James Schumacher / JamesInDigital: Words & Art

Nobody Wants to Die (2024) – Intro

James Schumacher — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 02:40:36 +0000

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From Publisher PLAION & Deep Silver, Developed by Critical Hit Games, this is the intro sequence for Nobody Wants to Die, a futuristic noir mystery with time rewinding mechanics. The title was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox.

From Steam: Lose yourself in the dystopian world of New York, 2329; immortality comes at a price that someone has to pay. In this interactive noir story, lead the investigation using advanced technology, as Detective James Karra who risks it all in pursuit of a serial killer targeting the city’s elite.

From Wiki: The game is set in New York City in the year 2329, in a future where technology has developed a method to provide humans with eternal life by storing a person’s consciousness in a memory bank and switching them between bodies. The player assumes the role of James Karra, a detective in the Mortality Department, who is investigating a series of murders perpetrated by a serial killer targeting the elite of the city. When Karra is instructed by his boss to report the latest murder as an accident, he decides to investigate further. The game features multiple endings based on player choices made throughout play.

Good visuals and voice acting, the time mechanic takes some getting used to and the high fidelity can be a rough, stuttery affair even medium or lower systems.

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Above Snakes (2023 PC, Square Glade, Crytivo) – Intro and Day 1 Gameplay Basics

James Schumacher — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 21:17:10 +0000

The Intro and Beginning tutorial (day 1) of Above Snakes from Square Glade Games and publisher Crytivo, a 2023 release.

Very interesting game based on the early gameplay. It’s a surival, crafting, combat game with an isometric perspective and a tiling world. Perhaps most interesting is these tiles a placed by the player through unlocking research, thus allowing them to somewhat shape how they play the game.

More info from Steam: Piece by piece, create your own world in this relaxing Wild West-inspired worldbuilder. Craft, farm, hunt, build your base, and explore.

Experience a mixture of creation and mild survival elements in this isometric Wild West-inspired adventure RPG. Build your own world piece by piece while navigating various biomes and battling against the elements or – even worse – dangerous Lost Souls. Gather resources, construct bases, and craft weapons and tools to hunt, fish, farm, and fight.

Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions (2010) – Intro & Tutorial (4K, Reshade, DS UI)

James Schumacher — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 20:52:03 +0000

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Used in this video:
https://github.com/Chip-Biscuit/Spider-Man-Shattered-Dimensions-PC-Fix
https://reshade.me/
https://tinyurl.com/4wnahnjb
https://www.moddb.com/downloads/texmod4

The Noir trailer got me interested in revisiting this title I last played on the PS3. The PC versions is currently delisted on Steam, so you’ll have to find it other places.

Old Steam text: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is an action-packed adventure encompassing four dramatically different parallel universes, each with its own Spider-Man armed with unique strengths. Each stunning universe has its own detailed art design and thrilling gameplay with challenging skill sets to master in order to unlock powerful new moves. Explore dramatic, stunning environments, wield explosive new powers, and face epic boss battles against extraordinary foes. Experience the legendary Super Hero like never before: Four unique worlds. Four distinct Spider-Men. One unparalleled experience!

While the Iron’s Hot – Intro & Tutorial

James Schumacher — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:13:30 +0000

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Terrific little indie blacksmithing game from Bontemps games and published by Humble. Available on multiple storefronts. From Steam “Reforge a blacksmith’s village on an isle of the land’s finest artisans! Step into the boots of an expert smith for a crafty adventure filled with mystery and charm. Explore the land of Ellian, and prove that a hammer, anvil, and your wits can overcome any challenge.”

A quirky little story with simple but fun mechanics has an up-and-coming young blacksmith explore multiple biomes and uncovering new crafting supplies in order to craft new and better items and maybe solve some mysteries along the way.

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7th Guest (Trilobyte, DOS CD-ROM, 1993) Intro (Scaled)

James Schumacher — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 19:16:27 +0000

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In celebration of the re-imagined for VR 7th Guest release on steam and the Halloween season, here’s the classic DOS intro from the earlier days of CD-ROMs. Installed via DOSBox with original CDs and the run through ScummVM with HQ scaling. Further scaling to fit screen done with Davinci Studio for final rendering.

