Connect with us

News

INSIDE Is Haunting, Fantastic and A Must-Play

Published

on

If you were to look at my top 10 list that complied my favorite games of all time, you would notice that a lot of them are open-world titles. “Red Dead Redemption” and “The Witcher III” would even be found snuggled in my top 5 spots. Now along these huge blockbuster games, you would find a new addition. A small indie masterpiece called Inside.

The reason I bring up those open-world games is because, usually it takes a large world to immerse me. A variety of missions, an in-depth upgrade system, etc…However, when a platformer that has simplistic controls and a simple “walk left, walk right” structure comes out and manages to fascinate me as much as Inside did, it is truly catching lighting in a bottle.

Game developer, Playdead’s “Limbo” was a unique platformer experience that wowed and stood out both stylistically and through innovation. Inside is the long-awaited followup that has managed to not only raise the bar that Limbo left behind but also creates a game so strange, beautiful and haunting that it deserves a spot on any self-proclaimed cinema lover and game fanatics top 10 list.

Inside begins with a boy in the woods. There is no explanation as to how he got there or what his motives are. He is just a boy in the woods. You immediately take control of the young character. You lead him past shadowy figures in the woods who appear to be patrolling the area. It isn’t long before the faceless figures are chasing you and sicking dogs on you. I managed to die a lot during my play-through. Not always by mistake either. The death animations have a wide variety of animations from dogs tearing you apart to being ripped to shreds by sound concussion blasts, there are a ton of ways to die and each is more fascinating than the last.

“Inside is what would happen if

David Lynch and David Cronenberg

directed a film together”

Once out of the woods, you enter a surreal complex that reveals a Kafka-esque dystopian nightmare. Slaves are controlled by a shadow bureaucracy. The socio-political aspect of our overworked world is something I felt was all over this game. The large masses marching to work much like “Pink Floyd’s The Wall” are ubiquitous in this world.

Your journey leads you deep inside the facility where you uncover nightmare inducing sights, pilot a submarine in pitch black waters and find something that will make your jawdrop in  the final act. This game is best left unspoiled. It is better to let it creep over you as you surrender yourself over to it.

“Inside sticks, sickly and sweet

to your brain and gives

a rare gaming experience.”

The art designs are absolutely beautiful and chilling. The shadow filled complex becomes a character all on its own. While, the puzzles and character animations go a long way to create an experience that is one of a kind.

The game structure is built around solving puzzles. The puzzles are tough but fair. They may have you scratching your head for a bit but none are hopeless. Everything is measured at just the right amount of story and puzzle. Inside knows exactly what to allow you to see and what to keep hidden. It knows when to begin and the exact moment to end. It only coaxes you only long enough to devour you in its narrative. At a rough 4 – 6 hours of gameplay the game feels like it has a perfectly matched runtime for what it sets out to accomplish.

Inside

Inside is what would happen if David Lynch and David Cronenberg directed a film together about their idea of dystopia. It is filled with thrilling moments that will give your stomach sinking feelings. Inside sticks, sickly and sweet to your brain and gives a rare gaming experience. Inside is a must for fans of Limbo and an absolute must for fans of dark sci fi and horror.

Inside is out now on Xbox One and Steam.

[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/E0V2rPVQWfM”]

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

on

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

on

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

on

Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading