I just noticed via Steam an announcement about the newest No Man's Sky Prisms update. I've decided I'm not going to get into the details. Trust me, watch the trailer (embedded link). This update definitely feels more like something you have to see instead of read about. That's because this update seems to pretty much be about making the game look better and it does.

I'm really happy about this, but I played NMS recently and even though I enjoyed it, I ended up finding myself feeling a bit bored. I was constantly doing the same thing, pretty much just trying to jump from black hole to black hole to get to the center of the galaxy quicker. Unfortunately, even though black holes are supposed to get you there quicker, I felt like I wasn't really making any progress. So, I got tired of it and stopped playing. I'm not saying it's a bad game. I really enjoyed jumping back into after being away from it for so long, getting to experience new-to-me things, but that enjoyment didn't last as long as I wanted it to.

Let me know what you think of this update, all the updates, or the game in general. Have you ever made it to the center of the galaxy?

In April, Mojang announced that the Caves & Cliffs update would be separated. They said the first part (1.17) would come “soon” and the second (1.18) near the end of the year. This was due to the affect of the pandemic (not just for Mojang, but for the entire world, really). The latest news is that the first part is scheduled for release on June 8. It includes new mobs such as axolotls, glow squid, and goats. It also includes new blocks and other things like the spyglass.

Axolotls are cute aquatic creatures. You can catch them with a bucket of water. However, you’ll want to keep them in water, because if they’re on dry land for five minutes, they’ll begin to die, unless it is raining. Therefore, if you want to contain them and keep them as pets, you may want to make a small wall surrounding an area of water or else they’ll roam free. I made a wall three blocks high, which got them to stop trying to jump over it. They like tropical fish, so you can attract and mate them with those. They will attack most aquatic mobs like fish, squid, the Drowned (aquatic zombies), and more. They will play dead when their health gets low, which stops mobs from attacking them. They will also give you some buffs if you help them by defeating whatever is attacking them. In this part of the update they are supposed to be found in underwater areas in caves. If there are fish or squid in the water where they are then they’re kind of easy to spot, because they will go after these and you’ll see fish or ink floating on the top of the water. So they’re really helpful fishing partners (if fish or ink is what you’re after).

Glow squids were part of Minecraft Earth, but were voted in as the new mob to be brought into the main game. Their visible glow is really the only difference they have with regular squids. However, instead of dropping black ink, they drop glowing ink, which can be used with dyes. One way you can use this is to make text on signs brighter, which does appear to make a difference. They do look cool. Like Axolotls, they are supposed to be found in underwater caves.

Goats can be found on mountains. They will randomly headbutt some mobs and players. I believe they are or were supposed to also headbutt trees and lose their horns, which have no purpose yet. They also have their own unique sounds, a rare one is a “screaming” goat. I found where you can hear these sounds, but I’m not sure where that was. Maybe, if you do a search you’ll find them. I believe you can get milk from them as well. I saw a video where they gave birth to a lot of babies, I’m not sure if that’s been changed, though. They can take a lot of fall damage and do jump high. The second part of the update is extending the world height and will allow for very tall mountains, which is where they were supposed to be located in the first place. Powdered snow is also a new block, which players and mobs can fall into and eventually freeze to death. You can walk on powdered snow with leather boots, or negate the entire negative affects with leather armor.

This part of the update also includes new blocks such as copper, amethyst, and more (a total of 91 apparently). Copper is really interesting, because it oxidizes. This means it will gradually turn green over a length of time. You can prevent this or make them stay in the stage of oxidation they are in by “waxing” them by combining them with honey. You can also remove oxidation with an axe. The wiki also states that lightning can remove it as well. Speaking of lighting, you can also use copper to make lightning rods to cover a certain amount of area. They will prevent lightning from striking your buildings and things.

Amethyst is cool, but there’s no use for it other than to craft a spyglass. A spyglass is cool, because it lets you see a good distance away (as it should). You’ll randomly find amethyst geodes in caves. There are certain blocks crystals will grow on and you can harvest what’s grown and more will grow back over time (I believe). They only grow on certain amethyst blocks, though, so you’ll want to be sure just to harvest the crystals and not the blocks. You may also want to find the ones they grow on and make sure there are no other blocks on any side of these blocks, so that crystals can regrow on all sides of them. I think amethyst should also be a block we can use to craft. I think it would make a great building block like everything else. This would mean that people can build purple things along with the many other colors available. At least one of the other blocks also has no purpose other than to surround the amethyst geodes.

What I find disappointing is what will NOT be in this part of the update, which is everything else that was supposed to be in the whole update. The second part of the update arriving at the end of the year is supposed to include all the new cave biomes, new cave and world generation, along with the new tall mountains, and world height extension. Part one may include some cave biomes, but I’m not entirely sure at the moment. Another thing I was most looking forward to was bundles. These are basically sacks that can hold up to 64 items. You can use these to store items and carry the bundles as separate items in your inventory. So, you could take some with you, fill them up, and come back with much more in your inventory than you would have without them. As of the last snapshot I played (about a few weeks ago or so), these were removed, which was extremely disappointing. There is also a new sensor that detects vibrations. Not everything is detected, for instance you can “sneak” and be fine. You can also block the vibrations with blocks of wool. There are also candles and you can make a cluster of them. You can use them for decoration and lighting and also put them on cakes. You can even dye them, though you can’t dye individuals in a cluster. They can also stand on pretty much anything. You can remove what they’re standing on and they’ll still stay where they were. Many of these things I mention were in some snapshots, but have been removed. Some of the things that have been removed are still available in creative mode. I haven’t seen much about it, but there’s supposed to be some kind of new mob in the depths of caves (or a specific cave biome) that is blind and uses vibration to find you, hence the new sensors.

I decided to check out the Java snapshots and Bedrock edition beta versions briefly. I was able to see some of what’s to come in the second part by testing “experimental features.” I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I agree with some others in that Mojang should just wait and release the whole update without splitting it up, even if it means waiting until the end of the year for it. There are things in this update I was looking forward to and knowing we’ll only get some of it now and other things later is kind of disappointing. In fact, since I was able to check out some of the things arriving later, I found myself disappointed. Yes, there things I like about the update, or at least what I saw even with the “experimental features.” But I found some things that I thought I would like, but ended up not liking. For instance, I thought having bigger caves would be cool, but they are hard to light. At first these bigger caves made it easier to find ore, but they’ve made it a little more difficult, though that’s kind of understandable. There are also “noise” caves. This pretty much means there are a couple of styles of caves. One is called a “noodle” cave system in which the caves wind around a lot. Another, some are calling “swiss cheese,” pretty much has caves that have large areas carved into them. These are the ones I thought were interesting at first, but found out they are difficult to light, making it harder to find ores, and also easier for mobs to spawn.

You can look at the wiki for what’s in the first part of the update, but from what I currently see there I don’t believe everything is going to be in it. The page lists bundles and candles, for example, but the last snapshot I played (maybe a few weeks ago) removed them. So, I don’t know exactly what’s in this part of the update other than what I’ve already stated, some of which I got from other news sources. If you want more details and don’t want to look for them, feel free to let me know and I’ll see if I can find them.
You can find some videos about the new content on the Minecraft YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/minecraft/videos

Also, I recommend checking out the Minecraft 1.17 videos on YouTube by Xisumavoid. He does a great job of going over what’s in each snapshot, including new things, bug fixes, and even things that have been removed and pushed to 1.18. He has a lot of other good Minecraft videos you can check out, too. You can find those videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/XisumavoidMC/videos

Wiki: https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Java_Edition_1.17

Feel free to check out my other post when the update separation was announced:
https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4630/minecraft-caves-cliffs-update-getting-separated

My original source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/minecraft-caves-and-cliffs-part-1-drops-june-8-with-new-blocks-and-mobs/1100-6492177/?utm_source=gamefaqs&utm_medium=partner&utm_content=news_module&utm_campaign=homepage

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a very interesting and unique game that follows the evolution of hominids. It includes crafting, survival, exploration, and creatures to dodge and counter attack. It is a cool game, but is quite brutal to begin with. It does tell you some things (assuming you turned on the optional tutorial), but it doesn’t tell you everything, which can be very frustrating. There is a “help” section on the pause menu for you to reference, but again you’ll probably still not have enough knowledge to feel comfortable. The tutorial basically prompts you, telling you how to play or what to do, but it kind of gets in the way, especially during the first time you’re attacked. I restarted the game multiple times until I felt like I was finally comfortably knowledgeable about how to play. I learned a lot by a few videos by FireSpark81. I also found other similar videos on YouTube and posts online (such as Reddit and the wiki). I strongly recommend checking out these videos (see some links below). Originally, when the game was released (on Epic Games Store only), I watched BestInSlot play it. It took a few videos or more for him to finally catch on to how to play it, but he ultimately mastered it.

