Vampyr ~ video game review

Title: Vampyr

Played on PlayStation 4

    Vampyr is an action role-playing video game released way back in 2018 on multiple platforms (PS4, Windows, Xbox One, and later on Nintendo Switch in 2019) developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Focus Home Interactive. Right off the bat, let me just say that I love this game. Despite its flaws, I had an amazing experience playing it and I have to thank Playstation Plus for this because I wouldn't have known the game existed if it's not included as one of their free monthly games. It's seriously an underrated gem.

A Doctor Reborn

    In Vampyr, you played as Jonathan Reid, a doctor who had been turned into a vampire. You literally started off waking up in a pile of corpses, it's quite an amazing way to start a game. After running away and bumping into some new shenanigans, you found yourself a new ally named Doctor Edgar Swansea, and thus your new life begins as the new doctor at Pembroke Hospital. I really enjoyed the story told in this game. You meet a lot of interesting characters, and there's a few twist and turns in the plot as well, which keeps the story interesting and engaging.

    The world and settings of Vampyr is pretty amazing. The semi-open world of 1900-era of London is beautifully realized. We only get to explore at night so the surroundings can feel a bit gloomy and drab but in a game about vampires? It's perfect. Although not so big, the map splits into several districts so there's a few places to explore and characters to meet. Talking about characters, there are a number of citizens spread across the districts that you can track using citizen menu. You can monitor the district health, see citizen's illnesses and track clues. You can decide to cure sick citizens to avoid the district from becoming hostile, or you can decide to devour them instead to gain experience points.

My Top Films for 2023

It's 2026! It's time to list down my top movies for 2025, right? Well...sadly I'm always behind in my posting. So let's go back to 2023 because that's where I'm currently at right now with my movies list. That's not too far behind, right?

How many movies did I watched in cinemas in 2023? It's only 9 movies so I can't even make a top 10 list but it's up from previous year, so at least that's an improvement (I guess). I only watched 6 movies in cinemas in 2022.

Ok, let's not waste any more time. Below is my list of films for 2023 from the bottom to the top. Let's begin.

 

No. 9 ~ The Marvels

Image source from Marvel official website

Despite being at the bottom of my list, The Marvels is actually not that bad. Okay, so it is considered a box-office bomb and is currently the lowest-grossing film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but it's still quite enjoyable to watch. It doesn't have the best story or the best villain but the three main heroes; Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, are all great characters and by the end of the movie, I kind of liked them. Technically, I always liked Captain Marvel so it's the other two characters that I originally not too familiar with. But like I mentioned, I ended up liking them. Hopefully, despite their box-office performance, we will get to see all 3 characters again in future MCU movies.

No. 8 ~ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Image source from Marvel official website

Another movie which placed lower in my list but is actually not that bad. The movie served as quite an interesting introduction to Kang the Conqueror, the supposedly next big bad villain of the MCU after Thanos. With Jonathan Majors, who played Kang, out from MCU and Marvel not intending to re-cast the role, we probably won't be seeing Kang in another MCU movie anytime soon, which is a shame because he is quite a fascinating villain. While Paul Rudd will reprise his role as Ant-Man again in Avengers: Doomsday, I'm not sure when will we see the rest of the characters next.

No. 7 ~ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Image source from Marvel official website

This is quite a satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy, and the ending that involved Rocket is surprisingly quite sad. I didn't know he got such a tragic backstory. The rest of the cast, as always, was excellent and there are quite a few funny moments in the film which I loved. The High Evolutionary is quite an intriguing villain but I find him not quite memorable. The film is highly successful but I don't think you would see the same team again in future Guardians of the Galaxy film, so most probably we would see some of them in other Marvel movies instead, which is fine I guess. Time for other Marvel characters to take center stage.

My 2021 Top 70 Songs From Female K-pop Groups ~ No. 10 - No. 1

Let's finish this. It's already massively overdue.

Here are the songs from number 10 to number 1. Click the links and enjoy the music.

No. 10 - Boyfriend by cignature

No. 9 - After 'We Ride' by Brave Girls

No. 8 - Addicted by Pixy

Limbo ~ video game review

Title: Limbo

Played on PlayStation 4

    Limbo is a puzzle-platform video game developed by the independent studio Playdead. It was originally published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360 and was released way back in July 2010. The game was later made available on other platforms as well including PlayStation 4 which is the version that I played and reviewed here. A unique video game that excels in its simplicity, Limbo has been listed as one of the greatest games of all time by various publications, and it has also won many awards within the industry since its release.

It's Black & White

    Limbo is a minimalist video game not just in its visuals but controls, story and sound as well. When it comes to its visuals, the game is basically in black and white. However, the developer still managed to create beautiful and eerie settings with its monochromatic tones. I'm surprised at how striking the visuals can be even in its limited use of colours and art designs. It shows you the creativity of the developer on how they can stretch their imagination in creating the world of Limbo with simple designs.

    The soundtrack of the game is very interesting. It's more like a compilation of sounds than music, at least that's what I feel about it but other people might disagree. Nevertheless, it's a unique soundtrack that evokes the sense of calmness and at other times, a sense of dread as well. It's a weird combination, I know, but it complements the game very well.

My Top Films for 2022

I used to list the movies that I watched in the cinema for the year but I've missed out to post about it for so many years. I'm catching up now, so that is why you're seeing the 2022 list in 2025. I didn't watch too many movies per year especially after the pandemic so it's not really hard to rank it. How many movies do you watch at the cinema/movie theaters now?

Here's how my 2022 movie list looks like. There's only 6 movies in it...it's not much but it's something.

6 - The Matrix Resurrections

Image source from WarnerBros

Technically this movie was released in December 2021, but I watched it in 2022 so that's why it is in this list. I don't remember much what happened in the previous 3 movies but surprisingly it's not too hard to follow the story in this latest installment. There's some really good casting here with the new characters. The movie is quite enjoyable with some pretty cool sequences but sadly the box-office returns was quite poor. Maybe it didn't feel as special as the original trilogy? I kind of feel something missing too, but I can't quite make out what it is. Still, like I said, the movie is enjoyable and I feel it improves with repeat viewing.

5 - DC League of Super-Pets

Image source from WarnerBros

This is a really fun and funny movie. It's seriously better than I anticipated. While the superhero animals are great, the one that steals the show for me is the main villain, a skinny pig named Lulu, who has flight and telekinesis power and voiced by Kate McKinnon. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has some great and smart animation films under its belt like The Lego Movie and Storks, and this movie is another good addition to their list.