16 Best Co-Op Horror Games To Play With Friends | Cultured

Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: $6215 between a 403b & a 401a. I work for a university, and with this employer was the first time I was financially able to contribute to a retirement account of any kind. I just hit vestment in 2020 and plan to bump up my contribution % slowly throughout 2021 until I hit the maximum I can afford to contribute.
Savings account balance: $3201. Up until 2020, I never had any extra money to put into savings, so I'm not at all upset about this amount! Building up my savings account is my biggest financial priority currently.
Checking account balance: $1706. I keep between $1-2k in checking.
Acorns investment account balance: $74 (just started this in December, only throw in a little bit monthly, not too sure what I'm doing but I'm eager to learn, lol)
FSA account balance: $55. I contribute $5 per paycheck (biweekly), but I will be increasing this when I can make changes to my benefits, at the beginning of the new fiscal year in July.
Credit card debt: $0, but see below regarding a personal loan. I pay off my balance every month.
Student loan debt: $32,417 for a BS. Most of my schooling was covered by scholarships & grants, but I had to take out loans for whatever was left. My parents cosigned my loans, but I am fully responsible for paying them. In 2020, I finished paying off approx $11k in private loans; the remaining amount is all in federal loans.
Personal loan debt: $5532. This had been money owed on my credit card - a few very expensive car repairs years ago, and then compounding interest because I could only make minimum payments for a long time. In 2020, I was able to get a low-interest personal loan through my credit union and plan to pay this off by 10/2022.

Section Two: Income
Income Progression: I have had quite a few jobs, most of them making slightly above minimum wage until just the last few years. In high school & college, I worked at a bowling alley and in retail, making from $7.25/hour to $8/hour, anywhere from 4 hours weekly (high school) to full-time (college during summer break).
After graduating college, I continued to work the 2 part-time retail jobs I'd been working for most of my college career: one position as a sales associate for $7.50/hour and one position as a front-end manager for $10/hour. I worked around 50 hours total each week in order to make ends meet.
After 2 years of this, I went to grad school. I was fully funded by my PhD advisor's grant and did not need to take out any loans. I worked as a research assistant on campus making $1850 per month.
Grad school wasn't for me, so I dropped out after one semester. I returned to one of my previous retail employers, this time as a full-time assistant store manager, making $11/hour.
After about 1 year at this position, I took a job working part-time for a local science museum - I had experience in college volunteering and interning in science education, and at the time I thought it was the direction I wanted to go for a "real" career. This job paid $10/hour. I dropped down to part-time at the retail job but was able to keep my hourly pay.
Then, about 1 year later, I finally fell into the job I have now, and love: I got a job in 2017 working as an assistant lab tech in medical research at a local university. Starting out, my title was Technician 1, and I made $25k. I was promoted to Tech 2 in 2019, making $28k, and then to Senior Tech in 2020 with a salary of $38,493. The large raise between Tech 2 and Senior is partially due to me obtaining some professional certifications in my field; without them, I expect my salary would be closer to $35k. I still work in retail, too: 1 day per week at $11.10/hour. I don't NEED that job now, but the extra money is nice - I make around $4600 yearly from the retail job.
Main Job Monthly Take Home:
$2200 minimum. This is highly variable as I am eligible for OT pay and I do work OT most weeks.
Side Gig Monthly Take Home
About $300 monthly from the retail job. Variable depending on how many hours I work in the month.

Section Three: Expenses
All expenses below are monthly unless otherwise specified.
Rent: $630
Renters insurance: $10
Investment contribution: $20 plus spare change to the Acorns app. I just started using it last month.
Personal loan payment: $273
Student loan payment: $84, but I need to renew my income-based repayment plan and I expect this to increase
Electric: approx $50
Gas: approx $70 during winter; in summer it's around $20
Water: $17
Trash collection: $195 annually
Sewage: $42 quarterly
Wifi: $68
Cellphone: I'm on a family plan with my parents and brother, and my contribution is $25.
Subscriptions: $10 for Spotify & Hulu; $14 for Netflix; $15 for a coffee subscription
Pet expenses: Approx $100 monthly. I have two cats that eat prescription diets ($75 every 6 weeks), plus one axolotl that thankfully just eats worms. The rest of the pet budget is for litter, toys, etc, and I'm including birdseed here for the feeder I have on my balcony for wild birds.
Car payment / insurance: My car is fully paid off, and my parents pay for my insurance which is honestly wild at my age, but I think they like to help out in this way since I'm otherwise pretty independent.
Medications: $68
Other: I budget $200 for groceries monthly, though I'm not upset if I go over that amount.

Diary
Disclaimer: I am an essential employee at both jobs; masks and other appropriate PPE were worn at all times outside of my home.
Saturday 1/2: I wake up at 4:15am to go to my retail job. I don't mind being up so early since it means I don't have to interact with customers for most of my shift. My car has been making some odd noises lately, and they start up again on my drive in to work. I need to get the car inspected this month, so I decide to try to make an appointment for next weekend...the noises are making me nervous. I work an 8 hour shift and buy a few snacks and two sodas from the vending machine ($6.70). After work, I play some video games. A close friend got the new PS5 recently and gave me her old PS4, which is awesome - I've only had an old Xbox until now. I decide to buy Skyrim for the PS since it keeps crashing when I try to play it on the Xbox ($16.95 on a gift card I'd gotten for Christmas). Later this evening, my pharmacy calls to tell me that the manufacturer of one of my medications is no longer offering a discount I'd been using for the last year: my cost will be increasing by $30 per month supply. I check online for any other discounts/coupons/goodRX offers.. no dice. I'm asleep by 10pm.
Total: $6.70 (not counting the gift card purchase, since that was already paid for by someone else)
Sunday 1/3: My day off! I wake at 6:15 and make some coffee. I place an Amazon order for a new shower curtain, rubber beads to tighten face masks, and a supplement ($25.57). Later in the day, I head out to pick up my prescription. I buy 3 months' worth of this particular medication at once, so it's $120; I also buy some coffee creamer and milk ($4.28). I stop for gas on my way home ($25.04). I spend the rest of my day alternately relaxing and getting some things done at home: I do some laundry ($2.25), renew my drivers license online (no need to go to the DMV because of the pandemic, so yay! $30.50 and they'll mail my new card), and I create a group on Goodreads because my friends and I were wanting to start our own book club this year. I make a big pot of pasta with Beyond crumbles and spinach for dinner and a few lunches for the week.
Total: $207.64
Monday 1/4: Wake at 5. Car is still making scary noises, so I drive to work slowly. $5 for parking, but it will be reimbursed by my employer at the end of the month. Drink breakroom coffee since it's free. On lunch, I make the appointment for my car for the weekend: inspection, oil change, tire rotation, and please make sure my car isn't trying to kill me/fix the mystery noise. Yesterday's pasta and a yogurt for lunch. Work is uneventful; at home I eat some soup for dinner and read some of my book for book club until it's time for bed.
Total: $5
Tuesday 1/5: It's my birthday! I'm up at 5. $5 for parking, and free work coffee again. My supervisors and coworkers printed & signed a giant birthday poster for me - it's hanging in our breakroom - and it makes my week! I really, really love my job and the people I work with. At home, I consider buying some perfume for myself - indie fragrances are a hobby of mine - but I get overwhelmed and decision fatigued, and don't end up buying anything. I decide to take another look over the weekend. Make rice & daal for dinner, plus a giant bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Watch some tv (Bones on Hulu) until bed.
Total: $5
Wednesday 1/6: You know the drill: wake up at 5, $5 parking, and free work coffee. Leftover rice & daal for lunch. Received a birthday present from a coworker that I'm good friends with, which is incredibly kind of her. Again, I love, love, love my job and the people I spend time with there. Unfortunately, after work I spend most of my evening doom-scrolling thanks to the attempted coup at the Capitol.
Total: $5
Thursday 1/7: Up at 5; $5 parking; free coffee at work. Today's a super busy day and I spend most of it just running around, feeling like I'm not getting any actual work done. While at work I start listening to a new audiobook from the library (I highly recommend the Libby app, btw). The last of Sunday's pasta for lunch. Soup and crackers for dinner, and then my older cat cuddles up on my lap while I play some Skyrim.
Total: $5
Friday 1/8: I took today as a vacation day for my birthday - had too much to do at work on my actual birthday, so I gave myself a long weekend instead (I also took Saturday 1/9 off from my retail job). I sleep in until 7... super late for me! Make coffee for breakfast, and while it's brewing, I fill up the birdfeeder on my balcony. Perform a feat of gymnastics to keep my cats from running out while I do so. I received my $600 stimulus payment a week ago, and I take the morning to deal with that: $120 is split among 3 charities that are important to me, and the remaining $480 goes to my savings account. After this, I'd love to get up to get my book club book to read, but I've got a cat sleeping on my legs, so obviously I'm stuck sitting. I browse Reddit on my phone for a while. Order food for lunch with contactless dropoff ($17.44 with tip). In the evening, I drop off my car at the auto shop - my appointment is early tomorrow morning, so I just leave the car and keys with them overnight - and I walk home since the shop is in my neighborhood. I've been wanting to try punch needle crafting, so I buy a very basic starter kit on Amazon ($13.99).
Total: $151.43
Week Total = $385.77
Food + Drink $28.42
Fun / Entertainment $13.99
Home + Health $147.82
Transport $45.04
Other Donations: $120; $30.50 for the driver's license renewal
So, this was not a typical week for me: the $120 prescription is a purchase I make once every 90 days, the driver's license renewal is only once every 4 years (lol), and I'm not a regular charitable donor - I donate sporadically throughout the year whenever I have some extra money. However, I'm pretty happy with my spending otherwise! The $20 in parking fees will be reimbursed by my employer at the end of the month, and though I made more Amazon purchases in this week than I would in a normal week, I think I was reasonable with my spending. Pre-covid, my coworkers from my main job and I would go out for drinks on Fridays, so I guess I've been saving an extra $20-30/week since the pandemic started. Also, in case anyone was wondering - the mechanic found nothing wrong with my car, but it's still making a weird noise. They told me that I basically have to wait until it gets worse, and maybe then they can determine what the issue is. Yay.