In my opinion the only real negative about it is the lack of information it gives you in order to play. It has been stated that this is on purpose. You’re supposed to learn as did early hominids. You may find that appealing or you may find it frustrating. It also has an auto save feature, but luckily I found a way around that. You can access the folder containing the saved data and back up those files. Then if something goes wrong, like a clan member dies and you’d rather that not happen, you can just restore the files you backed up. You could call this “cheating,” but to me it just makes the game more enjoyable. I really do not like a challenge. I prefer to relax. I don’t want a game to kick my butt and make me frustrated, I just want it to be enjoyable. Your experience may vary.

Warning! You may want to avoid the next section if you want to go into the game without knowing how to play it. If that’s the case, then scroll down to the ”Final thoughts” section to see my final thoughts and links (yes, that label is in bold there to grab your attention).

I’ll try to explain the game play a bit, which may help, but I still recommend checking out helpful YouTube videos, especially if there’s something you’re still not quite sure of. It tells you that it’s best played with a controller. However, you can use the keyboard and mouse combo. I used my Xbox One controller (that I bought specifically for PC gaming), so I’ll reference those buttons here.

The intro goes through “the circle of life” in Africa many years ago and you end up in control of a baby hominid. The tutorial tells you to use your intelligence (by pressing the “Y” button) and find a hiding spot, which you’ll have to look at a blank square and hold the “Y” button to “discover it” when the view is centered on it. You’ll know it’s centered when the square turns orange. Once you get there, it will tell you to press the “A” button to hide. Once you do this, the game puts you in control of an adult in the clan and you’re supposed to go rescue the baby and bring it back to the first (and very safe) settlement. When you’re close, it will tell you to press “B” to comfort the baby. You’ll have to wait for a cue (such as the controller vibrating) to hit the button again to successfully do this. You’ll have to repeat this process a few times. Then you’ll have to “discover” the area you’re in. You do this by using your intelligence like before and scanning a diamond above your settlement (look up above the water). This is how you identify locations. Every undiscovered location, resource, or other has a “?” inside of it’s shape. Locations have diamond shapes and other things are squares.

You may decide to wait on discovering the location, because now is a great time to start discovering and using nearby resources. Everything you use will have to be “inspected” (by holding the “X” button). Once you do that, it will be identified it as a “tool” or food. You’ll want to make a bed. To do this you’ll need to grab a certain nearby resource and putting it on the ground in a pile. Then pick up another, have the first one highlighted, and press the right shoulder button to “add to pile.” Once you have enough, it will give you a “construction” option. After holding “Y” to do this, you’ll have to press “A” a few times and a bed will finally be made. On the bed, you can press “A” to lie down. Here you can call your mate (press “B”), sleep (hold “A”), or look at the evolution menu (press “Y”).

The evolution menu is some what complicated at first look, but you’ll get the hang of it. The first screen you’ll see is your “neural” network. There’s a big central area that contains neural energy. You use this to connect white dots to the main circle in the center. These dots are abilities, like the ability to hold something in each hand. Performing tasks will unlock more abilities. You gain neural energy by doing things with babies around. Each hominid can carry two babies, so it’s always good to carry two of them, so you’re constantly gaining neural energy. Occasionally you’ll see orange dots. These represent mutations. When babies are born, they have a chance to be born with a mutation. You can’t do anything with these at first. In order to make them permanent, those babies have to mature into adults. They can also become elders and keep these mutations. However, be careful not to lose these members by dying or passing a generation. You need to evolve in order to make them permanent.

Before I get into evolution, I want to explain the next screen you’ll see, which you can switch to by using the left shoulder button. It looks very similar to the previous screen, but it will tell you how many “reinforcements” you have. You have as many of these as there are babies in your clan. You want to have as many babies as possible so that you have as many reinforcements as you can get. This is because they allow you to lock in abilities, which means they will stay and follow into the next generation. On this screen, the ones you’ve learned will be bigger, thus more obvious. Those are the ones you want to select to reinforce. Once you’ve used all of your reinforcements, you can advance a generation (press “Y”). This will turn all your babies into adults, adults into elders, and elders will die. Even though elders will die, you can focus on their remains and press “Y” which will give you some neural energy.

