So, I have a confession to make—Ghost of Tsushima actually has a pretty good photo mode. The thing is, the UI was very iffy so I didn’t realize I needed the D-Pad to switch between the various effects and tools it offers. Other photo modes I used would use the left and right bumpers for switching, so I only saw the freecam option when going into photo mode.

So, to remedy my transgression, here is a cool shot from the game for Screenshot Sunday #56 that I managed to capture with the use of the Photo mode. It still is missing poses, which is a shame, and the face emotion options are quite limited. But I like the particle effect tool, as well as the time of day and weather options you can toggle. Really cool stuff. Now, the only real issue I still have with it, is activating it, as holding the D-Pad right and pressing the R Thumbstick is a bit difficult at times. Really wish it was only a single button, but even with Steam input I’m not sure how to achieve that feat.

Reflect on booba

I’ll keep this super short, cuz I gotta stream and play the game I’m not supposed to play—Ghost of Tsushima is gonna grace your eyes for Screenshot Sunday #55. I still can’t believe I can play the game, despite it being delisted in my country and such. And don’t worry, this is the end of the tutorial, so no major spoilers from me. Now, time for me to get back to the game, see what it has and love it, bc I know I will.
Ciao!

Jin Sakai, the Fallen Samurai

I will make an exception for Screenshot Sunday #54 and post an “in-game” screenshot that isn’t fancy (shocker, I know). Why you may ask? Well, I decided to give A Total War Saga: Troy, a strategy game, a try. This is super weird for me, as I don’t really do strategy or grand strategy, but, I’m having fun. I chose Odysseus first, but found his fighting style lacking (aka, he is a sneaky boy). So, I decided to go with Achilles as I like to pound my men upfront close and personal! I’m still overwhelmed by all the mechanics in the game, as the last Total War game I played was Total War: Napoleon and I played it like 10+ years ago (on an unrelated note, bought it during the last sale, so I will also try to conquer Europe with peasants as well). I’m still not a great battle strategist, and my silly tactics don’t always work as I envisioned them. Still, pictures in my brain are way more in my favor than the animated battles I see.

So, with that all said, here is my first victory with Achilles. Pretty good for a noob of the genre and series as I am.

The first of many (hopefully)

For Screenshot Sunday #53 i wish you all a Happy Easter (yes, we Orthodox are weird and celeberate it after the Catholic one). And second, here is a super cool hero landing shot from Batman The Telltale Series, Season 1.

Always do the super hero landing, ALWAYS!

If you haven’t already I highly recommend you give this game a try. It’s probably my second favorite Telltale game and my second favorite Batman game of all time. I think it even came 2nd on my GOTY list last year. Really a great game with a fresh take on the Batman mythos.

Lastly, I need to fix some of the links to a few screenshots… Dang internet things. Anyway, until next week!

Gonna keep this one (and the next week’s one too posssibly) short as I’m away from my darling PC and have to resort to some black magic trickery to share cool screenshots here. So, without further ado, here is the shot for Screenshot Sunday #52.

Once again, a shot from my time with Shadow of War, but this time the focus is completly on the scenary of the game. In this one it’s some ancient elven tomb or smt Celebrimbor built cuz he knew Sauron was gonna be baddy boy and do baddy boy stuff. And so, it rewards you with some cool elven gear, that, in my humble opinion, looks meh on Talion. He is more bulky than Celebrimbor, so it doesn’t really suit him.

Tombs always have fancy loot and many secrets hidden

Still not done with Shadow of War. I did finish the Branor DLC, but had to postpone my run of the second DLC, Blade of Galadriel, due to a project I want to really get off the ground. I still played it a bit, and I was a bit disappointed at how same-y it feels to the base game. There’s not much difference between Talion and Eltariel, except a few moves. They did make recruiting some orcs more interesting than the “press B to dominate”, so that’s nice. You get proper missions where you help these orcs out, which I think is much better and the orcs feel more unique compared to all the orcs I faced as Talion since they relied on RNG for everything, including their personalities.

But as I have a ton of shots in my bag to keep me posting for at least a century. And since I really, really loved the Baranor DLC, here’s another shot that I found pretty cool. The photo mode is really awesome in this game and I hope that you enjoy the pic I chose for Screenshot Sunday #51, as well as my super duper secret project that I will look to complete as soon as possible.