What are the age restrictions on online play (PS4 specific)

The most overlooked release on Switch: Blazblue Centralfiction

Hello Switch Subreddit.
This post is intended for those looking for a good multiplayer game, as well as people seeking a higher level of gameplay challenge. It is a recommendation of a game that I feel does not get enough recognition in the Fighting Game Community and from Western audiences in general. I am speaking of Blazblue. I am spotlighting this game because (1) it's on Switch, (2) it's awesome, and (3) no one ever talks about it. If, for example, you're looking at Mortal Kombat 11, or Dragonball FighterZ as a game you might want to play on Switch: I urge you to take a good long look at Blazblue, as it might provide a better experience on this console.
I frequently see Switch-playing friends of mine yearning for a new game that offers a big meaty experience, an entire new world to explore, a deep and intricate system of controls and mechanics, and plenty of content to keep the fun going for hundreds of hours. There are many games like this that are very well known, such as BOTW and Smash Ultimate. However I know many people who are still frustrated by not having anything fun to play online multiplayer at home. This is the main reason why Blazblue Centralfiction (BBCF) is a great addition to a switch library. Now, before I go any further, I want to make one thing very clear: I am terrible at fighting games, and generally thought they werent for me. I would play fighting games with friends, I knew about them, and I played smash with my brother and old friends, but I viewed myself as "noncompetetive" "casual" and "bad" at games. Despite these drawbacks, I have had a very fun time jumping into Blazblue, and this game became very special to me.
A fighting game with an epic JRPG style story
The game BBCF offers a startling amount of content for what looks on the surface to be a simple anime sprite fighting game. To begin with, the game has a 40 hour single player visual novel style story mode with barely any fighting in it. Instead, you get to know the fighters that make up the world of Blazblue in more and more detail. Now, being hit with the story of BBCF as a newcomer is a bit overwhelming. The fact is that this is the 4th game in a 4 game series (albeit one that involves time loops and memory erasure). There is a 30 minute plot recap that you can watch before starting the story, as well as a lore encyclopedia. Things like these, I will admit, are kind of dizzying for newcomers who might be asking themselves "is reading all of this stuff really worth it?" but, having gone down the blazblue rabbit hole as an initial skeptic, I can say that yes, even if you don't fully figure out what is going on, when you hit the end credits of this adventure you will probably agree it was an "epic" story.
But, the fact is, you will not understand everything about the story right away. The plot is insanely complicated and involves time travel. It is also told in a completely non-linear way. This is disorienting, but over time as you pick up more tidbits of information here and there, it *slowly* begins to make more and more sense. Playing the arcade stories (shorter three act story segments for each character) provide more and more context behind each characters role in the overall story. The more you play, the more things you start to understand.
The main reason to engage with the story and characters is to get a feel for the personalities they bring to the battlefield. Their theme song, personalities, and reasons for fighting are all very well realized, blending color, mannerisms, tone of voice, and music into a cohesive whole. Once you have a favorite, you'll become extremely motivated to play as that character and win matches. But, to be honest, if you didn't want to compete in multiplayer, and just wanted to play for the story, single player arcades, and doing challenge missions by yourself, I still think the game would deliver a worthwhile overall experience.
Another thing to note, for beginners: the game has plenty of tutorials that slowly unpack each and every part of the game, and these are actually written for an advanced audience and can take you to a pretty high level if you work at the things they teach you. This isn't a game like dark souls or xenoblade 2 where they throw you into the game with no instruction book and let you figure it out for yourself 400 hours later when you're already in NG+. It is actually designed with new players in mind as well as returning players and doesn't just expect you to know everything already.
36 unique fighters and fighting styles
Another facet of Blazblue's hidden depth is how unique the cast of characters are. Yes there are a couple reliable "shoto" characters ("all around" characters in a traditional fighter) and some rushdown characters with more intuitive combo patterns to get you started off. But, this is not a game like smash ultimate, where you have lots of echo fighters and alts of characters as well as characters that seem kind of dubious to begin with such as Little Mac. You will notice that some characters that seem very awkward and non-intuitive to play at first are extremely scary in multiplayer and can seem unbeatable in the right hands. Since it takes time and practice to master the characters, it takes a long time to become familiar with all the different strategies and moves you will see on the battlefield, which makes it very exciting to play.
Each Blazblue character has a completely unique special attack with its own mechanics, which is mapped to the B button (with directional variations). To that, you add all the diverse special and normal attacks that are mapped to the X Y and A buttons. Special attacks are input by inputting motions on the control stick while attacking, such as a quarter circle. Then, there are more complicated special attacks called "distortion drives" that require accumulated "overdrive meter" to use. These are harder to execute, higher risk, higher reward attacks that make a big splash when you use them and can sometimes kill your opponent if their health is low. (and your character will shout something intimidating as they unleash the move, with dramatic explosions and things going on) To cap it off, each character has an ultimate "final smash" OHKO move that can only be used to finish off enemies that are almost dead. These are called Astral Heat attacks. These all have their own animations and BGMs that are awe inspiring to see. The control scheme feels restrictive at first. It definitely takes some practice and requires lots of precision. It feels very stressful at first. But, the work you put in learning quickly yields results in battles, where just being able to execute a couple basic combos can make you a God among other beginner players.
The process of learning a character in Blazblue is like leaning about a complex, finely crafted fighting machine with each tool at its disposal carefully designed to give the fighter his or her unique identity. None of the characters feel underpowered or like after thoughts. And all of them feel like genuine, fully realized characters that contribute something none of the others do.
It looks and plays very well on Switch.
I'll keep this section brief: it's no secret that many games struggle to run well on Switch, even games made specifically for the switch have an uneven performance. Often when a game is released on multiple platforms, the switch version just runs worse or does not have feature parity. Case in point, Mortal Kombat 11, or the FIFA games, or DOOM. But Blazblue Centralfiction was originally developed for the PS3. the characters are 2D animated sprites and the backgrounds have minimal 3D objects. The means the game will not overtax the switch and will maintain a stable 60 fps. It also does not have a lower resolution than the PS4 and PC releases. Basically, BBCF is a game that is just better suited to the switch's power level than many other current gen games, and this gives it a very pure and clean feel that almost no other switch titles have.
But do not let this graphical simplicity fool you. The battle system of Blazblue is not simple. In addition to the diverse characters, the battle mechanics have a hidden depth. there are a variety of ways of inflicting different kinds of stun states, different kinds of blocks, different kinds of grabs and throws there's an overdive mode to shift into, "instant reversal" mechanics such as "break burst" and "counter assault" that provide each character with some quick escape routes.
Good online multiplayer
I will not pretend the multiplayer scene is perfect. The first problem is that you need to be on a Discord server, or on twitter to get enough matches. Most matches on switch happen in private rooms, there are no lobbies, and there will only be sporadic online activity. Getting your friends to pick up the controller and play this game is hard because it can be intimidating. And, at times, if you're playing on wifi, there will be lag. (I personally only play BBCF with an ethernet adapter, which I would recommend, but I know for many switch players that is just not feasible.) However, the lag is not as bad as you might think on Switch Wifi, it is not as much of a problem as in many other games, notably Smash. The online community that plays this game is solid and friendly, when you do meet random Blazblue players in open rooms, they will frequently friend you on switch after playing online. I have played more online multiplayer in this game than in every other game in my switch library (And I play a LOT of switch, I currently have 39 games loaded on a 512 GB SD card). Overall, Blazblue has been a rare bright spot for Switch online. While some people often say Blazblue is a "dead" game, it does have a devoted following of players who network online and operate many matchmaking servers on discord. If you want lots of matches, these will serve you well.
Conclusion:
There's a list of top games from major studios and well made ports that every Switch owner should own. In my view BBCF is on this list of games. This is a game that cuts deeper than street fighter V or mortal kombat 11 in terms of mechanical interplay and well designed characters and gameplay. And, it has an original anime inspired story. Having its own original characters and story gives it a quality of originality that crossover fighting games like marvel v capcom and adaptation series like DBFZ lack. BBCF gives Smash Ultimate a serious run for its money as the Ultimate fighting experience on Switch, and every thing about it has the feeling of a game made by professionals for people who love games. If you're looking for something to test your absolute limits on the controller, look no further than Blazblue Centralfiction.
Thank you for reading my post if you got this far. I love the Nintendo Switch, I play on it every day, and I want to spread knowledge of the less well known releases to the many millions of new Switch owners.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope - Review Thread

Game Information

Game Title: The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
Platforms:

PC (Oct 30, 2020)
PlayStation 4 (Oct 30, 2020)
Xbox One (Oct 30, 2020)

Trailers:

Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 74 average - 42% recommended - 36 reviews

Critic Reviews

Cerealkillerz - German - 8.7 / 10

Little Hope manages to fix a lot of Man of Medans problems and delivers a great story with surprisingly good Twists. Some areas could use a lot more challenge, variety and creativity but overall the game offers enough for a great halloween/horror evening alone or with friends.

Cultured Vultures - Nick Meekham - 7.5 / 10

Though it has some problems with pacing and minor bugs, Little Hope is a brilliant Halloween pick thanks to its over the top narrative and gruesome deaths, making it hard to say no to another visit.

Destructoid - Jordan Devore - 8 / 10

Little Hope proves that the Dark Pictures format isn't a fluke and I'm excited for Supermassive to continue honing its craft. On that note, I love how these games tease forthcoming installments with collectible in-game premonitions. Next up, the seemingly Descent-inspired House of Ashes.

Digital Chumps - Alex Tudor - 7.5 / 10

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope isn't a long game by any measure, but what it delivers in its time is used effectively enough to purvey a sense of dread. While not necessarily a traditional horror game full of jump scares or horrific machinations, Little Hope attempts to deliver nuance in the style of an arthouse horror film. It mostly gets there depending on a player's choice, but overall it doesn't completely stick the landing. Little Hope's themes put in a 2020-context make it stand out as a horror title but otherwise, it offers very little in terms of true horror.

Digitally Downloaded - Harvard L. - 4 / 5 stars

The Dark Pictures so far has been all about popcorn-horror, the kind where the viewer screams and jumps before remembering that everything’s all right after. They’re not elegant, but they’re not trying to be - and that’s perfectly acceptable, especially if it’s what the player knows what they’re getting into.

DualShockers - Peter Szpytek - 7.5 / 10

Dark Pictures: Little Hope offers a chilling experience that makes good use out of its tried and true formula.

Eurogamer - Edwin Evans-Thirlwell - No Recommendation / Blank

Supermassive still knows how to plunge you into paranoia, but the second Dark Pictures entry feels a little lost in the woods.

Explosion Network - Dylan Blight - 6 / 10

With anthology series, you’re always going to have some things work better than others and although the tighter gameplay elements mean Litle Hope plays better, it isn’t as scary and the cast pales in comparison to Man of Medan’s.

Game Informer - Kimberley Wallace - 7.5 / 10

Little Hope tells a hell of a story punctuated by a great twist. Too bad the overall gameplay and exploration don't hold the same allure, bringing down the experience

Game Revolution - Michael Leri - 2.5 / 5 stars

Little Hope’s namesake has somewhat of a dual meaning. It is the name of the town in the game and it’s also representative of the little bit of hope that Supermassive would learn from its mistakes and get back to making classic horror adventures. But its multiple thematic troubles, pathetic cavalcade of jump scares, and abysmal twist ending paint a dark future for The Dark Pictures Anthology, leaving little hope that it’ll ever recover from two disappointing adventures in a row.

