The final version of Roland Regner’s Enter the Gungeon Tierlist is released!

You can find it here.

By Dairell Alvarico

Fresh leaves fall ever so slowly, perched on rooftops and uneven ground; they leave a lingering scent of soil and nostalgia as they dance around the scenery with orange, red, and brown; it gives the landscape before you a sad yet ludicrous tranquility.  

The breeze picks up, swaying leaves that were still clinging to the trees with all their strength; some do stay resilient, but only for a passing moment when another wave of wind shakes the trees to its submission.   

Autumn is blooming at its finest, with reasons that vary depending on the person. Whether it be the anticipation of Halloween and all its creepy concepts, savoring the creamy taste of some good pumpkin spice latte, or just the overall feeling and aesthetic of a season that is beautiful from top to bottom.   

Everything is the same but so different. A walk in the park, driving downtown, or sitting on the balcony. Normally, these probably wouldn’t be so out of the ordinary in the spring and summer, or even when the snow hits.

Then fall comes with its warm palettes gifted to us in a neat ribbon, there comes along the feeling of peace; the sense of centering ourselves in the middle of it all, taking it all in. A theme of self-meditation, the focus on one’s spiritual reason, and taking a trip down memory lane to simpler times.   

The urge to take your phone out and listen to the traditional “autumn” music on repeat is instinct: Roslyn by Bon Iver & St. Vincent or the famous Cardigan if you’re more of a Swiftie than a lover of Twilight.  

But have you ever stopped and wondered why these songs fit the vibe of this season? Why is the meaning of these songs and the feeling that comes along with it amplified so much?   

We can take it from a lyrical perspective or an instrumental one, possibly both. For example, Taylor Swift’s Cardigan is more focused on first love and heartbreak in which she portrays these emotions as bittersweet.

And quite frankly, you can listen to this song on any season, but the way she expresses it turns its tune melancholic. Her lyrics become a moment of reflection, a song that resonates more than usual while gazing at autumn leaves, feeling the cold wind nip your nose as you admire the world around you covered in golden. The mood and the song, like two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly.   

In hindsight, it would be a shame to have a meaningful depth of such a general overview of indie songs without harnessing the full potential of what you can discover with a few artists who deserve a little bit of love and appreciation towards their numbers.

Understanding the messages they have been illustrating, through their words and melody. To answer the question as to why it is a perfect listen for a season that is the epitome of reminiscing life. 

Obstacles by Syd Matters   

A song made by a French band who got their name by clashing two names of Pink Floyd members: Syd Barrett and Roger Waters. They debuted in 2005, consisting of six people: Jonathan Morali, Jean-Yves Lozac’h, Olivier Marguerit, Remi Alexandre, and Clement Carle. When it comes to composing music, they like to add slow melodies with a little flair of electronic pop to it, creating a unique tune that is somber but at the same time, something you can jam to.   

If you already knew Syd Matters, then you would agree that this song is what they’re most well-known for. Obstacles was featured in the award-winning game, Life is Strange and would be considered its signature song by the fans. The general opinion of this song is mostly, “nostalgic” and “mesmerizing,” this could have been influenced by the melody; it is memorable, repetitive, and mixes beautifully as the song progresses.  

“We played hide and seek in waterfalls 
We were younger, we were younger 

Someday, we will foresee obstacles 
Through the blizzard, through the blizzard” 

The lyrics are just as profound. The bittersweet flashbacks of childhood and all its ups and downs. Growing up, it was inevitable to make fast decisions and be unaware of the world’s reality. It may not have been a big deal back then, but as of this moment they come along with a sense of longing. 

That thought also comes with the awareness of maturity and growth. Being older now, going through obstacles is easier, smoother compared to what we knew as a kid. But now with much more wisdom under the belt, it isn’t as difficult to understand. 

Growing up and moving past the hardships of life while looking back on the times when we were younger, and more naïve compared to where we are now. Autumn has a theme of reflection along with reminiscing of the past. The raw sentimentality of “Obstacles” fits into that perspective with flying colors.   

