St. Patrick’s Day Alcohol and Video Game Combinations

Top Of The Morning To You

It’s St. Patrick’s Day! It’s the day where everybody has an excuse to get drunk and pretend to be a fraction Irish, conveniently forgetting that it’s supposed to be a religious holiday. But hey, Irish-Catholics love to drink! So, no guilt! These are the best St. Paddy’s Day themed alcoholic drink and gaming pairs.

1. Irish Carbombs and Grand Theft Auto

 

Irish Car Bombs are simultaneously God’s greatest and worst gift to St. Paddy’s Day drinkers. The combination of Irish Whiskey, Baileys, and Guinness goes down smoothly with fantastic flavor. You immediately want to have another…and another…and another. The next thing you see are the sprinklers on your elderly neighbor’s lawn waking you up at 3 in the morning. Your head’s throbbing, your mouth’s dry, and you have absolutely no memory of the last 12-24 hours. Irish Car Bombs lure you in with excellent flavor and a warm feeling in your gullet, but before you know it, your night’s ruined.

The Grand Theft Auto series does the same thing. It lures you in with the promise of total freedom, tons of mini-games, vehicles to pilot, and explosions to create. After the first few hours, you’re totally immersed in the world and have embraced the criminal lifestyle. Next thing you know, you’ve logged in over fifty hours of gameplay and you’ve learned the streets of Los Santos or Vice City by heart. Your grades have dropped and your girlfriend’s walked out. So, combine these two gifts and curses tonight. Plus, it’s awesome to down a carbomb then throw a virtual one at unsuspecting civilians.

 

Jameson Whisky and Bloodborne

 

FromSoftware’s Bloodborne is a difficult game to get in to. It’s punishing, but ultimately rewarding. It can be infuriating, but with some amazing cathartic moments. It pairs perfectly with straight Jameson whiskey. That first drink burns and you wonder whether this was really a good idea. Just like in the first seconds of Bloodborne when you’re insta-killed by a gigantic wolf. But you press on and slowly both the game and the drink warm up to you. You became enraptured by the beautiful gothic architecture of Yharnam and the burn of the whiskey is overwhelmed by its warmth and smoothness. Before you know it,  Bloodborne and Jameson will be your two favorite things.

Click here for the full list.

 

The Sinking City: Frogware’s Lovecraftian Open World Investigation Game

The Year of Lovecraft Continues

Cthulhu must be proud.  Frogwares’ newest game The Sinking City looks to be the next game to hop onboard the Lovecraft hype train.  After the successes of indie horror game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and action-horror, Bloodborne, The Sinking City will be another game set in H.P. Lovecraft’s horror universe.

Frogwares is famous for its Sherlock Holmes Awakening, a Lovecraftian/Sherlockian investigation game, and most recently, Sherlock Holmes Crime and Punishment.  The Sinking City is Frogwares’ ‘biggest game yet’ and they claim the open-world aspect is the next step for them.

Gameplay for The Sinking City and Sherlock Holmes Devil’s Daughter will be shown at the GDC.  Click here to visit their site and here for the amazing cinematic trailer for Devil’s Daughter.   

‘Ni-Oh’ Preview: Samurais and Dark Souls

Combining Dark Souls combat, a protagonist resembling Geralt from Witcher 3, and samurai swords sounds like an amazing game.  That’s what Ni-Oh looks like in the six minute gameplay trailer released today.

Ni-Oh began in 2005 as a flimsy rumor, but has been taken over by Team Ninja, famous for Ninja Gaiden, and looks to be released later this year.  The developer’s flamboyant style looks to be toned down for Ni-Oh and looks to borrow many things from Dark Souls.  Players can stand in multiple fighting stances and there is also a parrying element to combat.  Players slam their sword into the ground when modifying and checking their equipment and stats.

The game also draws heavy inspiration from the PS4 exclusive Bloodborne.  The dark gothic architecture featured in the excellent FromSoftware game can be seen as well as the emphasis on dodging and rolling.

Ni-Oh is based on a script written by acclaimed director, Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai) and will be released exclusively for the PS4.  Check out the gameplay in the video below.

Call of Cthulhu Game in Development

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.

A video game adaptation of the highly successful pen-and-paper RPG Call of Cthulhu is in development by Cyanide games.  The RPG is based on the twisted universe from the stories of H.P. Lovecraft.  Call of Cthulhu is a RPG Investigation game with psychological horror and stealth mechanics.  On a mission to find the truth behind the death of an acclaimed artist and her family on a backwater island, the player will soon uncover a more disturbing truth as the Great Dreamer, Cthulhu, prepares its awakening.  The game will be built on the Unreal Engine and feature semi-open environments.

Other games have drawn from Lovecraft as well, such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent and most recently, From Software’s Bloodborne.  The Bloodborne boss Ebretias of the Great Cosmos mirrors Lovecraft’s description of Cthulhu in his short story.  Both of those games are fantastic and hopefully Call of Cthulhu follows suit.

Call of Cthulhu will be released in 2017 for PC and consoles.  What are your thoughts on the Lovecraftian horror game?

…what?: A Theory of The Point of Bloodborne

A fantastic lore article about Bloodborne.  The author makes astute observations and successfully ties in the DLC story to the story from the main game.

Source: …what?: A Theory of The Point of Bloodborne

The Easiest Bloodborne Boss

Merry Christmas!!! Check out the video below for the easiest From Software boss fight ever.

Why I Play Video Games

Click here to read my feature article on Bitcultures.com.  It explores why I, despite being a responsible adult with a family, still set time apart to play video games.

 

Somebody Defeated the Hardest Bloodborne Boss with no Weapon!!

Barehanded Smackdown!

Twitch streamer Lobos Jr.  is famous for completing ridiculously difficult challenges.  He completed all of Dark Souls using only Dragon Punches.  He had a No Bonfire and No Death run through Dark Souls II.  And even completed Dark Souls while UPSIDE DOWN!  His masochism knows no bounds!

Now he’s defeated the hardest Bloodborne boss, Ludwig the Accursed, without using any weapons.  It apparently took him 12 hours before he was finally able to defeat him.  Check out the grueling fight below.

Ryan’s Late Review: Bloodborne The Old Hunters

Click here for my review of the fantastic Bloodborne DLC!!

 

Bloodborne DLC Gameplay!