The Belmont’s Day Off: Temporally Disturbed Boys

Let’s do the time warp again…


Never a bad time to let your freak flag fly high

Doing two posts today, because I totally failed to get one up yesterday, hence the timey-wimeyness of this one. I’m still on the hook for writing a post everyday for March, and the whole point of a challenge is it’s possible to fail said challenge, or else there is no risk, no reward. However, strength of character can be found in picking oneself up after falling and soldiering on, hence the two posts. I second guessed myself yesterday, and changed my own mind three times about what I was briefly going to discuss, before falling asleep at my god damned keyboard…let it not be said analysis paralysis is often the bane of the creative existence. With that said, I’ve decided to land on some familiar territory after saying “fuck it”, “axing the idea of reason” and just going “full rock and roll” with it.


Which can have disastrous results, mind you

Which is where Vampire Survivors comes in (?!?), which is described by the community in a myriad of ways, and seems to be a source of tension in some circles. From a casual browsing on the subject, no one has yet to refer to it as an “auto-shooter”, which feels like a lexical gap I’m filling, which in my world, truly is as sexy as it sounds. It is an action game through and through, and some have landed on “idle” game due to certain tendencies the game has, others a roguelike for others….it is an action game with rpg elements at the very least, so hopefully you have gained some notion of the matter. In good ol’ ATE fashion, Vampire Survivors is no way, shape, or form topical, having come out years ago, but I write about what I play, and sometimes I don’t get to games very immediately. Vampire Suvivors has done well for itself, both critically and commercially speaking, and has had a stream of additional content come down it’s pipeline, including an “Ode to Castlevania” which debuted as recently as October 2024, so the game is still cash money by most accounts.


The Belmont’s failing to show up this time was
my bad: no pay, no play, after all.

I ironically downloaded the demo for the game on the Switch around the same time in excitement for the Castlevania DLC, which I still have not even downloaded yet, but I keep switching platforms in which to play Vampire Suvivors, having also nabbed the title for the PS4 and now playing it on the Series X, so I can’t seem to make up my mind involving how I want to enjoy the game. I suppose the silver lining for the experience given this evidence is that at least I do enjoy the game, perhaps for it’s ridiculous simplicity.
Being an “auto-shooter”, you really only have to move your character around the play screen: no buttons needed. You needn’t worry about controlling anything else aside from movement, as projectiles automatically get fired, based on level, items acquired etc. Any one playthrough is based on a time limit (30 minutes), and it will take the player awhile of basic canoodling through the levels before they’re even strong enough to last that long, as the game is fairly serious about killing you as quickly as possible.

You can’t outrun death.


[SIC] Nevermind

Vampire Survivors is kind of your ideal dopamine gaming, if you will, with a penchant for inspiring that “just one more run” mentality, as it always feels like you can do a little better, and it feels great when you’re in the middle of a good run where you’re just mowing down hordes of enemies. I feel as if the game works the best on touch screens, per my mention of its extraordinarily simplistic nature, but I’ve been more than happy with the game on every console. Considering how cheap the game normally is, even when it’s not on sale, ease of accessibility, and inherently engaging nature, I think most would do well to give a shot.


Or a stab…whirl…you’ll have a blast, if we are going by
weapon selection availability, anyways.

(Not the first time I’ve downloaded a game based on the promise of cameos from another series that I ended up not getting to initially, and I’m guessing it won’t be the last.)

~Pashford

Inanity, thy name is video games

The struggle is real.


Who I’m envisioning as the mascot for 2025

At least, it feels real in regards to not just the complete insanity that 2025 has already launched with, but keeping up with the craziness enough with the same kind of “DON’T PANIC” vibes I advocate for on the regular. That obviously complicates my day to day, including finding time to sit my ass down and write with any regularity whatsoever. I always desire to have more fleshed out ideas for articles in this space, to elevate Active Time Event above just another gaming blog, but alas, to quote a prescient prophet of our cosmic time, if wishes were horses, we’d all be eating steak. With all of that said, I feel as if in a constant state of flux truth be told, in always feeling as if I need to “start again”, as if reigniting the fires of creativity in some kind of conceptual grand gesture to imbue my meager efforts with some well needed feelings of gravitas to frame the whole affair with. Keeping that in mind, I’m not quite sure the number of times I’m essentially going to refer to my own writing endeavors as a “soft reboot“, but I’m speculating the number will indeed be too many, and simultaneously, not enough at the same time. I did make my return to the writing space about this time last year, and while the first half of the year dragged a bit in terms of consistent content, the couple of pieces I did get out were decent pieces of dynamite, setting the stage for a second half of the year resulting in a wild stream of content every day for months on end. A stream of content I may add which eventually ended in November for, uh, tragically disappointing reasons many of you were confronted with as well.


November 5th forced me into doing a perpetual Steve Harvey face for the rest of the year, ngl.

As I made mention recently, this time of year is always devastating for me, as both seasonal depression and related moments of destructive tendencies that are contingent on said moods tend to drag me down to the depths of despair and debauchery in the most nefarious of ways. In those ever present and unrelenting times of melancholic torture that attempt to drown me in chaotic malaise, I seem to catch a serious case of the fuck its I just cannot shake, and the lack of motivation and complete abandonment of what I view as my duties that follows is one of absolutely brutal and insurmountable malcontent that is nearly unrivaled in bloodshed and misery.


Nearly unrivaled

That’s kind of the abhorrently abysmal hole I’m still attempting to crawl out of, on some metaphorically psychological level at least, but this year has been one of the most promising springboards of regeneration coming from a point of stability in recent memory. I’ve at least maintained a decent day to day of gaming and an ounce of respectability in terms of writing about them, far more so than basically any point around the same time in the last 7 years combined in retrospect, which is worth saying. Perspective is everything, and if you’re use to test flights ending with the entire vehicle engulfed in flames and crashing into a side of a mountain, merely having a rough landing where a wing gets bent or a wheel falls off should be marked on paper as a successfully executed colossal undertaking.