GameSkinny - George Yang - 7 / 10 stars

Little Hope renewed my faith in the Dark Pictures Anthology but is held back a bit simply from the lack of quality of life features.

GameSpew - Kim Snaith - 7 / 10

The second entry into The Dark Pictures Anthology is an improvement over the first. As much as we enjoyed Man of Medan, Little Hope ups the ante in just about every way.

GameWatcher - Luiz H. Coelho - 8 / 10

It may be a familiar cocktail, but the game remixes things well enough that it ends up with a distinctive taste, though your appreciation of the experience will largely depend on what you think of the finale.

Gameblog - Jonathan Bushle - French - 8 / 10

The Dark Pictures : Little Hope is the most sucessfull Supermassive studio's Game. The themes and the cast are more interesting than usual, and the moment with Little Hope is pretty pelasant.

GamesRadar+ - Mark Delaney - 4 / 5 stars

However you felt about Man of Medan, Little Hope surpasses it, promising a lot for The Dark Pictures' final act.

GamingTrend - David Flynn, Abdul Saad - 75 / 100

While Little Hope may not be the fright fest some wanted, it's still a fascinating game that's well worth playing once or twice, if you can get over the nonsensical ending.

God is a Geek - Chris Hyde - 8.5 / 10

Little Hope has some of the best branching narrative that Supermassive Games has ever done, it looks lovely and packs a horror punch throughout.

Hobby Consolas - Daniel Quesada - Spanish - 79 / 100

In terms of plot, it's clearly superior to Man of Medan. Little Hope keeps the Supermassive style, but adds a risky twist that you may love... Or hate.

IGN - Lucy O'Brien - 5 / 10

Uninspired characters and relatively meaningless consequences make Little Hope a bit of a slog.

IGN Italy - Biagio Etna - Italian - 7.3 / 10

A decent horror adventure, entirely based on narration, able to give you a couple of thrilling afternoons (and a little more).

IGN Middle East - Zaher Albalbisi - Arabic - 6.2 / 10

Little Hope brings a fun story with nice twists and some fun quick action events alongside great voice acting, however, there are many things that weighing it down like bad writing and slow pacing that’s also mixed with bad character design and some other issues coming back from Man of Medan.

PC Gamer - Fraser Brown - 74 / 100

Not quite as novel as its predecessor, but the co-op is still bewitching.

PlayStation Universe - Michael Harradence - 9 / 10

The Dark Pictures Little Hope is a solid continuation of Supermassive Games' horror series, and a step above the previous entry, Man of Medan. With a gripping story, heaps of collectibles, and a solid cast of characters, Little Hope is a fine addition to PS4's already-stacked horror library.

Press Start - James Mitchell - 7.5 / 10

The Dark Pictures: Little Hope makes an earnest attempt to build upon the formula established by Man of Medan in many ways. It offers an engaging and well-paced story, great characters, and an intriguing yet typical twist that genre fans will no doubt appreciate. Despite numerous improvements to the underlying gameplay and excellent production values, incessant jump scares prevent Little Hope from standing on the shoulders of Man of Medan, instead merely beside it.

Saudi Gamer - عصام الشهوان - Arabic - 7 / 10

A fun, brief adventure that draws on the genres strengths but doesn't really reach the heights of the developer's Until Dawn, never mind surpass it.

Shacknews - Sam Chandler - 7 / 10

While there are some problems with the design, narrative, and dialogue, overall, the story and experience offered in Little Hope left me rather impressed.

Slant Magazine - Aaron Riccio - 3 / 5 stars

The gameplay blunts the effectiveness of the game's aesthetic, because there's no real danger to exploring the environments here.

Spaziogames - Domenico Musicò - Italian - 6.3 / 10

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope is a dangerous step backward in the series, with a shallow and trivial story, and a very limited game design.

Stevivor - Steve Wright - 7 / 10

While still creating horror games with fairly visible flaws, Little Hope is a vast improvement of Man of Medan. With another — and perhaps the last — in The Dark Pictures anthology seemingly teased by the mysterious Curator in this one, I’m rather excited to see what Supermassive learns for next time around.

The Digital Fix - Andrew Shaw - 9 / 10

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope is an engrossing, frightening experience and may well be Supermassive's greatest game to date.

The Games Machine - Marco Ravetto - Italian - 8.3 / 10

Little Hope is, both from a technical and gameplay point of view, a step forward compared to Man of Medan. The changes do not impact the gameplay greatly, but still make the experience more pleasant overall. The storyline is well thought out with numerous branches leading to an interesting plot twist at the end.

TheSixthAxis - Tuffcub - 9 / 10

If there was ever a time to sit down with some friends and play a scary game, it's Halloween 2020. Little Hope fits the bill perfectly. The annoyances found in Man of Medan have been almost completely removed leaving a spooky tale with jump scares to giggle about, heart racing action, and tonnes of atmosphere. For £25 Little Hope is an absolute steal and highly recommended.

TrustedReviews - Thomas Deehan - 3.5 / 5 stars

As a short, enjoyable romp that can be shared with friends either locally or online, Little Hope is worth the price of admission. The title's move to more accessible gameplay ensures that it can be enjoyed by a wider audience without issue, and the visual prowess of its characters is second to none. In both scares and narrative however, Little Hope doesn't come close to matching the same heights reached by Until Dawn, meaning that true horror lovers should probably look elsewhere.

Twinfinite - Ed McGlone - 3 / 5

In other words, if you have some people to play The Dark Pictures: Little Hope with, it’s definitely a fun way to past the time, especially around Halloween. If you’re planning on going at it alone, though, it’s not a bad experience but you may be left feeling a bit unfulfilled.

Wccftech - Chris Wray - 8.5 / 10

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope takes the Supermassive Games formula and improves on the previous outing, Man of Medan, in so many ways. With a more interesting story, a strong set of characters, the masterful building of atmosphere and more, you're going to be left on the edge of your seat while playing through this story. The excellent branching narrative, as well as multiplayer options also increase the gameplay value exponentially. This still isn't perfect, the sloth-like movements of characters can be annoying later on and some QTE's are annoyingly cheap, but this is still a brilliant game, one I would recommend to anybody.

Windows Central - Samuel Tolbert - 3.5 / 5 stars

Little Hope delivers solid scares and weaves a clever tale that, unfortunately, collapses in on itself.

January 12in12 - 3 games finished with reviews!

Rankings and Mini Reviews for the 15 2020 releases I played last year

Zombie Army 4: Dead War

I like the Sniper Elite series well enough so I was eager to play it with a zombie filter. The story is B-Movie goofy, the missions are all pretty much copy and pastes of each other for the entire game, the objectives are all identical, but overall it was a decent enough "plug and play" romp of a game. Hitting bullet cam head shots was a lot of fun, especially since you can actually destroy the head unlike in SE main games.
Picking up heavy weapons like mini guns or circular saws and mowing through the undead hordes was a spectacle and a lot of fun, and of course slaughtering an entire horde of zombie Hitlers was satisfying and hilarious.
Visually the game is okay, the atmosphere and music are cool, ultimately it did what it needed to do for a goofy, quick zombie killing game.
ZA4 also has one of the coolest controller speaker mechanics I've heard. If you leave the game on pause for a bit you controller will say "come back" and "play with me" in this hellish whisper. It's pretty awesome and freaked me the fuck out the first time I heard it.

Marvel's Avengers

A potentially great game hiding in an exceedingly mediocre game. Visual presentation is great and the combat is a lot of fun, but the game is so insanely repetitive and doesn't really take advantage of the property. Instead of well known villains it is for the most part endless waves of identical soldiers and robot enemies, with most bosses simply being larger robots.
The story and characters are all fine though and at times it did feel like some great Avengers experiences, but samey missions and emphasis on loot and shit really detracted from the experience. I liked playing as each of the characters, but the missions weren't different enough to justify picking one over the other beyond just preference.
Each character should have had their own set of missions that emphasize their unique abilities. And on missions where you pick your team of fellow avengers, i think it would have been great to be able to switch between them in real time similar to Arkham.
Overall I'd say I enjoyed the experience as much as I could, but left extremely disappointed at what could have been. there were definitely some badass set pieces though. I liked Kamala Khan as the MC with her charming optimism and fangirlism, I liked Troy Baker as Banner, a good meek voice performance to contrast the Hulk, and I dug North as Stark although he seemed a little Deadpooly with the quips.
If a sequel focuses more on a campaign rather than using it merely as a vehicle for GaaS multiplayer I'll buy day one

UFC 4

UFC 4 was more of the same as 3 really. They hyped up the campaign mode as being more story driven where you actually interact with your coach and everything so I was excited to actually see a story playout but after the first few fights your coach really only shows up here and there. And they bothered to give your character a voice but didn’t bother to write any lines besides “yeah” “okay” “heh”. Felt it was a missed opportunity to do something different and interesting.
The visuals and mechanics are pretty similar to 3, but with some new arenas and new online fight modes there was enough to justify a new game. The high impact replays are cool though you still can’t control any aspect of the replay and only ever see the last few seconds of the fight. The grappling system is still kind of janky and they removed elbows from the ground and pound, which i loved doing in 3. There also wasn’t much added to the create a fighter.
Joe Rogan isn’t featured as a commentator, but Cormier and Anik are perfectly fine, although they do make the wrong call occasionally just like in 3 where they attribute a knockout to something that never happened.
Generally fun games to plug and play during bouts of boredom or to fuck around online for a bit. Can’t complain too much since they simply are what they are and do it well enough.

Call of Duty - Black Ops: Cold War

After MW2019 I was pretty pumped for this given how gritty the combat was in MW and knowing that Treyarch usually makes the goriest CODs. I also really dug the more CQC missions and the relative realism of MW so was hoping for more of the same but all of the above was a whole lot better in MW.
The story was cool and full of espionage and intrigue, which fit the setting, but there weren't any real standout missions other than some brief stints in Vietnam and a mission in a mock US city used by the Soviets for tactical drills.
Graphically the game looks decent at times but overall MW looked better. The gunplay is the same as always but I was disappointed to see no bullet damage at all, very inconsistent blood pooling under killed enemies (blood puddles even reabsorb into the bodies if you wait a minute) and zero dismemberment, which sucks because even WaW and Blops 1,2, and 3 had it. It just sanitized the violence way too much especially when we know how brutal Vietnam was. Grenades and explosives do zero damage. Just real disappointing after MW.
The only good addition to the combat were the absolutely brutal melee kills, but even those were made less effective by not having any body damage or blood splatter on the environment.
The campaign is very quick. Finished it all in what seemed like 5 hours or so. I did enjoy it somewhat and if some patches improve the gore and blood effects, which I'm not counting on, I'll have more fun replaying certain levels. The game also has branching dialogue (although your character doesn't speak during gameplay) and it has some cool mechanics like searching for clues, uncovering secrets, etc which I didnt really bother much with but completionist will dig the extra content and multiple endings.
It was good seeing Mason and Woods again even though they didnt have much to do. Your player character is a blank slate, which I guess is the point, but Adler really steals the show.
Certain scenes have weird visual anomalies. Toward the end when you're talking with your team the shadows and shading kept distorting and then there is the game breaking controller bug where in the first Vietnam mission the game freezes your controller if you're using bluetooth and the only way to fix it is restart your system. Trying to replay some missions a couple days after completing the campaign, and lo and behold the game doesn’t even get past the “Press X to Start” screen.
The game had a troubled development and it really shows. A little disappointed but will likely play through the campaign one more time now that I've adjusted my expectations.

