Vibe Checking Hell

Don’t you just hate it when you think you’re in a good place but it actually turns out to be a bad place?


Pictured above: the communities initial reactions to
the parry and shield system in Doom: The Dark Ages

Yesterday’s article was basically a tl;dr for Doom: The Dark Ages in it’s entirety, albeit based on only three levels out of the 22 available. I wisely labeled it more of a vibe check instead of giving it an official preview moniker of course, because I’m not a fucking maniac. More so due to the notion I think the structuralism of previews in their official capacity are almost too restrictive in their approach, and like a bad tutorial, far too exhaustively hand-holdy in the process. The tl;dr of The Dark Ages I put forth was a simple one; the halfway point between 2016 and Eternal, in a move that may end up making no one truly happy in a moment of compromise. Or maybe in a more playful paraphrasement; 2016 walked, so Eternal could run, while Dark Ages ends up getting winded while catching it’s breath and frustratingly trying to keep up.


This scene sprang to mind when conceptualizing the
contrast between the last two Doom games styles of
maneuverability, and then upon a quick second thought,
immediately regretted my abhorrent shortsightedness
in drawing the comparison

I think one of the reasons I’ve found value in the vibe check, almost putting forth the notion of the “game in a nutshell” maybe even at a dangerously early point in gameplay, is that as much as no one really likes to admit it, video games are, distilled to their most basic essence, repetitive motions involving a formula. This leads to the idea of a gameplay loop that’s been iterated to death upon, and one that has proven to work on some level. I’m reminded of the 30 seconds of fun quote hailing from Halo legend, and I don’t ever really let the idea go out of my head for too long because it happens to really fit into the idea that games at their core are really just straight forward, small segments of stupid fun repeated ad infinitum.


Sometimes they even forget to include the fun at launch,
making some games just small segments of stupid 𝖿̶𝗎̶𝗇̶
repeated ad infinitum

Even though I’m comparing ridiculously different games seemingly with broad strokes, I take this moment now in declaring why I feel the vibe check is appropriate for contrasting all games under the sun, accepting the premise of the 30 seconds of fun quote applied widely and without prejudice, from anything ranging between Doom and Animal Crossing. Not only do I find the stress test involved with the vibe check a fun effort in seeing how close my predictions end up being, but strangely enough, Death Stranding really helped to solidify the moment of why trusting my gut was the way to go in deliberating on what an experience was going to be. Just this insanely simple notion of seeing the content for what it truly is, very akin to borrowing a tried and true methodology imbued with the phrase “trust people the first time they let you know who they are”. With Death Stranding, after about five hours of delivering packages, I thought to myself “damn, I’m just going to be ass deep in boxes this whole game, huh?” Many others said “no, you’ve got to give it more of a chance”. I wasn’t so sure I was wrong. Fast forward 200 hours later, and what do you know?


Ass deep in boxes

Luckily, in Doom’s case, the series mission statement tends to be “Rip and Tear, until it is done”. An endearingly brutal sentiment, to be sure, though I think the reason Dark Ages is getting some push back about it’s inherent nature is due to the notion that this time around, instead of ripping and tearing, we are “Shielding and Parrying, until it is done”, which definitely takes some bite out of the canine, in trying to teach this old dog a new trick.

~Pashford

Words of Wisdom: Scheduling Sanity

As others have already acknowledged, 2025 is looking to be crammed full of awesomeness.


Not pictured: The insomnia this release schedule
will induce

Just a quick post today, as I’ve found if I don’t force myself into enjoying some more leisurely moments in my busy week, my enthusiasm levels go directly into the shitter. Which bring me to my words of wisdom that I share with you now: make sure to have a sane schedule for the sake of your own mental health. Try not to over stuff your days with an absolutely insane roster of activities to get to, and to make sure your eyes aren’t bigger than your schedule is open, as trying to stuff every minute of everyday with some thing to do, gaming or otherwise, is a sure fire way to burn yourself out without even trying. While the gaming universe is usually chock full of enjoyment to be had, make sure to schedule in some downtime for yourself on a regular basis, lest you drown in a sea of strained productivity, and end up dooming yourself to woofing down a big old bowl of regretti speghetti.

Happy gaming.
~Pashford

Life’s A Beach

So many worthwhile games to discuss, so little time.


Pictured: Not an example of what I just referred to

Sorry (not sorry) to all of you Death Stranding fans/Kojima stans who are at the ready to cream your pants at the mere mention of new info on the upcoming sequel to the…err, “experimental” experience that was the first title, but I believe any positive reinforcement of the notion involving incentivizing a misguided fanbase is unworthy of serious consideration. Though there is apparently going to be new info on the sequel at SXSW 2025 on March 9th, with Kojima heading up what is likely to be a reveal detailing a ton of new info to keep his insane fanbase frothing at the mouth.


In-between their sessions of jerking themselves off
while enjoying their Amazon employee delivery simulator

Death Stranding was one of the weird titles that came out during my “mini-retirement” of sorts, so I never sat down and wrote out some thoughts on what kind of grandiose absurdity I believed the whole affair to truly be. I think there was an intensely interesting conversation to be had about the nature of DS in my opinion, though most invested into the idea of the quality relating to said title would likely be described as not enthused with my deconstruction of the whole experience down to it’s essential parts. I’ve always wanted to go back and write a much lengthier article involving my thoughts about the title, though that would mean me sitting down and actually wanting to play it again, which is unlikely to ever happen. After obtaining the platinum, I never really wanted to return to the scene of the crime, though for the notion of the article alone it may be worth the theoretical toleration of Death Stranding once more. I will leave you with the seed of the idea for my deconstructionism of DS, and that it wasn’t really a game per se, but more of a virtual experience.

Within that perspective, it does prompt the interesting idea of what defines a game these days, and how much the medium has grown in the past few decades, so at least within that respect, I believe it to be a fitting pretense that the man responsible for being the one to prompt me to consider just what exactly a game can be with the release of Metal Gear Solid, does so again with Death Stranding, but for completely antithetical reasons.

~Pashford