Long Lost by Lord Huron   

This band probably rings a bell, it’s because Lord Huron is the same group who sang The Night We Met which was released back in 2015 and is a popular audio piece in media. Debuted in 2012, with four members (Mark Barry, Miguel Briseño, Tom Renaud, and Ben Schneider) they are an indie-folk-rock band that create songs using their strong point of harnessing the deeper meaning of life into lyrics people can contemplate on. With the sheer amount of attention they are getting from their popular songs, it has become easy to overlook their more underrated work in comparison.  

Long Lost fits the bill on this one. The song focuses on freedom and self-discovery, how one goes on their own path to find themselves in a journey only they can take.  

“Leave me where the light pours down  
Through the trees like rain  
Let it wash over me like a flood  
Let it ease my pain  
Let it drown me”  

It portrays the feeling of finally belonging somewhere where someone can keep to themselves, without the desperation of company. To be in a state of pure happiness, that being alone isn’t so gut wrenching as most instances are.   

The transient, fleeting vanity of fall can form a bubble around you, a safe haven enclosed with nature’s beauty from the crunch of leaves beneath your steps to the rays of warm sunlight peeking between branches and coating the top of the trees like the first strokes of a paintbrush.

To be grateful for seeing what this season can do to decorate the setting, making it all right to be by yourself and seeing this all with your own eyes, to have your own individual experience and for a moment, all your problems don’t exist.  

Willow Tree March by The Paper Kites  

The inevitability of death can be a heavy weight on our shoulders, but if there’s one thing we can leave behind, what would it be?  

Paper Kites is a band formed in 2009 by Sam Bentley, their lead singer along with Christina Lacey who plays the keyboard and guitar. The other members: Sam Rasmussen, David Powys and Josh Bentley were their close friends before they later joined the group.

They center their music with elements of folk and indie combined and for a while, made demo recordings before making their first hit, Bloom in 2010 with Willow Tree March only releasing a year later from their successful album, Woodland.  

The extensive opinion on folk songs were mostly about the joys of nature and partying in social events such as a feast. This song however, treads on angsty waters; it aims on the impending circumstance of dying, a contrast to the previous songs which focus more on the brighter side of life; this one provides a form of unease that comes from the lyrics along with intense instrumentals as the song gradually progresses.  

“And we all still die  
Yeah, we all still die  
What will you leave behind?  
Oh, we all still die” 

Death is bound to happen at some point, but it could still dampen one’s feelings. Yet shifting the perspective to something more insightful unravels a deeper meaning. The thought of it shouldn’t always be doom and gloom, even though the song focuses a lot on that concept.

Break it down a little, and you can see that they also implied the importance of worth and the choice to show yourself to the world before time runs out.  

Expressing how fragile life can be, feelings of the deeper meaning of humanity, and looking back to the choices that lead you to this point in life, a sentiment to the fall aesthetic. How the season can regain such deep emotions, but end in a moment of reflection. 

By: Logan Jacobs

Many distinct types of horror exist. Most hinge on the idea of not knowing what is going on around you: the absence of knowledge. Or they hinge on not being able to do anything about the things around you: the absence of action. 

This creates a duality where one coexists with yet is in an imbalance with the other. There is either an absence of knowledge or absence of action: when one is present, the other is lacking. This duality drives conflict. 

The problem with this style of horror is the fourth wall, the knowledge that everything is fiction and cannot cause any harm. Because of this fourth wall between the player and the game the absence of knowledge and action’s effects are lessened.  

This is where the idea of “meta horror” strives. Meta horror’s goal is to break down the fourth wall and any other boundaries between the player and the horror. Meta horror doesn’t outright abandon the formerly established ideas on how to scare but instead expands on it by breaking down the fourth wall. 

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem was the first horror game of its kind, scaring players in avenues not previously thought of. Eternal Darkness was released in 2002 exclusively for the GameCube, both the time and the consoles limitations led to a less refined version of meta horror but one that still scared just as well. 

