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I went into post trauma with basically no expectations, I had heard it was good but I don't tend to keep close tabs on these kinds of indie horror games. I love survival horror with all my heart but it's so rare in the indie sphere that one ever comes out and really hits like those older games I loved. initially I looked at this and assumed it would be no exception to that. just another that i would enjoy but not really think about all that much afterwords but I saw it was getting a physical and decided to give it a try anyway just incase. as it turns out I was wrong to have judged it! while it can be a little derivative at times it's also got it's own identity and it's a solid game on its own merits. the game plays like a fairly standard survival horror game, fixed camera angles and stiff combat that works to make the horror more tense. it works fairly well here and has you always pretty disempowered, though I always found myself just sprinting by enemies when I could. the puzzles i think are the main strongpoint though, they're generally always really solid throughout, though I wasn't a big fan of a basketball themed one near the end. the loop of item collecting and puzzle solving was the main thing keeping me going and it was always a good time, exploring the environments stayed fun up until the end. the game even switches viewpoints sometimes like having some over the shoulder segments during some puzzles and bosses which I thought was really cool.

one of the stronger points though is the games environment work, it looks amazing and has a bunch of super varied locals. the big standout would be the initial train station. it's clearly based on stations in places like Tokyo and it has a very striking and creepy look that sets it apart from things like the classic silent hill 3 train station or the silent hill 4 one, it reminds me the most of the one from exit8 but more expansive. it's both clean and dirty at the same time and I love the interesting ways it starts to distort as you get further in. you also get a really cool hospital level that is probably the games scariest level, a school area with a cool segment where you get to play as another character, a very short and slightly nothingy maze near the end that's over before it starts to drag and then a pretty magnificent looking final stretch set in an ancient city that is very impressive looking and much larger scale than anything else on display. it's a very impressive looking segment, though this segment isn't the most fun to actually play through. the train station is the most visually interesting but I loved the puzzles in the hospital a lot and it had the most interesting layout, so it's hard for me to pick a favourite there. it's also hard to downplay how good that final segment looks, it's really cool.

the story is neat, I like the main character and the side cast are all at least interesting. the main thing I liked is the impressive scale of the story, it manages to feel so much bigger and grander than a game on this scale and length usually would. it nails a real cosmic horror better than a lot of games that actually go for that to their fullest and it all does It through background details. I liked its messages about forgiveness and moving on too, it was a sweet game and much more optimistic than a lot of modern horror games tend to be which was a really refreshing feeling, it made it feel more genuinely in line with the hopeful tone a lot of classic survival horror games had and that so many modern iterations seem to lack. it even has a few different outcomes and endings you can get depending on choices, which gives it some replayability. the music is solid too, they got on board one Nicholas Gasparini, or myuu, to do the OST and he does a great job. net horror aficionados will know his work for scoring every other urban legend/creepypasta video on the net from a good 15 years ago. if you've been around that scene then you've heard his music. it's pretty good here and noticeably very Yamaoka inspired but it works for the game really well. "main theme", "roman's theme", "save room", "pause screen", "flashbacks", "unstable world", "freya's theme", "the maze", "jills theme", "arrival", "a way out" and "post trauma" are all of the standout tracks, it's a solid track list overall and they all give the game a good atmosphere. give some of them a listen if you want some spooky background music.

another great thing is the length. much like those earlier horror games it doesn't overstay its welcome and ends as it starts to run out of ideas. an average playthrough will take you about 2 to 3 hours long and I think this is a perfect length. You get to fully explore each area and the game never feels like it drags any out too much. same with the difficulty. There is one spike at a specific boss but otherwise it's never too breezy or too difficult. sadly the physical copy is not on the cheap side these days. it was a limited print via "super rare games" and has long since sold out, I paid £30 for my copy but these days you're looking closer to £60+. it's a good game but it's hard to justify that price so if you aren't a die hard physical only person like me I would recommend sticking to a download copy which you can get on more or less all modern platforms bar the switch. I do recommend trying it in some form though if you like survival horror, it's not as good as any of the classics but it manages to have its own identity even with its inspirations which is a lot more than you can say for most modern horror games.

