Let’s Play – Pilot Season!

No, there isn’t a game called Pilot Season, at least I don’t think there is. But you know how Amazon has that yearly Pilot Season, where they stream TV pilots so people pick the ones that will become full fledged series? I’ve decided to do the same thing with Let’s Plays. 

The Final Fantasy IV series of videos is over. After I got sick it kinda fell on the wayside and it was hard to pick it up again months later and then I went through a little period where I barely had time to write, with other stuff in life keeping me away from recording and even broadcasting. Still, I decided a week ago to return to it, kill the damn Dark Elf and Shadow Dragon and keep going on Glam Rock Star Paladin Cecil’s adventure.

But I couldn’t. For some bizarre reason the anti-virus picks up the files as viral and deletes them every time I launch the game. I’m not one for fate or such nonsense, but I had to take it as a sign.

But that brings me to the Pilot season. the plan is that for the next few weeks I’ll have an episode for each game I’ve chosen as a candidate for a Let’s Play on The Mental Attic’s YouTube channel, and depending on views, I’ll pick one of them and keep it going. The rest, well, some will go back into obscurity and others I’ll pick up at a later date–though let’s face it, I’ll end up playing and recording them all anyway.

Here are the candidates:

Hollow Knight: You knew it would be here, I’ve spoken too much about this amazing game not to give it a run for your viewing pleasure. Now in my second run and knowing how to play and how to abuse some of the game’s mechanics, it’s going to be a fun thing to watch and comment on. It’s also very light on cutscenes and such, so it’s mostly action.

Ori and the Blind Forest: I spoke recently about it and I need to show you what it’s about if you haven’t ever seen the game. I’ll be playing it on a harder difficulty just to up the ante and make enemies very lethal. This is a very fast-paced platformer when you’re really into it and it only gets faster as you unlock abilities, so it’ll be a fantastic game to play through.

Dead Cells: This game is still in Early Access, so it’ll either release before I’m done with it or I’ll have to kill the series by the time I reach the end if it hasn’t. Nevertheless, this 2D Souls-like platformer is a blast to play and I’ve kept on playing it nonstop. It benefits from a bit of an advanced playthrough so I’ll have some power behind the character to progress further every episode.

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom: After Final Fantasy IV I made a promise to myself not to do another RPG Let’s Play. As much a fan as I am of the genre, the lengthy cutscenes and conversations don’t make for spectator sport to be honest. But Shiness has something special about it, that may be worth the risk and it’s its frankly innovative fighting system. It’s not your average turn-based combat but instead uses fighting game mechanics and aesthetics, with your fights happening in an enclosed arena and each fighter has a health bar. You create punching and kicking combos and use that to break defences and keep it all going. It’s refreshing and might be worth a Let’s Play.

If all goes according to plan you’ll see the first episode of each series go up next week, or if I can’t make that work, it’ll at least be one new series every week. If you watch the episodes, drop them likes and comments here or on YouTube and help me decide which series I’ll take on for the foreseeable future.