In Eternal Darkness a sanity system can affect how the game scares, the bar starts full and slowly empties as time goes on. Starting with minor changes such as noises with no source or even skewing the camera a tiny amount. As the player’s sanity bar gets lower more extreme effects happen such as faking deleting the player’s save file, abruptly ending the game claiming a sequel is in the works, or even having the player character die spontaneously. 

While Eternal Darkness got many things right, the game was limited by its hardware and development time. It created a great base for many other games to work off in the future.  

Imscared: a Pixelated Nightmare picked up where Eternal Darkness left off and is considered by most to be the most influential and notable meta horror game. Imscared was one of the first meta horror games to be released on pc and it makes use of that fact. Imscared holds no punches when trying to scare the player, using more traditional methods like jump scares to opening a YouTube video in the background without your knowledge. 

The horror of Imscared does not just leave the player frightened but leaves them questioning whether they are safe even after closing the game. Imscared achieves this effect by many means for example, faking that the game is closed only to jump scare the player, creating new files and images on the player’s desktop, and even faking that the player’s computer crashed. 

DDLC is the last game mentioned here because it strays away from the two other games preestablished ideas of horror. DDLC breaks down that fourth wall by deceiving the player from before they even start the game. It masks itself as a cute visual novel, a genre of game that focuses on player choices, interactions with the story, and less gameplay.

DDLC chooses not to scare the player with jumpscares but instead disturb the player. The first act of the game starts normal by all means but by the time of the second act the player starts to notice cracks in the game. Small instances of abnormalities not mentioned before. All of this culminates in the third act revealing all of horrific elements of the world that the player had come to love. 

The three games mentioned above are not the only meta horror games but they were pioneers of the genre and are each in their own way still affecting the meta horror genre today. 

By Logan Jacobs

Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is one of the most prolific games of all time, and in March of this past year Valve announced the long-awaited sequel, Counter Strike 2 (CS2).

CS2 promised a lot with its reveal: completely overhauled graphics, sub-tick technology, and volumetric smokes. Now just over six months later everyone has access to CS2. Has Valve delivered on their promises or were they flaunting a new game for a quick bump in players?

It is important to note that when talking about CS2, CS:GO was also buggy and unbalanced when it was first released. Only after years of working on the game with feedback from the community did CS:GO become the game it is today.

With that fact in mind, CS2 right now is a buggy mess unlike the now crisp CS:GO.

CS2 released with many changes, the biggest being the UI. The player’s HUD is completely different compared to CS:GO, changing the location of the player’s health and ammo with a sleeker more modern design.

The UI changes don’t stop there though. They overhauled the buy menu opting for a simpler design compared to the circle menu found in CS:GO. 

CS2 has notably forgotten about a beloved setting found in cs:go cl_righthand. This setting would change if your gun model was on the left or right side of your screen. It’s absence from CS2 has left many questioning why they would remove this tactical advantage.

The UI wasn’t the only major overhaul found in CS2. Along with it came a brand-new set of visuals. While CS:GO’s graphics did improve as the years went on, it was always limited by the twenty-year-old source engine.

CS2 abandons that limitation, and it flourishes graphically because of that. Equipped with a new “raytracing esque” lighting system and new textures, the game looks visually stunning on higher settings and is still good-looking on lower settings. But graphics aren’t everything.

CS2 also chose to change the outdated tick system. Previously, CS:GO relayed what happened every 64th of a second to the main servers, this is also true in CS2. The difference in the two systems is that CS2 records where you are looking when you shoot. Previously CS:GO shot where you are looking at when that shot registered with the server. Theoretically this will be more accurate to what happens but for those with a bad connection this can feel unfair because they seemingly die behind cover.

The gameplay of CS2 is by far the worst part of the game. Most of the community has come to the consensus that the game does not feel as clean as CS:GO did. Both the gunplay and movement feel unresponsive and laggy. This is not helped by the fact that sub-tick heavily favors those with lower ping.