sorry we're closed is a game that i went into with very low expectations. while i love survival horror and i think the idea of a killer7-like is cool. i just really disliked the games art style. it's harsh and i don't like being harsh but to me i have yet to play any other game with art style and character design less appealing to me and my personal tastes, i find it very garish and a little gross looking. i think the game looks very off-putting and it's a very specific kind of overtly sexual drag-esque art style that i always shy away from. i acknowledge that this is all a me problem. if you like this kind of art then you'll probably very quickly fall in love with this because for what it is it seems both well made and pretty unique in the games space. i just couldn't and i found that dislike for the art did permeate the game pretty heavily in a way that i think ruined the experience for me. the writing too i found really grating. it's a very specific kind of writing that is difficult to put into words but you kind of know it when you see it. it's the kind of game where the entire cast is written to be queer, almost stereotypical for a lot of them and it's done in a way i just don't find very endearing. it all just feels very performative and pandering and by the endgame it had me wanting to skip chunks of dialogue, especially with characters like Oakley and the news stand guy. it has the writing of a low quality itch.io OELVN or date everything, just without the humour. the British setting too is just massively anti-me and i don't think you could have set the game anywhere less appealing or aesthetically interesting. it's never been something that I've liked in games and it never looks all too good either. the OST i was also very hit and miss on. while i do like a lot of the ambient tracks i didn't care for the choice of rap music for boss battles, it's just not my kind of thing.

that said i didn't hate the game overall. i think the game plays very well. the controls are a little awkward like having tank controls very noticeably being an afterthought and putting weapon switching on an analog, but once you get used to it i don't think i plays badly. i like the killer7'y stuff with the third eye and it was always satisfying to pull off perfect combos in that first person view, i loved pulling those stuns when realm switching too. i like the silent hill otherworld stuff and i think it's so cool how you have to switch on the fly between them to do the games puzzles. the levels themselves are interesting and fun to explore and there's some very solid puzzles in there, i especially loved the aquarium and the train station. there's a cool little hub town with some persona'y day to day life stuff and you can do some very cool sidequests there that i liked seeing play out. even the story i think has some stuff i liked. i liked chamuel's storyline and i think the stuff with lucy is at least interestingly written. the low poly character models and environments look good too, some parts even have a really cool CRT filter look that manages to emulate a PAL CRT so well that i wished the whole game looked like it. there's a lot to like here, love even for the right kind of person, but that person just wasn't me. the negatives way outweigh the positives. if you want to play it it'll run you about 5-6 hours your first run and it's not a difficult game thanks to checkpoints and autosaves. the physical is still very recent and will run you a decent chunk of change, about £30-40 or so, but it has a Japanese and English release at the very least. i got the Japanese one which had English as an option because it was both cheaper and i found the NA box super off-putting, it almost had me cancel my order for the game altogether after seeing it. i think the game could be worth playing for the right person, but for me i find the game to be difficult to reccomend overall.

i recently ended up more or less running out of space for physical media. i have a pretty large collection that I've built up over the years and it's reached a point where i needed to start getting rid of things. in this i decided i would start picking up some games i had that i knew i could quickly beat and trade in. stuff that was short and simple, that i had an interest in playing but that i knew would otherwise not mean enough to me to want to keep them in my collection. battlefield 4 was one of those. as a game it's really just what you would expect. it's a military shooter and it plays like any other. beyond the vehicles and the destruction there isn't much that really sets it apart from others you've played. those vehicles are fun though, especially the tanks and the destruction in the online mode is seriously impressive even now. one of the few matches i saw played had a whole skyscraper fall in the middle of the map and outright changed how the match played entirely. i couldn't see much of this for myself though because the campaign doesn't have that tech included and finding a match online was next to impossible when i tried it on PS4. so i won't be talking about the games online mode here much, sadly. i did try a few matches but they were mostly very empty, though i did get one decent match with a cool train map where the point you guarded was a train that moved across the map and that skyscraper one was seriously something to behold.

the campaign is solid though. i like the story it tells. it's interesting enough to keep me invested and i like the little gang they have together, i especially liked the spy they pick up early on, she's great. the cast are pretty likable and i do like how early on the game makes it pretty clear that *Nobody* is safe. it gives the campaign a darker and more serious energy than a lot of these tend to have and i liked that. it feels very hopeless at points and i like how you spend almost the entire campaign on the run from a much stronger enemy. it gives it a different feel and it gives the globetrotting you do a lot more weight, even if the story itself isn't super interesting. it's just running information from A to B more or less. the setting too is interesting, i like asia as a setting and the game makes very good use of it with some amazing looking levels. the gameplay is fine too, very standard but it works well with some solid shooting and pretty good weapon variety. it's a lot less gimmicky than something like a call of duty campaign which gives it more of a gameplay first feel but it also makes it a little harder to really talk about. you go through linier levels, shoot enemies, sometimes do a vehicle segment or a little bit of stealth. there isn't much to it and you already know before you play it if you'll enjoy it. it's the most standard of standard FPS gameplay, albeit it's a lot slower and more weighty than something like call of duty, same with the gunplay. you'll either prefer that weight or dislike it. even though i don't think it's quite as fun as the COD style of military shooter.