Ghostrunner

I’m only about halfway through this one as I’ve been playing in small chunks between playtime with other games, but I have enjoyed the fun (yet frustrating) experience so far. The cyberpunk style of the game creates a badass atmosphere amplified by the pounding synth music. The combat is fast and demands precision and mobility as every single enemy is a one-shot kill on you and you’ve got pretty much zero ranged attack options besides a force push (at least up to the point I’m at). The game is like a cyberpunk first person version of Hotline Miami in that it is perpetual trial and error that has seen me die upward of 150 times on a single level. But when you get into a rythym and clear areas with no deaths, no missed traversal attempts, etc it is extremely rewarding.
And slicing dudes with the katana or blinking past a gunshot in slowmo never gets old. There are a lot of deaths to be had due to missed parkour attempts, so those can get pretty frustrating, but once you figure out the angles, enemy positions, etc the game remains extremely challenging but fair.
Generally enjoying the game and look forward to continuing to chip away until I finish it.

Star Wars: Squadrons

I played the shit out of the Rogue Squadron games for 64 and Gamecube and after the disappointment of Fallen Order, I was excited to get back into the skies of the Star Wars world. The game plays pretty different to the more arcadey style of the RS series, but there was a really good mix of arcade and simulator that i ended up really enjoying once I got the hang of it. Managing the various systems like weapons, shields, engines, balancing the shield distribution, etc all added a layer of immersion that made the combat much more engaging.
The missions are fun and intense with epic dogfights, bringing down capital ships, protecting and escorting allies (which i didn’t mind), and they all take place with pretty awesome celestial backdrops. Asteroid fields, cosmic sprawls of space dust, sun-lit planet surfaces, destroyed moons, etc which all added to the epic feeling of being a badass cosmic fighter pilot. I wish there had been some missions that take place over land like in the RS games instead of restricting the flight just to space, but the space settings still never got dull.
The story is decent but you play as a complete non-character which was unfortunate. Having a strong lead for both the Republic and the Empire would have added some depth to the campaign and having actual cutscenes rather than the “stand still and talk” approach would have been much better. But generally i enjoyed playing as both sides and experiencing the differences in their ships and approaches. It was also nice that playing as the Empire didn’t lead to the usual “player character defects to the rebels” narrative trope.
Overall really fun, intense, beautiful, and concise campaign that gets really engaging after a small learning curve. I can see myself replaying missions here and there just to jump back into the world with its rich sounds and iconography.

Resident Evil 3 Remake

Downloaded this at 11pm CST on launch night and finished it by about 430am. Fucking LOVED this one. It was short, yes, but the pace was killer and it told the complete story. I liked the original RE2 more than the original RE3, but I gotta say I enjoyed 3's remake more than 2's, though I’d need to replay 2 to give it the fairest shake possible. 2 did gore better for sure and I would have appreciated Carlos having a "B" scenario for 3, but everything else I thought RE3 did very well. It looks amazing and is insanely detailed. The pace is exciting and tense throughout since it is a bit more action heavy. And it removes two of my least favorite things about RE (even though they are defining characteristics of the series): puzzles and a ton of backtracking.
I had to backtrack a bit in the city and quite a bit in the hospital, but they were interesting settings to do it in. And with puzzles, I understand they are a part of RE's charm but I've never really cared for them too much so RE3make was just right.
The voice acting and characters were also much better than pretty much any other RE. And having your character move like a person with the dodge mechanic was a great addition.
I also really loved the enemy redesigns. Both versions of the Hunters looked amazing and seeing the gammas slide out of the drain pipes and stomp toward you was intense every time.
And fucking Nemesis. Every encounter was intense as hell and I loved>! his ultimate defeat!<. I wish he had been a little less scripted though.
Overall very happy with this and don't regret paying full price even with it being relatively short. I don't replay a whole lot of games in full, but REs replay value is in speed runs, harder modes, and unlocking unlimited ammo, so those who are inclined to do all that will definitely get their money's worth. I'm not planning on doing any of that and am still satisfied with my purchase.
I've found myself loading up earlier saves just so I can walk through the city, and I would have really enjoyed opening up Raccoon City more, similar to Union in The Evil Within 2 where you can choose to do some creepy side missions and help civilians, all while being stalked by an unscripted Nemesis. Hopefully we get something like that in an RE game in the future.

Visage

I remember seeing a teaser for this game way back and always thought it looked intriguing and terrifying. Well it finally released on PS4 and I couldn't resist.
Jesus fucking christ this game is scary as hell. By far the scariest game I've played. On display is such a mastery of tension, atmosphere, and pure horror. I would rank this higher considering it is the absolute best of the genre IMO, but the gameplay just isn't as involved as the other titles I played so it is hard to put it above the remaining titles.
The story opens in the darkest way imaginable and from there you awake into what seems like an ordinary home. This uncanny setting makes the scares insanely effective. We've all walked through our houses at night and thought we saw something move or some person-looking shadow. This game is full of that. While it does have some effective jump scares here and there, the game absolutely drips in atmosphere and creep factor and buries itself under your skin from the first minute. It relies heavily on instilling a perpetual sense of unease and dread and is more effective at that than any horror game I've played.
And as you experience more terror, your sanity decreases which leads to even more horrifying experiences. There were plenty of scares that seemed randomly generated, which kept me on my toes even when playing the same save file. A face staring back at me from a doorway, a figure standing outside the house and then inside, radios bursting on, a silhouette being slightly different than the last time you passed it...
While the house appears normal, it is anything but. Similar to Layers of Fear and P.T., it distorts reality and seemed impossibly huge and labyrinthine and had a surreal spooky vibe to it.
The ghosts that haunt it are scary AF as well. You may turn the corner and see a figure staring at you from the end of the hall or, when using one of the games best mechanics, you might use your camera flash to find your way up some stairs and in the brief burst of light catch a glimpse of something staring back at you. The game is end to end with experiences like that that often aren't even accompanied by the usual music cues so you could outright miss a lot of it. Fortunately I played with my VR headset on (not a VR game though) so every single scare made my hair stand on end.
Game isnt perfect as a game (wonky inventory, texture pop in, some bugs, really easy to entirely miss what you're supposed to be doing) but it IS perfect horror. You will spend a ton of time trying to figure out what to do but will end up covering every inch of the game because of that. It is worth it. The third chapter also isnt as strong as the first two although it had great music and felt more like Outlast, which I didnt mind as there were some insanely creepy moments. The final chapter was a bit of a departure that saw you tracking down items in the house to get the credits. This is the least scary chapter but still really enjoyed it.
The story also deals with some heavy themes that hit hard throughout. It is kept pretty ambiguous but there is enough there for you to piece it together.
Months ago when playing games like What Remains of Edith Finch and Gone Home I had the persistent thought of how effective an "ordinary-ish house" exploration would be if it dived into horror. Well this is that game.
There were countless times I got goosebumps and chills all over my body, times I emoted out loud, times I stared at a door or corner for several seconds before finally proceeding, holding my breath for fear of what I might see. Or what might see me.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

I never played the 2002 Mafia but played and loved Mafia 2 and also really enjoyed Mafia 3 despite the sloggy repetition of it. So I was eager to dive into a remake of the first game and get more into the world and this game did not disappoint. It looks great, drips with a badass 1930s style from the fashion, the radio/music, the vibe of the city, the cars, the weapons.
The gameplay is very Mafia 3 esque and adds a good layer of brutality to the action that Mafia 2 lacks. The gunplay feels good, the car chases are intense and fun, and the stealth is rudimentary but gets the job done. From a combat perspective, i wish they included the weapon executions from Mafia 3 (gun shot in the mouth, standing on the enemy and shooting them point blank, etc) but overall I enjoyed mowing down enemies. The blood spilling was good, body damage was simple blood decals and left a lot to be desired, and blood pools formed even under enemies you punch to death which is a bit silly. Coming off of TLOU2, all combat seems a little sanitized, but I did enjoy the combat here and it gets the job done.
The city and world generally are beautiful. Seeing the sign lights reflect off the falling rain added a lot to the atmosphere.
Some standout set pieces were the trip to the farm which had an incredible atmosphere, badass weather effects, a thrilling gunfight and a fun car getaway. The final showdown in the art gallery was also a lot of fun and felt like John Wick mowing through guys with all the art and statues.
The story and characters were great as well as the voice acting. The dialogue was fun and authentic, I liked the chemistry between Tommy, Sam, and Paulie, and I enjoyed fighting alongside them.
I knew the ending already since it is shown in Mafia 2, but it was put together really well with the voice over and scenes from Tommy's later life. Good emotional ending to cap a great story.
The game is an open world that isnt really open world. You can explore, but there is little to nothing in the way of side content/missions. The open world essentially just gives you a city to drive through to get to linear missions. It is successful at making you feel like you're existing in a living world, and I definitely cant fault a game for not having endless quests of POI markers.
Overall really enjoyed the game and will likely be replaying missions here and there over the next few weeks then once my backlog and upcoming releases are done, would like to play 1,2, and 3 back to back to back.