The last major change to CS2 is volumetric smokes. This changed how smoke grenades work entirely. Instead of releasing a ball of smoke that would block vision and penetrate walls, the smoke conforms to the area and objects around it.

Along with this change, came a new way of walking and seeing through smoke. An H.E. grenade’s detonation clears a temporary opening for a person to see or shoot through. These volumetric smokes are executed very well and surprisingly do not cause any major FPS drops.

Despite so many major changes to cs:go’s fundamentals, CS2 still keeps true to what CS:GO built. With that being said, CS2 is a long away from being completed but it will only reach that state if the community sticks with it and helps improve what’s wrong.

By: Logan Jacobs

When discussing the worst games ever made many people jump to games like E.T. for the Atari or the original release for Final Fantasy 14, maybe even No Man’s Sky. These games are among some of the most buggy, poorly designed, and rushed games in history. But what if the worst game wasn’t buggy at all? What if it had 8 years of development time? What if it had a good concept with a strong base to build off of? The game that fits into all three of these criteria? YiiK, stylized as YIIK and pronounced YEEK.  

YiiK is a self-described “Post Modern RPG” with all the classic RPG elements: turn-based combat, quick-time events, and party members.  

YiiK follows Alex Eggleston, a college graduate coming back to his hometown, while meeting the protagonist the player will encounter the biggest flaw in the entire game, the writing.  

Long droning monologues that provide context already given to the player combined with an extremely unlikable and static protagonist culminate in making some of the most difficult writing to sit through.  

Arguably the worst part about the writing is the lack of consequences to Alex’s actions. Alex is constantly the worst person possible in every situation or interaction and unlike games such as The Witcher or Skyrim, these actions aren’t the players’ choice, it’s just who the character is, what he says, what he does.  

After playing the game for some time players may expect Alex to grow throughout the story, even if that growth isn’t earned story wise. This doesn’t happen. Alex stays the same morally questionable, sometimes even morally reprehensible character that only thinks about himself, and the game agrees with him.  

(the next paragraph contains spoilers for YiiK, if you would like to play the game, please skip it)  

Throughout the game Alex only thinks about himself, he truly believes the world revolves around him and at the end of the game it’s revealed that the world does. While I won’t get into massive lore details just know that Alex is right in believing that he is the most important in the universe by virtue of being Alex Eggleston.  

While the writing may be bad, that alone wouldn’t ruin a game. The combat mechanics of the game also help to make it the worst game. 

Slow, basic, and repetitive are used best to describe the combat of YiiK. At first glance the combat system may not seem horrible; this illusion is washed away by the end of the first hour of gameplay. To understand the games short comings, it’s important to look a game that did this combat style, based around timing inputs, well.  

Paper Mario, for the N64. This game had one of the most innovative combat systems found in a turn-based RPG, letting the players’ skill determine how much damage is done. On top of the skill-based combat it also hosted a large variety of moves/attacks. This is where YiiK fumbles. 

YiiK’s combat system does not change. The best moves or attack order will always stay the same, there is no room for variety in the game. Another major problem with YiiK is the scripted fights/losses. Multiple times throughout the story you MUST lose in a fight to progress, this is disheartening when playing. 

It sows a sense of doubt into the player. It makes them wonder if they even need to try for this boss. If it would just be better to lose instead of trying just in case. And that mindset isn’t even wrong. It would be easier to just lose every boss before actually attempting them. 

The last important thing to mention is how much potential that YiiK had. The game had some of the best video game composers making music for it. YiiK also had an interesting idea; a unique art style that was modern while still being blocky/polygonal.  

That’s my biggest problem with YiiK. It had potential, YiiK could’ve been a great game and it still can be. Currently the developers are working on the 1.5 update, this update is promised to change the problems that plague the game. Changing the story direction, improving combat and the dungeons found in the game. This update could be what the game needs to switch from being the punchline of jokes to being a great game. When it comes out, I will be playing it and I implore you too as well.