one thing i do really like though is the setting that i mentioned. the levels set in asian countries all look amazing and despite being a launch PS4 game it looks like it would fit in well among a lot of newer ps5 games with how good the lighting and environments can look. there was a corridor in the first level, just a standard corridor, that looked really photorealistic and impressed me a lot and it keeps it up with how good the levels can look. the highlight levels for me would be a stunning looking stage set in a neon-lit hong kong with cool skyscrapers and a small market segment, a stormy level set in a city in Singapore, a really cool level set on a destroyed boat in the south china sea, a beautiful looking snow level in the mountains and a really pretty level set in abandoned schools and construction sites. though the desert and dam levels didn't do much for me visually, they're just kind of boring. same could be said for the OST. it's there, the remix of the battlefield theme is good but otherwise i remember nothing from it. the game is pretty difficult too, i died a ton and hard a pretty hard time on some of these levels. especially that tank stage and the desert level, it can be tough on normal and above. it's not super long at least, you're looking at around 4-6 hours your first run which i think is a good length, though it does start to overstay its welcome in the final few stages. once i hit the end of the snow level i was about ready for the game to start ending. it's a super common game and it's available on all the platforms of its time, the ps3 version looks very impressive i have to say. i played it on PS4 but i tried this ps3 port all the way up to the snow level and it's a really impressive version. i can't even imagine how they had this running on the console and the 360 version especially is a real technical wonder. it's also very cheap, i can't imagine you paying more than £10 for this on any given day. i recommend it easily if you like these kinds of shooters or if you just want a cool early gen showcase for the PS4, it's up there with killzone shadowfall for being one of the best looking games released near the launch of that gen and it's a solid game to boot.

the summer hikaru died is a show that's more or less tailor made to appeal to me. it's got everything, a setting in the modern Japanese countryside, yaoi and horror elements. it's like a BL horror slice of life show. it's been on my radar for a long time. Ever since the manga started gaining traction and i'd always wanted to get around to reading it. it wasn't until my roommate asked if i wanted to give the Netflix anime adaptation a try that i finally committed to it and it managed to exceed every expectation i had for it. i loved this and once the inevitable blu ray release comes out I'll be there day one to buy whatever limited edition they come out with. this is easily one of the best anime I've seen in a long time.

the character work is one of the stronger elements of the show. i love yoshiki and hikaru's romance the most. both are so interesting, seeing yoshiki struggle with his feelings for hikaru and about the goings on in town is heartbreaking and i think as a main character he's pretty interesting. he's complicated and a depressed, grief stricken mess and i think that makes him pretty refreshing to follow. the set up with him just accepting the new hikaru even after finding out just because he doesn't want to lose what's left of him is compelling and heartbreaking. hikaru is interesting too though! arguably the most interesting and complicated of the cast. seeing him slowly discover how he feels about yoshiki and the world and about becoming human is really compelling and when he shows his true nature it's horrifying and tense very time. it's like the horror version of gap moe, the brightest ray of sunshine and the most terrifying killer all in one. the side cast help a lot too. Tanaka might just be my overall favourite character. he's this mysterious guy who works for a company that deals in the supernatural that's sent to investigate the town. you don't learn a ton about him but he steals every scene he's in and it's interesting that despite being a human and arguably fully in the right, you still feel tense and afraid when he's around because you know the cast could still danger. also he's cute and i love that he's an AKB48 dork, that's adorable and he has great taste in music. there's also Rie, a mother who's went through similar things to yoshiki. it's interesting to see another side to the core conflict and her story is heartbreaking too. what you find out about her backstory is probably the most tragic in the whole show and it had me in tears. there's more to it too like a likable cast of friends that yoshiki has, i especially like Asako and i think her role in the show gets really interesting towards the end , and i think the random villgers are interesting but so far they haven't shined like those four have.

the story is interesting too. the core romance is really strong, it's the main thing that i think drives the show. thing that kept me hooked was hikaru and yoshiki, their romance and hikaru's attempts to fit in and feel human. i wanted to see them both be happy but you know that this isn't the kind of story that will eventually have that kind of ending. the supernatural stuff is great though, i love the designs of the hauntings and they're all genuinely really scary. the ku ghost and the hair one especially are ones i still think about even now, they're really creepy and i really want to see more of the hauntings. the series isn't over yet though so there's a lot more development to happen with both the romance and the supernatural stuff. the anime has ended but the manga continues on afterword's. i ended up buying both of the released volumes but haven't gotten around to reading ahead yet. the show is a breezy 12 eps which is a perfect length to me, you can pretty easily get through it in a week or so. sadly no DVD or localised blu ray release just yet, only streaming. i imagine one will eventually come though and i'll 1000% be picking it up.

