It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that just seems to be growing bigger and bigger. It’s now at the point where people will willingly spend their time, making their own Indie games without even thinking about getting money back from it. Everybody plays video games as well. Statistics show that a whopping 48% of women game, only 4% less than men. 39% of gamers are also over the age of 36 so it appears that there’s no limit on that either.
For those of you who have been following the exploits of Falconer Daniel, the third and FINAL episode of this season is now online for your reading pleasure. Stay tuned for season 2!
Click HERE to read, and if you missed them, here’s PART 1 and PART 2
As I mentioned a few days ago in a post, I’ve been pretty busy as of late working on a host of different projects. One such project has been a horror serial for the upcoming transmedia franchise The Falconers which will soon be a series of short stories, video games and interactive novels based around a mysterious organization of monster hunters known as the Falconers, set in the colonial era.
Anyway, if that sounds like your kind of thing, please, check out part 1 of my Falconers serial: Totara Hill Horror right here
Arrival is a triumph of Scifi and Weird Lovecraftian fiction. A culmination of original ideas, classic tropes and an optimistic message, it succeeds where so many Hollywood movies have failed as of late. The story is well-written and brilliantly displayed on the screen to both dislocate the viewer, placing them in the strangeness of the character’s situation, as well as pack an emotional punch that will have you choking back tears in the films climax.
A highly important rule in horror, in particular Lovecraftian/Weird horror is the rule of not showing the monster. Although this is perhaps a bit of a mislabeling, what we are looking for in this style of horror fiction is not necessarily the omission of the monster or monsters, but the tasteful showing of said creature, paired with a respect for suspense throughout the story.
Allow me to unpack this a bit further.
Horror, especially in film mediums hinges on the understanding and following of this rule often times. The reason why some horrors work while others don’t is due to this factor of ambiguity. The ones that do work work because the story plays with and cause us to question things that we know to be true. A successful horror story needs to combine some element of fear of the unknown.
If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t posted much in the past few weeks, here’s your answer. I’ve been busy finishing off the final year of my Bachelor of Arts at University as well as – EXCITING NEWS – getting a paid job working in the Gaming Industry as a Narrative Designer!
Anyway, here’s a project I’ve been working on for my final submission. Carrying on the them of Bloodborne, lore hunting and post-colonial discourse, this video takes an in depth look at The Old Hunters DLC and what’s going on behind the scenes and how it relates to Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
Put it this way, if you are looking for a game to play this Halloween AND something to scratch that 80s horror itch Stranger Things left behind, then you need to check out Oxenfree.
Oxenfree is a (kind of) side scrolling adventure game with a supernatural/horror twist. It functions as both a tribute to 80s family friendly horror as well as a beautifully written coming-of-age story. Written by Adam Himes – the man responsible for Telltale Games’Tales From The Borderlands. Oxenfree uses the gorgeous artwork of Heather Gross to weave together a story of science fiction and weird horror to a near masterful effect.
It’s a good time to be alive as a New Zealander and fan of over the top horror. Due to our great scenery, and the affordability of filming here, lots of movies and TV shows are made pretty much just down the road from where I live. In fact as I write this, Jason Statham is only twenty minutes or so away from me, filming for his Shark movie Meg.
Back in 2013 a remake of the 80s horror classic – Evil Dead was filmed on the outskirts of Auckland where I live. And as of last year, continuing in the tradition of Evil Dead’scampy sequels comes the Starz original series Ash Vs Evil Dead, also filmed here.
It’s a funny feeling watching a TV show set in the states and recognizing certain areas as being distinctly kiwi, or knowing that my younger brother was an extra on one of the episodes. A few weeks ago me and him, we actually recorded a podcast on this wonderfully weird franchise, which you can listen to here:
You better believe it; the show is awesome, and so bitingly funny. Funny you ask? How can a horror series be funny? Well, first off – I’d respond – you obviously don’t know anything about this epic saga, and secondly, how can it be funny? Well, I’m about to show you.
Lately, during my readings on the lore of Bloodborne I’ve noticed a reoccurring viewpoint regarding the religious aspects of the story and in particular the Healing Church of Yharnam. Many people have been quick to point out that although on the surface, the Healing Church appears to be a fictional version of Catholicism, it is in fact has more in common with eastern religions than anything else.
While this may be true, I don’t think it is as cut and dry as “one or the other”. Now, personally I’m no great expert on eastern religions and spirituality, so I will leave that aspect to those who are more studious than I in researching them. However, what I do know a lot about, and am somewhat of an expert in is Christian religion and theology. A lesser known fact about me is that I actually hold a degree in Christian Ministry and Theology from a past life/upbringing in Pentecostalism/desire as a young person to appease my traditionalist parents.
As such, I feel that although I am still in some ways very much a Bloodborne “Lore-hunter” noob, I can weigh in on at least this topic with a certain degree of accuracy. What I want to do in this piece is look at a few aspects of the Healing Church’s beliefs and then draw parallels between them and real-world theology and tradition in hopes that this might bring greater understanding to the complexity of this organization within the game world.
I’m only going to deal with four aspects initially in this article series (although I may add to this as time goes on). Although there are many more parallels, for the sake of brevity, this article is going to simply focus on components that I feel are the most interesting in the context of understanding the workings of the Church.
The Punk Writer. 