Fond memories of wrestling with my PC as a youngster to get this and other earlier CD-ROM titles working effeciently. I added the files for the enhanced music https://ift.tt/f5CghxE but I can’t remember if the intro is straight CD data or not. Anyways, enjoy.

Fun fact, the original discs have some Team Fat music on them including some Jazzy Halloween tuneage, some of which can be hear in the intro’s musical motifs. Perfect for Halloween listening.

Spirit Hunter: Death Mark (2019 – PC – Experience) Intro & Title

James Schumacher — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 12:15:53 +0000

Spirit Hunter: Death Mark is a high quality interactive horror-themed visual novel adventure from Developer Experience and Publisher Aksys Games. This recording is from the PC/Steam version and the title is also available on the Switch, Vita, PS4, and XBOX One systems. It was original released as a vita title in 2017 for the Japanese market. It then moved to a worldwide Xbox released in 2018, followed by a wider English released on the PC is 2019.

The bulk of the story is told in the visual novel style, but there are some puzzle/adventure game mechanics between these scenes for collecting items and evidence. There are also time-based choices during the VN portions that can lead to Game Over states.

Plot Info via Wiki:

The story is set in H City, Tokyo, where it follows an amnesiac, player-named man whose default name is Kazuo Yashiki. In the beginning of the game, Yashiki notices that he carries a scar on his arm, called the Mark, which according to rumors is caused by curses or contact with ghosts, and will lead to its bearer’s death at dawn. After noticing the Mark, he blanks out, and finds himself in front of Kujou Mansion, where he finds its owner, Saya Kujou, dead. Kujou also bore the Mark, and had researched it, but died before finding a solution.

Dredge (2023) – Intro and Basics (Team17, Black Salt Games)

James Schumacher — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 02:14:07 +0000

Dredge is a fishing/adventure game with a decidedly Lovecraftian flavor. The game comes from publisher Team17 and developer Black Salt Games and is available on Xbox, Switch, Playstation and the PC Platform via Steam where it currently sits at an Overwhelmingly Positive rating of 93.09% (SteamDB).

It’s a gem of a game with great design, atmosphere, and simple but effective game mechanics.

Support the channel by picking up Dredge for PS5, Xbox X, or Nintendo Switch via this link: https://amzn.to/3UY6sZt

Additional text from their website:
DREDGE is a single-player fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent. Sell your catch, upgrade your boat, and dredge the depths for long-buried secrets. Explore a mysterious archipelago and discover why some things are best left forgotten.

The Long Reach – Intro – 2018 (Painted Black, Merge)

James Schumacher — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 18:13:44 +0000

The Long Reach is a pixel graphic horror adventure side-scroller and comes from Developer Paint Black Games and publisher Merge Games. Released in 2018, the title, as of now (2023) has a very positive rating on Steam. Check out this intro sequence from the game that sets the tone for the story and gives you a good idea of what to expect from the pixel graphics and killer soundtrack.

More info from Steam:
The Long Reach is a horror-thriller hell bent on screwing with your perception of things.

The game misuses stunning pixel art to create gruesome and unsettling images.

You’ll be playing as Calvin throughout the game – this is an example of the lies and deception that we have in store for you.

You won’t be forced to figure everything out. Escape if you wish, in fact we encourage you to run for your life!

Solve puzzles that require thinking outside the box. The box provided by our publisher was never used during the development.

You’ll be able to talk with plenty of characters. In fact, you’ll have a chance to pitch in every five lines or so.

A classic adventure game inventory filled with keys and weird stuff (note: no Elvish swords glowing faintly blue when evil is close in this game).

Original atmospheric and haunting soundtrack. The composer’s not right in the head, he brought weird stuff home to use in the soundtrack. We’re all concerned for his cat.