the atmosphere is amazing, it really nails the look of the Japanese countryside and the supernatural mysteries start to pile on and introduce themselves so slowly that it always keeps you guessing. you're learning about the horrors of the town alongside Yoshiki and it's interesting seeing all of the small things add up to make the place slowly start to feel terrifying. ghosts in the woods, hauntings infesting houses or train tracks which is all before you even get to Hikaru himself. he's always a total ray of sunshine that it's easy to forget that he's the most dangerous thing them all and when the series reminds you of that there isn't much in anime I've seen that is more terrifying. the town itself is also basically a character its own. there's so much you learn about it and it's history is really interesting. you start to actually care for it and the people in it a lot and it makes you feel so bad for them with everything going on. it's a weirdly contradictory feeling. it has that small town charm from the likes of your persona 4's or your yosuga no sora's with the amazing background visuals but the atmosphere never lets you get cozy, you're always on edge because you know that some haunting could occur and kill someone any minute. it's really interesting. the character designs are pretty good too, they can be pretty plain for the most part but the ghosts have some really scary designs. the characters aren't as cool but i do love how Tanaka and Hikaru both look. Tanaka especially has such a cool design with his blonde hair and scars and i love the panels where he smokes. he's so pretty.

the series has some of the best OP's and ED's of the last few years too. the opening "saikai" by vaundy is really stylish and one of the bands best, which is impressive considering how consistently good their anime songs have been. i love all the teases it gives for stuff you'll see later in the show. the ED "anata wa kaibu" by tooboe is also fantastic, i love the live action footage they use for the first version of the ED and the train imagry is just really nice. the song is great too, i loved tooboe's work on chainsaw man as well and this one might just be even better than that one. the full original score by Taro Umebayashi, noted for his work on carole and Tuesday, space dandy, yuri on ice and Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction, is great too. it's so serine and peaceful for the most part and a few tracks really stuck with me. "the summer hikaru died" which is the main theme being the one of best of them, i also love some of the other tracks that use its melody like "echoes invite", "remaining in fragments" . "reve de baloon", "melancholy and he" and "the sound of a key in the door" are all solid too, that last one is a personal favourite. it sounds so etherial. "things that blur in the distance" and "warning in the calm" have a similar feel. i especially love the wind sounds used in warning, it gives it such a scary feeling. "napping, wind chimes", "nonuki", "silence etched in time", "the sky still remembers", "weaving the light", "lost spare time", "spinning voices in time", "twilight wind" round out most of the rest of the worthwhile tracks on the OST. though other personal favourites for me would be "In the waters mirror", "dancing with the breeze", "Here seems so far away", "food court dialogue" and "remnants" round out the best of them. i also *love* the track "shopping mall kawaii", it's my favourite track on the OST. it's a very piano focused tracklist which suits my tastes perfect, it can be super calming and etherial and i think it's really worth a listen to.

the manga was written by Mokumokuren. who has mostly worked on this and a few one-shots over the years. this was their first big break and it's really impressive for that. they're still publishing new chapters even now and they're being localised pretty quickly so if you end up caught up with the show i would reccomend giving that a look into. the anime adaptation was made by cygames pictures who also worked on projects like uma musume, princess connect re:dive, idolmaster cindarella girls, apocalypse hotel and the upcoming adaptation of kagurabachi. not a ton but there's some solid stuff there and they're confirmed to be working on a second season as well. the series was directed by Ryôhei Takeshita who has also worked on jujutsu kaisen, eromanga sensei, monthly girls nozomi kun, flip flappers, to love ru darkness, the dissapearance of yuki nagato and new game. it's a very solid resume with a few personal favourites and some stuff i've been wanting to watch for years. he did a great job here and he clearly has an eye for quality shows. it's an easy show to reccomend if you can handle horror, there isn't anything super content warningy in it but it can be pretty intense for some. i really do reccomend seeking it out though, the anime adaptation is great and the original manga has art that outshines even that. it's a short watch at 12 eps and it goes by pretty quickly too. it is only on one streaming service and not one i have any fondness for though, so i would say maybe wait a little for the blu ray release if you can. if you happen to be mooching someone elses netflix sub though it's an easy reccomendation, no asterisks. it's nice for the fujoshi to have another win here.