Someone made a PS2 about similar subject matter
if my memory isn’t betraying me…

So yeah. Still enjoying my new Xbox Series X, still don’t have a PS5 (work in progress), still somehow enjoying games on my launch Switch, a system which is in extraordinarily dire stakes, with the back cracked in half, the poor damn thing randomly vibrating, and on it’s fifth set of joycons mind you, but still trucking non the less. I somehow still haven’t beaten Echoes of Wisdom, in spite of the title being both a Zelda game and getting in weekly play sessions on the regs, but I’m always enjoying about 7 games at any given moment, so playthroughs tend to take a second. I’m also schmoozing the competitive Smash scene and admiring Animal Crossing up close and person everyday, but I don’t have much in the way of interesting ideas floating around about either at any given moment. This could be do to the notion either feels like an old relationship of some kind, where it’s become more of a way of the everyday then a conscious effort, akin to the nutrients vicariously but unconsciously absorbed that keeps one breathing. A lack of inspiration involving writing ideas could also be predicated on that notion I just know to stay in my lane and realize I’m not within the authority of exterior design to speak with any gravitas on the matter, or wish to give some succulent trade secrets of the Smashing persuasion, but I hold my tongue appropriately when I feel as if nothing of value can be imparted to ye lucky crew of readers and onlookers alike. I suppose I’ll dig deep and attempt to offer insight on both Smash and AC simultaneously for you now.


Love what they’ve done with their village layout. They
have trees and everything. Also, Smash Protip: Don’t
fall off the edge.

See? Rubbish.

I’m continuing to give Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 a shot, even though I feel as if I know me and the game have no real shot of longevity together. The campaign was fine enough, though the multiplayer does feel like it lacks a certain crisp quality involving that bespoke 30 seconds of fun (of Halo legend) needed for any gaming experience to stay relevant for long in this hyper competitive market this day and age. However, I muster the courage to continue my college effort in my affairs with the title, giggling still as I play, watching the big bologna men run hither and thither doing big bologna men like things whenever I play Space Marine 2, wondering who in their right mind takes any of this seriously, but that may be one of the only things keeping me invested in my bologna man space dystopia adventures, so it’s really the small things that count.


A screenshot of one of my more intense
matches playing Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2.

I did also finish getting all the achievements for Castlevania, Order of Ecclesia, the final cheevo involving beating Albus mode, which is just where you go back through with an optional character and rebeat the campaign with an unlockable character after the credits roll, in the memorable style of Symphony of the Night. I do chuckle thinking about the comparative nature of Albus as a character vs others in the series, as while he is relevant to the main story of Ecclesia, he is essentially a dude with a gun in a story involving legendary vampire hunters and demonic entities born of myth and fury. Still, Dracula still has a mouth that one can fire bullets into, which contributes in meaningful ways to dislocating his ass from this reality and then launching his bastard ass directly into hell with relative fucking gusto.


Pictured: a conceptual representation of Any Castlevania
progatonist by the end of their respective game. Not pictured:
Dracula’s immense frustration with being evicted by the
Belmonts every god damn century

On the PS4, I’m largely just focused on Elden Ring, having finished the DLC Shadow of the Erdtree about a month ago. I maintain a pride in having played through both the vanilla portion of the game and the DLC without having used any external help whatsoever, be it guides, videos, walkthroughs etc, and even pushed myself not to summon any player help to fight any of the bosses, which I consider to be a stubbornly bullheaded endeavor of herculean proportions that I’m happy to have seen to it’s bitter end. Though the playthrough of both the title and it’s add-on did put things into a stark perspective, and that is I can’t sacrifice a year of my life to a single game all of the time, as it just simply isn’t sustainable. I realize not every experience is going to be as demanding as a souls-like is, but the truth remains that in this day and age of hyper busyness, combined with a ridiculous slate of games coming down the pipeline, on top of my general desire to have hobbies and passions outside of gaming, I’m trying to remind myself it’s really okay to ask for help and or take a shortcut every now and again, or else one would surely get consumed by the madness of struggle, and drown in the endless sea of everyday inanity in a moment’s notice.

~Pashford

The Belmont’s Day Off: Anal-Retentive Chaos

My last article involving Castlevania was back in September, and there was a delightful twist of irony in regards to the write up, in that I didn’t actually write anything directly addressing Portrait of Ruin itself aside from the phrase “historically reflective”, which by this point I have absolutely no idea what the fuck I was talking about.


Let’s see if my folder entitled *Castlevania: IMPORTANT!*
can shed any light on my previous thoughts…

I think I might have an idea about what I was blathering about, but at this point it’s so much more fun to only vaguely gesture at the games I’m writing about then directly referencing them, I may as well continue to keep this kangaroo court level of absurdist writing going while the going is good. Per my article last week, my delay in returning to writing (about video games) was one part holiday despair, one part wanting to come back strong, and another part realizing I should seriously just shit or get off the god damn pot of self-actualization, by doing what I always do, and that’s by taking up the mantle of writer, as I have done time and time again. I think it’s a lot easier to be hyper critical of one’s own craft when shaking the cobwebs off, much like taking up exercising after a long break: you got to start small. Even when Superman feels the weight of the world crushing down on him, it’s not like he can just bench press the entire planet with ease.


