your own levels. And oh how people made their own levels.

This level editor offers so many things to the player. Not only does it give them something to do besides what the base game has to offer, the level editor also serves as an outlet of their creativity. With this level editor, players can take inspiration from outside of the game, whether it be music, visuals, or anything they’ve experienced in their life, and express it through this game. There are limitations, of course, but the sheer amount of features available to the players is enough to overwhelm some. The only limit here are the bullets and your imagination.

Once you have created your masterpiece, you could also share it with other players, and even play other players’ level. This activity of sharing levels around will usually lead to discussion and a sense of community (yet another lens) among players, which in turn can help the game grow and keep players engaged far into the future. I know this, as people were still creating and playing levels for Soundodger+ up until the release of Soundodger 2, 8 years later.

Library of Ruina is a single player deck-building RPG game created by Project MOON, an indie South Korean game studio. Library of Ruina is a direct sequel to Lobotomy Corporation, another game by Project MOON, but can be played as a stand alone as well.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZipE3-BmjA&ab_channel=ProjectMoonOfficial

Story

The story follows a seemingly ordinary man, Roland, who finds himself stuck in The Library, a place created by an AI, Angela, to fulfill her wish. Without much of a choice, Roland helps out Angela with Library Receptions by fighting Guests and turning them into books when defeated. Throughout the game, the player is exposed to more of the strange dystopian world they live in as The Library is able to see the situations of the Guests before they enter The Library.

The story-telling of the game might not be for everyone due to the visual novel style of delivery. However, the depth and vastness of the world crafted by Project MOON can be felt and kept me intrigued throughout the game of what more there is to learn about this world they have crafted.

Gameplay

In Library of Ruina, the player plays as librarians battling the guests that enter the library. Librarians are equipped with a deck of cards that are used in a turn-based battle against guests pitting cards from these decks against each other. Guests defeated yield certain cards and abilities used by them which the player can then use in future battles.

With a plethora of card effects and abilities, there are multiple ways a player can customize their decks to suit their needs or desired playstyle.

Aesthetics

Library of Ruina’s use of static images in favour of a visual novel style of storytelling does not detract from the enjoyment of its story. The game is able to illustrate the grotesque nature of its world without lingering on filth or gore through the use of flashing images and sound effects.

The music that ramps up in tempo as battles reach their peak and unique songs for certain boss battles really help to set the mood for the combat. Despite the voice acting being in korean, I thoroughly enjoyed the depth and emotions of the voice acting.

Lens 1: Curiosity

Library of Ruina’s tells many short disjointed stories of different people in its world which helps the player understand the setting while also slowly building up a far grander plot. The slow reveal of key information about our main cast and the world around them kept me interested to find out more of the story. The fascinating world Library of Ruina has crafted has managed to keep my attention to want to find out more about it.

Lens 2: Endogenous Value

Defeating enemies in Library of Ruina rewards the player with the cards and abilities of the characters defeated. This allows the player to progressively get stronger while being excited to defeat certain powerful enemies, knowing they would be able to make use of the power after defeating them.

Lens 3: Problem Solving

Being a deck-builder game, crafting the optimal deck with synergies between cards and the abilities of a librarian was one of my favourite parts of the game which I spent hours upon hours on. Each time the story progressed, new cards were added to my arsenal and increased the possibilities of decks.

Outside of building card decks, the combat itself poses more problems to solve. With the many different mechanics in the game to consider, such as Ranged cards versus Melee cards and different buff effects to increase the power of cards, the optimal card to use in the optimal order is difficult to discern. Planning ahead for future turns and team-wide buffs that get triggered at specific intervals also makes makes the combat difficult enough to not feel stale and straightforward.

Lens 4: Challenge

One issue that arose from complexity of the problem solving of the game is how the game might be a tad too difficult at times, and losing due to this gives rise to frustrations due to the length of certain boss fights. With that said, I really enjoyed the challenge the game provides which subverted a lot of my expectations of the difficulty of card games and feel the difficulty is just right for the game.

