Well damn, here we are again. Another month down, another year gone (almost). Apologies for the late post this month, it's been busy.
There's 20 hours of Monomyth footage recorded, and I'm ready to record the voice-over then jump into post-production. And it's been that way for a week and a half now. Stalker 2 put a hard stop to further progress. You've no doubt heard about the bugs and performance issues Stalker 2 had at launch - they do exist - but this is the real deal, everything that longtime fans like me wanted in a sequel is here. The playtime isn't wasted time as far as the channel is concerned; the next video will be on Stalker 2, whether it lived up to the hype, and what needs to be fixed before it can live up to its fullest potential. It's gonna be an interesting ride.
Back to Monomyth. I have returned to work on the video and it'll be up soon. Not to diminish Monomyth, it's a great game and worth your time.
The Stalker 2 video won't be a deep dive like the Shadow of Chernobyl videos, it'll be shorter (40-50mins) and focus on the pre-release and release debacles, the patches, and how the game is balanced at the time of writing the script, as well as speculating on its future. It's been fascinating to watch everything unfold and to be playing a game day 1 when the criticism is usually harshest. I've seen and experienced everything before it was patched, and because I know the Stalker gameplay well, I can identify exactly what's broken, what's missing, and what's imbalanced.
Looking forward to getting the Stalker 2 video into your hands but I love exploring, and the game is huuuuuge. I doubt there will much change left from 120 hours. Not kidding. Look to January, possibly February for the video's release.
What's Blondie Playing?
Stalker 2
Stalker 2
All Stalker 2 and no vodka makes a Stalker sober.
Seriously though. I loved Pacific Drive but had to shelve it because of it's extraction-style gameplay. I don't always have 90 minutes of uninterrupted time to dedicate to it, and not being able to save mid-mission was a bust for me. I have an eye on a Steam Deck this Christmas, that'd solve many of these save issues.
I also started Drova - Forsaken Kin just before hurricane Stalker 2 hit. Really loving Drova, and it was a shame to drop it, but Stalker 2. If you enjoy the Gothic series then I highly recommend giving Drova a look. Probably worth a video in its own right.
Indiana Jones just dropped and the reviews look promising. It also has the style of gameplay I enjoy, so this may end up being a video next year.
The final update for 2024 will be just before Christmas. Stay cool, my friends, and keep an eye out for the Monomyth video which drops soon. Don't sleep on this one, it's a hell of an effort from a solo indie developer.
G'day Pardners,
What a cracker year we've had so far. Some huge titles have dropped and we're not even half way through 2025. My backlog for this year alone is already piling up, and Doom: Dark Ages is just around the corner.
The video on Dustborn is in the script outline phase which, thanks to the new level of detail I put into it, is basically the first draft. I'm about 2/3 through and it's coming along quickly. Even though it replaces what would normally be an indie spotlight video, the Dustborn video might be a little longer, maybe 15 minutes. I have 20 hours racked up in this game so I feel I've earned the right to talk about it.
I'm not expecting the Dustborn video to do numbers, no-one cares about the game and the initial furore died out months ago, but it's a great case study and a good test of impartial analysis, or as close to it as one can get. Admittedly, full impartiality is impossible given the subject matter (and that's by design), but I aim to give this game as fair a go as possible.
What's...
The Stalker 2 vidya is live for the early birds. It'll be released to the public 24 hours or so from now.
March was a hell of a month. Despite the silver lining of my birthday on 19th, it was stressful.
First, my workplace has been issuing redundancies for the last 6 months which culminated a bunch of people resigning this month. Morale is at an all-time low and everyone is concerned for their job, more so this month than any other.
Next has been the hassle of getting our house cleaned and ready for inspection to put on the market. Thankfully we got another option recently which means we won't have to do this, but that was still weeks of work and sleepless nights worrying what could go wrong if it somehow fell through.
Third, work has been exceptionally busy this month and has eaten into my YT time.
In short, it's been a confluence of stuff I could have done without and has impacted the Stalker 2 video.
Currently most of the voice work is recorded, but I've also been editing the video as I go, and there's already 50 minutes of footage laid. I estimate that the video will be around 80-90 minutes long. It's not far off ...
