Spirit Halloween has a tendency to be seen as a hokey gimmick pop-up store. Every product, while useful last minute for a costume, would likely break under gravity's force before even hitting the ground, if dropped. The cheapest most rudimentary plastic caricatures of whatever it may be that is under a hilariously generic alternative name to avoid copyright. The stores often find themselves propped up in a building no longer in use, & likely far too small to utilize the dimensions of said building, often taking up only 2/3rds of the space said building provides,. The only barrier that separates the products from the back-storage is a flimsy, inch thick cardboard that is just as pathetic as the decorations & costumes being sold there in the first place.

INTERMISSION

Once upon a time, I used to build these magnificent castles out of a series of toys that would be universally compatible with previous bundles from the same company. The packages would often include various walls, doors, ramparts, etc, enough variety & similarities to warrant no two castles looking the same between any amount of kids building them. One structure I had built was a very long wall of these plastic panels - the perimeter of a presumably much larger masterpiece that never was - it was just a linear husk that was barely able to be kept upright due to a lack of any foundation. I was quite proud of how it looked, at times, but as soon as I had looked at it from any angle that wasn't face-on, I would realize that I had created a sham.

Dream Diary Entry #1
I dreamt that I was on a train. Feeling the rickety rhythms beneath me, wooden clacking & all, I had noticed the figure in the adjacent seat was a mirrored image of me. A perfect replica of myself save for a noticeable clubbed foot. Other passengers walked by, blocking the sight of this doppelganger with their stoic faces but perpetually twisting bodies; shifting between worlds. My doppelganger managed to pass a book through the river of bodies to my hand, & I swiftly opened it to read of gender divides, identity crises, sensation in music, discriminations against the "other", a crumbling society living amongst rotted wood left to perish, & an illustration of a lone fisherman. Running my forefinger across the page resulted in a static shock throughout my body along with the train coming to an abrupt stop.

Dream Diary Entry #2
I had that dream again.

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Equal parts creative & by the books. A wholly unique take on the dried-well heist concept executed with the utmost charm brought about by clever little gadgets & a wholesome bonding of the most likeable trio without ever saying a word. If there were, say, a small handful of missions equally creative as the finale in which every bit of your arsenal is utilized, the package here would rev engines in dozens of developers to come. For now, however, I am using my binoculars to peer into my heart enveloped by the cold wires of a full motherboard. My circuits blown.

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Sacrifices the stripped down gameplay to double down on some varied gameplay mechanics which has hits & misses. Expanded combat is sometimes a total crapshoot, but the object orientated changes (remote, flashlight) were executed delightfully.

Sacrifices a rather unpredictable yet straightforward narrative for a somewhat unnecessarily complex "time travel" story. Thankfully this is played out nicely, & adds some twisted lore to our two main characters throughout the adventure, & leaves open the likelihood of another entry. Though, arguably, the true joy of this series thus far has been the more obscured & open-ended interpretation of a simple yet effective story which utilizes environmental story-telling.

Sacrifices a unique & memorable setting (cruise ship) for something less precise & otherwise generic (abandon city). Luckily, the art direction knocks each locale out of the park - the hospital in particular being a disgustingly dense & body-horror thrill. The lighting is, much like the first game, a definite highlight of the visuals. However, the main monster designs are a step down the staircase with some previously seen traits (elongated limbs, bloated mass, etc) & is frankly the most disappointing. The extra enemy designs, on the other hand, are horrifically glorious (patients, bullies, & viewers).

Sacrifices the 1 for the 0.

Airtight & almost fantastic. The episodic format by no means does a service to the rather twisted knot of a story (some episodes are practically interludes posing as something greater) & would have likely performed smoother by having each character stretch be their own episode instead of swapping back & forth between each other in the span of each episode.

Lovely genre blending, though, & one of the better examples of the RE franchise pulling it off. Dank, dark & damp Jill moments; Shoot 'em up ball to the wall Chris & Parker sections. Both of which result in a nicely balanced romp. At times, even the former has instances laced with this rather arcade style game/gunplay which, in some cases is a detriment to the moody boat-rocking atmosphere, but for Rev1 is a peculiar blessing.

None of the fresh faces are either interesting or well designed, parading around as otherwise faceless entities present to simply stretch the twists in the plot a bit long. Major props to the setting, however, as a pirate's life is clearly for me.

Segregating each episode into bisected timelines, following the trail of the previous half, allowed for the opportunity to reimagine one of the series' staples: backtracking. Never once did traversing repeated areas in a different timeline was the experience squandered because of it - if anything, the progression of the twisted story, enemy variety, insight, & sight seeing was enhanced thanks to it. Different character pairs felt beyond natural & each respective companion aided in every scenario. The "zapping" system, while perhaps a bit too subtle for it's own good (& could have been explored even further), is a wonderful addition & the dynamic results in something more playful than anything detrimental. Unlike Rev1, the new characters, while sloppily written at times, are wonderfully explored with interesting developments that no longer act as shells of action hero tropes. There's a specific sense of intimacy involved with the duo system, particularly during the slower portions, which is something one admittedly does not feel with previous entries with similar mechanics. The simulationist level design that RE in known for incorporates more immediate verticality & the pairs work off of this aspect beautifully.

Quite the unrealized potential of balancing in some halves of episodes as well. For example, while Barry's portion in Ep3 is somewhat lackluster in comparison to Claire's, the latter's portion in Ep4 ends far too soon & is especially underwhelming seeing as the former's has what is arguably one of the most stand out eleventh hour in the franchise. I would even argue that this imbalance could have been further explored & even remedied in each episode rather than just the last 2. With that said, b2b, the latter 2 episodes are outstanding regardless & work particularly well played in one fell swoop. On a small note as well, I personally could have done with some logic puzzles in-between the combat, stealth, & exploration.

Extremely underrated gem here. Barring some questionable non-diegetic RPG-lite elements or wonky delivery of key story reveals, the episodes are not only delightfully engaging to play, the overall writing & pacing of the story as a whole being something to revel in, & every new mechanic is properly implemented throughout.

Helps that the rain falling from the clouds is laced in surrealism that comes from the one true king of the genre. I may break the rules & pass thru the gate.

Fixed camera angles, at their best, serve as a way for the developer to highlight specific objects & challenges in a view which allows the player to comfortably navigate while remaining tense & mysterious. Perhaps that isn't something that everyone can agree upon, but in the case of this game, I think fixed angles, or any other camera for that matter than the one given to us, particularly in close combat areas, would have been better. What the game lacks in controls, camera, direction, objectives (glorified errand runner), & combat, it makes up for in some genuinely fun environments/setting, & some clever variety that no matter how frustrating the game can be at times, still has an air of charm to it. It's not completely unbearable, but it certainly isn't fun nor interesting.

Something we can all agree on, however, is that Blue Stinger is a christmas movie.

Seems to revel in its deliberate obtuse direction; unapologetically convoluted sense of progression & borderline non-sequitur story related events. Gone is the bottle-film pathos of the original full of mystery, familial twists, & shocking reveals. I admire the idea of swapping between "characters", but when the player needs to manually trigger it via a 2-step process only to find themselves in areas otherwise locked out for no reason & shitty combat scenarios, I have to wonder if the developers shoes were also tied together because of how hard the concept fell flat on its face.