Laughing Hyena
  • Home
  • Hyena Games
  • Esports
  • NFT Gaming
  • Crypto Trends
  • Game Reviews
  • Game Updates
  • GameFi Guides
  • Shop
Tag:

Spirit

DAAPrivacyRightIcon
Product Reviews

Hideo Kojima’s OD captures the spirit of P.T. in the first gameplay trailer

by admin September 23, 2025


Kojima Productions, the studio helmed by auteur and famed cardboard box enthusiast Hideo Kojima, has finally given us our first glimpse of gameplay for the horror game OD. Developed in collaboration with Get Out and Us director Jordan Peele, OD is being billed as a totally unique experience that Kojima expects to divide players. It’s also going to leverage Microsoft’s cloud gaming tech in ways we’re not yet aware of, with Xbox Game Studios publishing the game.

In the new just over three-minute trailer entitled “Knock”, we see first-person gameplay footage of the player character (played by a ludicrously photorealistic Sophia Lillis) anxiously lighting a series of candles, several of which have babies on them, because Kojima. In the background we hear a very ominous knocking sound, with the trailer ending as Lillis’ character is grabbed by someone (or something) who doesn’t appear to be especially friendly.

If you were fortunate enough to play P.T., the playable (and tragically no longer accessible) teaser for Kojima and Guillermo del Toro’s cancelled Silent Hill game, you’ll know that the Metal Gear creator clearly understands how to craft terrifying horror experiences. From what we’ve seen so far, it looks like the spirit of P.T. at least lives on in OD.

It’s been a busy day for Kojima and his studio, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and has so far exclusively released Death Stranding games. At Kojima Productions’ “Beyond the Strand” event it was also announced that the studio is partnering with Niantic Spatial to develop what appears to be some kind of AR experience that brings Kojima’s “iconic storytelling into the real world.” Whether that means you can one day expect to encounter a virtual Norman Reedus attempting to steady his wobbling backpack on your way to the grocery store remains unclear, but Kojima Productions says the collaboration represents a “bold expansion into new forms of media beyond traditional gaming.”

And if all of that wasn’t enough, Kojima Productions is also teaming up with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group on a new credit card. It seemingly functions like a regular old credit card that can also be added to your phone, but you can accumulate reward points that can be spent on Kojima Productions merch and other items. Don’t get too excited unless you live in Japan, though, as it doesn’t look like the Kojima-branded credit card will be making its way to our shores when it launches next year.



Source link

September 23, 2025 0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Lost Soul Aside lacks the spirit of its inspirations - I'd rather play Devil May Cry again
Game Reviews

Lost Soul Aside lacks the spirit of its inspirations – I’d rather play Devil May Cry again

by admin September 4, 2025


I’m finding it hard to take Lost Soul Aside seriously. There are a few reasons for this, but chief is the protagonist’s name is Kaser. It’s pronounced like the German word for cheese. And people thought Clive was a bad name?!

Instead, I’ve taken to calling him NotThis, in relation to his design being a complete steal of Noctis from Final Fantasy 15: the dark spiky anime hair, the all-black goth outfit, the big sword. It stems from Lost Soul Aside’s origins as a Final Fantasy-meets-Devil May Cry fan project that now, a decade later, has finally seen a full release. But sadly it struggles to emerge from the shadow of those origins. Devil May Cry 5 has deep, stylish combat; sexy characters, and an undeniable sense of effortless cool. Lost Soul Aside, well, doesn’t.

You can still see the original trailer for Lost Soul Aside released in 2016, though its Chinese developer Bing Yang began development in 2014 as a graduate student in South Korea. I remember seeing it at the time – it was a hugely impressive project from a solo developer created in UE4 that garnered plenty of justified attention. That included some Sony execs, who soon provided funding through its China Hero Project and now, a decade later, have published the game.

First, the original Lost Soul Aside trailer…Watch on YouTube

It’s hard to tell how much has changed in that time. The original trailer features the darkly-clothed Kaser with his dragon-cum-sword companion traversing a multitude of fantasy worlds, each flourish and swing of his weapon accompanied by a distinctive electric blue glow. It’s an ambitious projection of what the final product could be, with its open worlds and extravagant attack animations, but you get the sense maybe Sony had to rein in that ambition during development. Lost Soul Aside in release-form is a linear and contained experience that plays like a character-action game from years ago, in line with the likes of Devil May Cry 5 and Bayonetta – a comparison the game’s very development invites.

