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.

My 2021 Top 70 Songs From Female K-pop Groups ~ No. 20 - No. 11

I'm continuing a post from years ago. I still have the full list so might as well finish it while I still can. Better late then never I guess.

Here are my favourite songs for 2021 from female K-pop groups, and these are the songs from number 20 to 11.

No. 20 - Bewitched by Pixy

No. 19 - Ring X Ring by Billlie

No. 18 - BEcause by Dreamcatcher

Resident Evil (Remake) ~ video game review

Title - Resident Evil (2002 Remake Remaster)

Played on PlayStation 4

Have you heard the rumour that Capcom might be doing another remake to the first Resident Evil game? Remake of a remake, how crazy is that? Only time will tell if the rumour is true. If it's not, well no need to be sad about it. The remastered version of the 2002 Remake that were released still look amazing and is still great to play.

Here's a brief info of the game. Resident Evil Remake was released way back in 2002 by Capcom exclusively for GameCube. A remake of the original 1996 game of the same name, it has improved graphics, new gameplay mechanics and puzzles, new areas to explore, additional story and reworked dialogues. A high-definition remaster (this is the version that I've played and will review here) was later released in 2015 for multiple platforms (PlayStation, Xbox and PC) and later in 2019 for Nintendo Switch.

A Hauntingly Beautiful Mansion

It's hard to believe that this game is more than two decades old because looking at the graphics, the game still looks pretty amazing. The minute you enter the mansion, the main setting of the game, you will be mesmerized by the amazing details and you can look forward to more eerie settings to come. Gloomy lights from the lamp on the ceiling casting long shadows, with zombies and dogs lurking around the dark hidden corridors barely lit by the dim lights. The sound design complemented the creepiness with the sound of dogs howling, the moaning of the zombies, and the screaming of one Lisa Trevor. Both the graphics and the sound design make the game feels so atmospheric that you immediately transported into the horrific world of the living dead when you're playing the game. Sure, the human characters and the creatures that you fought didn't really look lifelike like the AAA games that you typically see nowadays, but they still look nice and fit with the game's settings and overall design.

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. 

My 2021 Top 70 Songs From Female K-pop Groups ~ No. 30 - No. 21

Here's Part 5 for my 2021 list of favourite songs from female K-pop group. You can check out the links below if you missed the previous parts;

Songs from number 70 to 61

Songs from number 60 to 51

Songs from number 50 to 41

Songs from number 40 to 31

Hope some of the songs in my list piqued your interest to check them out if you haven't already. Now let's get on with the list.

No. 30 - Let Me Know by Pixy

No. 29 - First by Everglow

No. 28 - Tiki Taka by T-ara

My 2021 Top 70 Songs From Female K-pop Groups ~ No. 40 - No. 31

Here is Part 4 for the 2021 list of my favourite songs from female K-pop group. Missed the earlier 3 parts? Click the links below to go there;

Songs from number 70 to 61

Songs from number 60 to 51

Songs from number 50 to 41

What other songs do you think will be in my list? Let's continue the journey with songs at number 40 to 31.

No. 40 - Gray Area by Hi Cutie

No. 39 - I Cook by HeyGirls

No. 38 - Stop by Minimani

Unravel ~ video game review

Title - Unravel

Played on PlayStation 4

Unravel is a video game developed by Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. It was released back in 2016 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It's a puzzle platformer where you control Yarny, a creature made of yarn, across different sets of environment while solving puzzles along the way. It's sweet, it's lovely and it lets you look at the cycle of life through the perspective of its cute little protagonist.

Little Yarn in a Big World

First of all, let me tell you that Unravel is a beautiful video game. The settings are beautifully crafted from the peaceful, soothing locations of the house backyard and the seaside, to the dark, intimidating locations like a gloomy factory, a toxic dumpster area and snowy garage of abandoned vehicles. Everything is perfectly visualized. It feels like you have been shrunk to a small size and you get to explore these amazing places which are basically real-world based locations but from a different perspectives. The fact that it was greatly and beautifully constructed makes exploration a fascinating and wonderful experience.

The soundtrack for the video game is well-crafted too; complementing it's beautiful sceneries with soothing and calm music, while slow and melancholic music complement it's dark and depressing locations. The music and the environment go hand-in-hand in making the journey richer and satisfying. Not to forget the sound design; crashing waves, rustling leaves, flowing water, all of which play an important role immersing us in the adventure of our little protagonist.

My 2021 Top 70 Songs From Female K-pop Groups ~ No. 50 - No. 41

Back again with Part 3 of my favourite songs for 2021 from female K-pop groups. If you missed the first 2 parts, you can find the link here for songs at number 70 to 61, and here for songs at number 60 to 51.

