Gaming

Prey. Very spooky sci-fi and cool plot. Also has an included rouge-like dlc that came out later

Personal recommendation: Kingdom Come Deliverance. The second game just came out earlier this month, but I have put hundreds of hours into the first game.

I'm also a huge fan of dishonored, prey, and other Arkane games for the stealth, writing, etc. KCD is similar in that there are great stealth mechanics and role playing options (albeit a bit of a genre-jump going towards historical fantasy).

Sometimes you want to sneak into a place and steal something, sometimes you want to get it honestly without entering into combat, sometimes you want to just fuck some shit up with a sword.

The game is known for having a pretty difficult start, which threw me off of playing it for years. But around the third time that I tried it and actually stuck with it, I figured out how the game actually works, and my god it is a masterpiece.

If you decide to give it a try, here's some tips.

1. Stick with it. The game is difficult starting off but gets tremendously easier as you move through it. This is meant to reflect real life; when you try something new for the first time, you'll probably suck at it. A blacksmiths son in 1403 Bohemia would have no idea how to shoot a bow and definitely never practiced with one before, so when you first start shooting arrows, your bow will be very shaky and it'll be hard to keep it still and aim properly. But if you put in the time, you'll get a lot better. It takes some time, but your hands will get steadier and you'll start zooming in more when you aim. Same thing with pretty much every other skill in the game. Practice makes perfect.

2. Crime is illegal. Most games I've played don't really punish you for breaking the law, but if you're caught with your hand in someone's purse, you'll have a very hard time talking your way out of it (at least at first). You can absolutely be a thief, but you gotta be a smart thief. It's a lot easier to sneak around wearing dark, quiet clothes at night when everyone is asleep, rather than clinking and clanging around in armor in broad daylight. Visibility, Noise, and Conspicuousness are stats that are tracked to make it easier to see how obvious you're being. It is pretty difficult to get away with murder, but possible. You can also go through the entire game while being a perfect little Christian boy and not killing, stealing, or fucking anyone if you so wish!

3. Melee combat skills increase very quickly early on, and there is a perfectly safe place to practice your skills: the Rattay Tourney! Happening around once a week or so, the tourney is an incredible way to get combat xp early on. Speak with the Herald (cool hat, sitting by campfire outside combat arena) in the northern part of Rattay to join the tourney once it is time. IMPORTANT! SPEAK WITH CAPTAIN BERNARD BEFORE ENTERING THE TOURNEY. HE WILL TEACH YOU SEVERAL USEFUL MOVES, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY HE WILL TEACH YOU "MASTER STRIKES", A PERFECT PARRY THAT CANNOT BE COUNTERED. YOU CANNOT WIN THE TOURNEY EARLY IN THE GAME WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO DO THESE. Don't get discouraged, the master strike is just a "perfect" parry that is very easy to pull off, but it cannot be done at all until you learn it from Bernard. (If you manage to win the tourney on your first attempt, you will level up several of your combat skills multiple times by the end of it.)

4. Saving the game is important. The devs went in a unique direction with this. You can only save the game (manually) by sleeping in a bed you own (for a minimum of one hour), drinking Saviour Schnapps, or by using the "Save & Quit" option in the pause menu. You will need to find, steal, or buy Saviour Schnapps, or make it yourself using alchemy! If you are out, don't be afraid to use the "Save & Quit" option and then relaunch the game to load that save (the Exit save slot can only be loaded from the main menu, this is improved in the sequel as you can load it at any time).

5. Alchemy is great! It starts off very slow with an impressive manual process, but there is a perk you can get that will let you automatically create potions that you have made manually at least once. If you don't mind a bit of a grind, spending an hour or two making any random potions will get you to the point where you don't really need to worry about having to manually create potions ever again. Keep in mind, you will need to follow recipes to successfully create the potions, whether you actually have the recipe or not. You can also sell your potions to make a fair bit of early game gold.

6. Sequel. If you decide to start this series, absolutely start with the first game. It is a continuous story, the second game picks up right after the first one. In addition to that, the sequel introduces so many quality of life improvements that it would be difficult to go back to the first game afterwards. (Also, as much as I am loving it, KCD2 is still pretty buggy since it just came out this month).

The game is a masterpiece. Gorgeous asthetics, historically accurate for the most part, super fun to play, and massive.

Jesus Christ be praised!