The game gets progressively harder as new effects of the different enemies arise. Enemies do not simply get stronger with higher numbers. Instead, enemies typically gain new effects and abilities to increase their cards power or apply debuffs to the player’s Librarians. Learning to play around these effects keeps the game fresh and exciting.

In conclusion, Library of Ruina is a game I would recommend to anyone looking for a dark, deep story with turn-based strategic gameplay. Oh and also with plenty of time to spare. Yes, I have not completed the game even 100 hours in, but it is amazing.

Game website: https://www.zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/

Following the tradition of “The Legend of Zelda” series, “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” (BOTW) also provides little instructions to players and they can explore, collect items, kill monsters, solve puzzles and side quests. Except for this time, the adventure of our protagonist Link takes place in an open-world version of the Hyrule Kingdom. The main plot is simple, Link woke up from a century of hibernation, realized that the supreme evil named Calamity Ganon had come back and he must seek helps from 4 divine beasts to defeat the Ganon.

Lens 9: The Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

Since BOTW is an open-world action-adventure game, the mechanics related to “open-world” and “action-adventure” are of critical importance.

Open-world mechanisms:

• Physics engine: BOTW’s objects fall and interact with each other in a natural way.
• Terrain and weather: BOTW has various terrains and weather
• Transportation: Players can walk, run, jump, swim, climb, teleport, ride horses, glide in the sky.
• Food: There are fruits, herbs, fish, meat(with an inbuilt hunting system), and condiment, using which players can cook meals or make potions that will enhance their abilities
• Elemental system(fire, lightning, ice), take fire as an example: it can function as a source of light, increase the temperature of the surroundings, barbeque food (e.g. apple and meat), melt ice, and light flammable objects (e.g. grass and wooden objects).

Action mechanisms:

• basic actions: fight with a sword, shoot with arrows, block with a shield, dodge attacks, charged attacks, attack from the midair
• strategic actions: stealth and sneak attack, use the elemental system to attack weakness, and many special abilities (e.g. bomb, Magnesis to move metallic objects)

Story

BOTW’s story is a perfect example of balancing catering for old players and welcoming new players. While bringing in familiar settings, characters, and music, BOTW also tells the story from Link’s perspective, who lost his memory. Hence, Link is as confused as players. Although the main story is rather simple (fighting the evil Ganon), as Link reclaim his memory piece by piece, one will discover that the settings and character building are not shallow at all.

Aesthetics

• Visuals: BOTW opts for an anime-like visual style that is vibrant and vivid. This anime-like visual style enables stunning graphics that are within the capability of the Switch. Additionally, since Link has various transportation means, players can view this gorgeous world from different perspectives (e.g. from the sky)
• Music: BOTW has beautiful background music featuring piano as the main instrument (with a change in tempo at different times of day). Moreover, Nintendo made the environment more immersive by adding ambient sound (e.g. sounds of birds and owls) and foley(e.g. footsteps)
• Haptic feedback: BOTW provides haptic feedback wherever needed (e.g. during battle).

Technology

The mobile game console Switch itself is a giant leap forward in game technology. Since Switch is a mobile console, players can play BOTW anytime, anywhere. While providing usual functionalities that a console/controller should have such as joystick and vibration, Switch also sets a great example of balancing graphics and computing resources.

Lens 8: Problem Solving

BOTW comes with a wide variety of problems solving activities. Nintendo has carefully designed the quantity and the completion time of these problems based on their difficulties. These problems usually fall under one of the following three categories:

Puzzles (with various difficulties):

• Korox seed (1 min), Shrines (5-20 mins), Big maze (40 mins), Dungeon (100 mins)

Quests:

• Many side quests require players’ innovative thinking.

Exploration and adventure:

• Sheikah Towers: once players reach the top of a Sheikah Tower in one region the previously invisible map of the region will become visible.
• Cooking recipe: players don’t know any recipe at first, have to experiment with ingredients to find out the best combination.
• Hidden problems: For instance, “how to get across a mountain covered in snow and not avoid freezing to death”.
• Battle resources (e.g. sword): Bows and swords will break in BOTW. Hence players must carefully manage the battle resources and try out different approaches to defeat enemies such as using special abilities like bombs

For the above-mentioned problems, Nintendo encourages out-of-box solutions and usually offers more than one way to solve the problem (e.g. use special power to lift a heavy metallic object and crush enemies with it).