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Though it is by no means a perfect game, I thoroughly enjoyed all 90 hours of ACV and was happy for it to be my first AC game. The Viking setting and inclusion of dismemberment were what made me finally jump into the series, and those two aspects delivered in spades.
First off, the game looks amazing. The art style isn’t as beautiful or striking as say, Ghost of Tsushima, but the environments, the lighting, the water, etc all looked pretty damn good. Particularly the diffuse lighting in fog/haze or through the smoking ruins of a settlement or simply the way the light hit leaves. The shadows of the landscape also created an epic scale that had you riding through shadows of immense rocks and seeing the sunlight shift over the landscape was a sight to behold. The water and environmental reflections also look amazing. Pretty much every time you’re on the water it looks like a vast drowned facsimile of the world above. The draw distances spanning valleys, rolling hills, mountainscapes, stretched out to the very edges of the game world with amazing clarity.
The combat, though it took some getting used to after Ghost of Tsushima, was brutal and satisfying and made you feel like an absolute badass tearing though legions of enemies, taking fortresses, battling bosses and mini-bosses, etc. With 400 skill points, there were also a lot of badass upgrades to strive for. The combat isn't quite as crisp or responsive as GoT, but I feel like it gave the gameplay a sort of unrefined barbaric feel that fit the setting.
The game is absolutely massive, and while I enjoyed the story an the characters, I think the sheer length of the game did the narrative a disservice. There is never really much urgency nor is there really an actual ending. There is never a clearly defined, singular goal that drives the narrative beyond just expanding your settlement which left me feeling not as invested in the story as I could have been. While I did enjoy the journey, that extra urgency would have put it over the top for me.
Also, this being my first AC, I couldn't care less about the present day Animus story and could have completely done without it. It added nothing to my experience, and having one of the main narrative climaxes dealing exclusively with that aspect deflated the late game experience for me.
The world events were fun even if they were nowhere near as involved as something like Witcher 3, and tracking down special enemies and legendary animals was a lot of fun and added to the thrill of the combat. Zealots in particular provided a ton of cool combat encounters.
Two of my biggest issues were the frequent crashes and the horse mechanics. There is no reason for the horse not to have unlimited stamina outside of specific situations. Traveling the massive map became a huge chore when the horse would slow down every few seconds and slow to a slower-than-on-foot crawl when going up hills. The stamina meter kills all momentum.
Also I think they should have just stuck with female Eivor. Even playing as a male, NPCs referred to me as "she" several times and one late game cutscene even outright replaced my Eivor with the female version.
Overall though I loved the game and the huge amount of time I spent with it but a few things held it back from being truly amazing.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales

An absolute banger of a follow up to the first game even if it isnt a full sequel. The game is visually incredible and very colorful, swinging and fighting are as fun as ever, the venom powers (especially the dazzling full burst) are fun as hell to use, and the characters and story really shine.
The opening chase/fight sequence really sets the tone for what ends up being about 10-15 hours of fun, intensity, and visual spectacle. Some great set pieces and cool boss fights. I really enjoyed playing as Miles and his personal connection to certain villains in the story. The conflict was great and the ending definitely hit just right and reached a similar emotional height as the ending of the first game.
The endgame postcard scavenger hunt also had great payoff and some solid emotional impact.
The game is a breeze to play, where just about everything you do is fun by simple virtue of the game being a joy to look at and travel through. They also removed the stealth missions from the first game which, while I didnt mind them, was a welcome change. Performance was also rock solid for my PS4 slim which was a pleasant surprise. Framerates dipped a little toward the end and for a couple seconds in the epilogue but that's literally it. Cant imagine how smooth it is on PS5.
Christmas time New York also looked great and the atmosphere once a late game storm hits combined with the balls to wall action of the finale was incredibly engaging.
There are also cool little details like Miles being a less coordinated web swinger than Peter. You can see him losing rhythm and at times even slamming into the ground ungracefully.
There is a touching Stan Lee tribute hidden in the city as well which was great to see.
Really pumped for a full sequel to the first game and, as teased in MM, really excited to see Miles and Peter team up more. With the heroic Spider-Cat making a trio of course.
Game is pure fun and does a great job of making you want to 100% all districts.

Cyberpunk 2077

I’ll preface this one by saying that while I enjoyed The Witcher 3 quite a bit after playing it for the first time a few months ago, I am by no means a CDPR superfan and didn’t really care about them more or less than any other developer and only really became familiar with the name, and played Witcher 3, because everyone’s hype about CP2077 seemed to hinge on CDPR’s reputation. I followed none of the hype otherwise, none of the development, nothing, which I think benefited my experience quite a bit.
Because even playing on my PS4 slim, I absolutely loved the game. The issues, which I’ll elaborate on, are obvious and persistent, and some definitely hindered the overall experience, but I enjoyed the positive aspects of the game more than enough to make up for it.
First the issues. The game crashed quite a bit over my 40-50 hr playthrough, though not nearly as frequently as AC:Valhalla. This was probably the biggest problem second to the combat being extremely choppy and unsynced when you first get into an encounter. AI and NPC behavior was poor. Another big issue was the controls being outright unresponsive a lot of the time. It was real hit or miss whether switching camera in/on a vehicle would actually switch me to 3rd person, sometimes guns just wouldn’t fire or were stuck in ADS, sometimes my arm grenade launcher just wouldnt activate, etc. These were extremely annoying but not game breaking. Then you have the unloaded textured for characters when you enter a new area that take a few seconds to fully render. In once instance, a building I needed to exit had doors, the only egress, that just wouldn’t open. This prevented me from doing absolutely anything once I finished that quest. Fortunately I didn’t do this quest until after the main campaign so it wasn’t too annoying. And finally, the most annoying bug was the final boss getting stuck on the environment, making the final fight a joke.
I understand if all that is a deal breaker for a lot of players, but I pushed through and absolutely loved it. The cityscape was amazing and i loved walking and cruising through the neon lit streets, especially at night and in the rain or with wet roads. Visually that is where the game shines the brightest. I liked the bromance between my V and Johnny Silverhand, and i really enjoyed building relationships with all the main cast. Judy and Panam were great characters with great questlines, Johnny was a great inclusion, a Takemura was awesome.
The combat, once it smoothed out after early frame rate drops, was a lot of fun and game you some cool tools between tech weapons, smart weapons, katanas, cybernetics, and quick hacks. I used primarily powerful handguns, katana, and quickhacks in my combat and the occasional use from Panam’s rifle.
I enjoyed where the story went and the wealth of side missions that actually felt consequential, and really enjoyed getting the good ending on first playthrough. It felt meaningful and rewarding.
While I loved the game, I acknowledge it is deeply flawed but am hopeful to see how amazing it will be after several more patches. I’ll look forward to fully replaying the campaign once the PS5 version comes out.

Doom Eternal

Holy fucking shit this game was intense. I think it completely blew 2016 out of the water in pretty much every way. The graphics are better with the backgrounds and all the carnage, the gore system is incredible with how demons come apart as you shoot them, the new demons were all great and every combat encounter made you actually think about strategy, traversal, which weapons to use and when, etc. It was just so much more fun and engaging than 2016. Probably liked those snake enemies the least but preferred them to the teleporting floating ones from 2016. The Maurauders and Doom Hunters made for a badass frantic inclusion to already insane encounters and switching up approaches when each one entered the fray was a blast. I also liked the boss fights much more than in 2016. And the archviles and buff totems were a great inclusion that gave a new sense of frantic urgency to their sections.
One of the best new mechanics I think was getting your ammo and shields from demons during combat. Strategizing when to blaze them for armor or chainsaw for ammo was great. Then you have the new abilities like the grenade launcher, blood punch, the sword, and dash which was an incredible addition. Also the chainsaw regenerating over time was a welcome change.
The extra life system was great and kept you in the flow of the combat and missing a jump didn't mean you died, just respawned with a slight loss of armohealth. The progression system was solid and provided a ton of options.
Then there's the platforming, which honestly i enjoyed quite a bit. Hitting a series of jumps through traps or timing a platforming puzzle just right felt great. The only part I hated was the very last bit on Urdak but I ended up getting it after several tries.
The humor was great too as far as the way people react to you or when Samuel tells you you can't blow a hole in Mars.
I honestly can't think of much the 2016 did better other than having an unlimited pistol to take out weak fodder and allowing you to stagger weaker enemies with melee. Eternal also could have used some more of those timed power ups like Quad Damage and Berserk. I didn't mind the more cartoonish enemy aesthetics because the violence is so cartoonish, but I did prefer some of the enemy designs in 2016. Overall I think Eternal took everything 2016 did great and improved on it in pretty much every way they could have. Didnt care for the swimming or the tentacle enemies, but they were a fraction of the game. I thought the soundtrack in both was beautiful and blood pumping but Eternal had some standouts with the more melancholy choir music on Urdak or the chanting during certain songs.
What an incredible experience. It was lighting fast, intense, brutal, and unrelentingly exhilarating from start to finish. Loved it. I think it is my favorite FPS.
Jumped into the Ancient Gods Part 1 DLC a couple months after finishing the main game and it takes pretty much everything I loved about DE and cranks it up to 666. The sheer number of enemies in the arena at one time, the multiple types forcing you to strategize on the fly, the increased difficulty, it all made for an insanely intense few hours. They added a spirit mechanic which i though was a cool addition wherein a spirit can posses a demon and once you kill the demon you must then ghost busters the spirit with an energy beam or it retreats to possess another one. Added another level of strategy to the already frenetic combat. I didnt really care for the ranged eyeball enemies but there were enough cool additions to overlook my distaste for them. The final arena of the second chapter was also insanely hard until I barely got through it. Much harder than the final boss, but I enjoyed it.
The story is very Doom and ended on a hell of a cliff hanger. Great expansion.

