Month: January 2021

God of War

Kratos and his son Atreus journey to the highest peaks in all of the Realms in order to scatter the boy’s mother’s ashes.

But all manner of hell will greet them on their path

I had such a great time playing God of War.

I very quickly got drew into this world and felt myself being channelled through Kratos’ immense power. For a large percentage of this game I was Kratos. I think this was due largely with how the game never once took me out of the immersion. I don’t remember ever seeing a loading screen, save for the initial loading of the game.

The relationship between Kratos and his son Atreus was an emotional and thoroughly entertaining one to see unfold. I went into God of War without knowing anything about any of the previous games. So Kratos’ character was completely new to me; any references to previous events, or any moments that he goes against any previous perceptions of him, would have been lost on me unfortunately.

I kinda wish now that I’d held off and played those earlier games first now.

But nonetheless, this game still hit me right in the feels at multiple times.

There isn’t any prerequisite to have played those earlier games either, as the story is self-contained, and is really about a father and his son going on this journey together — both literally and figuratively.

More widely speaking, I think the game is about family and parenthood in general — about what it means to be a family and what we would do for them, and what we would be prepared to give up to see our children safe.

The First 3 Captures

Father and Son
Approaching the Witch’s Home
Talking about the boy

The World is stunning

The world in God of War is so beautiful. And the sense of scale it has is just breathtaking.

I can still remember the first time I saw the world serpent and just how massive it was. It’s body can be seen wrapping around most of the lake of nine (the game’s central area). Whilst it’s head can be seen out in the distance, blocking a portion of the sky off.

There is a variety of areas that must be passed through in order to reach your ultimate destination: Mining caverns through mountains; Wide open expanses of water to be fully explored; dangerous forests and ruined temples; and the highest peaks in all of the realms.

The game lets you decide at many points whether to continue along the game’s main story or go out and explore. I chose to explore a lot of the time and am glad I did. The world has many secret areas to discover and puzzles that when solved, will give you items that will greatly help you on your quest.

I found the inclusion of a “realm within realms” which you must run through when “fast travelling” between areas was actually really clever. As a developer I can imagine this being a neat way of loading in the next area whilst running this small path.

The combat is insane

The combat in God of War is mental to say the least. Your main weapon is the Leviathan Axe which can be thrown and then summoned back to your hand at will — exactly like Thor’s hammer.

Not only does Kratos’ Axe open up a whole manner of creative ways to take out enemies, but it is used often in the puzzles you will encounter. It has the ability to freeze what it touches, which can be used in certain places to gain access to otherwise inaccessible places.

Not only is there Kratos though, but his son also. By pressing the “square” button you can command Atreus to fire an arrow in battle. You can leave him to fire as he likes, but you’ll find that there are many opportunities to create clever strategies when using both characters to their fullest.

As you gain XP you will be able to unlock many skills for both Kratos and Atreus, as well as upgrade and enchant armour to help you in battle. I wont lie, I found all of the different fight moves a little intimidating. In fact, I found myself button-mashing through most encounters of more than three enemies.

I found the difficulty challenging too (in a good way). I started the game on “normal” but had to downgrade it to “easy”. And even on easy the game was a challenge for me. I dare say if I’d committed the time to learning the moves that are possible and getting them in as muscle-memory I would have found it a bit more easy-going.

In Summary

If you enjoy action-focused games with a deeply emotional tug, then you need to play God of War. Every person I’d spoke to before playing it told me about how good it was and that it only gets better as you progress — and they were all correct.

Not only does this game get increasingly good the further through the story you get, but I have a feeling it will get better with age too.

Blackbird

Just who, or what, is this woman who has been helping, and still continues to help, Moriguchi in this very odd, stomach-turning way?

Blackbird — Synopsis

In Blackbird, we join a young man who is bird-watching alone along a beautiful stretch of a mountainous forest. This man’s name is Kume. Along his walk he comes across another young man who is lying injured amongst the foliage — his name, Moriguchi. It seems that Moriguchi has broken his leg, and has managed to survive for a month or so on nothing but the rationed food from his own backpack.

However, as the story continues we learn the deeper, darker truth to Moriguchi’s survival. On the first night of his rescue, he asks his new friend Kume to stay in the hospital room with him. He doesn’t give a specific reason, only that he is scared. That fear is soon realised by Kume during the night, when he witnesses a long black silhouette of a figure kneeling over Moriguchi with its face pressed against his.