[SIC] Nevermind

Well, that’s why Superman stories are bullshit anyways. Still a lesson to be had in the observation. As I continually yearn for more motivating ideas to scribe my thoughts with, I do find myself in a similar predicament as I did with Portrait of Ruin, in that I’m faced with titles I’ve loved for half my life, have reached a moment of flirtatious endeavor in which I can gush about my cozy experiences, and still draw an absolute blank with what utter grandiosity to gratuitously gab about . I think my first notion is an echoed sentiment I had briefly touched upon, and that’s Order of Eccelsia’s mindful editorialization, which may be indicative of the virtues my aged heart and hardened wisdom lust for these days. The ability to entertain by saying a lot with a little, by knowing how to keep the brevity succinct and the audience members on their toes at all times is a sleight of hand super power sorely under celebrated in these times of extreme business and extraordinary excess of demanding time investments, one should be so lucky as to be granted the gift of fleeting exchange.

~Pashford

How The Sausage Is Made

It’s fun getting into trouble!


It’s obvious no one at Milton Fucking Bradley ever played the
Outlast series, which I can assure you, is an example of a time it
is not fun getting into trouble…

Keeping up with my ridiculous self-imposed challenge of writing everyday has certainly been an endeavor, to say the least. The irony of writing about games that I’ve found was true in the past and remains true now is that the more time you dedicate to the practice of writing about games, the less time you have in actually playing any of them, which is such an obtuse thought it becomes itself dizzying in it’s very nature and rapidly more nauseating as one continues to process the idea. I take this moment now to point out the obvious truth that it isn’t a 1:1 process: I can’t just put an hour into playing a video game and out pops an hour of equivalently interesting writing ideas mind you, as if that were the case, I could write blog posts rivaling the girth and depth of The Silmarillion on the regz.


Fairly surprised this was the first image that came up when I
googled “Silmarillion Girth” just for shits and giggles

That’s where the creativity comes in, of course, and boy one is always crossing their fingers that juice will be worth the squeeze on any given day. I think there is something to be said of thinking about the machinations and context of the games themselves, rather than maybe just the idea of discussing the distilled elements of gameplay, as it comes off to me as the difference of gawking at a muscle car passing by vs discussing what’s under the hood. Stroking one’s metaphorical willy about the aesthetics of a souped up beef machine have their time and place, but you wouldn’t even have had a chance to wag your absurdist pickle at the beast on wheels had it not the power of what’s pumping under the hood to get it there.


Some engines more impressive than others

I’ve realized I should clarify: this is more of an exposition about how the sausage is made, not really a complaint about the meat at hand (really gotta get off this phallic word play roll). I do attempt to deliver beyond regurgitating headlines, mind you, though the real world enjoys trying to intervene in the creative process with things like “jobs” and “sleeping” which really fuck up my whole ebb and flow on the matter. To the point of just throwing headlines out all willy nilly just for the sake of it, I had no idea that Netflix was trying to get an inside horse into the world of gaming so bad, even going as far as to announce several new video game based adaptations they announced at one of their own events in the past day. I am completely indifferent to this news however, so trying to get myself into a creative tizzy about this revelation, or the one where Netflix offers dozens of games you can play on mobile devices if subscribed, leaves me utterly muted in response.


Far out, Netflix

And that’s the thing, I don’t mind going on about headlines when I’m really lit up with energy or feel incredibly impassioned about a particular piece I see making the rounds in gaming circles, but I am merely mortal, not everything is super enthralling or life changing news. I am always thrilled when the perfect storm coalesces, and both interesting idea meets a fervent mind to deliver on an awesome idea, but no one bats a thousand.


The face of a man who is familiar with what a poor batting
average looks like

I remember once recently when I wanted to come up with some kind of article idea involving playing a game, I tried booting up Pokémon Scarlet, and was reminded of why I never forced myself through the title, and that’s because the game is fucking rough to play. I know Game Freak wanted to go all Breath of the Wild on us, but Pokémon really didn’t need to do that, and it reflects poorly on the whole experience as a result. But obviously, I’m not going to want to play a game that is like that, which means I am not going to want to gather any more ideas on the title, and ultimately that entire piece was just surmised into a single sentence in this very paragraph, so so much for that fucking idea.


Truly the Dunsparce of gaming article ideas

I’m enjoying The Plucky Squire, which I was proud to get a preview up for on launch day, but as I had foreseen already as a problem I was going to run into by not getting the product early enough to play through, as this isn’t an official operation as you may have noticed, people already have reviews out. Playing through the whole game would take a hot minute anyways, so how much motivation or interest would be left for the final article seems non-existent

I throw my horns to you, Plucky Squire, even if I am unable
to afford you all of my time

I’m not done writing about Castlevania, mind you, as it regularly holds a firm grasp upon my spirit as an ephemeral source of interest for me, but as the more clever readers have already deduced, it is just another piece of collateral in my war against time, and fighting in the trenches of my everyday to do my best to combat it. I think it’s fitting this post follows me last one, which was all about discussing expectations involving the eventual launch of The Elder Scrolls VI, and how Bethesda should find comfort in the fact that the game will just have to go back to basics, and just be the most Elder Scrolls like it can be to end up making people happy. In essence: it’s success will lie within it being itself.

I think this write up is very much in the same spirit.

~Pashford

The Belmont’s Day Off : A Thousand Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.


Fittingly enough, the percentage completion rating for
Portrait of Ruin is 1000%

My first write up involving the Dominus Collection was in fact, more of a to the point headline piece involving the launch trailer. Nothing wrong with a quickie mind you, as I sometimes just very unfortunately do not have the time to get much done in the way of the creative before my day job proper but after my sleep deprived ass finally gets some well earned shut eye. I did however, waste a perfectly good article name that I thought was far more deserving of a much greater piece of conceptual execution, hence why The Belmont’s Day Off moniker continues to get some mileage.


To be fair, so did their lineage..
the bastards have been around
for 1000 years, mind you

My first write-up ended up being more of a quick recap of the fall of the series itself, and in a weird twist of irony, spoke about the ways in which the other two titles, Dawn and Order, were more unlike Portrait of Ruin, the game of which was originally suppose to be my main focus of writing. The article ended up having some excellent fruit to bear, so I let it ride. A further irony involving the Dominus Collection was how slow of a burn it has been in enjoying the games, which comes as a shocking revelation when one considers just how long I’ve been awaiting the titles seeing the light of day once more. I nearly didn’t even pick the collection up on top of everything else, as it was not made available for the PS4 (I still don’t have a PS5), and I do already have a healthy little pile of Castlevania trophies on the system I was wishing to throw a few more onto.