Lovecraft’s Untold Stories – Intro and Titles – 2019 (LLC Blini, Fulqrum)

James Schumacher — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 01:13:37 +0000

As the title implies Lovecraft’s Untold Stories is a Lovecraftian-inspired, pixel- styled, adventure shooter from indie developer LLC Blini. It’s considered a rogue-lite with some RPG mechanics. Levels are randomly generated and feature monsters and cultists with a decidely Lovecraftian flair along with puzzles and some light detective work. Check out this intro to get a brief feel for the game’s story and style.

Some additional info form Steam:

Lovecraft’s Untold Stories is based on H.P. Lovecraft’s stories. You will experience first-hand the cosmic horror created by the genius of Providence. Every character will go through an investigation that will take them through different locations, from the creepy old Victorian mansion to the abandoned hospital where forbidden experiments take place or the jungle where lost tribes celebrate forgotten rituals, just to name a few. Levels are randomly generated: it will be a different experience every time you play. Also, they vary depending on the character you’re playing with. Look for items and clues to unlock secrets and new stories!

Ruiner – Intro and Tutorials – 2016 (Reikon, Devolver)

James Schumacher — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 23:14:01 +0000

Ruiner is a twin-stick run and gunner with cyberpunk stylings in the isometric perspective. The title was developed by Reikon Games and published by Devolver Digital for all the major platforms in 2017 and later ported to the switch in 2020.

A little plot info from Wiki:

Ruiner takes place in 2091 in Rengkok and its surrounding facilities, owned by Heaven, a conglomerate led by a man referred to in-game as the Boss. Initially the player character, a silent protagonist dubbed “Puppy” by another character, is being led by a rogue hacker named Wizard to assassinate the Boss. Before he reaches the Boss’s office, the signal from Wizard to the protagonist is overridden by another hacker known only as Her. Her explains to Puppy that Wizard was contracted by another group and that his brother has been kidnapped, and urges him to track Wizard down

And some gameplay info:

Ruiner is a shoot ’em up played from an isometric perspective. The game takes place in 2091 and is set in a cyberpunk metropolis known as Rengkok.[8][9] The player takes control of a silent, masked protagonist who attempts to rescue their kidnapped brother from a failing conglomerate, known as Heaven, that controls Rengkok.

Renoir – Intro – 2016 (Black Wing, Fulqrum)

James Schumacher — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 07:13:33 +0000

Renoir is a 2016 noir-themed side-scroller featuring time mechanics through the control of ghosts. It seeks to match the noir style through high-key black and white color/lighting, but retains singular, strong colors to highlight interaction points and key objects.

From Steam:
Renoir is a story-driven puzzle platformer that draws inspiration from classic 1940s film noir. Detective James Renoir has but a single shot to crack one hell of a case: his own murder!

Features:
— Black and white detective story powered by Unreal Engine 4
— Puzzle platforming action, inspired by Hollywood noir movies
— Control phantoms and use them to solve environmental puzzles
— A murder mystery, narrated through atmospheric comicbook-style movies

Bloodstained-Cursed of the Moon – Intro – 2018 (Inti Creates)

James Schumacher — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 06:15:36 +0000

No, not that Bloodstained. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is a heavily 8-bit Castlevania “inspired” title developed as a “companion” piece.. This is the intro. Duh.

Wiki information:
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is a 2018 platform game developed and published by Inti Creates. It is a companion title to developer ArtPlay’s 2019 game Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and was conceived to fulfill the promise for a retro-style accompaniment to Ritual of the Night after its Kickstarter campaign exceeded crowdfunding goals. Curse of the Moon follows Zangetsu, a cursed swordsman hunting down demons for revenge, as well as three other playable characters named Miriam, Alfred and Gebel. It features an 8-bit aesthetic and gameplay style similar to Castlevania games on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), particularly Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989).

Kathy Rain – Intro – 2016 (Clifftop, Raw Fury)

James Schumacher — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 20:13:57 +0000

Kathy Rain is a game in the class adventure pixel art style from Clifftop and Raw Fury. The game takes place in the ’90s, 1995, and focuses on the titular character as she returns to her old hometown after the death of her grandfather. Kathy hasn’t been home in more than 15 years after her mentally disturbed mother took her away as a small child. Now in college, Kathy’s entire personality has been shaped by the disappearance of her father and the difficulties of her mother and their hasty exit from home.

