Monthly Media Recap - August 2025

 Two months until Halloween! That means the blog will be going into hibernation mode for the next month so I can prepare a post for every day in October. 

 

Linked titles will take you to a trailer and let's get on with the show...

 

 

Shows

 

Twisted Metal (S2, Peacock)

I LOVE this show! It's been filling the hole in my heart left by SyFy's 2017 Blood Drive. Season 2 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger setting up a Season 3. If this doesn't happen I will NOT be happy! I know this is already based on a video game, but can we get a new video game based on the show?

 

Gatchaman Progress

Episodes watched this month: 8 Currently up to: 59

 

Movies

 

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

I guess you could call me a casual, enthusiastic fan of FF comics. I keep up with them because I like the character dynamics and the sci-fi elements. This movie delivered for me on both fronts and definitely had a human aspect to it that made it more than just another superhero movie. I love the art direction and that we're just dropped into it with enough backstory to skip the usual "origin story" tropes. My biggest complaint is that Ben got the short straw in the character development department.

 

Rating: 8/10 

 

 

Clown in a Cornfield (2025, Shudder & VOD)

Yes, it's a silly title but the movie itself has a little humor to it. This has actually been a book since 2020. I frequently see Amazon recommend it to me and just never got around to it. The movie doesn't do anything really new for the slasher genre but it doesn't have to because it's a near perfect specimen with some fun (sometimes funny) kills.

 

Rating: 7/10

The RPG - Video Game Review

 Today, I'm going to be talking about The RPG video game. Which RPG video game, you ask? The RPG video game. I was going to do a whole "Who's on First" thing but then considered the effort it would take to type it out and decided it wasn't worth it.

 

The RPG is a first-person, comedic fantasy RPG-lite game that just released on August 7th. It takes more than a few pages from Skyrim's playbook. You don't need to have played Skyrim to enjoy The RPG but you might miss some of the jokes. If "taking an arrow to the knee" means anything to you, you'll be just fine.

 

I tend to prefer more "crunchy" RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 where you build your characters as they level and find the best items for them so I wasn't sure if an RPG-lite game was going to be up my alley. The simplicity of the game play, cartoony style, and the humor just make it very enjoyable for me. 

 

 It's got all the usual things that RPG lovers expect: breaking random things to look for loot, quests, killing things, taking their stuff, leveling up and...picking mushrooms? 

 

 

Any RPG worth its salt needs quests lay out the story and there no shortage of side quests. This is an open world game so you can explore the map however you want but there's plenty of wild beasties outside the village and you need to make sure you're not tackling something above your pay grade. Luckily, death only results in you respawning at the last bonfire you lit.

 

Like most RPGs, you get experience for completing quests and killing things. Leveling up is super easy. You get 3 points to spend on 12 skills such as: Tough Guy (take less damage), Coal Skin (resist fire damage), and Wolverine (health regen).

 

Everything you pick up from treasure to toilet paper to mushrooms adds to your Loot value. You can then find vendors that will turn your Loot into Gold which you can spend. In the main village there are three vending machines: weapon, armor, and various improvements for your mushroom gun. It's a gun that shoots mushrooms, it's not for shooting at mushrooms. But I'm not here to tell you how to play your game.

 

The weapon and armor machines only ever, in my experience, have one item in them. When you buy the item, it gets replaced with a better, more expensive item. This combined with the "everything becomes Loot" mechanic eliminates any sort of inventory management. When I play other RPGs I find myself having to run back to town frequently to unload items for cash so I can go get more items. Not here!

 

In addition to Loot, you can also find special powers like Double Jump and the secret of learning some Dragon language that gives you different magic shouts that can freeze mobs in place or slow time.

 

 In the end, the lite aspect of the game and how it really streamlines the RPG experience makes it a lot of fun and easy to jump into for a quick session. The humor is more subversive than laugh out loud funny but as a veteran of decades of RPG playing, I definitely enjoy the game's take on things. 

 

The RPG is available on Steam and there is currently a demo available so you've got no excuse to not check it out. 

Book Report - Deep Descent Doug

 You might remember back in April, I talked about getting into the Dungeon Crawler Carl series of LitRPG books. Thanks to BookSirens.com, I was able to get an advanced review copy of Deep Descent Doug to check out.

 

 Initially, based on the similarities in title and cover art, I thought that this was going to be a parody of the Carl books but it is its own thing.

Welcome to the office dungeon. Promotions? Power-ups. HR? Bloodthirsty monsters. Failure? A one-way ticket to the paper shredder.

Doug Kinney hated his life before the dungeon cracked open under his cubicle. Now? He’s dodging killer copiers, fighting HR golems, and grinding XP in an office hell where survival comes with a stapler — glowing, oversized, and very, very stabby. With his foul-mouthed cyber-raccoon sidekick and a survival instinct fueled by coffee, spite, and pure middle-manager rage, Doug’s ready to smash his way up the corporate ladder — one bloody memo at a time.

If you crave LitRPG chaos, ultraviolent humor, and the unholy lovechild of Dungeon Crawler Carl and Office Space, this is your next addiction. Strap in. It’s gonna be a brutal ride.

 The description "the unholy lovechild of Dungeon Crawler Carl and Office Space" was enough to hook me on this one. Like a resume, you're going to be expected to deliver on how you're promoting yourself, especially if you have a foul-mouthed cyber-raccoon. Doug didn't quite do that for me.

It definitely lives up to the hum-drum office environment more than the humor during the first half. Maybe a little too well as it felt like the endless eternity of waiting for the clock to go from 4:59:59 to 5:00 on a Friday. But I did enjoy the futuristic corporate setting and the weirdness going on there, even before things get really weird and the "corporate restructuring" begins!

The second half, thankfully, brought some coffee and donuts to perk things up. After Doug teams up with someone and the sentient office supplies start attacking, the story gets into its groove. Unfortunately, like an office party with alcohol, once it starts getting fun, it's just about over. 

For me, the shortness of the book (80 pages) brings quitting time just when I'm starting to enjoy it but it also makes me want to see what the next installment can bring. I'm not saying you got the job, but we'll put you on a probationary period.

 

Rating: 3/5