Moreover, depending on the difficulties, solving the problems above will give players corresponding rewards with endogenous value. For instance, one can solve puzzles in Shrines to gain health/stamina, and activating Sheikah Tower will give players a clear map that can facilitate their adventure. These valuable rewards are one of the main stimulation that keeps players going.

Lens 39, 40: Meaningful Choices & Triangularity

Players have to make numerous choices during their adventures. For most choices, players can choose a risky move and potentially get more reward or play safe and only get less reward. Here are a few examples of meaningful choices in BOTW:

• Go defeat small bosses and free 4 divine beasts vs directly confront the Ganon
• perfect dodge (dodge right before enemies hit the player) vs safely defend with shield

• Spend time to climb the mountain to avoid monsters vs take the simpler path and fight them
• Aim for a small weak region vs aim for a large normal region that can be easily hit

As mentioned above, to encourage players to step out of their comfort zone, BOTW offers high rewards for risky moves that succeeded. These rewards not only immediate benefits (e.g. after perfect dodge, the time will slow down for a while, where Link can attack enemies freely), but also satisfying feedback such as ping sound when enemies weaknesses are hit.

Lens 32, 81: Goals & Indirect Control

To avoid the problem of too many objectives on the map, Nintendo made a wise decision to let players themselves decide their goals. Meanwhile, to provide guidance and indirect control, Nintendo introduced a concept called “Gravity”, which states that different landmarks or objects will attract players in different ways (e.g. Sheikah Tower is an extremely tall glowing building, which attracts players greatly).

And this “Gravity” will change accordingly depending on factors like the time in the game (e.g. shrines and stable will emit light at night time, making it more attractive to players), the player’s focus (e.g. exploring vs increasing the ability).

Additionally, Nintendo strategically placed those attraction points such that whenever players reach a point that attracts them, other interesting landmarks or objects are placed nearby so that the player immediately gets another goal.

However, if those towers and shrines are placed on a flat surface, the process of going from one attraction point to another will become extremely linear and players will know that this has been deliberately designed, which will impact the player’s sense of freedom. This brings us to the next point: curiosity and indirect control.

Lens 6, 81: Curiosity & Indirect Control

To make the indirect control less obvious, Nintendo brings in many triangle shapes (mountain, hills, boulders, stable, etc.) to hide what’s behind. Players will be curious about the unknown behind those triangles, which propels them to move forward. Using triangle shapes, Nintendo introduced more variables and unknowns in the process of going from one attraction point to another, which can further spark players’ curiosity and makes the indirect control less obvious.

With “Gravity” and triangle-shaped objects, players are not overwhelmed with goals and quests, and they deem that the choices of their goals are made by themselves, unaware of the indirect control cleverly inserted by Nintendo.

Conclusion

Overall, all four tetrad elements interrelate with each other harmoniously in BOTW. Nintendo hides many details of this splendid world. They won’t brag about their hard work and achievements in the game. Instead, Nintendo lets players decide their goals and their ways of uncovering secrets of this world. Perhaps that’s the reason why the BOTW community remains active and there are still new secrets about BOTW being discovered in 2022, 5 years from BOTW’s release date. Needless to say, BOTW excels at all four aspects of the tetrad, making it a true masterpiece.

Hades is a roguelike dungeon crawler game developed by Supergiant Games. In this game, we follow Zagreus, who is the son of Hades and is trying to escape the underworld. Similar to other games of the same genre, the floors in the underworld are randomly generated and enemies change every run. The game ends when Zargreus kills the final boss and escapes the underworld. Upon completion of certain goals or achievements, new types of content is unlocked.

The gameplay video can be seen here.