Reconnecting with her grandmother, Kathy learns of an incident with grandfather that left him wheelchair-bound and mute up until his recent passing.

Additional Wiki info: Kathy Rain is a point-and-click adventure video game. The game is set in 1995 and follows a college girl named Kathy who returns to her hometown to look into a mystery related to her deceased grandfather. Kathy Rain was developed by Clifftop Games, a one-man Swedish indie studio founded by Joel Staaf Hästö. Hästö called the television series Twin Peaks an influence for the game. The game was developed using the Adventure Game Studio development tool.

Control – Intro – Remedy (DX12, Ray-tracing, Max Settings)

James Schumacher — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 15:13:11 +0000

Housesitting for some friends, so I’m getting to play some of my stuff with a newer rig. An RTX 3070 is able to run max settings, including ray-tracing at 1080p. I’ve owned Control for awhile now but haven’t played it on my old rig as I’ve heard some nightmares about running it on even newer hardware. In my short testing I never dipped below 72-75 FPS with the listed settings, while DX11 no RT ran well over 100fps.

Anyway, enjoy another intro to the growing intro playlist. More to come over the next couple of weeks.

Control info from wiki:
Control is an action-adventure game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games. The game was released in August 2019. Two paid expansions have been released.

The game revolves around the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), a secret U.S. government agency tasked with containing and studying phenomena that violate the laws of reality. As Jesse Faden (Courtney Hope), the Bureau’s new Director, the player explores the Oldest House – the FBC’s paranormal headquarters – and utilizes powerful abilities in order to defeat a deadly enemy known as the Hiss, which has invaded and corrupted reality. The player gains abilities by finding Objects of Power, mundane objects like a rotary phone or a floppy disk imbued with energies from another dimension, that have been at the center of major paranormal events and since recovered by the FBC. In addition to Hope, voice work and live-action footage is provided by James McCaffrey, Matthew Porretta, and Martti Suosalo, while the band Poets of the Fall provided additional music.

Medieval Dynasty – Intro

James Schumacher — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 04:14:00 +0000

Wiki Information: A world of adventure!
Medieval Dynasty is a first-person, open world, realistic medieval life simulator, survival and town builder game, developed by Render Cube and published by Toplitz Productions. Released on Steam Early Access on September 17th, 2020. Hunt, survive, build, and lead in the harsh Middle Ages. Create your own Medieval Dynasty and ensure its long-lasting prosperity or die trying!

The game is a crafting/hunting/village builder set in a medieval period with a rural landscape. The game features a simple storyline that can be played through along with the main gameplay of crafting and village building. It has non-story modes and is still being worked on to a degree

Shadow of the Tomb Raider – Intro – Cozumel (2018, Square Enix & Eidos)

James Schumacher — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 11:15:35 +0000

Apologies for the extra cuts and occasional camera/movement weirdness. Steam does weird things when it tries to takeover my 3rd party Switch controller.

Game in via Wiki:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the 2018 sequel to Rise of the Tomb Raider, and third and allegedly final installment in the Survivor Timeline.

Lara Croft travels to Mexico in order to take down a Trinity cell along with Jonah Maiava, While traversing a treacherous cavern, Lara is trapped, though she manages to free herself. While climbing to get back onto the trail, Jonah informs Lara via radio of the imminent arrival of Dr. Pedro Dominguez. While Lara assumes he only leads a local Trinity cell, she later discovers he is actually the leader of Trinity’s High Council.

Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark – Intro (2018, 6 Eyes Studio & 1C Company)

James Schumacher — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 02:13:39 +0000

Intro sequence and beginning tutorial fight from Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark

Game info from Wiki:
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is a turn-based tactical role-playing game. It has a particular focus on storytelling and character development and customization. There are a variety of monsters that the player will encounter and engage in strategic battle against. Customize your troops with various Weapons, Armor, and Accessories while mix-and-matching Classes, Passive Abilities and Counter Abilities to make truly unique characters.