This is a great place to insert the concept of meteorites. After discovering the location you’re in, you’ll see a cut scene that shows meteorites falling. Then, you’ll be taken to a tree outside your area, so you can get started on your journey to find one. However, you don’t have to do this, you can do whatever else you want. There are benefits to finding meteorite locations. What you ideally want to do is bring some babies along. Since each clan member can carry two babies, get a few of them to carry all of the babies to a meteorite site. The first one is in a dangerous spot with crocodiles, pythons, warthogs, and maybe even large jungle felines, so you’ll want to be extra careful. You can get members to follow you by highlighting them and pressing “B.” You can switch members (with “A” after having them highlighted and then analyzing them with the “Y” button) if you want. You won’t have to tell them to follow you after switching to another. So, if you used one to tell two to follow you and you switched to one of them, they’ll all still follow you no matter which one you’re controlling. The clan is very great at following so you don’t really have to worry about them falling to their deaths or getting lost. You can move confidently. Eventually, you’ll gain the ability for other clan members to automatically counter attack as long as they have a weapon in a hand. They can also auto dodge and you can also intimidate a threat together, which is more effective than doing so alone. You can find a meteorite site by seeing the smoke in the air. Once you reach it, all you have to do is examine it (highlight it and hold “X”) to get the benefits. Picking up the meteorite is optional, but you can get bonuses for hitting other animals with it or using it as a tool. Once you’ve examined the sight, the bonuses you receive include doubling your reinforcements and also a chance to give babies a mutation, which is why you want to bring them along.

The next screen is the evolution screen, which is again accessed with the left shoulder button. This screen looks completely different than the previous two. The main focus is the “feats.” These are accomplishments you have made, such as killing every animal. Usually these come after having done something twice, such as dodging every animal. When you’re ready to evolve, you’ll gain years for each feat you’ve accomplished. The basic point of the game is to evolve “faster than science” until you reach the end of the evolutionary timeline in the game. There are only a handful of hominid subspecies in the game. Each one comes with new abilities. However, evolving does not guarantee that you’ll become a new subspecies. I think this happens at certain periods on the timeline.

One thing about the game is that you have to press or release a button at a specific time. I guess you could call this a “quick time event.” You’ll hear a sound cue for this, although in the latest version, it seems that cue is much more noticeable. I also noticed that you’ll also see a visual cue at the same time. One good tip to help you hear these cues is to turn the music off (check options in pause menu). One of the things you’ll have to do this with is mating. You’ll have to control an adult male or female or an elder male. Adult females can only have two babies at max. Elder females are infertile, but elder males can impregnate adult females. This can be helpful, because males and females can’t mate if they are “family related,” which you’ll notice on the screen when you analyze them. Once you have a non-related fertile pair, you’ll need to “groom” the opposite gender. You do this by holding the “B” button and letting go when you hear and see the cues. If done correctly, you’ll see a “bonding” bar fill until it says “couple formed.” If you miss the cue, the bar shrinks. It’s not hard to do, but it may take some practice. This is especially important when dealing with animals. When something attacks you, the game will go into slow-mo and give you a small amount of time to react. Here you need to hold “A” until you hear and see the cues and let go at this instant. If you’re holding the thumb stick at the same time left, right, or away from the attacker, you will dodge the attack. However, if you hold “A” and the thumb stick towards the attacker, you will counter attack. You’ll want to have a stick or stone in your hand in order to do this, though. The best weapon to use is a sharpened stick, but it still may take a good number of these in order to kill something. However, when this skill progresses, it becomes more likely that a counter will kill. After the kill, you can examine the carcass, butcher it (if you have a stone in your right hand), eat the meat, and even collect a bone if there is one, which you can use as a weapon.

Crafting is best done when you’re able to use both hands or hold something in each hand. While a sharpened stick is most effective, you can also use dead branches, sticks, stones (including precious and meteorites), and tools (like the grinder) to counter attack. You can craft a sharpened stick with this process: grab a dead branch from a tree with your right hand (the only way you can grab things). Switch hands (left shoulder button) to move it to your left hand. Then hold the left shoulder button to “alter” it. When you hear and see the cues, let go and you’ll strip the branch, making it a stick. With the stick still in your left hand, you can grab a stone (there are three kinds), meteorite, or precious stone. Then you can alter it using the same buttons as you did converting the dead branch into a normal stick. Although that process only took one time, this time you’ll have to perform the alter action of hitting the stick with the stone multiple times depending on what kind of stone you’re using. You’ll hear and see when it’s complete.

Stones can be altered, too. For example, if you hit two granite stones together successfully using the same method as sharpening a stick, eventually the one in your left hand will turn into a grinder. You can use this on some materials to make pastes that give you bonuses like protection from bleeding, falling, freezing, etc. Doing this with two basalt stones will make another tool, just like doing the same with two obsidian stones. The obsidian tool is, I think, the best and most effective. It will drastically reduce the amount of actions required to make a sharpened stick and do more damage during a counter attack than a plain granite stone.