More great songs below for your enjoyment. Let's begin!

No. 50 - Got Chu by PoshGirls

No. 49 - Only You by Saturday

No. 48 - ASAP by STAYC

My 2021 Top 70 Songs From Female K-pop Groups ~ No. 60 - No. 51

Here's the 2nd post for my favourite songs of 2021 from female K-pop groups. If you missed the first part, you can find it here.

If you didn't fancy any of the songs in the first part, hope these next 10 songs might be of interest to you. Enjoy!

No. 60 - DA DA DA by Skyle

No. 59 - Stalker by 3YE

No. 58 - Panorama by IZ*ONE

My 2021 Top 70 Songs From Female K-pop Groups ~ No. 70 - No. 61

Okay, it's time to do this again.

Welcome to my list of favourite songs from female K-pop groups for 2021. I do this every year since...few years ago and I'm always late as usual. Anyway, I love archiving this as it helps me whenever I want to search for older K-pop songs that I might forget, and I hope somehow I help people discover something new to listen to as well.

I've increased the songs to 70 from 60 songs the previous year. It's just too many songs that I feel would be left out if I did not listed them. So I hope you found some of these to your liking.

Just a side note, my consideration is based on the release date of the music video on YouTube, and for this 2021 list I take songs released from Dec-2020 until Nov-2021.

No. 70 - Hola by Pritty-G

No. 69 - Oh Mama by Bling Bling

No. 68 - Perfect World by Twice

My Top Films for 2021

I only have 7 movies here in my 2021 list, so it's obviously not a top 10 list as per usual, but at least it's more than the 6 movies that I've listed for 2020...so I guess that's still a win? The pandemic really hampered me from going to the cinemas but to be honest, it really changed my habit of watching movies too. So far in 2022, I've only watched 5 movies, far less than what I used to before the pandemic.

I don't know how my 2022 list will look like but let's just focus on the current list. Late as per usual, here's my top films for 2021 (only those that I watched at the cinemas).

7 - The Vigil

Image source from Wikipedia

Have you heard about this movie before? I certainly didn't before I went to see it, so I didn't really had any expectation going into the cinema hall. I did quite enjoyed watching it; it has its moments and the creepy atmosphere was well done despite the small budget and the limited setting. The Vigil is the directorial debut feature of Keith Thomas (he later directed Firestarter) and starred Dave Davis, Menashe Lustig, Lynn Cohen and Ronald Cohen. The story involves the culture and relationship in the Orthodox Jewish community which I'm not familiar of and so I find the story quite interesting.

6 - Venom: Let There be Carnage

Image source from Wikipedia

This sequel to the 2018 movie Venom see the return of Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams and Reid Scott alongside newcomers Woody Harrelson, Naomie Harris and Stephen Graham. Directed by Andy Serkis, the movie continue to explore the love hate relationship between Venom and its human host Eddie Brock, while facing new enemies in the form of Carnage and its human host, a psychotic serial killer Cletus Kasady, as well as Kasady's lover Frances Barrison. The relationship between Venom and Eddie Brock is the most interesting aspect of the movie in my opinion beside some of the fun action scenes. I can't decide if I like this movie or the 1st one better, both movies have things that I like and dislike, either way I hope they can make it even more interesting for the 3rd movie which was confirmed to be in development by Sony.

5 - Mortal Kombat

Image source from Wikipedia

I watched this at the cinema despite it being released in HBO Go here in Malaysia as well. I do find myself enjoying the movie more while watching it at home on HBO Go compared to the cinema which I find kind of interesting. Where did you watched Mortal Kombat if you did watched it? Nevertheless, it was a fun movie overall with many great fight scenes, especially the one involving Sub-Zero and Scorpion. The ice special effects involving Sub-Zero were really beautiful to look at. I particularly love the opening of the movie which shows the back story of Hanzo Hasashi who would later become Scorpion. I don't think there is anything to shout about plot-wise since this is a martial arts movie so obviously the fight scenes should be the draw of this film. While the fight scenes were good, I do wish some of them were a little bit extended; some fights were shorter than others... although that kind of understandable considering the many characters that were featured in this movie. A sequel had been greenlit by the studio so if you're a fan, watch out for more news on that.

Heavy Rain ~ video game review

Title - Heavy Rain

Played on PlayStation 4

Heavy Rain is an interactive action-adventure drama video game by Quantic Dream first published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2010 for PlayStation 3. A remaster of the game was later released for PlayStation 4 which, for the record, is the version that I played. The game was also later released for Microsoft Windows.