Ghost of Tsushima

This game got its hooks in me from the very first second and I absolutely could not get enough, which you’ll notice has been the case for a few games on this list which makes for an absolutely incredible year in current gen gaming after having sat out for so long. After finishing the game within a week of release, I find myself diving back into Tsushima nearly every day to just ride around and get into combat encounters.
GoT is an absolutely stunning visual powerhouse and what it may lack in some textures and animations, it more than makes up for in the beautifully stylized environments, the radiant sky, the splashes of color throughout the world. The Field of the Equinox Flower is my favorite area to just roam around in in the post game.
The combat is probably one of my favorite combat systems, creating such a cool feel as you slice through Mongols with your Katana, switching through stances to best fight certain enemies, using your ghost tools to evade and distract, and the parrying is so damn satisfying when you get it right. Clearing a whole group or camp of enemies without sustaining any damage on Lethal difficulty is one of the most satisfying combat experiences I’ve had. The blades, yours and those of the Mongols, felt dangerous and deadly, especially on higher difficulties. The dynamic blood effects were awesome and made for a cool scene of aftermath as you rotate the camera across the battle field after an encounter. I do wish they had let loose a bit more with the dismemberment instead of making decaps exclusively for sneak kills on generals, but it being in there at all was awesome.
The set pieces were absolutely breathtaking as well. Seizing strongholds, rescuing hostages, epic battles with all your allies, the fucking insane duels with the Ronin… everything had such an epic cinematic feel that I couldn’t help but be in awe of the entire playthrough.
I loved the story and the characters, while it was simple, I loved that Jin was the one we followed through the tale. His calm stoicism carried an awesome gravitas with such a sense of duty that I, as the player, felt compelled to help absolutely everyone I could. If a hostage I saved told me they had been nabbed at a crossroad held by the Mongols, I’d liberate it every single time. Not for completionism sake, but because I felt deeply involved in Jin’s journey and knew that’s what he would do. His stoicism also provided a great contrast to the few times he actually emotes, which made each of those instances very powerful.
The supporting cast is also amazing, each coming with their own mini-campaign that you do in the form of side quests. I can’t think of one of their quests that I wouldn’t play to completion if it was its own full game. It added so much to the characters and their stories and seeing how it all unfolded was an absolute pleasure.
The Khan also made for a compelling villain and, while he may seem a little one-dimensional during the cutscenes, letters that you collect throughout the world shed some really cool insight into his character and flesh him out more. Even so, the last push to finally take him out was an incredibly satisfying experience.
And your horse. Your sweet sweet horse.
Then of course you have Lord Shimura who is an excellent foil to Jin and adds an emotional depth to his story, culminating in a decision that I stared at the screen for a good 5 minutes before making. The conclusion of their arc put a perfectly tied bow on the unbelievably stunning package that was Ghost of Tsushima.
For the gameplay itself, outside of the combat, the game is incredibly player friendly. So many awesome QOL choices like allowing pretty unlimited fast travel, easily picking up items, etc and the wind mechanic for navigation added a great layer of depth to the immersion. Playing with no HUD was very satisfying while never sacrificing your time by getting lost or having to consult a map.
Like everyone else, I feel like the game is still missing some key features like the ability to replay missions, reset duels and outposts, have single player combat mini-games, etc but the update for NG+ and Legends definitely add a ton to the experience.
But the biggest thing about the game that surprised me was just how calming and serene the game could be. Playing the flute, writing haiku, reflecting on your journey, just walking through the environment and listening to the wind or the distant thunder, it juxtaposed the spurts of brutality in such a way I haven’t really experienced in a game the same way. To add to that, playing in Kurosawa mode and/or with Japanese audio infuses such a cool layer of authenticity to the experience.
Overall, I am perfectly comfortable labelling Ghost of Tsushima as one of my all timers. Just an absolute joy to play.

The Last of Us Part 2

I played the first game for the first time within the last couple of years and replayed TLOU and Left Behind in the week leading up to Part 2 and as soon as I finished Part 2 I realized that week had been my favorite narrative experience in all gaming.
For being undoubtedly one of the most divisive game of all time, I probably consider it to be my personal GOAT. Graphically, the game is absolutely stunning. From the environment, the wealth of details, the animations, it all came together to make for one of the very best visual experiences in the media.
Gameplay wise, it follows a lot of the same loops as the original with a mix of exploration, stealth, and direct combat, but the combat is where the gameplay really sets itself apart. It is a lot more mechanically rich than the first game with the inclusion of the dodge mechanic, jumping, prone position, and more verticality in the level design. The levels also allow you to create a lot more fun combat situations. Then the sheer brutality of the combat takes it to another level. It is the most viscerally brutal combat I've ever seen with absolutely insane gore and damage effects. Everything you do has consequence and impact and it gets to the point you start to feel bad for what you're doing to enemies. That said, replaying the encounters in the months since I finished the game has been a blast.
But all of that are just icing on what I consider to be the cake of the game, its story. Fucking brutal, punishing, harrowing, and engaging from start to finish. They made some bold moves narratively, which a lot of people understandably hated, but every divisive story choice had a specific reason and they absolutely worked for me. Following the journey was exhausting and once it was all done I just stared at the screen and thought about it nonstop for the next few weeks. I've written an in-depth analysis on here before which I am happy to share, since I expect many will strongly disagree with TLOU2 being in the #1 spot. But god damn I loved everything about the game. And while the story turned so many away, I adored it for its ambition as well as its execution. It completely tears your guts out but by the end gives you just enough to put yourself back together.

[Table] I created a business from Reddit post when I was on the brink of homelessness a year ago, and it's still going strong! Ask me Anything 2/3