Soon, the fort shall know the power of Chadanor

The century mark has been reached, with Screenshot Sunday #50 already here. I’m still on Shadow of War but I finally got done with the base game. A mixed experience overall, even if I lean towards a more positive outlook, despite how repetitive the game got rather fast. Hopefully, I can share why I feel that way in a review soon. But now, I’m tackling the better of the two expansions, The Desolation of Mordor, taking up arms as Baranor (or as I like to call him, Chadanor) and taking over a fort. The cool thing is how the gameplay is vastly different than that of the base game. Chadanor is mortal, unlike Talion, so if you die, it’s game over, with the DLC having a roguelike feel to it as you do keep your abilities upon death. I’m still early in the DLC, but so far, so good. And since it’s not that long, it won’t overstay its welcome or make me bored like the later parts of the base game did.

Here’s a nice pic of how to scout the enemy fortress in Middle-Earth as a mere human.

Death from above!

I don’t believe in daylight saying. And I’m not saying this as an excuse to make it look like I posted this on a Sunday and that I didn’t forget because I ended up eating a giant pizza while watching season 2 of Reacher (great show btw). I’m just saying…

Anyway, last week was quite productive. Finally got an SSD (two in fact) for the first time, after using an HDD for everything for about 14 years give or take. I will leave you with these screencaps of my live reactions to using an SSD for the first time as I installed Windows 11, its updates, and all the funky jazz one installs when you clean install a PC. But I also played some cool “new” games. Still going through Shadow of War, but I found the time to start the Battlefield 3 campaign and revisit Crysis, the original. I also played a Cat Lady game… it has cats and cards and stuff. Very nice thing to just chill out with.

But my Screenshot Sunday #49 post will be from Shadow of War as I have a ton of cool shots from it, so I’m gonna milk it while I play it. I will say that the game feels a bit bloated when compared to Shadow of Mordor. It’s as if they could have easily just removed two forts from the game and it would have cut out the unnecessary fluff and made the game progression more focused. I love the new levels, they each feel unique (wish orks that inhabit them were also unique), but this is a game of its time. It’s not as bad as Mad Max when it comes to open-world pointless grind, as the Nemesis system does make it “fresh”. Still, sometimes less is more, ya know?

Anyway, here’s a cool shot coming to you post-live through the power of the Shadow of War photo mode and me uploading it on Imgur’s website.
Enjoy.

The Bright Lord is your master!

As I’ve been playing and am immensely enjoying my return to Shadow of War. Thus the shot for Screenshot Sunday #48 will come from my adventures in Middle-Earth. I simply love the photo mode that the game comes with. It’s probably the most robust one I’ve had the pleasure to use yet. The range you can free fly with your camera is insane, offering a great way to capture some nice scenic shots. I would only say one issue is present—no day/night/weather cycle toggle. If it had that, then it would probably be the perfect photo mode, with no flaws. I’ll probs talk a bit more about the game next time, as I want to save some text for the next few shots, haha, as there are a ton I have in my inventory.

Anyway, my gushing about this photo mode aside, here’s one of my fav shots from the early game.
Enjoy.

Are you not ENTERTAINED!

As, promised, here’s my Halo: The Master Chief Collection review. I’ll port the review for each individual entry here in the coming days, but I thought why not start with the whole thing, kinda give you an idea of what you’ll be getting into when you buy this amazing series. Hope you guys enjoy the read, and stay after the credits, there’s a surprise waiting for you.

Permission to leave Xbox, Phil.

For what purpose Master Chief?

To bring Halo back to the PC community!

...

Permission granted.

Finally, the highly praised Halo franchise has released some of its best entries on PC, neatly assembled in one juicy collection. As someone who grew up only listening to how Halo is great and Master Chief is a super-chad, after playing it, I can say, without a doubt, both statements are correct.

While the title does say The Master Chief Collection, we also get two spin-offs: ODST and Reach, with the latter being my personal favourite in terms of story. Many seem to dislike it because of how bland Noble Team is. Personally, that never bothered me. They never were the focal point of the story. It was always the planet itself, Reach. Noble Team is nothing more than a surrogate pair of eyes for us to witness humanities struggle against overwhelming odds first-hand and the horrors enacted by the Covenant upon the inhabitants of Reach. As for ODST, it was ok. It takes place during Halo 2, but nothing from its story was particularly memorable. Some quirky moments and funny dialogue, but nothing more than that.

Still, the title clearly says—The Master Chief Collection, so let's get back to his escapades. I may get some flak for this, but Halo: Combat Evolved has the worst story, if you can even call it that. There was barely anything. It felt more like a concept. Don't get me wrong, Halo 4 is right next to it, but I still consider Halo: Combat Evolved worse. But then...BAM! Halo 2. We get more lore about this universe, more epic cutscenes, more chad one-liners, and characters actually have some personality. And it is here that Master Chief actually became a chad, with subsequent entries continuing to expand the legend that is Sierra-117. So, even with a few blemishes, I immensely enjoyed this sci-fi space epic; From witnessing the glassing of Reach, helping a friend go out with a bang, to detonating a nuke above Earth like a true chad, there was never a lack of memorable moments.