It was my first time playing an interactive drama video game like Heavy Rain, so I was a bit worried if I would not like it. Will it be like a movie? Will it have enough gameplay for me to enjoy? I have so many questions. I think I did watched few gameplay videos for the game before but still I was worried. Now I can happily say that I love this game and the experience it gave me. It has its flaws and plot holes, no doubt about it, but I was enjoying it so much that I ignore them all and just focus on my enjoyment of playing it.

My 2020 Top 60 Songs: The Best From K-pop Female Groups ~ No. 10 - No. 1

Here's the final part for my favourite songs from female K-pop groups in 2020 where I finally can introduce to you my top 10. Wow, such a long journey. Sorry for procrastinating this. Now, let's go to the songs. Can you guess which group top my list?

10 - Fiesta by IZ*ONE

IZ*ONE had officially disbanded in April 2021 but that's okay, we still can enjoy their music and music videos through various platforms. They had lots of cool music and Fiesta is probably one of my favourite. It's a super upbeat song and it's almost as if they were rushing when they are singing this song which kind of funny when I think about it. Still, it's super catchy and a highly addictive song so you've been warned.

9 - Why Not? by LOONA

I'm so in love with this song. It's different, it doesn't really sound like a K-pop song and I think I did need some time to get used to it when I first heard it but I was definitely hooked by the time the song was over. I'm in love with the music video too; it was beautifully shot, the edits were good, the members were stunning and the choreography was just perfect. For some reason, I was mesmerized by the flying orbs scene in the music video. I'm not sure why....

8 - Girls by Nature

This song and the music video that accompanied it were such a nice surprise, because it was a departure from the type of songs that the group used to release before. It was an experiment for them I guess, but it worked, they all committed to it and they delivered. The link that I provided for the music video is for the normal version but I really recommend that you check out the uncensored version as well; it was interesting and well made and definitely my choice when I want to watch the music video.

My 2020 Top 60 Songs: The Best From K-pop Female Groups ~ No. 20 - No. 11

*I can't believe I had been postponing this yet again! A lot is happening in my personal life and I just can't find the right time to write. However, I am determined to finish this list and then straight away continue with my 2021 list as well so...let's just hope I will make it.*

Here's Part 5 for my top 60 K-pop songs from female groups in 2020 for songs at number 20 until 11. Let's jump right in!

20 - Apple by Gfriend

This is one of those songs that doesn't sound like a Gfriend song. You know, usually you can hear in their songs that kind of familiar sounds that you can straight away associate with them but no, not this one. Apple sounds different and that is actually good for them. It shows their versatility. As of this writing, Gfriend has disbanded. To be honest, how many of us would expect that this would be one of the last songs that they would release?

19 - Hmph! by WJSN Chocome

I'm so in love with this song! It's fun, cute and reminded me of the concepts that Orange Caramel used to pull when they were active. Seriously, more groups should try quirky concepts like this, I don't think we have enough of them nowadays.

18 - More & More by Twice

They never take a break, do they? They keep releasing song after song after song...sometimes I wonder if they have enough rest between releases. Anyway, More & More is an awesome dance track and the dance break in the music video was phenomenal. The music video was beautifully shot too. In my opinion. this is one of their best track.

Shadows House is airing on Animax Asia

I actually never heard of this anime before but I am so glad I stumbled upon it when it was first aired on TV. Shadows House is an anime adaptation of Japanese manga series of the same name written and illustrated by duo So-ma-to. The animated series is produced by CloverWorks.

The anime is about Living Dolls who are the servants of the denizens of Shadow House who all live in a grand mansion. Each Shadow person would have his or her own Living Doll not only to serve them but also represent them as the Shadow person is not visibly recognizable by face. The story focused on a new Living Doll named Emilico and her mistress, Kate. Together they uncover the dark secrets behind the mystery of the mansion and its inhabitants. I wish I could tell you more but as of the 4th episode that I've watched, not much has been revealed yet. Besides, I think it is best for you to enjoy the story yourself without any spoilers.

So far, I have enjoyed the story and the animation is nice visually too. I like the characters that have been introduced thus far with both Emilico and Kate are my favourites. That kind of make sense since the anime explored much of these two characters anyway in the first 4 episodes. I'm looking forward to get to know more about the rest of the characters especially Lou, she seems rather mysterious and interesting. I am also very much in love with the closing theme track "Nai Nai" by ReoNa. It's an awesome song.

The anime is licensed to Funimation outside of Asia. For Asian viewers, if you have Animax Asia, you can watch it there. It is airing every Monday and Tuesday at 8 pm (2 episodes airing on each day). It started airing on September 20th so 4 episodes have been aired so far. I'm sure they would have repeat airing afterwards but it's not too late for you to catch up with the series now if you haven't already.

For more info, you can check out Animax Asia website.