Question	Answer
Could you tell us more about your education background. You said you got a master and planning a PhD ... what did and will be studying?	my undergrad is in cultural anthropology, my masters is in clinical social work, and working on phd in clinical psychology.
Based on my past attempts in online dating I definitely have some things I need to work on. But the idea of changing myself or the perception of myself for the purpose of attraction feels dishonest and disheartening. Am I seeing the situation incorrectly? How do you view this bending of the truth?	Yes, I think you are seeing it incorrectly. I don't help people bend the truth, and I never knowing help someone lie. You shouldn't be changing yourself for the purpose of attraction. Instead, you should be learning how to market your true self more effectively. Think of the difference between how you are sitting at home watching Netflix vs. at a job interview. Both are you (at least hopefully), you're just actively marketing yourself at the job interview. You should be able to see your photos and read your bio and feel that it's a true representation of who you are, but it should also be highlighting the most attractive aspects of yourself. Online dating is difficult and it certainly isn't always about genuine connection. I like to think about it as pre-dating. It's the marketing you do in order to start the dating process and then genuinely connect with other people. Does that make sense?
What qualifies you to give advice about dating profiles? I mean, did you just wake up one day and say "I'm going to judge dating profiles" or do you have a background in psychology, work for some sort of dating company or have some other sort of specific experience for this?	My undergrad is a double major is cultural anthropology and human rights, I have a masters degree in clinical social work, and I'm working on my PhD in clinical psychology.
How many women do you think are prostitutes on the dating apps using it to gain clients rather than to date? Do you think they should be kicked off the platform?	several, and yes.
1. How many men who thought they were all that and completely thought their issue was something else whose self confidence/perception did you have to break down and give them a wake up call?	1. It happens occasionally.. and I'll be honest, I enjoy it when it does lol. I get clients occasionally who tell me that their photos and bio are both amazing and they're great at talking to women, so they have no idea why they're not getting any matches.. and then I look at their profile and it's a hot hot mess haha.
2. What would you have done if this gig didn’t work out back then?	2. Oh man, I would have been in deep trouble. My power would have been turned off and my landlord would have started the eviction process. I would have had to start making difficult choices.
3. How many customers have came back to tell you good news?	3. Clients who independently reach out to me super excited? 35%. Clients who report a positive experience when I reach out the check in 75-80%. Clients who reported that they didn't find my services helpful? it's never happened... I'm sure it will eventually, but I'm going to hold onto that high for a bit haha.
4. What existing skills did you never think you were gonna use but turned out beneficial to your business whether from starting it or continued managing it? What are new skills you picked up?	4. I'm an MSW. I use a ton of my social work skills with this work. Reflective listening, action planning, etc... I've learned how to create and maintain strong boundaries and I feel much more comfortable standing up for myself.
5. I only had a brief glance at your website so apologies if it already has this info - it seems your advice is dating in general? Or do you still offer OLD profile-specific evaluations? If the latter do you offer just general personal advice or are you more intimately familiar with the difference between each platform whether as a user, as a platform/community/demographic, as a business, or their under the hood algorithms and offer more specific advice?	5. I do profile reviews, I teach guys how to get their matches to respond to them, dating advice in person (usually the client hires me about a situation he's confused about or a woman he wants to ask out), a mock-date where I'll critique him at the end, a week long text-based service called a Pocket Chloe, and various shorter appointments for check-ins and photo reviews. My advice is always tailored to the client, although when it comes to the profile review it's more of a workshop because we have a lot to accomplish in an hour and I need to keep us on track.
6. What’s the age demographic that comes to you?	6. the youngest was a 16yr old with his mom, and the oldest was 72. Most of my clients are in their 20s-30s, but I get a fair amount of older men.
7. Are there straight women and LGBTQ that come to you?	7. Yes, but not as commonly.
So how much we talking? Monthly and annually?	between $1000 and like $1600 per week, depending on if I'm fully booked and if I have a few active Pocket Chloes. However, I dramatically cut my hours when a family member got sick with covid and I focused on my family for several months, only taking enough clients to pay bills. I'm starting back up after Christmas though :)
Do you think that nerdy women (as you described in the original post ie board games, dnd, book club etc) are less likely to use dating apps?	I don't have any data to back it, but I would assume they'd be more likely, as they're probably a lot more comfortable with meeting people online and using technology to build relationships.
Serious question and not at all trolling: you are a young, female, university student, and you were unemployed for 2 months. Why didn't you serve? Edit: serve like waitressing not military lol (I'm Canadian, so no one's first move is to join the military). Idk why this is being downvoted so much. It was a genuine question. As a young female myself, when I have found myself between career-jobs or even when I need some side money I always turn to serving! In Ontario you make $12-14/hr and tips are great. SO... I was just curious if she did that.	I had several part time jobs, but NYC is very competitive, esp. in the summer, and I wasn't making enough to pay all of my bills.
Have you or will you ever get 99 Runecrafting?	my goal is to get all 99s... in like 10yrs haha
What does "playing some OSRS" mean?	it's a grindy game I love called old school runescape :)
Do your clients hit on you (often)? Do they try to flirt with you? I suppose you have an upfront policy that you are off limits.	It used to happen fairly often when I charged a lot less, but now that my prices are a livable wage most of my clients show up to work, they take notes, and they take it seriously. Occasionally I'll get someone who hits on me, but I turn it into a learning opportunity. I critique their approach and explain how to be more effective. I pretend to think that they were just practicing on me, and then I move on.
Have you done much dating online personally?	Q answered above
My wife and I met on plenty of fish back in 2015. Seems like there are lots of success stories out there.	Q answered above
Hello, I’ve recently come across your blog and want to say that it is amazing. You are excellent at delivering quality, actionable advice while also being funny and genuine.	thanks for the compliment :) sure thing, my email is [email protected]
I have been mulling over a business idea I had a couple months ago that is related/similar to the work that you have been doing, and I would appreciate your feedback if you have the time. I would prefer to run it by you in a message/chat/email or something rather than post it publicly here. If this is something you are open to, what would be the best way to reach you? My intention is to just exchange a couple messages but if it turns into a full consult I would be happy to compensate you for your time.	Q answered above
What's your PhD in? Is it in any way related to your business?	undergrad in cultural anthropology, masters in clinical social work, working on phd in clinical psychology
Did ya get the idea from Hitch?	I had never seen Hitch before I started Advice by Chloe haha. I got the idea from being a gamer with mostly male friends who SUCKED at online dating haha.
Yes! I remember your last AMA and it was fire. Was considering to use your services but the need never came up since I'm successful with matches/first dates, and then struggle afterwards. My question is: What do most women want? How do women want to engage in the courting process after the second date from meeting on a dating app, when they already have multiple FwBs? What makes them go on a 3rd/4th date with you or not when they have so many options, how can you stand out? Thank you for your detailed reply, I am a big fan Chloe!	Thanks so much :)
Answer to Q above	That's a really big question that would take a while to fully respond to, so I'm going to be vague for the sake of time. Different women want different things, but they often suck at verbalizing it. It's a huge asset to be able to interpret her behavior or body language to be able to understand her level of interest and what she's looking for. Without knowing more about what's going on during those dates it's difficult to advise you because I don't really know what's going on. If you DM me in a few days when all of this has died down I'll try to be more helpful :) otherwise, I think I have two blogs on this topic here: https://www.advicebychloe.com/blog
So I'm a young kid (Still in highschool), but me and my friend are creating an online shop to sell photos. We plan on putting 10% of the profits in a bank account for future investments. Do you have any advice for us?	First work on developing a reputation, even if that means charging less in the beginning. Once you have positive reviews that demonstrate value, you can start charging a more fair price because people will be more willing to trust you. Focus on finding free ways that advertise that aren't annoying to your audience before paying for advertisement! Good luck :)
Why should anyone trust your services? You're just some random woman. You don't list any qualifications anywhere on your website. I can't imagine doing this in any other field. You just expect us to trust you or your cherry-picked testimonials?	My undergrad is a double major in cultural anthropology and human rights. My masters is in clinical social work, and I'm working on a PhD in clinical psychology. There is no set of qualifications for being a dating consultant.
You say you're finishing a PhD, but in what area? Is it related to this at all? Have you published any research on the subject we can see? What is your scientific basis for the advice you give?	Q answered above
So how much to play OSRS with me?	lol don't get creepy and it's free. I'm always looking for people to grind with! Send me a message in reddit chat and we can exchange osrs usernames :)
In osrs, pvm, pvp, or skiller? Lol	mostly skiller, but I just finished getting all the points I need for elite void, and now I need to kill zulrah for the diary, and then I'm going to grind Vorkath for the better accumulator, and then I want to try out pvm. I have a whole plan lol
Playing osrs!? You can do it all can’t you! Btw?	Do you play?!?
Playing osrs!? You can do it all can’t you! Btw?	I'm finding so many people who play osrs here haha! We should group up and together!
OSRS, brings back memories. I quit that game after I farmed 63 mil haha never got into raiding. Truly inspiring to read your story, what made you go specifically towards helping people make their profile better to get dates? Are you going to venture out to other areas?	It was honestly rather random. I just posted to slavelabour on a whim because I was super broke. I never intended for it to become a fulltime job. I love it! I plan to keep this as my fulltime job until I finish my Phd.
I’m simultaneously shocked and not at all surprised by the number of OSRS questions. I’ll add one more: did you pick up the game as an adult or did you play as a child and come back for nostalgia?	I played it briefly as a tween, but I mostly bebopped around with my kitten and killed goblins haha. A friend of an ex got me into it like two years ago. My ex and I broke up, but I kept osrs haha. Another ex introduced me to Critical Role and D&D. Most of the favourite things were introduced to me by my partners. My boyfriend is a wine somm, hopefully I don't follow the trend and become an alcoholic haha
Congrats on that business	don't date them.. and maybe working on doing some unpacking to figure out what's going on there.
Coming to question:	Q answered above
What would you recommend to a guy who just hates girls?	Q answered above
Wc lvl?	lol 82.
Lvl?	haha base 82s
What's your major?	I did my undergrad in cultural anthropology, my masters in clinical social work, and I'm working on my phd in clinical psychology.
How much to you charge clients?	You can check out my prices here: https://www.advicebychloe.com/pricing-services if you sign up for my mailing list it comes with $5 off any appt ;)
I think I remember when you got started. Is there a reason you’re taking a more anonymous approach? I recall your photo was on your site at some point and you’re hiding your face in this post. Is it because clients were being creepy and hitting on you?	Yeah, it got sketchy. Someone tried to dox me and then I got a seriously scary stalker. I removed all traces of my name and photos from my business and hired someone to teach me how to protect my privacy with regards to my business.
You ever get obvious creepers or stalkers soliciting you to up their creepestalker game? Do you shut them down or just kinda hold your nose and do the job?	yes, for sure. That happened mostly in the early days when I charged a lot less. I refuse to help them, and in one case when he showed me her Instagram, I also warned her. I don't help people hurt people. It's the same reason I refuse to run people's dating profiles for them, even though it'd be super profitable.
Sorry if this is too personal, but how much would you typically make and how many hours would go into it? We’re you able to live comfortably or was it tight?	When I work full time I made between 1,000 to like 1,600 a week, depending on how booked I am and if I have any active pocket chloes. It's more than I'd make as a therapist with my masters degree. I'm not rich, but I'm comfortable.
Why OSRS over RS3?	because OSRS is amazing and RS3 is shit. Sorry not sorry haha
Also what do you charge for your service?	You can check out my services here: https://www.advicebychloe.com/pricing-services
I thought I was tripping when I read OSRS,	I'm an OCD skiller at heart. I skill everything evenly haha. base level 82s.
What’s your favorite thing to do on runescape?	Q answered above
Do you offer your services to couples accounts for swinger sites?	I've helped people with profiles for kink sites, but I've done a profile for a swinger site. Sounds like fun though!
Do you recommend people maximize their niche appeal (and put all their preferences and hobbies out there) so that people get fewer, better matches, or do you recommend mass appeal so people get more dates and more chances to connect in person?	Don't get too specific. Don't say you love rock music, say you're always down for a concert. Don't say you're obsessed with fantasy novels, say you're an avid reader. You always want to avoid unnecessary qualifiers. The sweet spot is finding a way to appeal to your niches without ostracizing everyone else. I wrote two blogs on the problems with qualifiers in your profile, check them out for a more in-depth answer :) https://www.advicebychloe.com/blog
Are there any guys you'd draw the line at with working with? I feel like for women who are looking for something serious, it's their worst nightmare to think a man could've been coached just to get laid.	I understand the concern. I don't help men trick or manipulate women. I definitely help men get laid, but not by manipulation, but by finding someone interested in the same thing. A regular part of my sessions about dating are conversations about consent and honesty. A huge part of what I do is showing men the perspective of women and why their approach isn't helping. I would never help someone take advantage of others. I hate PUAs. A huge part of what I do is undoing a lot of those toxic teachings. The number of clients I've had who genuinely believed that women needed to be 'convinced' to have sex with them is shockingly high. I actually wrote a blog series about sex and consent and I refer it to most of my clients.
I feel like a lot of the reviews I see on the original post worry me, quite a bit. I would honestly be worried for my friends in the same way women warn each other about PUAs. Do you pick up on any flags for those types?	Part 1: https://www.advicebychloe.com/blog/lets-talk-about-sex-baby
Answer to Q above	Part 2: https://www.advicebychloe.com/blog/part-2-ask-and-you-shall-receive-or-not-but-still-ask
Answer to Q above	Part 3: https://www.advicebychloe.com/blog/part-3-lick-it-now-lick-it-good-give-her-foreplay-just-like-you-should
Answer to Q above	I hope that gives you a better idea of what I do <3
Did I hear about you on Side Hustle School?	I don't think so. If so, I didn't know about it. I'm googling it now and it looks really cool.
Not related to your business but do you still have that adorable puppy???	She's the sweetest little girl in the world! I already have a dog and a cat, so I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep her. I gave her to my cousin, who has a huge back yard. I haven't been able to visit her in a while because of covid, but she's doing great!
Have you got a fire cape yet?	I hope this badass photo answers your question: https://i.imgur.com/0PjuTXs.png
Answer to Q above	lol I'm such a nerd. I literally took the time to download that screenshot to imgur to show off my firecape.
Got any 99s?	I'm doing the super inefficient thing of leveling up all my skills equally. I have base 82s
What are you grinding in OSRS? I've got the day off and have been learning CoX with my roommates.	Currently, Slayer and Farming. I'm a weirdo who levels up all my skills equally haha
Hi Chloe, what's the subject of your PhD?	clinical psychology
Do you want to do some COX or TOB?	fo sho! send me a private message with your username info and I'll give you mine :)
Wc lvl?	bahaha I've kept count of how many times this question was asked. You are number 12 bud. I'm a strong 82 ;)
What are your rates now?	The rates of different appts vary. You can check out my services and rates here: https://www.advicebychloe.com/pricing-services If you sign up for my mailing list it comes with a $5 coupon code on any appt ;)
Do you like cheese?	I love cheese, but unfortunately I can't eat it. It makes me sick :(
Alright, what's your favorite aby weapon? The whip, dagger, or bludgeon. That is all, thank you for your time	aby whip with a dragon dagger p++ all the way, but I also like the bludgeon for the crush bonus. I use it with gargoyles haha.
Your so awesome, if only because you play OSRS. Also, since your a girl, would you be interested in becoming my RuneScape gf? I can pay 2 mil	hell ye. Jk haha.
Thanks for hosting this Ama! I saw you reply to a comment about how you're eventually working towards a career in helping people with complex trauma, that's awesome! As someone who has complex trauma I think your current line of work is actually going to help you a lot relating to your future patients. Complex trauma survivors have such a hard time sticking to therapy, and in my personal experience this is because a lot of therapists don't try hard enough to meet us half way. As soon as I feel like my therapist doesn't understand or 'get' me, specifically how I perceive the world, I hit the eject button (I know, not healthy). Was this path intentional on your part? Do you think the lessons you're learning in your current line of work will inform your future one? Thanks for your time!	hey there :)
Answer to Q above	I'm also a survivor of complex trauma, which is what initially drew my interest in the field because there is a woeful late of research with regards to complex trauma and the therapeutic techniques we use. While it wasn't intentional (I never expected dating consultant to become a job, it just kind of happened out of nowhere) it has certainly been helpful!
I think I’m late, but as someone who has had an RS account for so long I still pay $5/mo but only plays once every 3 months or so. How can I get back into it? Most of my old clan mates and friends don’t play or no longer talk to me when I’m online. I started playing the Trailblazer league to kind of motivate myself and am tempted to make an Ironman now but don’t know if I have the time to commit. Thoughts?	osrs is a grind and is time consuming, but a lot of it is also pretty afk. I play osrs almost every day when I'm relaxing and watching and movie or chatting with friends/my boyfriend haha. Do whatever makes you happy :)
Have you been playing trailblazers?	haha I've actually spent an unholy amount of time organizing my bank, but I'm too scared of the judgement of banktabs
Let me rate your bank setup in banktabs	Q answered above
My only question is Ironman?	no, but I'm super ready for group ironman when/if it comes out!
How much did you charge as a start? I’m testing this out as a styling service and would love to know if hiring a copywriter helps you position your message or another service	I charged $5 an hour in the very beginning. I was desperate for money haha. I raised my price as clients started leaving good reviews.
I love the marketing and copy on your website. Did someone/book/service help you with that? I figured you just have a talent for it, but if you learned if from somewhere I’d love to learn how. It’s so good!	thank you so much! I did most of it myself, with help some help from friends. Thanks so much!
[deleted]	I've helped a few, but most of my clients are men. I'm happy to take women as clients though :)
now that you're successful and not broke like before, what keeps you going?	haha I still have to pay bills and work to life comfortably. Also, I really love what I'm doing :)
I just sent your website to my friend. Poor guy just wants to find someone and I have no idea how to help him.	I'm happy to help him :)
Also, you been playing the OSRS league? Gotta grind out those last points before it's over.	I haven't been doing league, the idea of wasting xp on something other than my main was too painful haha.
Any update on the puppy you recused from the dumpster? 🥺👉👈	She's doing fantastic! I always knew I couldn't keep her because I already had a cat and dog, so I gave her to my cousin who has a huge backyard. She's gotten HUGE and she'd friggin adorable!
Want to play osrs?	always
What’s your OSRS total level?	1884 :)
Should i buy a Xbox with the 600$ stimulus pr save it up? Its not enough to cover anything anyway..	in my opinion PC>ps4>xbox
What are the most important qualities in a graduate school for you? I just applied to my first PhD program this month:) best of luck to you!	Access to leaders in the field is invaluable. Supportive mentors, networking opportunities. Also, I'm easily reeled in by a gorgeous library.
Total level?	1884
What tabletop games do you play? Have you gotten into any digital versions like tabletop simulator since COVID?	dude, tabletop simulator is my kink! I have a group of friends I've made via Reddit and IRL and we play board games on tabletop several times a week since covid started. We also have a bookclub, and Great British Baking Show fantasy league, and a bad movie night. It really helps to feel like we're being social even if we're all stuck inside :)
How did you got from making money on reddit to a business? How did you learn how to set up everything?	lots of late nights reading business and marketing books haha. It started slowly, just making appts on Reddit and doing Discord calls with them, and then I bought a website, and then a scheduling app, and then a domain, and then g suite, and then a marketing email campaign, etc... one step at a time :)
Do you abbreviate you company name ABC?	I haven't, but a friend suggested that I do it early on, or have the slogan that 'it's as easy as ABC' but it just felt kinda corny to me haha.
Do you think a man could start a business like this as well (not trying to be a competitor just genuinly curious). Or even as a male/female duo?	If he was giving advice to men? sure. If he was giving advice to women? possibly, but it's a much smaller market.
Do you have a boyfriend?	haha indeed. We've been together since the early days of Advice by Chloe.
This is strictly subject related ofc:)	Q answered above
Do you have a boyfriend?	I can help you find other awesome ladies though ;)
This is strictly subject related ofc:)	Q answered above
wanna play some OSRS?	always.
Video gamer, Accidental entrepreneur, and soon to be PhD?	haha I'm crazy in love with my boyfriend, but I'll certainly help you find other awesome ladies :)
What does my dating profile need to look like to catch the attention of someone like you?	Q answered above
I've sold businesses I owned. I love cats. I still appreciate a good video game. Hell I'll appreciate a bad one if I'm feeling depressed. I'm even "okay" looking by all standards.	Q answered above
I’m sure it’s been asked but who’s the weirdest person you’ve worked with?	A guy who wanted me to help him more effectively stalk a girl he was into. I can't give more details than that, but it was super concerning and I warned the girl.
What do you open the conversation with? I’ve never tried online dating, but have seen the memes	your initial message should always contain a compelling question. Your only goal in the beginning is to get a response. It's not to talk about mutual interests, to tell her about yourself, or learn something about her. It's just to get her to respond. After she responds you guys can talk about all the other stuff. Your best shot at getting a response from her is to send her a message that she WANTS to respond to.
I’m guessing setting up a punchline and “hey” both don’t generally cut it, so how do you come up with something to say based on a non-descriptive profile?	A compelling question has 3 components
Answer to Q above	1. It's a question that you suspect she wants to answer (and is not a question everyone else is asking her)
Answer to Q above	2. You're making her the expert
Answer to Q above	3. It's a question she already knows the answer to.
Answer to Q above	She should be able to read your question, feel compelled to respond to you, and should be able to respond to you without even having to think about it. If she reads your message and isn't interested enough to respond right away, or isn't sure how to respond, she will think to herself that she'll get back to you later and will likely forget about you.
Answer to Q above	For example, if I say that I like Harry Potter in my profile, you shouldn't tell me that you love Harry Potter too (because that isn't a question), ask me what Hogwarts House I'm in (it's low hanging fruit that everyone else asks), or ask me what my favourite book in the series is (because I have give a one word answer). Instead, ask me something more compelling that i'll have more fun answering. You can even do this if you've never read Harry Potter. For example, if you never finished the books you could say, "Hey, so don't shoot me, but I never finished the HP books. What ever happened with Draco Malfoy? He was such a little shit." or if you love Harry Potter you could say, "From one HP nerd to another, I have to ask, what are you thoughts on Ron and Hermione: Are they going to end up killing each other in a a few years or live happily ever after?"
Answer to Q above	Is that helpful?
How long have you and your boyfriend been together? How does he feel about dating a dating guru?	He's great. He handles it all very well. I could totally see someone having difficulty with it, but he's fantastic. He's my biggest cheerleader.
All these comments about your business. I've never used dating apps before and I have just one burning question. Want to do a chambers of xeric with raid with me and my buddy? He just tbow reset and wants to show it off in cox. 🤷‍♀️	abso-fucking-lutely! I've actually been trying to get a group together to do chambers of xeric. I will admit that I'm new to bossing. But if you're down to show me the ropes I'm 100% in. Send me a private chat and I'll give you my username and discord and we can plot away :)
Has their ever been a client(s) where you've thought, omg I can't help you improve, you're amazing and I actually want you myself?	haha they wouldn't be paying for my services if they were raking up dates on dating profiles. Also, I'm super duper crazy in love with my boyfriend.
Have you ever ended up dating a client?	I've been with my boyfriend since the pretty early days of advice by chloe haha
What’s your favorite skill on OSRS?	I know everyone hates MM2, but it has a special place in my heart because it was my last quest and omg that euphoric feeling when I finished it was amazing.
Edit: just saw someone asked that already, what’s the favorite quest then?	Q answered above
What are you studying/working towards on the PHD?	my undergrad is in cultural anthropology, my masters is in clinical social work, and my phd will be in clinical psychology :)
Have you ever thought of hiring 1 or 2 people to help get more done? I for one would love to (cause holy crap money fuck.).	I hire a PA during really busy times to help answer emails and post to social media and stuff, and I've hired people to edit my blogs... but the idea of trusting someone else to work with my clients makes me nervous.
It is very interesting and pleasing to read your story, see where you started, where are now, and where you are going. This just shows how much potential you have once you finish you PhD!	when I'm full booked I made about $1500 a week, which is more than I'd make as an MSW. I took some time off during covid to be with my family, but I'll be starting back up full time after Christmas :)
I see that your service provided and improved a greater quality of living, especially as a student.	Q answered above
I apologize if you already answered a similar question... but how sustainable is your business? Are you able to budget in enjoyment funds or live above your means... etc?	Q answered above
If your clients keep coming back, is that a good thing?	yes. They usually start off with a Profile Overhaul, and once they start getting matches they come back for Ladies Galore to learn how to get responses from their matches, sometimes they'll come back for Twitterpated once they start dating, or they'll get a Pocket Chloe to learn how to apply the skills we've talked about. I doubt they would keep coming back if I was unsuccessful at getting them high match rates haha.

