#the park funcom

[house-of-leave]

{{Hey, im thinking about that old man again-

Do y'all remember the fact that during some scenario runs the bogeyman is just, like there? Way off in the distance-

//Screenshot courtesy of reddit.

Are we gonna talk about that? Hell, while we're at it, I think we also need to mention the 'possession in progress' modifier.

Because, genuinely what the fuck??? I haven't played the game personally in years for a few reasons. So I may just be looking into arbitrary shit, misremembering details, or it's just a possible glitch (which SWL is known for)

But, the existence of a unique modifier implies he's there for a reason-

Not to mention if you play as a Templar, the text you get from Sonnac after the AIP questline implies Nathaniel will most certainly come back after being 'killed'

If one were to just play through 'The Park' it's easy to pass that spindly fuck off as a shallow one time encounter. But during 'theme park tycoon' in SWL it's clear the bogeyman holds so much influence and power over the savage coast, proving just the opposite to be true.

I understand we'll probably never see anything like that come to fruition, as in the past years we've been getting less and less new content.

But Funcom is obviously setting Nathaniel up to be something akin to a force of nature as opposed to a person anymore. He has an agenda, vague as it is, and despite that being the case it's clear cut that, that agenda isn't good for anybody's sake.

This entire situation vexes me, I need to know what that walking embodiment of bad vibes is up to. Never trust a man who calls himself 'Daddy' in the third person.}}

[gaslight-village]

{{HOLD, THE FUCK, UP-

I just realized something in the park I somehow never clocked before.

Ok, so you see the attendant at the security booth in the beginning of the park, right?

//sorry for sniping your screenshot, james

Does he look familiar to you?

BECAUSE HE SHOULD

And you wanna know the kicker?

Andrew Kishino, the person who stands as the bogeymans most recent voice actor also voiced the guard.}}

[0crooked-arcade0]

{{I'm going back and getting info and lines to present as evidence in my aforementioned theory for 'The Park'/'Secret World Legends', and to be quite fair I haven't listened to Nathaniels(The Bogeymans') dialog in forever, so I mostly forgot the topic of the conversation.

But the fact he opens with, 'We need to talk about Callum-' hit me like a truck.

Especially because his tone isn't initially mocking, it's not degrading or the normal ego drenched nonsense/mightier than thou chirping, he tends to put on.

IT'S CONCERN-

It could be false concern, honestly that's the likely case, but his tone was so accurate to the way a parent would approach the other about a child going through something awful it made me think about my own father....

Which makes me wonder about the end, it's easy to assume the Bogeyman used his influence to make Lorraine end Callum the way she did.

Yet, during the course of the game, he never directly attacks her, only using his powers and illusions to draw out memories. A point that seems odd because in SWL, he doesn't hesitate to mentally torture and then tear apart the trespassers on his property that come in search of their missing children-

He's simply trying to show her something.

Now, I'm not Claiming Nathaniels is a good, pure family man, but we know for a fact from SWL he hasn't tried to dispose of or hurt members of his family like he does others. His son, Nicholas, talks about his high standards, controlling nature, and rather emotionally neglectful parenting style-

But despite that we learn in the park that Nathaniel sent him, and his mother (Nathaniels wife), back to Boston after the public backlash caused the parks closing.

The last sane action he took was to get his family out of the blast radius so they wouldn't become collateral damage.

It's definitely something to think about...especially seeing that Nathaniel had been keeping a close eye on Callum, just like he did with Nicholas in SWL}}

[house-of-leave]

{{Don't mean to harp on an old post-

But I find that factor amusing in the most morbid way possible, because it means that the audience at large is just falling for Nathaniels shit.

The reason he gets away with 90% of his tom-fuckery is the fact that the average Joe, does not belive that the bogeyman exists (even after the fog rolls in if you're going by the TSW point in the time-line.)

Giving him the leeway to bogey without intervention.

It's a very good use of 'the trope is alive and trying to kill you' and I wish more people saw that.}}

Every time someone plays The Park and comes to the conclusion that Lorraine just lost her mind without knowing that The Park is a lore tie-in to the MMO Secret World Legends and that lore is also in play and is referenced throughout the game and in the ending, I have to cackle

[tswdb]

Funcom Poster Displate Storefront - Secret World Displate

Funcom has quietly expanded upon their Displate selection to now include poster print options from the Secret World IP! Not only is Secret World Legends present, but Hide and Shriek and The Park are represented as well!