…And secondly, its recent launch trailer for comparisonWatch on YouTube

That would be a refreshing change from the vast open world epics and wannabe Soulslikes of 2025 – if it worked. Unfortunately, from the first few hours, Lost Soul Aside at launch is a clunky mess.

The story is laughably bad, a load of nonsense about an evil empire and a soul stealing demonic entity that requires fragments of crystals to best, each acquired across different dimensions. The opening segment features a polluted Midgar-esque imperial city of slums and factory facilities, and introduces us to the underground terrorist group Glimmer. Except where Final Fantasy 7’s Avalanche blows up an entire reactor in the game’s opening, Glimmer’s act of rebellion is to…set off some fireworks? It’s intended to “ignite the will of the people” but it’s a flimsy impetus for what is ultimately meant to be an epic adventure.

Image credit: Square Enix

Image credit: Sony / Eurogamer
You can’t tell me these aren’t the same character

It also introduces us to NotThis – sorry, Kaser – and his harem of sexy-yet-vacuous female sidekicks. Kaser is your typical stoic hero with little to say for himself, though he does have a nice jacket (in fact, the intricate costume design throughout is a highlight). Instead, he lets his weapon do the talking – literally. When he isn’t morphing into different weapon shapes, Lord Arena (or simply “Massive Dragon” as he’s introduced), hovers around Kaser and comments on his actions. He’s actually funny though, like a grumpy old man awoken from slumber, his grand, almost operatic voicework at odds with the flat delivery from other characters.

“Massive Dragon” in action | Image credit: Sony / Eurogamer

Indeed, Lost Soul Aside is gaining attention online for all the wrong reasons. Within the first couple of minutes a child character is unceremoniously booted across the screen in a clip that’s been very unsurprisingly shared across social media, while a Big Climactic Moment in the opening that sees Kaser falling to his doom has one of the worst (best?) “noooo” screams I’ve ever heard.


To see this content please enable targeting cookies.

Manage cookie settings


To see this content please enable targeting cookies.

Manage cookie settings

The rest of its storytelling feels held together by glue and prayers. Background music shifts suddenly between in-game action and cutscenes, while cinematics are jarringly cut together, and there are odd pauses into dialogue sections. Performance issues continue into gameplay too: framerates are choppy on a base PS5; more than once I’ve encountered bugs that wouldn’t load the next section, forcing a restart. One boss had a fancy cape that glitched and stretched across the whole screen with every whirling vault. At the least, the studio has promised rapid fixes, so performance could be imminently improved.

This glitching cape somewhat got in the way | Image credit: Sony / Eurogamer

Really, the storytelling is superfluous to the combat, the real core of the game. Here, Lost Soul Aside is perfectly playable once you find your rhythm of last-minute dodges and perfect blocks, and initially it’s satisfying to see Kaser rapidly dashing across the screen in a flurry of spins and dodges, all with that distinctive blue hue. Build up enough energy and Kaser sprouts demonic arms and enters what I’ve dubbed Dante Mode, complete with shocking white hair.

Yet basic abilities are doled out far too slowly across the prologue, and despite multiple skill trees, after a few hours of play combat hasn’t meaningfully developed beyond a single additional weapon. There’s a loose floatiness to Kaser’s movement that’s seen him careening off platforms more times than I’d like to admit, but besides some light platforming and battling samey enemies in obviously-signposted arenas, there’s little else to do.

There are still some handsome environments, and I particularly enjoy the chibi characters on the world map | Image credit: Sony / Eurogamer

Ultimately, what lets Lost Soul Aside down is a lack of character, in every aspect. And that’s what makes Devil May Cry such an enticing game. Dante is an exceptionally cool, quippy character, his mix of sword and gunplay for juggling enemies remains iconic, and the modern-gothic world he explores is distinctive. Each time I’ve loaded up Lost Soul Aside, all I could think about was how much I’ve been meaning to play Devil May Cry 5 again since Capcom released the PS5 patch a few years ago. What a game!

