Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands – The Power of Imagination

I must be the only adventurer in the land who doesn’t know anything about Bunkers & Badasses. I’ve heard of it, but never really thought much about it. I suppose I just never had the friends or opportunities to pursue silly things like that. Pop culture didn’t interest me much anyway. Everyone talks about B&B like it’s a normal part of their vocabulary, while I stare blankly. Yeah, having friends and social experiences must be cool. Can’t relate. I’ve been a solo adventurer my whole life, just surviving in my own world. You get used to it.

I was asked to play a game for the first time in my life when my local group were short on players. Rather than be dismissive, I thought it was a good time to break out of my comfort zone and find out what it’s all about. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

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Dying Light – Keeping The Dream Alive

It’s time to ROCK! Or it was, once upon a time. I’ve spent the past year working on these brand new songs that would change the world, but then the world changed into something else, something unfamiliar. Everything changed overnight. A deadly virus has overrun this town with chaos and isolated us from the rest of the world. The only use music has here now is a distraction for zombies. Yeah, look over there… BOOM! There goes the grenade. Sounds a bit like the bass drum part, no? My band is now tucked away in my backpack.

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How To Beat The “Impossible CPU” In Renegade Every Time

I recently finished mastering all the games in Clubhouse Games 51 Worldwide Classics for the Nintendo Switch. I’d almost done it a few months ago when I first got the game. I had been working my way through the various games usually bouncing around five of them until I mastered them and then dove into some others. However, it was near the end when I had eight or so games left to master that I started playing Renegade aka Reversi aka Othello in this package. It seemed like a simple game but I soon discovered it had more strategy to it than I had thought and soon the game seemed to be more complicated than Chess, Shogi or Riichi Mahjong due to the amount of times I’ve had to replay it.

It probably didn’t help that this was my first time ever playing the game of Renegade. With no idea of what kind of moves to make or what to look for on the board for the next best move, I was thwarted at just the Amazing CPU for some time. I felt I was improving over time and figuring out the strategy of the game and finally did beat that level of difficulty. Then I played the Impossible CPU and it was like I had learned nothing.

Nintendo showing how Renegade should really be played on the cover: CPU free.

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Super Mario Sunshine – Disaster Strikes Pianta Village

I’m buggered. As soon as I heard the emergency call I shot my rocket nozzle straight towards Pianta Village. Taking advantage of the chaos, Shadow Mario stole my FLUDD backpack as I went through the pipe. Great. Doesn’t he get tired of ruining people’s lives?

Things have been tough ever since we arrived at Isle Delfino. I’ve been framed, thrown in jail, and treated like a criminal. Shadow Mario propaganda is all over town, and the Piantas all look at me in disgust. This was my chance to make things right.

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Videogame from a million years ago

[Objective: Hunt Food]

Ssshhh! We found something. The tribe stops and analyses the situation. These tracks on the ground… it looks like a deer has been here. Judging by the amount of dirt that’s covered the footprint, it’s 8 hours old. Judging by the depth and outline of the footprint, it was moving fast. Judging by the direction of the footprint, it was heading east. Several more footprints confirm it continued in this direction. A few snapped branches confirm it was in a rush. Does that mean there’s another predator nearby? We had better get back to the rest of the tribe to see if they are okay. These mushrooms and berries will do us for another day, and we can head east tomorrow to look for more tracks.

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The day the corners disappeared – F1 2020

It was a rainy day at Jerez, Spain. As a rookie I had thrown myself into the deep end of online racing, joining any lobby I could find. I’d already been involved in some big battles but this was the smallest grid yet, just the three of us. No matter what happened, I would be on the podium at least. That wasn’t the goal however, as I only had the top step on my mind. I had come 2nd a few times now and was hungry for that first win. Little did I know, this would not be an ordinary race.

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Super Metroid – Highway to Hell

I’m losing health every second but I’ve never felt so alive and focused. Here I am facing my greatest challenge with no suit, no credentials, just a handful of missiles and my wits. The only way I can get through this is with consistent movement and execution. Any mistakes I make will cost time and energy to get to the next health refill. I can’t look back, only forward. It’s all or nothing, and I’m all out of nothing.

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Hollow Knight – Taking The Long Way Home

I don’t want to die. After a very difficult series of jumps and dashes, I was down to my last husk of health. I sat upon the single platform that wouldn’t kill me and felt the magnitude of the situation. With no safety in sight, my next action was critical. Hitting any of these spikes would mean instant death, and even worse, replaying that awful section again and losing progress. I thought that maybe, after a dozen downward-stab jumps across spiked enemies, the hard part was over and some kind of safe passage or reward would await me here. I was a fool. Curiosity had its way with me once again, and now my only way back was even more dangerous and uncertain than the journey that left me in this state.