Now you too can decorate your hive with Secret World Legends posters, sweetlings!

[vitali-advenil]

Oh yeah, made another video!

So after reviewing The Park, I found another game made by Funcom (the developers) to see if they improved on their previous attempt. Comparing these two games is actually super interesting, and I think you'll like what I've found.

[biomechanicaltomato]

It’s Monday, so let’s explore The Park! This does touch on themes of child abuse, grief, and death so heads up there.

You know the drill- you get cheap laughs and I get to pay my medical bills!

[sebpfmpp2]

Pareidolia Relevant Research - The Park (2015)

Developed by Funcom, The Park is a first-person psychological horror game set in an abandoned amusement park. Players navigate the eerie park while uncovering a dark narrative.

The Park aligns with the survive-the-night concept, offering a chilling environment and psychological horror elements. Players must explore the abandoned amusement park, facing unsettling encounters.

Studying The Park can provide insights into creating a foreboding atmosphere within an abandoned setting. The game's use of psychological horror and narrative-driven exploration may offer ideas for enhancing the liminality-based concept.

"The Park" effectively captures the essence of exploring an abandoned amusement park filled with psychological horror. The desolate environment, coupled with unsettling encounters, serves as inspiration for creating a foreboding atmosphere within the liminality-based concept. Implementing rich environmental storytelling and maintaining a consistent sense of dread can contribute to a compelling narrative.

Studying "The Park" provides insights into narrative-driven gameplay within a dark environment. Crafting a captivating story that unfolds as players progress through the night, accompanied by carefully placed narrative elements and interactive storytelling, can enhance the overall player experience.

[fizziefizzco]

“In my heart and mind I always return to Atlantic Island Park” - Lorraine, The Park by Funcom

a redo of an old piece from 2018

[savingcontent]

The Park set in the same universe as Secret World Legends, is now available on Switch today

The Park set in the same universe as Secret World Legends, is now available on Switch today

(more…)

[house-of-leave]

Psssssst-

Hey, I noticed a few people passing by my blog due to my recent SWL posting, the AIP and 'The Park' story content specifically.

If you wanna hear me ramble about that shit and yap about my experiences being a nonhuman and popular media references to my family follow me @gaslight-village

[gaslight-village]

{{Just got back into the savage coast, this is the only thing I extrapolated about the father son dynamic from finishing AIP}}

[0crooked-arcade0]

{{I'm in the middle of a family related Menty B, so take some memes while you wait for me to actually post that theory breakdown essay of mine -Kat}}

AND NOW, FUNCOMS 'THE PARK', AS OUT OF CONTEXT TUMBLR POSTS. AKA: NATHANIEL WINTER BEING AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE FREAK FOR A GOOD 45 MINUTES OF PLAYTIME.

[puerher]

“Don’t blame yourself Lorraine, people lose things all the time. Take a deep breath and think about the last place you saw your son’s teddy bear.”

Lorraine from Funcom’s The Park.

[aportesur]

"The Park" estará disponible en Nintendo Switch

#ThePark estará disponible en #NintendoSwitch a través de la #eShop @NintendoArg @funcom

El juego de terror psicológico en primera persona estará disponible en Nintendo Switch este mes

A continuación te presentamos el trailer de lanzamiento y una descripción del juego:

Ambientado en un inquietante parque de diversiones ocultando un siniestro y oscuro secreto, The Parkes una experiencia de terror psicológico de una o dos horas de duración en primera persona, centrándose…

[altalksaboutstuff]

My Top 5 Games of the Past Generation Youtube Script Plus Notes

This is, more or less, the script for My Top 5 Games of the Past Generation video that I just published on Youtube: With the Xbox One and Playstation Four about to head out of the door to make ways for the Xbox Series X and the Playstation 5 respectively to lead us into the next generation of consoles were only Nintendo has been sitting comfortably with the Switch, the Wii U has been long gone and Nintendo also recently announced the official end of the Nintendo 3DS line cutting all the ties to this last generation.  With that almost everyone is now releasing their lists of the best games of the current generation, myself included, I couldn't help but notice a lot of same-soundy lists such as Game Informer's top 5 list.  I myself have to disagree with these, not to say that any and/or all five of those games on Game Informer's Top 5 aren't good, important or worth playing just that I don't think they are the best representative of this generation in terms of impact and wide appeal, so much as had the most money backing them. That these games on the list are more the best representative of the biggest Triple A titles.  The games that I had in mind are more impactful on how this generation swayed and set new standards.  I want you to keep in mind that while I liked some of these games, these aren't my personal top 5 of the past generation either but I think closer to what best represents our closing era of gaming, when I say the “best games of the current generation.”

