Gamer's Guide To Survival Horror: Tips for Surviving Outlast

Good morning gamers, nerds and geeks,

Welcome back to the Nerd's Notebook, and today we're turning to Chapter One in the Gamer's Guide: Survival Horror. Outlast is a horror game wherein you can't fight back, but you have to use your quick wits to survive, surrounded by insane patrons, creepy religious cults, machete wielding nudists and Piggy. In all honesty, it's a great game and it scared the absolute hell out of me. Anyway, here are some tips to get you through the game fairly unscathed.

1. Collect and Conserve Batteries: In Mount Massive Asylum, there are more than many dark areas and rooms, and more often than not, you will have to traverse the darkness with the only source of light at times being the night vision mode on your camera. To my knowledge, you can hold up to ten batteries at a time, and the night vision mode runs through the battery's life fairly quick, so you're going to have to carry more than one.

2. Don't Be Afraid To Explore: Ironically enough, you're only means of self defense are running and hiding, but you shouldn't be afraid to explore, because that is how you'll come across batteries, hiding spots, and documents that will thrust you deeper into the game's lore and story.

3. Always Stay Thinking: In this horror game, things will often go awry and you'll need to adjust your game plan just a bit in order to survive. Stay on your toes and always have a back up plan.

4. Run, Hide, and Wait For Your Life: As I have said, Outlast and Outlast: Whistleblower are purely survival horror, meaning you have literally no means of self defense. This ties into my second point;  ninety-five percent of the inhabitants of the asylum will attack you if they see you, resulting in a chase.

5. Know When To Run Past Your Foe: Many of the enemies in the asylum will kill you in three to four strikes, given their weapons are blunt. The Doctor will this massive shears will kill you in two or three strikes. The machete wielding nudists will kill you in two strikes. Piggy (and he is the easiest to discern because you meet him as the first real foe and he address you as "little pig") is a one-hit killer.

Notes From the Nerd's Notebook: Super Power Breakdown: Assailant

Good evening nerds, gamers, and geeks.

Today's power we will be discussing is the power of Assailant, which is a fate placed on those whom are known to steal, capture, conquer or destroy the world. Other names for Assailants are Corrupted Ones, Dark Ones, Destroyers or even Chaos Bringers. Well known assailants are Apep (Egyptian Mythology), Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda), Satan, Surtr the Fire Giant (Nordic Mythology), and Nyralathotep (Chthulu Mythos) as seen in the photograph above.

Powers that come with being an Assailant are Dark Heart, Enhanced Combat, Supernatural Condition and Enhanced Senses, Evil Embodiment, Fear Masking, Indomitable Will, and sometimes Magic.

Such as with all powers and abilities, Assailant has a few limitations and weaknesses. Evil nature tends to be the downfall, as good always triumphs. Assailants are often times narrow-minded, as they only think about destruction and domination. And depending on their level of power, they may grow insane and unstable, dangerous to all as well as themselves.

Page From the Geek's Guide: Ten Fictional Characters I'd Love To Be

Good afternoon bones, ghouls and mundane friends,

I am your host for today, Nightmare, and welcome back to Nerd's Notebook. The first of today's posts is based solely around fiction. I, personally, am very deeply integrated into fiction, not only as an aspiring author, but also as an avid and obsessive reader; be that fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, horror, romance, et cetera. Having said this, let us get started. In no particular order we have:

1. Cpt. Richard Ravager III (TFS Plays Fallout 4): A video game character? Yes, I am addicted to video games; good luck getting me to sell my Xbox. Hilariously, I just like the way Team Four Star goes through their playthrough of Fallout 4 as the boss Captain. Oh, and by the way, it's pronounced rav-uh-jay.

2. Dumplstiltskin (TFS Plays Bloodbourne): Simply put, yes it's another video character, but with Team Four Star at the controller, semi-drunkenly passing it between each other, the adventure always takes an often hilarious turn.

3. Amanda Ripley (Alien Isolation): A girl? Yep. That's video game character? Yes, and let me tell you why. Amanda, daughter of the movie's Ellen Ripley, is trapped aboard a space station and must use her skills as an engineer to survive the reign of terror of the Alien, the emotionless, soulless androids, and the insane human survivors. Seriously, she's just really freaking cool in general.

4. The Cullens (Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga): Seriously, Nightmare; a bunch of sparkling vampires? Um, hell yes!! I am the biggest Twilight fan ever; I've read the books at least ten times each (in order) and I've watched all of the movies, though they're not as amazing as the books. I would love to be a vampire already, but to be a vampire with bonus powers? Come on! What isn't to love? Not only that but the story is amazing, the plot is addicting, and the characters are just so...God, I just love these books!

5. Isaac Clarke (Dead Space Trilogy): Seriously, stop with the video game characters. How about, no. Isaac is forced to fight endless hordes of the dead and undead, known as Necromorphs, across the entire trilogy, and I find that amazing. Granted the deaths are gory, but hey, if I don't die, then I have nothing to worry about...right?

6. Christian Grey (E. L James' Fifty Shades of Grey): Um...seriously. Deathly serious. I love Fifty Shades, despite refusing to read the book originally. Filthy, stinking, disgustingly rich, and a room for a sexual fetish that I actually share, though to a mush lesser extent.

7. Percy Jackson (Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus): I love mythology as a whole, though I've done most research of the Greco-Roman, Egyptian and Norse mythologies. Originally, I was only a fan of Greek mythology, and upon reading the books in the series as they came out, I found myself wishing more and more that my deadbeat dad really was some kind of mythological God...no such luck.

8. Magnus Chase (Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard): Again, the wish of being a demi-god. I am pretty heavy into Norse mythology at the moment, since I'm more or less an unofficial expert on the Greek mythology.

9. Golden Freddy/ Nightmare Fredbear or Nightmare (Five Night's at Freddy's Franchise): I love everything about this franchise! Enough said.

10. A Shadowhunter (Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments Series): They live to kill demons, the damned and the unholy, as well as protect "the mundane" in service of the Angel, Raziel. Seriously, what an honorable way to live, but it would be great to die fighting a horde of the damned. It's kind of how I pictured my death in any case.

Notes from the Gamer's Guide: Five Video Games That Need To Be Brought Back

Welcome to my list of five video games that need to be brought back. Let me get explain; my "brought back" I mean they need to remade for Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, and PS4. This is my list, in no particular top five order, because I love them all. Hilarious, we all know that I am obsessed with Injustice: Gods Among Us, but it's not on this list, because they are making an Injustice 2 for Xbox One and PS4. Anyone that has any kind of contacts with the creators of these games...please make this a thing!

1. Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (PS2/ Xbox): The Marvel version of DC's Injustice: Gods Among Us, and one of the best freaking game of all time. This is one of the few games that can actually compete with the Injustice for the number one spot of my favorite video game.

2. Duel Masters (PS2): I was obsessed with the show and the trading card game. When I got the game for PS2, I never stopped playing... until my baby brother accidently broke it.

3. Dragonball Z: Budakai Tenkaichi 2 (PS2): My favorite game of all time, I would play this game endlessly, for days, ignoring my dozens of other PS2 games. I got it when I was 12 and didn't stop playing it until I was 17, and that was only because my PS2 broke and I got an Xbox 360.

4. Ape Escape 3 (PS2): In all honesty, this was one game that I played more than Dragonball Z. Everything about it was just flawless.

5. Spiderman 2 (PS2): This was my very first game type that was similar to Batman: Arkham Knight. Long story short...this game was freaking perfect. I won't even lie, I haven't even tried playing the Amazing Spiderman games, because I don't think they'll measure up.