I braced myself. The way forward was right there through those spikes, and I just had to do a flying dash through it. A regular dash wouldn’t make it. Regular jumps wouldn’t take me far enough. I knew it had to be a flying dash but the problem was, I couldn’t see far enough to see where my landing would be. With no other option, I started charging the dash.

“WHOOOOSH!” I let go of my charge and flew across the screen. The spikes grazed my determined little ears as I flew through the gap. Immediately I found myself in a giant room with a hard floor and felt a small dose of relief, thank heaven- NO I’M ABOUT TO HIT A SPIKE WALL! BAIL OUT! I mashed every button in a desperate attempt to break out of my dash and collapsed on solid ground with a thump. What a relief. I’m alive. I didn’t know you could break out of a dash until now, when I absolutely needed to.

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Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – Life on the Bionis

Good morning. I feel like I’ve been asleep for the last 10 years. I had convinced myself this was a game, but the intricate detail of the shadows convinced me this place was real after all. The rest of my life was a dream. The world wasn’t round or flat, we lived on the organic ecosystem of a defeated titan. My memories of wielding the Monado still lingered in black and white, but now it was time to fill them back up like an old colouring book. Just being back in Colony 9 was enough to feel energised with purpose.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Welcoming Wisp

It’s been a busy few days. I’ve just turned my tent into a house, and after heavy construction the island of Straya already has its own Museum. We all gathered outside for a big celebration, with lots of clapping, laughing and party poppers. It was a wild two minutes and everyone had a great time, including all the other island residents. Both of them had gone to bed, but I was too full of adrenaline to sleep after all that hype. There wasn’t much in the Museum yet, but it was just going to be the start of a huge attraction that would bring people to the island from all around the world. It was just the first of many projects I’ve been discussing with Nook, and after a successful Museum opening we can move on to the next thing.

With today’s work done, I was winding down with some fishing. It’s a good activity to calm the senses. A cool ocean breeze washed over my face, while the soft splashes of waves soothed my ears. I was walking along the shore looking for my next fish, when something else caught my eye.

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Yoku’s Island Express – Pinball Platforming

Don’t mind me, I’m just a dung beetle doing my best. It’s a little hard to see with this big ball of poop in front of me, but I just roll with it. Life is all about perspective, and I take things with a side-on view. Getting from one place to another can be difficult, but life is all about the journey itself and I’m having a lot of fun.

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Astral Chain – Odd Jobs (Walking the Beat)

Hi. My name’s Grubdog, but you can call me Grub. As everyone knows, redshift matter is threatening to end civilisation and monsters known as chimeras are ravaging Earth. It’s an important issue but someone still has to do the everyday things. We have built a nice little place here on the Ark and I’m gonna make sure it stays that way.

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Prey – Out of this World

Good morning. My name is Grubdog and this is my new place. I’ve been chosen to go into space and work at the Talos I Space Station. They’re doing some interesting things up there, but I’ve got some training to do before I’m ready. I feel so different since I got to this apartment, like I’ve become a brand new person. I can’t remember much about who I was before, but maybe that’s just the excitement overshadowing everything. Even walking around my room, there’s button prompts over objects like I know what they can do in advance. I can grab and throw this chair, but why would I want to do that? Chairs are for sitting on, but I guess life in space was going to be a bit less comfortable. I picked up a lot of objects and put them down just because I could.

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God Eater 3 – Just a Bite

Too dangerous, they said. That’s why we’re locked in here. Horrific beasts have taken over Earth, beasts known as Aragami who only live to consume and destroy. Yet we’re the ones treated like evil, the only people who can fight them. The uncreative God Eaters just call us “Adaptive” God Eaters or AGE for short, simply because we can breathe the air outside. It’s a long story but Earth is screwed. The air is full of corrosive ash that humans can’t handle, except us of course. This “ability” has led us to being locked up and treated like test subjects. We only get let out to do missions for them. Is that our fault, did we ask for this? We must be bad, just like the monsters right? Then why are we having so much fun slaying them?

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Borderlands 2 – Bandit Blues

I arrived at the bandit hideout as ready as I could be. My rifle was custom made by Dahl with an extra fire element specifically made to burn flesh. The rifle burns through 2 bullets per shot as a consequence, so I loaded up on ammo at the vending machine beforehand. I knew there would be tons of human freaks here. This world was now full of mutant spiders and hungry beasts, but humans were still the worst thing to encounter. It was technology that made us the most dangerous and stupid at the same time. What a combination. Anyway, my goal was simply to purge this place on a mission from Sanctuary. How did these guys become bandits anyway, it’s hard to believe it’s a choice. They have no cause. All they do is run around and die really. We could be rebuilding but we’re just tearing each other apart. I guess I’m not doing this by choice either, oh well.