First off I'd like to make an honorable mention of PT.  PT or playable trailer was supposed to be a demo for the new Silent Hill S game that unfortunately never came to be for the Playstation 4 from Konami.  A joint venture between film director Guillermo del Toro and the famous creator of Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima, this demo spooked the pants off of everyone and was probably the reason a lot of people decided to buy a Playstation 4.  Unfortunately Konami let Hideo Kojima go under less than favorable conditions and the demo vanished with him in time.  Since then the immersive, first person perspective horror game demo changed the landscape of what survival horror could be.  We then saw Resident Evil VII by Capcom, the Park by Funcom, Layers of Fear by Aspyr and Death Standing by Hideo Kojima's new studio Kojima Productions that were all heavily influenced by PT (this point made more obvious for Hido Kojima's Death Stranding) and the future of Survial Horror / Suspense games seems to be headed there with upcoming games like Resident Evil VIII: The Village.  The only reason this isn't officially on the list is because, well, it was sadly never a game but its influence was too important for me not to mention.

Number 5: Sonic Mania.  Ok so Sonic Mania isn't anything new but it is very important in the sense that it is a major franchise, Sonic, by a well established publisher, Sega, and they had officially given the keys of Mobius to the fandom to make a new game and it was fantastic. While that's oversimplying things a bit errr a lot, since Sega just didn't come out of the blue offering that opportunity.  Rather Sega saw a Sonic game pitched by Christian Whitehead, aka Taxman, who worked on porting previous ports of Sonic games to Mobile platforms. Why I think it is important is that this validating the bridge between fandom and passion projects in world where game hacks and fangames are traditionally shut down almost immediately after gaining the slightest attention.  While Sonic Mania isn't a fangame, its roots were deep from the Romhack community.  This represents cracking the door between what the fandom produces and what the corporate offices allow being available to consumers in a world were popular fangames and hacks result in cease and desist orders - which is why I think is very important to put Sonic Mania as the number 5 game of this console generation.

Number 4: Rocket League.  As of today, Rocket League is a now free to play game for better or for worse.  Rocket League is high-octane fun, blasting balls across various courts and fields such as basketball and football with fast automobiles but what it is most well known for is basically soccer with cars.  Rocket League is a lot of fun to play and has a large audience of  in the streaming and esports field which would be reason enough to put this game in a top 5 but what this game marks maybe even more importantly is cross console online play. While other games have and do continue to have online play across systems, back in March of 2016 Microsoft was very interested in allowing online play between Xbox One and other consoles them being extremely hopeful for Playstation 4 in particular, however Sony was holding out.  Sony was hesitant, citing their emphasis on providing a certain quality online experience but finally came to the party and in 2019 you could finally play Rocket League online with all your friends whether it be on PC, Xbox One, Switch, or Playstation 4. Since then we have had other games slowly roll out this feature such as Wargroove and the trend seems to be expanding.  I hope to see all games adopt this in the future and since Rocket League “birthed” this concept coming to the table for cross console online play for us all to enjoy, this is why I think Rocket League deserves the number 4 slot.

Number 3: Bloodborne/Dark Souls III.  This past generation and hell even to some extent decade, spanning to the PS3/Xbox 360, has lead us to compare every challenging game that comes out to Dark Souls.  Cuphead is the Dark Souls of run and gun shooters, Dead Cells is the Dark Souls of Metroidvanias, Celeste is the Dark Souls of platformers, etc.  While the meme of “X is like the Dark Souls of” is hard to find a concrete start, according to Google Trends this first seemed to spike in April of 2015 around the release of Bloodborne, the PS4 game created by FromSoftware.  While not technically a Dark Souls game, it was made by the same team and the game play and feel is very Dark Souls in the sense that I feel the phrase is used today, in contrast to the first two Dark Souls games.  Then we can see that in/and around October 2017 the trend has risen to its peak a little after a year and a half of the release of Dark Souls III.  While this justification may seem more flimsy and ultimately the Dark Souls brand was established in 2011, I do think Bloodborne/Dark Souls III is more in the zeitgeist, if you will, of the “X is like Dark Souls” comparison that has shaped the conversation of so many games today.