Same vibes

To be honest, writing directly about Portrait of Ruin has me feeling antsy for some reason, and I can’t necessarily pin down why that is. I normally love sharing my thoughts about gaming and infusing some humor and philosophy in my approach at deconstructing any virtual reality set before me, so feeling a bit beside myself in crafting an article specifically about Portrait is definitely a head scratcher, to say the least. Perhaps the game is evoking some seriously nostalgic sensibilities within me, which has been something of a regularity in the past on ATE, so I’m led to believe it is not entirely just that element. I do know that PoR does what any good game should do to me when I task myself to write about it: and that’s wanting to play it more than wanting to write about it, and that does prompt me to wonder how many and or what kind of games fall into which category in that regard.


I can’t help but feel he’s involved somehow with that sentiment

I also feel like I’m kind of in a strange energy of a creative fervor, where I have a load of thoughts in my brain that I just want immediately out and onto the screen, but seemingly don’t have the patience to do so, not unlike how illegible my handwriting gets due to my writing speed not being able to match the pace at which my brain works. I am self-aware enough that my penchant for speed running often gets in the way of my ability to maintain orderliness, but this is starting to get out of hand. So in the spirit of just how massively discombobulated both myself and this write up are now currently being reflected upon as, and in turning my back on any proper etiquette I may have cultivated over the years as an editor proper, I am just going to word vomit onto this keyboard and hope for the best.


Really missing out an a Typing of the Dead high score opportunity
with that kind of approach in mind

At this point I’m half tempted to just continue writing a massive ramp up only to end up *not* talking about Portrait of Ruin, in some weird schadenfreude level of comradery with the reader. Laughing now at the one person who came here because they’re like the #1 PoR fan, totally fan-personing out over the idea of getting a fresh take on one of their favorite games of all time just to be devastated that what they’re met face to face with instead is some surly son of a bitch taking the piss about Dracula related affairs. This does bring up a great point about the idea of inherent value in writing and in sharing conceptual worth just on some basic, visceral level. Like, maybe if I had advertised a killer pumpkin pie recipe and then went on a 1000 word tangent about the absence of a dusty clan of vampire hunters gone M.I.A only some blood sucking, sweet toothed maniacs would be giddy with glee about, both as Dracula enthusiasts and baked good devotees, who know a good pumpkin pie recipe when they read one.

In a fun twist: it would still be Castlevania related, I contend.
(Thank you Curse of Darkness for being positively absurd).

But I guess this is all very much on point for me with Portrait of Ruin, as it is with much of the Dominus Collection. The Belmonts are very much nearly not there, just haunting the hollowed grounds that set the wheels of current events in motion, which is kind of where I’ve been with writing about the collection thus far. Perpetually at a distance, being a relevant player behind the scenes, while simultaneously doing my civic duty to support the awesomeness that is ensuing, one day at a time. I will leave you with at least one final thought related to the main qualitative value of Portrait of Ruin: historically reflective.

Next time on Active Time Event: Portrait of Ruin
(With the follow up having 1000% more analysis)
~Pashford

The Belmont’s Day Off: Long Weekend Edition

Occasionally, there are days where I just wake up and the first words that come out of my mouth as I stare at the ceiling are “god dammit”.


What I look like when I can’t fall asleep due to the memories
involved with beating the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time

The good news my friends: today is not one of those days. In a rare moment of committing to what we in the industry like to refer to as “a good fucking idea”, Konami stealth released the Castlevania: Dominus collection on August 27th, without any fanfare leading up to the titles launch day whatsoever. While this move has backfired in spectacular fashion in the gaming world in the past (See: The Sega Saturn launch), this circumstances surrounding the surprise release was met with nothing short of jubilation from both the gaming public and press alike, as we have been collectively waiting for the re-release of the DS trilogy of games for a long time.


The face of Castlevania fans the world
over when they heard the DS titles were
finally getting re-released

The reason Konami may have waited so long to let loose this collection of classic games is anyone’s guess, but I have a sneaking suspicion if you correlated the data of Konami’s success in the pachinko machine arena vs video game release schedule, you would see a not too surprising financial story of weary and woe, as Konami mostly gave up the ghost of having any value as a game company a long time ago. With the quality of the Dominus collection standing as the last time the Castlevania series was topical and relevant, see: 16 years ago, Castlevania may have represented the canary in the coalmine that not all was well in the land of Konami, as even outstanding titles like Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia weren’t even considered good enough to prevent the series from falling out of relevancy.


It would be like if the LOTR series fell into obscurity after the
movies released

I am only very slightly exaggerating in reference to the slow decline of the Konami gaming empire (in the West, at least) with that short synopsis, as the mix of their successful foray into the world of pachinko machines, combined with their complete lack of commitment in retaining talent circa 2010, while failing to maintain their big name gaming series is the stuff of nightmarish legend at this point. I will apologize after the fact at the complete lack of citation involving the history behind the collapse, as I don’t have much time right now so can’t be arsed to cobble together a hyperlinked timeline for you. One of the only reasons we likely even got the Dominus collection in our greasy little gaming hands was probably due in part to Nintendo and Netflix doing all of the heavy lifting and reminding people that Castlevania is still really fucking cool.