You can get evolution bonuses by hitting every animal with each type of stone, stick, precious stone, meteorite, bone, or stone tool.

There are a few biomes. You’ll be in the jungle at first and there will be lots of trees. You can climb on trees automatically. You can grab leaves after jumping by holding “A,” which will cause you to swing. You can then let go and swing onto more leaves, a tree, a rock wall, or onto the ground. Just be careful, because even though you can fall a good distance, falling too high will either give you an injury or death.

There is a good variety of food you can eat such as fruit, insects, and meat. Some foods have a chance of giving you a negative status effect, while some can give you a positive one. One way to remove some negative effects is to drink water or just wait until they go away. You drink by going into water and holding “A” to “scoop” it. You’ll have to examine a single water source type at first in order to do this.

There are three main survival stats; hunger, sleep, and water. When the screen starts turning white (kind of cloudy or foggy), it means you need to eat. When it starts turning black, like someone who can’t keep their eyes open, it means you need to sleep. You can sleep anywhere as long as nothing is in your hands, but a bed may be better and give you access to the evolution menu or calling your mate and mating. Just be careful sleeping on the ground, because something could attack you.

Your clan members can do some cool things, too. Eventually, you’ll be able to get them to “mimic” you. You just do an action and double tap “B” and they’ll do what you just did.

You may also find other hominids in the wild. When you find them, you’ll notice their animation. Depending on what they’re doing, they’ll need something to convince them to join your clan. This could be food or something to heal their wounds.

Final thoughts:

I’ve been enjoying this game. I haven’t finished it, but I decided it was time to go ahead and write a review for it. Since I watched BestInSlot play it (and I recently rewatched his playlist), I’ve already seen the end. The more I see and think about this game, the more I want to play it.

Even though I’m really enjoying the game, I’m not giving it the highest “must play” Cheerful Ghost rating, even though I think it’s a “must play,” especially for those of us who enjoy similar kinds of games. My reason for the score is pretty much due to the steep and frustrating learning curve at the beginning. However, that learning curve can be overcome with just a bit of research, especially by finding some helpful videos on YouTube (see some links below). The game can also be a bit simple and repetitive, which some may find boring (though it doesn’t bother me).

Let me know what you think of this. I’ve wanted it since it came out, but I finally got it on Steam at a discount. I don’t regret getting it and getting better at it certainly made me feel better about it. I’m afraid it doesn’t have much replay-ability, but it is supposed to be the first part of a trilogy. I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the trilogy is like.

Here are the links I mentioned:

Videos by FireSpark81:
Beginner’s Guide: https://youtu.be/VKGgwO3KGwo
Tips For Exploring: https://youtu.be/ijYYau9gPhc
How to Deal with Tigers: https://youtu.be/z8rqyVACUdA
Evolution Tips: https://youtu.be/MKtSw0Xx2Cc

Playlist by BestInSlot:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU0V6ITiWqjjDwyrYMA03aQBehpQkrEIV

Be sure to check out other YouTube videos for other areas of the game that you feel you need more knowledge about, as I did (like how to dodge and counter).

I noticed that I didn’t write a review for Subnautica. Since I just finished Subnautica: Below Zero (BZ), I thought I’d give both of them a review here.

If you haven't played Subnautica, it may interest you if you like games that include survival, crafting, and exploring (probably the kind of game that has most interested me for quite awhile now). While you can craft things like base pieces and tools, you obtain these recipes by finding the items or fragments of them in the game and scanning them with your scanner tool.

There is a bit of a scary element, too, as there are huge creatures called Leviathans that are definitely scary as they will attack you and your vehicles. These games take place in an underwater environment, the planets are mostly made of an ocean with very little landmass. So, you’ll spend your time mostly underwater and you have to be aware of your oxygen level (along with food, thirst, and temperature, since BZ has frozen areas). There are different game modes, so these things are optional.

