The Haunting of Hill House ~ TV review

The Haunting of Hill House is a supernatural/horror television miniseries created and directed by Mike Flanagan for the streaming platform, Netflix. The 10-episode TV series premiered on the platform on October 12, 2018.

It's a fantastic TV show, so I'm inspired to do this quick mini review on it. I am a fan of Mike Flanagan's films such as Oculus and Before I Wake but for some reason I was dragging my feet when it comes to his many TV series that were currently available on Netflix. Finally this year, I took the first big step and watched the show, which is loosely adapted from the 1959 novel with the same name by Shirley Jackson. The show follows the Crain family, the husband and wife with their 5 children, and their experiences with paranormal activities after living at the Hill House. The show alternates between the time when the five children were still kids staying at the Hill House, and when they were adults still grappling with the tragedy that happened when they were kids.

I love how the way the show tells the story of the family; it took its time and slowly building up the tense and mysteries to finally revealed everything at the end. It's as much of a family drama as it is a horror story. The two elements blended beautifully. The first 5 episodes focused on each of the five children characters respectively (both when they were kids and adults), and I find that really helpful for me to get to know each of them and their struggles. There's also an episode each that focused more on the parents in the second half of the show.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered ~ video game review

Title - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (part of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection)

Played on PlayStation 4

I don't think this game need an introduction but for those who may not have known about this "little" franchise, here's a brief intro. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is the first game in the Uncharted series released way back on PlayStation 3 in 2007. Developed by Naughty Dog, the game received praise from game critics and gained quite a number of fans, which give rise to a couple sequels and even a film which starred Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg.

In 2015, a remaster of the first three video games was released, titled Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, for the PlayStation 4. This is the version that I played but I will only review the first game for today.

Time to Explore

Obviously, I'm late to this party. I played the game more than a decade after its initial release. I know it's the first game in a successful franchise but I have to be honest, my first impression of the game visual-wise was not great. I can definitely say that it was underwhelming...and I know the reason why. Throughout the years, I have been keeping up with the news on this franchise; reading articles and reviews, watching walkthroughs and reaction videos, et cetera, et cetera. So in a way, I am aware how the games have grown and evolved throughout the years. I think maybe the greatness that I saw of the 4th game in the series somehow cloud my judgement and I was expecting the visuals of the first game to be at the same level as the latest installment, which is foolish of me. I somehow forgot that this is the first, the very first, game in the series, and furthermore it's just a remaster, not a remake. But as I spent hours playing the game, the visuals grew on me, and I can finally see how beautiful the game is.

Even though it looks a little dated visual-wise, the game still managed to mesmerize me with its beautiful locations and settings; the lush jungles, the winding rivers, the ancient structures; they were all quite fascinating to behold. You get to walk around and explore these great locations and as a player, it feels amazing. Something that I wish the game would have though is more varieties for its locations because sometimes there are a little bit of sameness to some of the locations.