A Konami exec’s face while watching the Castlevania
anime on Netflix and thinking it would be an ideal
property to adapt to a video game series

I also wouldn’t be surprised if the Castlevania’s former series creative lead Koji Igarashi’s massive success with his kickstarted game Bloodstained, amongst the cornicopia of titles populating the metroidvania genre he helped to spawn, also helped to keep alive the spirit of the series he had to abandon, but I digress. This write up wasn’t suppose to be pissing on the memory of the failed and the fallen, but the first of a multipart retrospective involving the games in the Dominus collection. I chose to arbitrarily start with Portrait of Ruin, mostly due to the fact that I’ve played Dawn of Sorrow the most, and Order of Ecclesia is quite similar to what Bloodstained ended up being, so I feel as if I’ve spent the most time away from Portrait of Ruin, so let’s shoot the shit a little about what Portrait of Ruin has to offer.


Picture: slightly related

One of the more bizarre moments of interest with Portrait of Ruin was that based on how it was received overall upon release vs the other two DS titles that launched on the system, was that Portrait was more or less considered the lesser of the three. Don’t get me wrong, the game reviewed well and was placed on lists of acclaim left and right after launch, I think it’s more a telling dictation of just how strong the pedigree was for the DS titles across the board, with Dawn of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia only making Portrait of Ruin pale in comparison to the level of quality they were bringing to the table.


Is Portrait of Ruin the Temple of Doom of the
Dominus Collection?

Building off of that point, I think that when you look at Dawn of Sorrow, the only detractions from people you ever really hear about the sequel are 1: the touch controls, and 2: the art direction. I think most people agree that while the DS certainly had it’s moments of innovation with utilizing the systems touch screens in a lot of amazing ways, the stuff they did with Dawn of Sorrow was needlessly tacked on bullshit to fill some ridiculous quota of showing off the systems capabilities. Whenever you change formula drastically enough to fundamentally upset the status quo enough that gamers start to turn against you as a result, you know yah dun goofed, which is essentially what happened with the touch screen based seal mechanic in Dawn of Sorrow.


They really sealed their fates with this
goofy gimmicky inclusion

The only other point of division for gamers with Dawn would be the people who lamented the lack of art done by infamous Castlevania illumni Ayami Kojima, who had helped to create some stellar art work for the series going all the way back to Symphony of the Night.


Dat Alucard, tho…
And as someone who pisses all over the idea of how derivative and bottom of the barrel crutching on basic anime stylization for one’s aesthetic can end up being, IGA’s decision to go that route to attract a younger demographic for the series based on the DS’ average age demographic was on point, as was thusly cemented way down the road after the fact.


Pictured: Trevor Belmont grumpy he looks so fashionable
within an anime format

I guess to summarize my last few thoughts in a more succinct manner; with even the small points of contention involved with Dawn of Sorrow as a follow up to Aria, involves the game still being a follow up to Aria, which was just so damn good, it didn’t matter if the title took the low road with anime aesthetic or some clunky touch screen gimmicks: Aria was essentially nearly flawless as a spiritual follow up to Symphony of the Night, and likely the Castlevania game people had been waiting on impatiently for six years to finally get to play. No offense to the earlier GBA titles, and my condolences to the N64 “games” (it was really like one game and then a re-release with extra content), but Dawn of Sorrow was the sequel to the phantom that had haunted the series since gamers had finally and excitedly worked their way through the inverted castle.


For people who don’t know, the inverted castle was infamous
in that in order to beat it, you had to turn your tv upside down
in order to play it correctly (holds back laughter)

Which is why I ultimately think Portrait of Ruin wasn’t seen as the next grand ascension for the series, as gamers had already been recently treated to a double helping of what were arguably near ideal follow ups to Symphony in the form of the Sorrow duology. Not surprisingly, Ecclesia would go to course correct following Portrait, again, not because the title was considered bad by any metric, but because IGA and his team realized the way forward with the series after having been inspired by their own ideas in incorporating the portraits the way they did, to create a feeling of a more robust, expansive world Castlevania largely hadn’t seen up to that point, with the series usually being lock step with the equivalent of a bottle episode setting in video game format.


Hell of a piece of real estate

Whew, fun run down on some aspects involving my retrospective on the DS titles thus far, even though I ironically failed to discuss Portrait of Ruin at any great length. Something to look forward to for part two, I suppose. Stay tuned.

~Pashford

Reflecting on Reflection

My writing output as of late has been one of a satisfying nature. I’m usually of the mind to better source old adages and or provide anecdote involving idioms of relevant worth in context, but as of this moment, my historical frame of reference fails me entirely. However, I feel as if my return to creative form reminds me of the notion that one may begin, but that does not mean one has truly started yet.


Always have an inside horse

With all of that said, while the creative faucet is certainly turned on, that does not mean it is always flowing full blast. To that point, since my writing is so heavily contingent on the games I play or the ideas I may have of those experiences there after, I am always on the hunt for worthy contenders of conceptual consequence, as not all games are created equally on the battlefield of intellectual endeavor. A further addendum to such an acknowledgment involves the generated excitement I may have when I’m able to get a little more mileage out of already played titles, as I may take another look back at what has been, in possibly new and interesting ways.


Probably for the best I keep putting off my replay of Desert Bus

I will now take a moment to reflect upon my reflecting, as I look back at the past week or so of gaming engagement, and see what distance and time has done in the name of my own attentive efforts. I’ll start off by apologizing for immediately lying to you, as I am reaching back as far as late July instead of just the past week, as I took a lengthy hiatus between my Pokémon “museum and paradox” article pairings, and returned with a non-technical review of a game named Wallachia: Reign Of Dracula. Which, as I felt the need to emphatically remind the reading audience of, was not in fact, a Castlevania game.


And if you can’t fashion your own pikes for mass impalement, store bought is fine

All in good humor of course, as I ended up enjoying the title quite a lot, inspite of Wallachia having very little to do in terms of gameplay feel with it’s apparent inspirations. Overall, a weird myriad of glitches, lack of QoL features, and a shallow variety of gameplay hurt the title, but not to the point of being irredeemable. I also find it very bizarre after the fact, and still randomly think about how you can’t quit to the title screen from the pause menu in Wallachia, you kind of just have to lie down and…slowly die to do so.