If you liked Subnautica, you'll probably like BZ. I bought BZ pretty much as soon as it was released into Early Access on Steam. I stopped playing it after a while as I decided to wait until the completed version was released. BZ is essentially Subnautica, just with more of an Arctic-like setting. Just like Subnautica, you’ll find there are different biomes, so it’s not all wintry. It also has some new things such as a Sea Truck and Spy Penglings, among others. At first, I didn’t like the Sea Truck. I liked the Sea Moth and Cyclops submarine in Subnautica, so initially (during Early Access) I was disappointed that these were missing. However, the Sea Truck has modules you can craft, connect, and disconnect easily. I found all of them useful, except the Sleeper module, which I didn’t build. It was frustrating in Subnautica when using the Cyclops and bumping into things, just like it is in BZ with the Sea Truck, although you can repair them easily with a repair tool (which was made easier in BZ). I also didn’t enjoy having to try to be quiet in certain areas with the Cyclops as it could attract Leviathans. That’s not the case in BZ, but if they see or get near you, they will attack. However, you can get an upgrade for the Sea Truck that lets you shock them, which will greatly reduce the amount of damage received. This will make them stop targeting you for a little while. I did find ways of killing a Leviathan (one of which is no longer valid as the tool used was removed), but they do respawn.

BZ also has a different story, though it's kind of related.

Subnautica received a lot of really good reviews and since BZ doesn’t stray very far from that game, I imagine that it will also get positive reviews. Already on Steam, the reviews are “Very Positive.”

I did restart my game a few times (something I frequently do in games once I start playing them). If you don't want to lose items when you die, then take my advice and save your game often, so that you can quit and reload to prevent that.

The game is short. I do wish it were longer, but I did enjoy it. At some point, you may want to look at a walk through to help you advance. I did this once I reached a certain point, because the game doesn’t always hold your hand and tell you what to do or where to go next. Also, it can be difficult to find some things on your own, though the game does give you some markers of places to visit. You can turn these beacons on or off in your main screen (PDA) and even choose a few colors for them. You can hit F1 to bring up a screen that tells you a lot of info, including coordinates. You can find coordinates of where things are on the game’s wiki page. If I remember correctly, the first number relates to East/West, the second is depth, and the third is North/South. You may want to consult a quick video on how this works, so you can find things easier and not get as lost (though you still may find yourself getting lost). You can also craft beacons to place so you can find your way back to an area easily. You may want to revisit an area for things that you may have missed or to gather more resources. Speaking of resources, it seems they do not respawn, though I seem to recall that the wildlife does (at least in Subnautica). There are plenty of resources, though, so this isn’t really something to worry about.

I recommend checking out Subnautica and then checking out BZ, especially if you liked Subnautica. I think Subnautica helps get you started and gives you a good understanding of the game in general. Plus, as I mentioned, the stories in both games are kind of related. Subnautica starts you off with you crash landing on an alien planet covered in a large ocean with little landmass. BZ, however, has you playing a character who wants to investigate the death of her sister on a frozen alien planet. Though it is interesting to note that you can freeze on land, but once you get into the ocean, temperature is no longer relevant (unless you get into a thermal vent).

If you’ve played one or both games, let me know what you think. Also, let me know if you think this is something you may be interested in.

You can check out my other BZ (spoiler-free) post here: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4629/subnautica-below-zero-cinematic-trailer-and-release-date

Sony has released a new trailer for Venom Let There Be Carnage, the sequel to the Venom movie. It looks kind of interesting. I really enjoyed the first Venom movie, so I'm really hoping this one is as good or better than the first.

Surprisingly, my greatest disappointment with the trailer is that it says, "only in theaters." I'm fully vaccinated now and I did go see Godzilla Vs. Kong (before I was vaccinated), but I guess I've grown so used to watching things on Disney+ or HBO Max that I think I'm preferring to be able to watch movies and shows in the comfort of my own space. What do you think about this?

Let me know what you think about the trailer and what you thought of the first movie, if you saw it. If you did see it, I hope you didn't miss the post-credits scene where Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) visits Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) who's in prison.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is streaming now on Disney+. I actually forgot about this, but luckily YouTube brought it to my attention recently. You may remember The Bad Batch that were introduced in The Clone Wars. They're a unique group of clones, each individual in the group looks different and has they're own specialty. The trailer introduces them and also introduces us to some characters you may recognize from other Star Wars shows or movies. Tarkin is perhaps the most recognizable as he appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy as the commander of the Death Star. He also appeared in Rogue One and had a cameo at the end of Revenge of the Sith, although with some film trickery since the actor died in 1994. He also appears in The Clone Wars and Rebels. You may also recognize Fennec Shand who we got to see in The Mandalorian. I think what makes her more recognizable is that she is voiced by the actress who played her, Ming-Na Wen (she was also Chun-Li in the 1994 Street Fighter movie and Melinda May in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. among many of her other credits)

I haven't watched any episodes yet, but the Internet tells me there have been two released so far and there will be a total of 16 of them. Being a Star Wars fan and really enjoying everything Star Wars, I imagine this will be a good show (at least in my opinion, which isn't too critical).