White Rob Zombie vs The Evil Dead Army of Darkness – Halloween Mix WIP 2021

James Schumacher — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 01:13:34 +0000

I’m rusty and this took way too long. Your appreciation may vary. Unlisted. Base track is lossless Super-Charger Heaven (Adults Only mix) off the album Supersexy Swingin’ Sounds. Army of Darkness sounds clipped from 5.1 mix of film in WAV, edited, cleaned and faded where needed.

Software used Davinci Resolve, Spleeter, Audition.

Long Story Short– made a Halloween party mix with custom SFX in 1999, got bored in 2021 and started to recreate/expand it in 2021. Got 1/20th of the way finished, resulting in a single AOD SFX Rob Zombie remix track.

Short Story Long– In 1997-99, I was a pseudo DJ. Which in reality meant I had a large CD collection, knowledge of obtaining music on the internet and passable editing skills. I made some various compilation and party mixes that circulated through local college campuses, including a Weezer compilation after they broke up that funnily enough ended up being extremely similar to the Blue and Pinkerton deluxe versions… but I digress.

I made a Halloween mix for a party near U of O in ’99. It had multiple dancy mixes. Other peoples remixes, my editing with SFX, lines from movies, cross-fades, and beat matching. One track was a Rob Zombie Halloween Party mix that blended three Rob Zombie remixes together with various sound effects from horror movies.

Cut to 2021 and boredom leads to “remastering.” The grand plan was a whole concept album/track — The Evil Dead/Army of Darkness saga in story form backed by White Zombie/Rob Zombie remixes. Life made it so that instead I only got 1/3 of the original mix started/remastered with with a lossless source (My CD), and “lossless” 5.1 sound effects from Army of Darkness (My Bluray). Maybe I’ll do the whole concept next year.

Shannara – History Remastered – 1995 (Legend Entertainment) Sword of Shannara Abridged History.

James Schumacher — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 07:13:16 +0000

Included as a menu option on the 1995 adventure game Shannara from Legend Entertainment is a History Button. This provides a heavily abridged version of Shea Ohmsford’s story (the father of the game’s main protagonist Jak *in this version of the universe*) and the basics of The Sword of Shannara.

It provides an overview of the lands of Shannara and how Shea first found the fabled sword and defeated the evil. Again, not exact cannon, but familiar to book readers.

This was a ridiculously long process for a video that most won’t find or watch… but I did it anyway, perhaps because I was unhappy with the ability to upscale the actual game’s intro, which has some issues on the quality front. I mean, it was 1995 after all.

All footage was captured at a base 1920×1080 with aspect ratio upscaling in Dosbox-X. Stills were captured, AI upscaled to 4k,and then tweaked and fixed by hand in post for the non-moving segments of the video, with rendered zooms to try and match the original. The flyovers were separated put in their own lossless videos and the process using AI Video upscaling to produce an acceptable result. Audio was separated out and then run through a program called Spleeter to separate dialogue and music so that it was easier to do some light audio cleanup. Everything was reassembled to match in Davinci to match the original footage length and layout. The final result was rendered out in x265 at a high bitrate to hopefully produce a good final Youtube result.

Enjoy. Or don’t. Now I have to go figure out why I spent four hours on this. Sweet baby jesus, help me.

Shannara – Intro – 1995 (Legend Entertainement) 1080 Scaled

James Schumacher — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 02:13:45 +0000

Shannara is a adventure game from Legend Entertainment released in 1995 for DOS and Windows. It’s an original story within the Shannara universe, referencing some of it’s characters and larger story arc. The protagonist is the son of Shea Ohmsford the original protagonist of The Sword of Shannara novel. As big fan and young reader of the novels, the game is decidedly meh. Not sure I would ever do another full playthrough, but who knows. The animation from the intro is rough and scaling/filters didn’t help much. A full AI upscale didn’t appear like it would be worth it either given the weak results and time it would take. The follow-up video showing the History segment of the game will look much better as it was remastered in segments by hand.

In-game segment captured at 1440×1080. Video segment pillarboxed at 1080 but scaled to fit full width 1920×1080.

Dosbox-X and original CD were used to play the game with Shadowplay for capture. Davinci for editing/rendering of final video.