Elemental Tetrad
Mechanics:
The goal of the game is very simple: make it to the end and defeat the final boss without dying. The main character can be either controlled using a keyboard and mouse or by using a controller. The game’s combat system is hack-and-slash. To get to the final boss and escape the underworld, the player has to traverse randomly generated rooms, collecting buffs called ‘boons’. Upon clearing a room, the player is offered the room’s rewards, which ranges from boons, weapon upgrades and more. However, these are only temporary and do not persist between runs.

Aesthetics:
The top-down isometric view gives enough space to admire the different environments, from the starting area to the multiple areas the player will eventually traverse through. Each area of the game has its unique design and theme which the enemies residing in the area also follow. Each character in the game also has detailed and distinct models that are clearly based on ancient Greek Mythology.

Story:
Initially, the game only provides the player a brief information about the story, that Zagreus would like to escape the underworld. However, as the player progresses through multiple runs, he will understand learn more about the entire underworld and be given more information about the main story. The other characters that appear also have their own backstories for us to learn about. The player would want to keep playing to learn not only about the main story but also the environment and the characters that the player can interact with.

Technology:
Supergiant Games created a custom game engine specifically tailored for this game to boost performance and provide better cross platform support. This also provided them with more flexibility and control when designing the game. The game ran very smoothly when played on my desktop and I did not experience any lag.

The Lens of Meaningful Choices
As levels and rewards in the game were randomly generated, players have to make choices that can either affect their current run, or they can collect items that can be beneficial to their overall game progress outside of the current run. In addition, the player gets to customer his character’s skills and choose a weapon before beginning a run. All of these contribute to the choices the player can make which can impact his overall experience greatly.

The Lens of Challenge
When the player first starts the game, it will feel impossible to get to the end and he needs to familiarize himself with the controls and the different information that the game does not provide you at the very beginning. A new player will find enjoyment in the challenge to finally clear the game the first time. As the player progresses through and clears more runs, he will get the option to unlock an option to customise his runs even further. In that menu, he gets to choose among several options such as enemies doing more damage or having a strict time limit to their run. By choosing these difficulty settings, the player will get an indication of how hard their run is through the ‘heat’ indicator. Because of this, players will feel challenged and be motivated to play the game repeatedly, trying to increase their clears with higher heat values over time.

The Lens of Skill vs Chance
Again because each room is randomly generated, the player will not have the same experience twice. This also means that the player may not be given ideal combinations of boons per run, or may not be able to attain a certain upgrade that they were hoping to get. This makes it seem like the player may and be unable to complete a current run due to bad luck making the power level of his character feel less strong as compared to a different run. However, this game still relies on the fundamental mechanics that the player has, as the player still has to be proficient in dodging enemy attacks and attack when given the opportunity. The player also has choices with regards to his buffs and the rooms that he enters, and skilled players can try to make use of what they get to their advantage to turn an unfavorable run into a successful one.

The Lens of Surprise
At the start, the game is full of surprises as it does not provide you with any information, whether it be items, characters or the environment. The only information provided is the most basic controls and that Zagreus wishes to escape the underworld. Therefore, any experience from then on is considered a new experience. As the player progresses through the game, he is also given choices to unlock certain items that can impact the character without the game informing us on what the items are or do. Characters also evolve and act differently as the players play through the game.

https://bethesda.net/en/game/dishonored-de

Introduction

Dishonored is a first-person stealth action game developed by Arkane Studios and released in 2012. In the game, the player controls the Empress’ bodyguard, out for revenge after being framed for her death. Each of the nine missions directs the player to achieve a specific objective but gives the player great freedom in how they choose to achieve it. This freedom, expressed in the level design as well as the tools given to the player, encourages exploration and experimentation to such an extent that much of the storytelling becomes emergent in nature, varying from player to player.

Lens 8: Problem Solving

Like most stealth games, each mission in Dishonored comprises numerous enemies whom the player must pass to accomplish their objective. The basic gameplay loop is thus 90% problem solving: the player is constantly analysing enemies’ patrol routes and determining the optimal timing and route to proceed without being detected. This loop of observe-plan-execute is immensely satisfying and occurs continuously throughout each mission, keeping the player engaged.