I think if we can establish that some, most, or all of us have watched some or all of it, we can, together, agree to talk about it with or without spoilers in the comments. I'm sure those of us that haven't seen any of it yet want to avoid spoilers and once I do see some of it, I'll definitely avoid giving away spoilers unless I get a general consensus that enough of us have seen it and are willing to talk about it in detail. Otherwise, let me know if you plan to watch it and what you think about The Bad Batch in general (if you saw them in The Clone Wars or just watched the trailer, if you haven't watched The Clone Wars, you may want to go do that, I thought it was a good show).

Minecraft devs have been working on the next update which is called the Caves & Cliffs Update. It adds new blocks like copper, which oxidizes, meaning that after some time it will turn from orange to green, though it seems we will have control over whether or not this occurs. It also adds new mobs like the Glow Squid and the adorable Axolotl, along with goats. The update is also going to include new cave biomes and change how world generation works. Because the update is adding large mountains, the height of the world is expanding. Archaeology is also in the update.

The devs have just recently announced that this update is now being split into two parts. The first part will be released this summer and will include mobs and blocks. So, you'll see that adorable Axolotl, Glow Squid, goats, copper and more. However, because this update is making a change to world generation, this part of the update is more technically challenging and is being delayed to the end of the year. The devs want to make sure that they deliver a high quality update, they don't want to introduce new bugs (even if some are inevitable) or destroy old worlds. This means more time is needed. Archaeology is a new system within the game, which means more complexity. It will also be released in the second part of the update.

Part of the reason for the delay of some pieces of the update is the global pandemic currently going on. The company, like many others, values the health of it's employees and wants to keep everyone safe so that we can all safely get through this time together. The pandemic has affected very many people and companies world wide. Many game developers are finding it more difficult to work together by being physically separated and this has caused many games (and many other things like movies, TV shows, etc.) to be delayed.

This delay may be disappointing, but in the end it means that the quality of the update will be much better, because it won't be rushed and released too early. Many games have done this and have suffered by being a buggy mess.

What do you think about this Minecraft update? What do you think about this delay? I feel like the delay is reasonable. Ove the years my impatience for games or updates to be released has finally taken a chill pill. I find myself much more patient with things like this now. I think that's because there were things I impatiently waited for was disappointment with what I got. I also saw how the length of time of my impatience outweighed the amount of time I actually spent enjoying something. Plus, especially with all of the free games I've been able to claim and all the games I got during a great sale, I feel like I have plenty of games to play. Let me know if this is something you've experienced to.

Subnautica: Below Zero joined Early Access on Steam about two years ago. They've recently released a cinematic trailer for it and announced it's release date of 5/14/21 for multiple platforms. If you liked Subnautica, you might like this. I thought the trailer was really interesting and funny. It follows a brief time of a guy living on the planet dealing with some of it's creatures, though they didn't show off any of the very large ones nor did they give much details in the way of the game's story.

S:BZ is much like Subnautica, but this time it takes place on an icy planet, so if you go to the surface, you'll see plenty of snow and some of the water you can swim under is covered in ice. There are new creatures, tools, and of course a new story. The story has changed since it's launch into Early Access. I played and followed the development early on briefly before they decided to rewrite the script and hire new voice actors. I got it right away, pretty much, because I very much loved Subnautica. Now that I'm looking at the Cheerful Ghost game database, I see no one's written about it. I'm surprised I didn't write about it, since I really enjoyed it (more than I thought I would). If you're unfamiliar with Subnautica, it's a crafting, survival, and exploration game, but takes place in the vast ocean of an alien planet after your space ship has crashed. You're left with an escape pod, which has some basic survival things you'll need. One of the greatest tools in the pod is a fabricator. There's a good variety of fish you can catch with your hands. They can be fast, so you'll want to craft your first major piece of technology, which is something you hold onto that can propel you forward. You can take fish to the fabricator and turn them into food or water. Different fish are better for satisfying your hunger, but some are much better for your thirst. You can breach the ocean's surface to get some air, but there are also plants that often pump out bubbles of oxygen you can breathe underwater. However, you're going to need to go much deeper, luckily you can craft some submersibles. In the end you'll have your own submarine. You can craft things with many of the planet's resources like copper, which is good for batteries, or quartz, which is good for glass. You'll find pieces of technology scattered on the floor of the ocean. Scanning these will give you progress towards being able to craft it. Beware though there are many dangers. There is a monster that can latch onto your submersible, which performs a really good "jump scare," but it's not the only thing down there to worry about. There are also a good amount of different biomes you'll find. While exploring, you'll find the logs of other survivors. You'll also find a very small island where you can find some useful things, like garden plots to scan and plants you can collect to create your very own self sustaining garden. You can build underwater housing, too, but if you build too many pieces (like glass windows), you'll need to support them by also building some reinforcement pieces or the pressure will break your habitat, which will flood. You can use a tool to repair leaks and also to add more reinforcement, so just because your habitat gets inundated, all hope is not lost as it can be fixed and the water can be drained. There are also a few different game modes, so if you want to play without the survival requirements (like food and water), you can do that.