Number 2: Undertale.  Undertale is perhaps the darling of this generation. A game chock full of charm with multiple ways to approach it.  Will you save everyone, sacrifice everyone, or something in-between?  This game does look next gen, current gen or even comparable to past gen games until you hit perhaps the SNES or even late NES.  Maybe a number 2 spot is too high on list – this game didn't revolutionize the industry in ways that the other games on this list did nor was it the first anti-RPG of its kind, that would probably go to MOON, but Undertale just had such a powerful impact on gamers when it came out and became so unforgettable.  I feel like Undertale will be a game that we remember for a long time and to not include it in this list because its an indie game would be a real tragedy which segways me to my number 1 game.

Number 1: Shovel Knight.  Shovel Knight is the indie game that, I think, lead to the current boom of retro inspired indie games we have been enjoying.  A love letter to the NES games of the past such as Castlevania, Mega Man and Ducktales to name a few.  Shovel Knight wasn't the first retro inspired indie games but I feel like the attention to detail in trying to stay as true to what the hardware could run in terms of look, color, sound and pixel art with its overwhelming success showed that there was a market for these type of games.  Its success kickstarter in 2013 also showed that Kickstarter could be used as a viable platform to create indie games for a wider audience without having to rely on that Triple A model of good gaming synonymous with big budget corporate funding.  I firmly believe that we wouldn't have the great retro inspired games like Celeste and Dead Cells or the Kickstarter'd Yooka Laylee and Bloodstained or games that did both like Blasphemous if it wasn't for the hard-work and ingenuity that Yacht Club Games paved with Shovel Knight.

To use a popular Youtube cliché to conclude this list, “At the end of the day” I didn't make this list to put Game Informer or anyone's personal preferences down.  If you believe that they got the Top 5 games of the decade right that's perfectly ok and valid too, to have as your opinion.  I also want to reiterate that those five games – The Last of Us Part II, the Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild and God of War are all important to this generation coming to a close as well in their own way.  While this list isn't my favorite games of the past generation, maybe I'll do that in the future, they are my subjective “best games list” of the past generation for what I think they did to the industry and you are free to agree, disagree, pick and choose between my list and Game Informers list or make a completely different list of your own.  I'm personally excited to see what the future of gaming has for us in this coming generation and optimistic for what's both around the corner and late into the next systems' life-cycle.  Happy gaming to you however you play.

Webpages noted: https://www.polygon.com/2020/9/17/21443683/nintendo-3ds-discontinued-lifetime-sales-hardware-software-units

https://www.fandom.com/articles/sonic-mania-just-nostalgia

https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/15/15807138/sony-playstation-cross-network-play-xbox-block-response

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/were-ready-microsoft-says-about-xbox-one-ps4-cross/1100-6438654/

https://www.rocketleague.com/news/full-cross-platform-play-now-live-in-rocket-league/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel-knight

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidDAngelo/20140625/219383/Breaking_the_NES_for_Shovel_Knight.php

Games shown/referenced in the video:

The Last of Us Part 2

God of War

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Red Dead Redeption II

Witcher 3

PT / Silent Hill S

Sonic Mania

Rocket League

Blood Borne

Dark Souls III

Undertale

Shovel Knight

Shantae: Half Genie Hero

Cuphead

Celeste

Yooka Laylee

Mega Man 2

Ducktales

Castlevania

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Blasphemous

Dead Cells

Resident Evil 7

Resident Evil 8

Moon

Layers of Fear

The Park

Death Stranding

Bonus Footage:

Xbox Series X reveal trailer

PS5 reveal trailer

Also note: I messed up in the original video and said the phrase, “X is like Dark Souls of” spiked in April of 2015 when I should have said first peaked in January to April of 2015.  I noted it in the video but wanted to note it again, sorry.