Wiki Info:
Shannara is a computer game released in 1995 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It is based on the Shannara series of books by Terry Brooks.

Although the game contains characters from the Shannara novels, it is not an adaptation but an original story set after The Sword of Shannara and before The Elfstones of Shannara. Players take on the role of Jak Ohmsford, son of Shea. In Shady Vale, Jak meets Allanon. He tells Jak of the horrible Warlock Lord’s return. Jak sets off into the Land of Shannara.

The Wheel of Time – Intro & Titles Remastered -1999 Legend Entertainment, GT Interactive- AI Upscale

James Schumacher — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 09:13:11 +0000

OK, this one is a recreation using a still of the logo and using some AI upscaling on the source videos, which are old sqv1 Sorensen Quicktime loose files on the game’s second disc. I used handbrake to expand from 10 fps to 30 and then used AI upscaling to reach 1440×1080. Logo upscaled from wiki image and cleaned/sharpened in Photoshop. These upscaled fairly well. Game also look fairly good with neural texture upgrade and reshade. I may upload some footage.

Wheel of Time came to us in 1999 from Developers Legend Entertainment, known for their adventure games. It used an early Unreal Engine build. It is at once familiar to book readers but different, obviously taking place lprior to the book settings and mentioning familiar characters, but firmly laying outside of the series cannon, taking place in an alternate reality reachable by portal stone.

Wiki Info: The game is based on the Unreal Engine, combining elements of first-person shooter games like Unreal with strategy/role-playing game elements. It can be played either in single-player or multiplayer modes, which determines the course of the game. The single-player gameplay variant is linear and centered on a fictional character named Elayna Sedai, the Keeper of the Chronicles of the White Tower.

PLOT: The game’s setting in respect to the novels is ambiguous. Elayna Sedai, the protagonist and the player’s alter ego, is reading a report from an expedition she sent out, when she is attacked by an unknown assassin in her office in the White Tower. She is knocked out, and he makes off with an odd, horn-shaped ter’angreal but not the cuendillar seals he was looking for. The Amyrlin subsequently sends Elayna to recover the ter’angreal.

Discworld Noir – Intro HQ – 1999 (GT Interactive, Perfect, Teeny Weeny) DgVoodoo + Reshade

James Schumacher — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 20:14:06 +0000

The third entry in the Perfect Entertainment developed game series based on the Discworld universe and works of author Terry Pratchett.

But first… the setup.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Without the fixed executable linked below the game crashes for me on loading options or after the intro cutscene,

This game could be considered difficult to get running correctly, but as someone who runs older games fairly regularly, I already had a leg up. Hopefully I’ll remember everything I have running and that will help. First off, I have something called Otvdm installed, which basically detects 16-bit Windows executables and automatically emulates them to work on 64-bit modern systems. That is located here: https://ift.tt/34rWXsL.

Secondly, DGVoodoo is an excellent utility for running older directx and opengl games on modern systems with some resolution and aliasing controls. You can find it here: https://ift.tt/2YkW70W
However, as is the case sometimes, it doesn’t always have full control. Discworld Noir is one such title, where it doesn’t help with resolution and aspect ratio. It does, however, allow for running Reshade which can help with some other things.

While I could install the game with Otvdm, I could only run the opening videos before it crashed. Using the patched executable found here fixed that: https://ift.tt/3CLDMJe. However, as mentioned in the thread, this makes the mouse wonky and does not preserve aspect ratio (I fixed aspect ratio in Davinci, rendering to 1440×1080). So be prepared to deal with those to issues.

The third issue was the incredibly dark image. I deployed reshade to tweak this to my liking. Filters/post-processing are not for everyone, but I like to use them fairly liberally. I tweaked some detail, color saturation, and bloom to get a slightly brighter image but still noir contrasty. You can find some good 2d/CRT shaders here https://ift.tt/2ZZXSkL along with some xbrz shaders I found elsewhere to tweak the image. I debated using scanlines here as I did the first two games, however the slightly larger resolution and the use of polys instead of sprites dissuaded me here.