Let me know what you think about the trailer and the game. Also let me know if you've played Subnautica. If you like games like Terraria, Minecraft, and Ark: Survival Evolved, I think it's a game you might like. If you want to watch some good videos on YouTube of someone playing Subnautica, I recommend looking at the channels of Paul Soares, Jr. and Sl!pg8r.

Oh, I totally forgot about Star Trek: Picard, luckily a new teaser has been released, which you'll find embedded. Most of the minute long trailer has Picard speaking about how "the true final frontier is time" and that "time offers so many opportunities, but never second chances." After that, we see deck of cards on a table and the only one that's face up and out of the deck is a Queen of Hearts. It then mostly dissipates as then all we see is a black screen and all that remains is the "Q" part of the card. In this instance we hear Q (John de Lancie) say, "the trial never ends" and laughs. I guess it wouldn't be a ST:TNG show without Q!

TNG is perhaps my most favorite of all of Star Trek, and I've seen almost all of it. However, I have not seen Star Trek: Lower Decks (an animated comedy) or Star Trek: Discovery (which I've heard is good). TNG ended when I was about 15 and it played on a local channel, so I got to watch it. There was a TNG video game that I had as one of the first games I got to play with my new Windows PC in '95-96. I also collected the cards for the TNG Customizable Card Game, which I played with some friends during high school. I still have some of those cards around. DS9 and Voyager also came out during this time and I really enjoyed those shows, too. I also read some books of TNG (such as Imzadi) and Voyager (especially the beginning). It wasn't until I was much older (in the last decade) that I finally watched or re-watched everything from the original and animated original series to ST: Enterprise. I've also seen all of the movies and I believe the NCC-1701-D is my favorite Enterprise. I've imaged myself in a blue TNG uniform long ago. I believed it belonged to those that worked in the field of science, which was where I saw myself if I were part of a ST crew.

I enjoyed Star Trek: Picard, I'm not sure how I forgot about it. I can't even remember if I was expecting a season two, but I'm delighted that it appears to be coming. I look forward to watching it. The fact that Q is going to be in it makes it even more exciting.

Did you see Star Trek: Picard? What did you think about it? Are you excited for season two? It looks like it'll come out sometime next year.

Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-trek-picard-season-2-gets-new-teaser/1100-6489774/

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier currently has three episodes left. On June 11th Loki begins on Disney+ just a couple of days after Black Widow is finally released. There's a new trailer for the show, which you can watch as I embedded it in this post. There's new footage in this video, so I recommend watching it. It looks pretty cool and funny. Afterwards, I watched a quick reaction video by New Rockstars, which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/xJj3oVpl4ao There will be a breakdown of the trailer later, but for now Erik Voss answered a couple of lingering questions. For one thing, you can see Loki on a purple looking planet talking to a woman. At first, my impression was that this was Black Widow, but it's most likely to be a woman playing the female version of Loki. "This Loki variant," the male we all know is mentioned in the trailer, which could mean there are other Loki variants out there. Erik also mentioned other shows that this will be like including Rick and Morty, Dr Who, and Quantum Leap. He does say it's interesting that it seems the TVA is blaming Loki for the messed up time line, instead of the rest of the Avengers. We do see in the trailer it being explained to him that this was due to him stealing the Tesseract. We also get to see Loki in different places and as different people. It looks like some adaptations will be made from real life events and the comics, including the one where Loki ran for president.

Let me know what you think about this. Do you plan to watch it? Are you excited about it? Are you enjoying all this Marvel content we're getting? I'm looking forward to it and I kind of feel an insatiable hunger for Marvel content. Keep it coming!