Stalk’s Videogame Corner: Vampire Survivors

Game: Vampire Survivors
Developer: poncle
Genre: Shoot-em-up/Rogue-like
Releases: 2022 (Windows, Xbox One, Xbox X/S)
Stalk’s Rating: 8/10

If you have read videogame-related articles on this blog in the last few weeks, you might have noticed that I picked up a new genre of video games. Some people call them Bullet heaven or auto-shooters, but I stick with the “Souls-like” approach to naming conventions and stick to the last part of the name of the title that spawned the entire genre, hence “Survivors”-games. The title in question is “Vampire Survivors” and if you have not heard about it you are definitely missing out. “Vampire Survivors” came out of nowhere but captured gamers everywhere with fun game play that managed to keep the player invested and going for more runs, all while the graphic can be best described as charmingly old-school. I have played lots of “Survivors” games since I picked up “Vampire Survivors”, but it is definitely high time to give the original its own review.

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Yugioh Deck Review: Starter Deck Yugi Evolution

There are still a few decks to take care of before I can return to the normal released schedule for Preconstructed Decks in Yugioh. But to set the releases into perspective, I have written about the first four Starter Decks, which now brings us to the “Evolution” decks. See, for some weird reason the people in charge decided to make a sort of re-release for the first two Starters, but update them by adding a few new cards for added playability; which is an odd move in my opinion since there were certainly enough characters in the anime to give theme decks to. But I guess main character sell better a second time rather than giving side characters some content, so here is the first Evolution deck in form of “Starter Deck: Yugi Evolution”.

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Stalk’s Videogame Corner: Vault of the Void

Game: Vault of the Void
Developer: Spider Nest Games
Genre: Rogue-like Card Battler
Releases: 2022 (Windows)
Stalk’s Rating: 7/10

Here is another title that only got my attention (and a place in my Steam library) completely by chance: “Vault of the Void”, a fun deckbuilder that is as so often not unlike “Slay the Spire” but comes with enough new and fresh ideas to be worth checking out. I picked up “Vault of the Void” via a Humble Bundle deal that actually contained games I wanted to have anyway; and then there were like six other titles which included the subject of this article. “Vault of the Void” then lingered around for some time in a state of being unplayed and uninstalled until I was bored one afternoon and gave it a go. I was pleasantly surprised and soon racked up 20 hours of gametime; and with every class being played at least once in each of the two configurations, I felt it was time that I write an article about it.

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Budget Deckbuilding: Dead and Alive

And here it is: The last of the Mirage block Preconstructed Decks that only really exist in digital realms. One might question why I do a “Budget Deckbuilding” section on decks that you cannot even buy, but for me personally looking at those really old decks gave me new inspiration for deckbuilding and even showed me cards I was not aware of before. And the finisher for the Weatherlight is actually quite interesting: The mono-Black deck “Dead and Alive”, which makes the most out of all resources available to you, including life points and graveyard.

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Stalk’s Videogame Corner: Torchlight III

Game: Torchlight III
Developer: Echtra Inc.
Genre: Action Role-Playing game
Releases: 2020 (Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Windows, Xbox One)
Stalk’s Rating: 5/10

Oh boy, it has been a while since I reviewed a controversial game on my blog. Back when I wrote about “Borderlands 3” I had to address certain issues with Randy Pitchford while also taking a stand in the debate about the story, namely the death of a beloved character for no discernable reason. “Torchlight III” does not have such points to focus on, instead the game is criticized as the package that it is and hated for not being the “Torchlight III” the community wanted. So, in order to talk about a game that I spend around 22 hours in at the time of writing this article and to finish the franchise it belongs to, let us take a look at the third installment of a series that was once hailed as the second coming of “Diablo”-esque role-playing action.

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Yugioh Deck Review: Starter Deck Pegasus

For the fourth Starter Deck review, I have the deck that actually came from the guy in the anime that could literally produce whatever cards he wanted: Pegasus. In some ways, this reflects in the deck itself: “Toons” are a crazy addition to Yugioh that seemed both way to restrictive to be insane but felt really rewarding once you got them going, while Rituals were just some blue statlines without effects before Pegasus introduced the monster hoover that is “Relinquished“. The deck is way past its prime, as are all of the older Starter Decks, but it certainly introduced some interesting mechanics and should therefore be fairly interesting to dissect.

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Stalk’s Videogame Corner: Rogue: Genesia

Game: Rogue: Genesia
Developer: Huard Ouadi
Genre: Bullet-hell, Rogue-like
Releases: 2022 (Windows)
Stalk’s Rating: 6/10

After having a blast in “Soulstone Survivors” for about forty hours and completing the game to 100% in terms of achievements, I went on the hunt for similar titles that could scratch the itch of fighting endless hordes of enemies with increasingly more over-the-top effects. Needless to say, I found another game: “Rogue: Genesia” is as close to “Vampire Survivors” as you can get in my opinion, with its pixelated graphics and monster-slaying gameplay, but as I said before I do play imitations if they manage to improve on the formula. I did not get as much mileage out of this title as I did for the other two, but “Rogue: Genesia” still provides the same catharsis of growing more powerful and watch the numbers become increasingly more insane. So, if you are interested in a potential hit in the making, feel free to read my opinions on the matter down below.

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