Rankings and Mini Reviews for the 15 2020 Releases I Played Last Year

Zombie Army 4: Dead War

Marvel's Avengers

UFC 4

Call of Duty - Black Ops: Cold War

Ghostrunner

Star Wars: Squadrons

Resident Evil 3 Remake

Visage

Mafia: Definitive Edition

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Friends who scare together, stay together. After all, splitting up is just bad form when a monstrous killer is out to get you! If you’re looking for some spooky or terrifying games to enjoy with your mates, we’ve done the unsettling research for you. Below you’ll find our roundup of the best scary games to play with your friends in 2020. We collected 58 of the best free online scary games. These games include browser games for both your computer and mobile devices, as well as apps for your Android and iOS phones and tablets. They include new scary games such as Scary Teacher Ann 3D and top scary games such as Forgotten Hill: Surgery, The Secret of the Necromancer, and Forgotten Hill Disillusion: The Library. Scary games are the best kind of games. This is a collection of scary games to play from across the internet. You will find scary games to play with friends, scary games to play by yourself, scary video games, and scary games to play on your phone. Add your favorite scary game to play in the comments! In this Best Scary Roblox Games, you will get the list of top 10 rated scariest games by Roblox players.These are one of the Best Scary Roblox games to play with friends, So without losing time do give it a try with your friends as these are multiplayer Roblox games.. Scary Roblox Games. Roblox is an online game platform that allows people to develop games and also play games. The 25 Best Multiplayer PS4 Video Games to Play in 2020 Battle it out with some friends—or total strangers—online. By Cameron Sherrill and Brady Langmann If you and your significant other are at all competitive, you might not need look any further than that same PS4 console you’ve used for binge-watching “Friends.” Put down the popcorn, pick up the Play Station 4 controller and get ready to smack talk your way through these awesome games. What are some good scary games to play with friends? I'm looking for some horror games that I can play with a few friends in the same room watching and helping out without getting bored. Until Dawn is the obvious choice, but we've already played it, same with PT. Nothing brings people together better than fear, right? Well, the following best co-op horror games are your opportunity to get together with old friends and new and scream your lungs out in unison. The latest high-profile game to get cross-play is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), which you can play across PS4, Windows PC, and Xbox One.. Activision calls it "the first time in Call of Duty The scary games at Agame.com are intense and incredibly fun! Dodge monsters, fight zombies, and lots more in these free online games. Scary Games - Play Scary Games on Agame

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6 BEST Multiplayer Horror Games that You Can play With ...

HORROR GAMESHi Gamer's In this video,we will take look at TOP 6 Best Multiplayer Horror Games on Android 2020, Online Multiplayer Horror Games With high grap... Copyright use notice: All media used in this video is used for the purpose of information dissemination, entertainment and education under the terms of fair ... About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators ... When games have good tension and jumpscares, sometimes you don't want to play alone. Here are some terrifying examples.Subscribe for more: http://youtube.com... #pacifyemail: [email protected] twitter: www.twitter.com/yourrage5IG: www.instagram.com/yourrage Top 10 Scary Multiplayer Games You Need To PlaySubscribe To Top 10 Gaming: http://bit.ly/2wtE9XvScary games don't just need to be played alone they can also ... What's that? Behind you! Is it 3 scary games? They might jumpscare you or pull you into a nightmare full of creepypastas or even worse scare you until you ca... Want to play more games with friends, but don’t want to spend money? Well, we have ten games you can enjoy together without spending a cent. Here's the list:...