In order to keep the experience fresh, the designers also evolved this core loop throughout the game using two main methods: increasing the variety of enemies and increasing the types of tools and supernatural powers the player has at their disposal. For example, the very first encounter of the game arms the player with just a knife and tasks them with getting past three normal human beings. Later, the player is given the ability to teleport – but must contend with enemies who can teleport as well.

By evolving the enemies alongside the player and filling missions with enemies of progressively varying types, the designers kept the core problem-solving gameplay loop familiar yet fresh throughout the game.

Lens 79: Freedom

While the game is full of problems to solve, it does not pigeonhole the player by giving single solutions for them. This is accomplished by providing the player with numerous tools and powers that are accommodated by the level design. For example, in one mission of the game, the player is tasked with infiltrating a bathhouse to eliminate two aristocratic brothers. To do this, the designers provide numerous possibilities: climb the building and sneak in through a window, teleport to the roof and enter through a private balcony, or even possess a fish and enter through the drainage system, to name a few. Each mission is rife with possibilities for progress, which speaks to the designers’ strong focus on player freedom.

Lens 6: Curiosity

The labyrinthine mission areas naturally lend themselves to exploration and the designers incentivize this by hiding clues everywhere, each of which can open up new ways for the player to accomplish their objective. However, the designers also went further in encouraging the player’s curiosity on a micro level. Due to how the player’s powers and weapons can interact with each other, the player can be highly inventive even when taking out a single enemy. One of the more well-known examples involves the following, ridiculously elaborate method:

1. Summon a swarm of rats and stop time
2. Attach a proximity mine to one of the rats and possess said rat
3. Walk the rat into a group of enemies before exiting possession
4. Move away and resume time – causing the mine to explode and kill all in the vicinity

The player could have just stabbed the target(s) from behind and moved on, but the fact that powers and weapons can be combined in such ways taps directly into the player’s curiosity, encouraging them to experiment with the game’s systems even when such experimentation is technically unnecessary. In the following video at 4:52, a player shows off by attaching a proximity mine to a severed head and using crossbow bolts to propel that head into a distant enemy – for no reason whatsoever other than the fact that it’s possible.

Lens 7: Endogenous Value

Aside from the main objective in each mission, the designers also scattered collectibles throughout the mission areas. These take the form of:

1. Runes, which the player uses to upgrade their powers
2. Bone charms, which provide passive bonuses such as faster movement or quicker strangling
3. Money, which is used to upgrade the player’s more conventional weapons and gear

As can be seen, all the collectibles are tied directly into the player becoming more powerful and thus serve to expand options during play. This gives the collectibles huge endogenous value and incentivizes the player to acquire them in each mission. As a bonus, scattering them throughout the mission areas also helps push the player to explore said areas, feeding back into the lens of curiosity on a macro level.

Lens 9: Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

After examining the game through the lenses above, it is clear that the game aims to provide maximum player freedom, be it on the macro level of accomplishing each mission’s objective or on the micro level of dealing with a single enemy. Every mechanic in the game, from the player’s highly interactive toolbox to the multi-faceted mission areas filled with a variety of enemies and empowering collectibles, exists to expand the possibilities of the core problem-solving gameplay loop.

Technology

The game was built with Unreal Engine 3, but it is less the engine and more what was written atop it that proved important. As an example, the elaborate kill mentioned in the Lens 4: Curiosity section above would not have been possible had the developers programmed the proximity mine to only attach to floors and walls instead of any generic surface. This jives with how the developers have mentioned that testers often found new ways to make the systems in their game interact in unexpected ways. Such emergent gameplay likely would not have been possible without some robust programming in place.

Story

The main overarching story involves the Empress’ bodyguard out for revenge after being framed for her murder. Unfortunately, this is the weakest part of the game as, while functional, it is not particularly engaging. However, what helps to elevate it is that depending on the number of people the player kills, the narrative of the game diverges. Kill too many innocents and other characters react by becoming darker and crueller themselves. This system helps to add some replayability to the game, although the fact remains that the game’s chief strength still lies in the emergent narratives created by the player’s experimentation during play (as written about above).

