I finally got around to buying the domain name and working on this blog. Here's to a new beginning!

Not to complain but...

Why does the world have to be so damn exhausting? Why can't I just sleep for three days straight and get my shit done later?

I've been on break for a week now. It's odd not having the burden of academics or a j*b on my shoulders. I also feel like any rest or fun I have is just squandering an opportunity.

Planted some lettuce that I'll grow hydroponically. Also my home-germinated pomegrantes are happy. Perhaps I'll upload pictures of my setup here.

Cobalt is a masterpiece and, I'd wager, a seriously strong representative for the 2-D platformer shooter. This and future posts should demonstrate this.

The Achilles' Heel to Cobalt's success (besides marketing) has to be how fiendishly hard the game is to pick up. As a younger gamer, I avoided the game while I watched my brother fumble around with the controls. The tutorial, even the advanced tutorial, doesn't encapsulate the whole depth of the mechanics. Seriously, it takes hundreds of hours to get anywhere near 'good'.

Even as a single player game (I've never been able to get an online match in any gamemode), Cobalt has plenty of options. A relatively satisfying campaign, combat and speed challenges, and several other gamemodes. Survival mode, being my favorite, will get its own lengthy post.

While the unusual control scheme may drive one away, I will hopefully demonstrate why Cobalt is an underappreciated masterpiece.

A friend recently invited me to the Deadlock Playtest a few weeks ago. I've been obsessed ever since.

This isn't exactly a review so I won't bother educating you about the game too much. So, in short, Deadlock is a third-person Shooter/MOBA where you slaughter robot-like things, weird abominations and of course other players by the hundreds in order to summon a god.

This game tickles a lot of what I like doing in games, such as strategizing, optimization and shooting people in the face. Therefore I gravitate towards characters (heroes) that do those things well. Examples (currently) include Drifter, Vindicta, Abrams and Ivy. Keep in mind that my list isn't comprehensive to what I like simply because I only have 40 or so hours in the game (yes, 'only' 40 hours) and I'm kind of dogshit at the game still.

I found it really confusing at first how less obvious mechanics such as Spirit Power work, but a little understanding has gone a long way. Playing the tutorial is not enough to get a firm understanding on everything. Outside research is highly recommended. I guess that goes to show that Deadlock is designed to be one of those games that are highly competitive (it's a MOBA after all).

Many of the heroes are already pretty goddamn iconic, from the sophisticated evil of Seven, Viscous' Cube, REM's childlike whimsy... it's incredible. Valve is of course adept at creating characters like the TF2 mercs (some of my favorite characters in fiction), various Half Life characters and even the silent protagonists of Portal and Half Life. So its no surprise that Valve cooked with Deadlock.

What I'm concerned about for Deadlock's future is character bloat. There are currently about 38 playable heroes (I don't remember if that includes the newest additions like Silver, Celeste and Apollo). That's already a lot for me to handle (skill issue I know). However, I don't want Deadlock to turn into another Brawl Stars.

I used to play Brawl Stars a lot during my teenage years. During the first years following its released, I genuinely loved the game. But over time, as new brawlers and features were added, the game got cumbersome and less fun for someone like me who likes to know everything. It got clunky too, with gadgets and second star powers and other random garbage clogging the screen. (Actually, gadgets weren't too bad on their own).

I don't want Deadlock to have so many heroes that it becomes difficult to remember all of their names and kits. Since the heroes are original characters, it doesn't work like a game like Super Smash Bros Ulitmate does. And, depending on how Deadlock will be monetized, feature bloat may become essential. Best case, it will simply be cosmetic items like outfits, hats (TF2!!!), taunts and so on. Worst case, pay-to-win like Brawl Stars. Thankfully, Valve has a track record of the former so I hope my concerns will be unwarranted.

Deadlock is actually fun, like most Valve titles. I look forward to putting hundreds of hours into it, and I may report further to you here.