Instead, I played Lost Soul Aside, with its pristine, doll-like visuals, comedy jank, and lack of anything novel to say. And a protagonist who sounds like cheese.



Source link

September 4, 2025 0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Spirit Halloween Has Made the Most Affordable 'Jurassic Park' Goggles Replica We've Seen
Product Reviews

Spirit Halloween Has Made the Most Affordable ‘Jurassic Park’ Goggles Replica We’ve Seen

by admin August 21, 2025


The iconic T. rex escape scene is seared into the collective core memory of Jurassic Park fans. Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster franchise is full of memorable moments, from the jiggling water to the lawyer running to the bathroom. But if you, like me, had the film as one of your earliest and most life-changing cinema-going experiences, there’s not a detail forgotten—especially not the goggles. You know the ones that Tim grabs and the lawyer tells him to put back, because if they’re heavy, “they’re expensive.”

And that’s indeed been a fact of life for Jurassic fans who longed for their own pair of those iconic goggles: all available replicas have been expensive. Until now, that is.

© Universal Pictures

Over 30 years later the wait is now over, as Spirit Halloween has released the highly coveted goggles of our childhood dreams, available at the seasonal spooky retailer’s pop-up near you and online. The officially licensed costume prop is $149.99; a price point that is much more reasonable than a custom prop replica or a 1:1 mantlepiece, such as the Chronicle Collectibles release from 2018. These could have saved little me a ton of sleepless nights as a kid if they would have been on hand in addition to a cup of water on my nightstand, which I’d look at to make sure it stayed still.

The only catch? They don’t detail night-vision capabilities, but hey, it’s for dress-up and not actually spotting Rexy in the distance. Take a look at the officially licensed Universal Pictures Jurassic Park goggles, which are so far the closest we’ll get to the real thing, and we’ll take it!

© Spirit Halloween © Spirit Halloween © Spirit Halloween

 

 

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.



Source link

August 21, 2025 0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Categories

  • Crypto Trends (1,098)
  • Esports (800)
  • Game Reviews (746)
  • Game Updates (906)
  • GameFi Guides (1,058)
  • Gaming Gear (960)
  • NFT Gaming (1,079)
  • Product Reviews (960)

Recent Posts

  • Skate’s $35 Dead Space Skin Upsets Fans
  • Silent Hill f has a hidden Easter egg that calls back to one of the most iconic horror game themes of all time
  • This Indie Game Punishes You For Skipping Its Cutscenes
  • Here are our Xbox Game Pass games for October
  • Clair Obscur And Choice-Based Games Don’t Have To Validate You

Recent Posts

  • Skate’s $35 Dead Space Skin Upsets Fans

    October 8, 2025
  • Silent Hill f has a hidden Easter egg that calls back to one of the most iconic horror game themes of all time

    October 8, 2025
  • This Indie Game Punishes You For Skipping Its Cutscenes

    October 8, 2025
  • Here are our Xbox Game Pass games for October

    October 8, 2025
  • Clair Obscur And Choice-Based Games Don’t Have To Validate You

    October 8, 2025

Newsletter

Subscribe my Newsletter for new blog posts, tips & new photos. Let's stay updated!

About me

Welcome to Laughinghyena.io, your ultimate destination for the latest in blockchain gaming and gaming products. We’re passionate about the future of gaming, where decentralized technology empowers players to own, trade, and thrive in virtual worlds.

Recent Posts

  • Skate’s $35 Dead Space Skin Upsets Fans

    October 8, 2025
  • Silent Hill f has a hidden Easter egg that calls back to one of the most iconic horror game themes of all time

    October 8, 2025

Newsletter

Subscribe my Newsletter for new blog posts, tips & new photos. Let's stay updated!

@2025 laughinghyena- All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by Pro


Back To Top
Laughing Hyena
  • Home
  • Hyena Games
  • Esports
  • NFT Gaming
  • Crypto Trends
  • Game Reviews
  • Game Updates
  • GameFi Guides
  • Shop

Shopping Cart

Close

No products in the cart.

Close