Halo is jam-packed with epic set pieces and memorable moments throughout its sometimes cheesy, but overall fun campaign

But what about the gameplay?

Well, it's simply fantastic, and this much is true for every Halo game. Each entry improves upon its predecessor, refining the gameplay, but at the same time, staying true to that familiar gameplay loop set in stone by Halo: Combat Evolved. Personally, I have Halo 3 as my top pick. It's the culmination of Bungie's trilogy, and its greatness and epicness during gameplay are still unrivalled by any previous or subsequent Halo games.

But, where are my manners; I have yet to speak about the gunplay itself. So let's fix that, shall we—it's an FPS game where you shoot, throw grenades and drive vehicles. But the driving controls are unusual. Rather than driving, I dunno, like in 99.9% of games, with movement keys, Bungie said: "We don't do that here", and instead, your mouse is the steering wheel. Tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be drifting on the surface of halo rings like the great Colin McRae.

Each new entry does try to up the ante, spicing up the gameplay, just ever so slightly. Halo 2 has Chief dual wield smaller weapons, which he seemingly forgot how to do in Halo 4 after his cryo-sleep. With Halo 3 came one-time use equipment; Useless overall, but they do look neat in the promotional CGI trailer. However, soon after, an unfathomable evil shook the very heavens, as long and fierce wars were waged over its place in the Halo-verse, with many brave souls lost in the process. Just speaking its name aloud invokes thousand years of bad luck upon your no scope 360 trick shots. I am, of course, talking about sprinting. This putrid thing first reared its ugly head in Halo: Reach, but only as an armour ability. It wasn't until Halo 4 that it finally infected Master Chief, becoming his innate ability. Truly a sad day for Halo fans all over the galaxy. But then again, he was often seen sprinting in cutscenes...

Halo has a wide variety of boys on offer

Sprinting polemics aside, I love how Halo effortlessly creates a heterogeneous battlefield. Encounters pit you against a group comprised of unique enemy units, each with different strengths, weaknesses and mannerisms. We have bird boys, smol boys, wort boys, bug boys, hairy boys, chunky boys, etc. And while headshots mean instant death, some enemy units must be first stripped bare; hairy boys have armour, wort boys have shields, etc. Do note—each protection is weaker against different ammo. For example, wort boy shields are strong against human bullets but weak to plasma-based weapons. But, I will let you in on a little secret—all enemies and shields are weak to rockets to the face.

While massacring half of the known universe is fun, sometimes we need to stop, take a breath and admire the scenery. And this is where Halo got me. Halo isn't like that hot chick who doesn't know she's hot. Halo knows and wants your gaze. So, while Halo: Combat Evolved has inner beauty and Halo 4 is entirely flat, the others were a succulent journey for the senses; From the Covenant and its many species, the mysterious biomes of the halo rings and the burning cities of Reach, all the way to Johnson and his clean-shaven chin that accentuates his magnificent moustache, the Halo universe is beaming with beauty to behold.

After an arduous year, LASO has been conquered and the fight finished...for now

Yet, visual beauty can't work solo. Its age-old accomplice—music, plays a vital role in immersing the player within the games universe. Sadly, this is where a crucial issue occurred, as how does one rate perfection?

Also, Keith David...Mmmm, you can be my Arbiter any day ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

But, besides Keith David making my knees weak with his stern, thick and firm voice, sound effects in Halo play a crucial role in perceiving one's surroundings. Being informed about various things during the chaotic fights is paramount for success—possible grenade explosion, what weapons the enemy is firing, etc. All produce distinct sound effects, which in turn help you avoid and instead inflict death upon the enemy.

And with that said, I think it's pretty clear how I feel about Halo. Thus, I'll finish by answering three quintessential questions any buyer may ponder about:

Where is Halo? -On Steam.

Who is Halo? -The big green dude.

Why is Halo? -Yes.

To all who made it this far, if you seek even more divine knowledge, then follow the faith preached in the Gospel of Sv. Prolivije. All members receive free dental care and 2 weeks of paid vacation.

Post-Credits Delight

Since it’s Sunday, you know what that means—Screenshot Sunday! We’ve reached #47, and since I already blasted you with some Halo goodness today (and a few weeks ago), I’ll go a different route this time. What do you say to a nice evening of laughs and drink on the outskirts of Roma in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. I’m sure you guys will enjoy the wine I brought!

'Tis a fine day for a bottle of wine, or two, with your 𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘪 in the outskirts of Roma