Aesthetics

• 

Dishonored eschews realistic graphics for a more painterly style. The characters and environment are highly stylized and reminiscent of impressionist paintings. By utilizing stylized graphics instead of chasing realism, the game remains aesthetically pleasing even now, ten years after its original release. It also helps make the game less demanding to run.

Conclusion

Dishonored is a game that prioritizes player freedom and expression above all else. The analysis above, done through the lenses of game design, barely scratches the surface of the game’s many design elements. Nevertheless, it is still clear that the designers did their best to ensure each mechanic made the game as immersive as possible. Even a decade after release, it remains one of my favourite games simply for how much it excels on a design level.

OMORI is a critically acclaimed RPG game developed by OMOCAT released in 2020, taking inspiration from some of the bigger hits in the RPG world, inclucing titles such as Earthbound and Yume Nikki. It features psychological horror, with depictions of depression, anxiety and overcoming fears.

Mechanics:
OMORI features puzzles, battles and side quests in the overworld during navigation, which rewards the player with items, weapons and new skills to defeat tougher opponents.

Battles are turn-based, and opponents gradually become more tougher as the game progresses. A three-pointed emotion system is also introduced in battle, similar to that of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Story:
Taking inspiration from the classic JRPGs, the player explores as OMORI along with three of his friends around the overworld, with the objective to find one of their friends who have mysteriously disappeared. As the story progresses, we learn more about the nature of HEADSPACE, the relations between the characters and the dark truth about the events and a forgotten past that occured in the story.

Aesthetics:
The three major sections of the game have different color palettes, with one area having bright, contrasting and vibrant colors to give the impression of a dream world or paradise, one area having more muted colors to give the impression of loneliness and represent reality and the last area being dark, intense and glitchy to induce horror, anxiety and represent the darker elements of the human subconscious. The color palette also has an influence on the battle screen and some of the overworld mechanics as well.

Some portions of the game also integrates photographs of real-world objects and integrating it into the visuals in a pythonesque style to create a sense of surrelism and disjunction from the overworld.

Technology:
The game was developed in RPG Maker and prominently features 2D sprites, hand-drawn graphics and a not so complicated AI for enemies, not requiring powerful graphics card to run. The simplicity suits the game style especially when combined with the more surreal aesthetics of the game, such as on-screen glitches and the usage of images of real-world objects.

Lenses:

• Curiosity: As the game progresses, the character’s dialogues slowly reveals bits and pieces of the storyline, which leads the user to connect the dots and keeps them on edge and making their own predictions about the past events, until the final reveal is depicted.
• Endogenous Value: The game has traditional RPG mechanics where OMORI and friends battle enemies and bosses throughout their exploration, with them being tougher as the game progresses. They give rewards such as in-game currency and experience points, where they can level up and learn new skills to fight tougher opponents, and to buy items for healing or to aid them in battle.
• Problem Solving: The battle mechanics include a three-pointed system with emotions as its theme, where it boosts or reduces the stats of either the characters or the enemies, including attack, defence, speed and luck. The player has to strategize with this mechanic to give themselves and edge over the enemies and bosses to win battles.
• Freedom: Like most RPG games, OMORI has a mostly linear storyline, but the player gets to have some degree of freedom in navigating around the overworld to explore, gain more experience and levels and perform side-quests in other areas before progressing on the main storyline. This enables the player to learn more about the story, and also enables every player to have a slightly different experience of the game from others.

Conclusion:
When I played the game in January 2021, I was just recovering from the experience of loss in my life. I had played games like Undertale and thought that OMORI would give off a similar experience. Throughout my playthrough it was clear just how much love was poured into the game and all the characters, and how much attention to detail was made to create an exceptional experience for the players. The characters, setting and themes truly resonated with me, and I found myself laughing, crying, symphatizing and loving all the characters present in that world. OMORI is not just a game, but a medium to tell a story true to its themes of adolescence, loss and overcoming fears, as well as inspire the player with its iconic and thematic question: “Waiting for something to happen?”