No worries guys, this is the fastest way home, I swear.

I was curious what the developer of Wallachia (Migami Games) was up to, and according to the platform formerly known as Twitter, they have a trailer for a new game coming out called Chronicles of the Wolf. The trailer looks decidedly way more Castlevaniaey, and one which you can view here:

We invite you to try a little demo of our upcoming game Chronicles of the Wolf on steam! Please try it and wishlist! Thank you so much! 🐺♥️

Download here:https://t.co/G1BxaYWL5h

We really appreciate it!#steamnextfest #Steam #SteamDeck #metroidvania #indiegame #RETROGAMING pic.twitter.com/wzxTGv79s3

— Migami Games (@Migami_Games) October 13, 2023

I also put forth the notion of whether or not in the wake of the whole Wallachia affair, in which the game doesn’t involve any actual vampiring to speak of, whether or not the vampire genre as a whole hasn’t at this point just fallen into the same stylistic trappings of either needing to be camp or parody in order to survive. Think in the vein of the B-movie paradox, where the more idealized a B-movie in quality becomes the worse it gets which makes it better?


I’m smiling just considering the absurdity

I happened upon Alisa next, and was quite happy with the luck in doing so, as I remember thinking just the day prior I should perhaps mosey on back to Raccoon City for some good old fashioned ADA, WAIT!-ing, which was the style back in the day. Alisa was a died in the wool Resident Evil clone full stop, and I loved every minute of it. Unlike Wallachia, which I did end up loving enough to get all trophies for just recently, I have yet to pick up the full copy of Alisa after my psuedo-preview of sorts, but that is solely a financial issue, and not one of resistance to the game itself, despite some fairly fucking horrific faux pas in voice acting.


Alisa’s VA work being a truly strong reminder that god is dead

The games tongue and cheek awareness is nothing short of divinity, truth be told. Looks like the developer, Casper Croes, is still releasing updates to the title via Steam, and generally has an energetic online presence in discussing the development process. Perhaps when I finally get my hands on the full game, I’ll write a follow up. If nothing else, I’m positively psyched we have arrived at the moment where 90’s era titles fall comfortably into the camp of nostalgia, and continue to do their due diligence in reminding the new generation of what games were like way back in the 20th century.


Seen here: The average age of one of my readers, likely sharing
an old story about an ancient piece of tech called the N64

Next up I stumbled upon the star-studded crossover known as Multiversus, in all of it’s unfortunate fixation on a financially fueled foundation. While I will defend the title in being of the more attractive outings during Sony’s “Free to play Festival”, the title at it’s core is a bog standard GaaS experience, and the grind wall that comes with it. I won’t go on too much more about the game, as my post from yesterday (which dlightly of inspired this one, actually), kind of broke down the nitty gritty of how you can have a fun game, but if you’re forcing your players to endlessly grind to unlock or purchase even the most basic of elements of said game, you’re going to make the player base feel like they’re choking down on what has been served to them.


Not unlike the gagging that goes on between Scooby and Shaggy
when they share a deep throat together

Shaggy is a playable character in Multiversus, by the way.

Overall, it seems as if the game has received a mostly positive response, which I tended to lean towards as well, so I feel as if everyone is kind of on the same page; not totally in love with the story beats, but has kept reading along anyways. Player First Games is still doing regular news updates over on their site as well as with new content for the game, and with it’s free to play nature, it would be very easy to pass your own judgements with no money down…just don’t expect much of an easy, bump free ride thereafter.

It’s going to be a real grind.


They really screwed the pooch on the financial aspects of Multiversus

This will now be the second time I’ve had to apologize for lying to you. Not for the attempts at implicit softcore Scooby Doo porn mind you, but in reference to my own machinations involving leaving the audience desiring more and the delightfully impactful contrast that an abrupt ending brings with it.

To be continued.

~Pashford

Rhythm and Flow

I’ve been making a concerted effort of writing on a more regular basis as of late, as I feel the need to clear my head while putting my feet to the fire in some abstract attempt at appeasing an amorphous, other worldly force that demands writing sacrifice to keep the cosmic clock ticking.


Even if that sometimes takes the form of making dick jokes
about Hanna-Barbera characters

To that point, I have been enjoying my time with Multiversus, which I wrote about recently. I casually referred to the write up as a “preview”, due to a couple of contentious factors that left me not knowing how else to refer to the article all together. The game is free to play, and always updating, so what I even experienced and wrote about may not even be 100% accurate in the future with more changes inevitably to come. As mentioned, the title is free to play, also making needless the goal of attempting to help consumers make an informed decision with their wallets, as trying the damn thing is free for fuck sake, leaving me kind of riffing on what is essentially a no-risk stakes battle of curious proportions.

It’s a shippers wet dream up in the Multiversus, honestly

That is where things get hard for me (err, not about erotic fan fiction, just to clarify), but about writing output after the fact. Back in the old days, when I use to get paid to do this, it was more just pushing myself to report news and forge through product on a regular basis with the idea of topicality and deadlines to follow. Now that I’m just writing for funsies, it’s a bit more difficult to churn through game after game, kind of changing the rhythm and flow of the whole dynamic. Not only am I not receiving product on a regular basis to go through, I’m also flat broke, so the stuff I’m going to play is free to play stuff like Multiversus, or games I’m probably already interested in, which will make the deconstructionism involved the experience probably a bit more safely optimistic, leading to possibly by the numbers outcomes of predictably obviously uninspired conclusions.

Wow, the mid-thirties something gamer is a fan of Gen 1 in the Pokémon series?
Shocking I say!