On a closer look, Hume sees that the figure is a tall woman with empty, dead eyes and puffed-up lips. After she has made her swift exit, Moriguchi wakes and coughs up a huge chunk of raw flesh. The raw flesh having been fed to him from the mysterious woman’s mouth to his; bird-style.

Just who, or what, is this woman who has been helping, and still continues to help, Moriguchi in this very odd, stomach-turning way? Why did she choose to help him as he lay injured on that forest floor for a month? And will he ever be able to escape her shadow and her bird-like ways?

I’ve been rescued… but She came… but I don’t need the meat anymore…

Moriguchi wants the strange woman to leave him alone

A Faustian-like nightmare

This story had the air of a faustian tale for me. A sort of “deal with the devil” in exchange for something that must be later re-paid. Re-paid with one’s soul and eternal damnation.

The only difference here between The Blackbird and the more classical faust-inspired stories, is that Moriguchi seems to make this deal subconsciously during his fear for his life. As opposed to the more well-off people of a classical faust story; People who just want more knowledge and / or power.

At least this is my interpretation.

His own fear for losing his life could have somehow summoned this woman — this devil. The woman then taking him into a strange, almost recursive, nightmare from which he can never escape. But it’s only on finishing the story do you realise just how sealed Moriguchi’s fate really is.

After we discover that it is in fact his own flesh, somehow from his future, that is being fed to him, I realised that this was a deal that had already been claimed. Yes, she saved him from certain death, but it was from the meat of his own body.

So in essence he saved himself in that immediate moment, but at the expense of his future self.

Moriguchi’s death was always inevitable.

A shadow looms over Moriguchi

An interpretation of Death

Another interpretation I thought about with regards to the bird lady, was that she could be another manifestation of the Grim Reaper; Death incarnate.

The inevitability of death is equal for all living creatures. No matter when or how that time comes, it is something that we all share. So when this woman entered Moriguchi’s life and took him into her twisted nightmare, she did so knowing full well that she would take his life in the future.

In fact, from her point of view she had already begun.

When you think about it, Moriguchi was already about to face death, regardless of the woman appearing. So in fact, she actually gave him more time on the living earth.

Is the demonic winged lady truly an evil being? Could she even be responsible for Moriguchi’s initial state of injury? Or could she actually be something of an agent for good?

Here’s a thought — what if she was some sort of angel, with the power of life and death. What if she was actually trying to give Moriguchi a bit more time in the world?

Perhaps she knew that when death decides it is our time, then it is indeed our time. But maybe she had the power to prolong that person’s life, if only for a short while. But in doing so knew that the life in question was already chosen and must inevitably be claimed.

Moriguchi’s fear for the woman’s return
The strange woman has empty dead eyes

In Summary

The Blackbird was one of the first of Junji Ito’s stories I remember reading. It was one of the ones contained in the first of his collections that I bought — Fragments of Horror. And despite the fact that I have read a decent portion of his work up till this point, it still remains one of my favourites to go back to.

It’s a circular nightmare that I love to re-enter again and again. The imagery of the blackbird woman leaning into Moriguchi on the hospital bed is one of my favourites of Ito’s. Although the panel itself isn’t hugely detailed — especially the woman herself, being only a silhouette to Kume’s eyes — I just remember the sense of wonder I got on my first reading.

Being fresh to Ito’s work at the time it was something that really opened my eyes to his work and was one of the main catalysts in my wanting to actually write about that work. Too bad it’s taken a few years to actually get round to writing about this one.

Fragments of Horror is an incredible smaller collection of stories and I fully encourage you to take a look — if only to read the awesome story that is Blackbird.

The House on the Strand

My first book of 2021. An interesting take on the idea of time travel.

Selected Quotes

I remembered that the tide had been out, the stretches of flat sand exposed, the row of bathing-huts, lined like denture in an open mouth, forming a solid background to the golden expanse.

from The House on the Strand — Chapter One

The small, pane-less windows gave little light, the aperture tight closed by oiled parchment, while the lighted candles standing on the trestle table at the bed’s foot threw monstrous shadows on ochre-coloured walls.

from The House on the Strand — Chapter Six