More my point than anything is that keeping a steady pacing on this kind of output can be challenging, all things considered. Where I thought by playing smaller experiences or doing previews, my hope is that I would have some kind of quicker rapport with the experience before moving on. That intention ended up being the complete opposite of what has occurred, as me not wanting to make my replay of Let’s Go Eevee “a thing”, ended up having me play multiple games to finish the Pokedex, my review for Wallachia (which is definitely not a Castlevania game) has me now hunting for all the trophies, and my quick preview of Multiversus turning into a daily jaunt of looney tunesesque proportions.

*Sweating* Gonna have to start turning tricks like it’s a back alley in Albuquerque to afford
all of the alternate skins for Mulitversus characters at this rate

More to my point, my write ups on ATE in recent days have been with the focus on something more digestible; not everything has to be a near five hour video essay on the ethical indignities involving the Sonic the Hedgehog series or a twenty six part series on the possible sexual proclivities of the Kingdom Hearts series.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that

I just don’t think I have that kind of energy within my being, truth be told. Shorter form affairs keep me well enough engaged, which ends up being a good thing, as the only way I’ve been able to make all of the writing work recently is with more free time, which is a happening that is soon to come to an end. It all works out, as I’ve been wanting to do more impromptu and decisive thoughts involving gaming, which makes the process of sharing thoughts less daunting than say, pouring fifty plus hours into a title, spending hours after that thinking about it, hours more yet writing it, and then hours afterwards lamenting I simply don’t have the time for anything except bitching about not having more time.

If only LEGO Doctor Who…if only

So yes, expect more brilliance ahead, albeit in bite sized format. I’ve tossed around ripped from the headlines as a regular go to for awhile now, and there are yet games I’ve been enjoying which I’ve been bafflingly mum about. I also teased a write up forever ago teasing Resident Evil 4, which I never got to, and since I am as if Sisyphus rolling the rock known as RE4 forever up the hill till time immemorial, I have little doubts I will refuse to struggle the steep ascent once more…

…cause you got to keep on rolling.

~Pashford

Draculas to Aliens

In my last post, I gave a run down on my thoughts involving a small indie title that was definitely not Castlevania, but most certainly still a fun romp when all was said and done. Wallachia: Reign of Dracula ended up being a solid old school run and gun…err, bow and go kind of side-scrolling action, more akin to a Contra or a Shinobi at the end of the day in stead of a Classic-vania kind of feel, but the inspiration is obvious.


An effort was made…we have not always been able to say the same so proudly.

There’s even an unlockable costume when you beat the game of Miriam from Bloodstained, a thankful collaboration and blessing from the big man IGA (credited as one of the essential progenitors of the Metroidvania genre) himself. I did get to thinking about the queerness of the affair, however, as I insistently pointed out that this game was not in fact a Castlevania title in the slightest, even though the name may allude to such happenings. Though, as we see first hand with thanks in the credits and even crossover references, Castlevania was indeed, at it’s root, this games inspirations.


And probably Xena for Elcin’s design..if Lucy Lawless was roiding like her life depended on it and shitting arrows on a regular basis.

My self-reflection on the write up did leave me with a sense of doubt on my own behalf, however, in just how accurate of an assessment I gave. How could a game so obviously drenched in reverence for Castlevania really feel nothing like the series it was paying homage to? For starters, much like this game isn’t one of the ‘Vania games, Wallachia also doesn’t feature any vampires whatsoever. Dracula is there, yes, and they even pay tribute to the Coppola Dracula film with the armor Oldman wears in the film, but he never actually does any vampiring of any sort to speak of. He does turn into a dragon as a saving throw against you, but I wouldn’t really list that under the purely vampiric behavior category, per se.


Though definitely a Dracula “Shit just got real” go to if I may say,

Wallachia also takes itself a lot more seriously than any of the ‘Vania games tend to, or at least, in reference to the ‘Vania series constant usage of old school monster movie cameos vs general atmosphere, the series has always kind of been happily camp about it’s own machinations, and we are all better for it. As I mentioned briefly at the end of my last write up, vampire media is almost seemingly made to be kind of cheesetastic or corny on some level (I might just be hungry thinking about it), doing it too seriously does end up making the premise feel like a forced marriage of ideas.


Or just a good old fashion awkward romance slathered in delusion

Obviously, the gameplay more than anything else will always be the grand divining force that puts everything into perspective, and in that regard Wallachia just doesn’t have the flow Castlevania does, though it is important to note it is also not trying to be Castlevania in a sense, so perhaps the comparison is moot. Within the realms of fitting more of the mold of an arcade archetype than a precision platformer, the focus of speed over accuracy is definitely one of the biggest characteristics that solidify the game in it’s quest to give respects to what has inspired it, but most certainly pushed it into another direction entirely.


If I squint really hard I can see the last boss fight from Wallachia

Which is kind of where I realized that diving into the topic…as I was doing it, was totally off base, as we are essentially comparing apples to oranges here when we really should have been comparing Draculas to aliens instead. Erroneously at first, we started with Castlevania as inspiration via a tough as nails action platformer, and we get to an arcade bow and go experience with Wallachia, it is almost like justifying the same set of expectations for the Evil Dead movies against Night of the Living Dead, or in this case, Interview with a Vampire to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

There are differences.


For example: Tom Cruise

The zeitgeist changes, and with it, the aims and focuses shift with the perspective of both the storyteller and the audience in question, though more to the point, my focuses were not fixated upon the correct properties in question. With that acknowledgement articulated, I did continue to course correct the comparative process on my hands with Contra and Shinobi in mind, as the games are very much more in the vein of what Wallachia is trying to go for. Though, there is something to be said about the game leaning towards modernity with regards to merciful difficulty, and not only being more mindful of it’s level design and enemy placement, but general resource gathering and quality of life decisions that if it were without, would have likely had gamers burning it at the stake for being so antiquated.


Seen here: gamers when a retro title releases without QoL features these days

Truth be told, as fascinating as I would find it to go back and play aforementioned titles to really split hairs about where one goes right and the other goes wrong, I’m rather enjoying the replayability vs difficulty factor involved with Wallachia, so I’ll give it points for finding a way to strike that balance. While I have been guilty of pushing Wallachia through a comparative ringer this entire time, I do think the game stands on it’s own inspite of it’s flaws, and helps to remind gamers in general that we don’t always need a classic reinvented or some crazy infinitely updated triple A experience that keeps you playing forever to justify it’s existence.

Sometimes, games can just be fun. That should be enough.
~Pashford

To Err is to Human, to Suck, Vampiric

In spite of a positively excessive optimism involving my want to write with regular fervor and superbly matched candor, I have for lack of more elegant wording, sucked absolute dog shit in doing so.

They really do have video games about everything now a days...

To wit, I am back on the high horse of efficiency, which has been a matter of intense relevancy to me in the past involving producing interesting works. Or at least, horses are involved per say, no two neighs about it. Honestly, they are only tangentially related to the actual matter at hand, which is more about creatures of the night and what it is they actually do in the shadows.

It’s never quite what one imagines

Part of my efforts in pushing myself to write was downloading a new game to give me some fresh ideas with something juicy I could sink my teeth into. I think I must have been in the midst of a wild Castlevania kick, as I saw a title on the PSN called Wallachia: Reign of Dracula, and purely by my intensively honed in deductive reasoning skills, concluded it must be some Vania-esque knock off in which I could delight in. How much did Wallachia and Castlevania actually have in common?

Not a fucking lot, turns out

The dissimilarities don’t detract from an experience to be enjoyed, mind you, they just bring into serious question my own value system in terms of judgement and expectation. What we have here in Wallachia is really more reminiscent of something ala Shinobi instead of the Retrovania series, in all of the series butthole clenching levels of platforming glory.

Pictured: slightly related image

That is to say, Wallachia is more of a side scrolling hack and slash then a tough as nails action platformer, so just different speeds, really. So while I came for the bustle and hustle of Belmont boisterousness, I ended up rolling with the ninja like nonsense that followed suit. I mean, to that point, the game shares very little DNA with the Castlevania series at all, outside of sharing some lore and a villainous namesake the series has been ceremoniously lauded and proudly revered for doing all these long years…

And also sometimes not

In fact, I feel somewhat dickish in my attempts to discuss Wallachia, as it triggers within me the severe urge to gush about the Castlevania series with great gratuity, which may I remind you, has absolutely nothing to do with the game I’m attempting to discuss whatsoever.

…oh, you’re not the Belmont?…Who?…Elcin Floarea? Who the fuck is Elcin?

Right. So Wallachia, which is definitely not Castlevania, is more of a side scrolling hack and slash…to an extent. The main character Elcin is billed in game as an excellent archer, as such, she has trained so much with her bow that not only is she a deadly shot, but she has also mastered the ability to carry approximately one trillion arrows at any given time. This comes into play nearly immediately and never stops, as you will basically be shooting them from your bow every second of every day till the heat death of the universe rolls around.

What it looks like every time Elcin sneezes

So run and gun may have been a more appropriate dubbing of the style of gameplay, as the combat is mostly ranged by virtue of said hyper-arching, which does actually give the game kind of a Contra flair a little more than Shinobi upon further reflection. With the notion of either game in mind or Wallachia representing some halfway house between the two styles, my mind reels regardless thinking about just how absolutely jacked Elcin would have to be to pull back the drawstring on that bow so often and so quickly.

What I imagine Elcin looks like when she tries on her Captain America Halloween costume

Elcin’s absurdist protein regime is your gain, as it makes the flow of the fun feel pleasantly rapid fire. Since the title itself is in the vein of an old arcade romp, the levels feel reasonably brisk but always intense. Perhaps another point for house Shinobi as opposed to house Contra, as the game is mercifully yielding by old school standards, meaning you won’t be a one pump chump crying in a corner swaddling your broken dreams and your busted health bar every time you make a mistake. With a larger health point stack intact and plenty of chances to regenerate HP, you may find yourself cackling with glee at the size of your quiver as opposed to sobbing in agony in reference to your abysmally absent ability to attain an allocation of hit points in which to grant you safe passage.

What most Contra players look like after their first attempt to beat the game without using the Konami code

When all is said and done, Wallachia is kind of pleasantly straight forward. You’ve got hordes of enemies to mow down, your occasional yet psychotically over the top death machine boss to best, some fun ability crashes and upgrades to make the trial and error more fun to play with, and some competent audio and visual to wrap up the whole package with. I’ll now rein in my ceaseless compulsion to involve horses in some capacity while also having waited the whole article to finally show you a screenshot of in game footage involving Wallachia, just to see if any of you had even noticed or cared I hadn’t done so in the first place.

More like Forest of the Derailed, am I right? (Hint: you die here a lot).

And that’s Wallachia: Reign of Dracula; totally not Castlevania, but definitely still fun inspite of this. Is it perfect? Far from it…Wallachia is amazingly bare bones by most standards, and some may feel underwhelmed by the lack of gameplay mechanics or overall length. I think in the minds of many, old school doesn’t even exist beyond the realms of something as dated as Symphony of the Night, so anything cut from an older cloth will seem unfathomably primordial at this point, but for anyone who has the patience to endear themselves to the ways of the retro, Wallachia is worth the price of admission for fans of old school awesomeness, and all of it’s flawed glory.

In any case, what even are your expectations of vampire related media at this point? Between the absurdity that is the Vampire Diaries (Elena inventing new ways of how to be stupid on the daily), to the absolute brick of cheese that was Coppola’s Dracula (the one saving grace alone was Gary Oldman’s performance) with sound stagey bullshit and Californian accents found through out, you’ve got more sensible vampire related things to do?

I thought not

Carry on, and happy hunting.

~Pashford