Anyway, the game info – Discworld Noir departs from the main character featured in the first two games of the series, instead centering on protagonist detective Lewton and his adventures in Ankh-Morpork.

Wiki Info: Discworld Noir is a 1999 adventure game developed by Perfect Entertainment and published by GT Interactive. The game is set in Terry Pratchett’s satirical Discworld universe, and follows its first and only private investigator as he is given a case leading him into the deadly and occult underbelly of the Discworld’s largest city.

The game plays on film noir genre tropes, parodying noir classics such as Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. Originally released for Microsoft Windows, it was later released for PlayStation by Teeny Weeny Games, the resurrected form of the already insolvent Perfect Entertainment. Pratchett consulted on the story and provided some of the dialogue, being credited for causing “far too much interference.”

Discworld II – Mortality Bytes! – Intro HQ – That’s Death – 1996 (Psygnosis, Perfect) ScummVM 2.5.0

James Schumacher — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 22:13:33 +0000

Discworld II – Mortality Byes! was known as Missing Presumed…!? outside of North America and was the follow-up to the first entry released in the previous year, also published by Psygnosis. Eric Idle, Rob Brydon, and several others return for voices. The plot is a mixture of Discworld stories from author Terry Pratchett’s series, but probably most follows Reaper Man, where death has gone missing and the dead remain in limbo in his absence.

This intro also features the song That’s Death, performed by Eric Idle as a dancing skeleton. Recorded in desktop mode 1920×1080 60fps in ScummVM 2.5.0 and with light filtering (xBRZ and simple scanlines) via Reshade.

Wiki Info: One night whilst returning from a pub with The Librarian, Rincewind witnesses an assassin plant a cart bomb in the Fools’ Guild and attempts to disarm it. However, he accidentally causes the bomb to detonate, destroying the guild and killing its occupants. Unknowingly, the blast also catches out Death whilst attending to his duties, ejecting him from the saddle of his horse and causing him to disappear without trace. His absence swiftly leads to the souls of the departed throughout Ankh-Morpork remaining bound to their bodies and becoming undead. After witnessing Windle Poon suffer the same fate at his appointed time of death, the wizards of Unseen University suspect what the cause is and decide to invoke a ritual to summon Death, with the Archchancellor tasking Rincewind to collect the needed items for it.

Discworld – Intro HQ 1995 – Enhanced Music (Psygnosis, Perfect 10, Teeny Weeny) – ScummVM 2.5

James Schumacher — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 12:13:20 +0000

Discworld is a classic adventure game set in the universe of the same Title by author Terrt Pratchett. It features some notable names as far as voice acting, with Eric Idle of Monty Python fame voicing the protagonist wizard Rincewind and several suporting voices by actor/comedia/impressionist Rob Brydon.

The game here is presented through ScummVM official build 2.5.0 using the CDROM version of the game and featuring the enhanced MIDI recordings of James Woodcock found here: https://ift.tt/3mGj1ZP Screen captured at 1920×1080 60fps, with ScummVM in Aspect Ratio Correction mode stretch to fit and HQ 3x (I think).

Additionally I have used some simple reshade for 5xbrz and light scanlines, along with slight curves adjustment to brighten the image back up after the scanlines. Filtering is always in the eye of the beholder, and while I thought simple 2x HQ scaling looked OK, at full 1080 fit it looked best to my this way. Your mileage may bary. This game also runs quite well in DOSBox and either that or Scumm can also emulate (or make use of hardware) MT-32 for this title as well.

Wiki Info:

A secret brotherhood summons a dragon from its native dimension, so as to cause destruction and mayhem across the city of Ankh-Morpork. Rumours of the dragon’s rampage across the city reaches Unseen University. Since the Archchancellor wishes the involvement of at least one wizard in the matter, Rincewind is summoned to handle the problem. After acquiring a book to learn what is needed to track the dragon to its lair, Rincewind searches the city for the various components needed to assemble a dragon detector and brings them back to the Archchancellor. After the Archchancellor lets slip that the dragon’s lair is stocked with gold, Rincewind snatches the dragon detector from him, searches the city, finds the lair, and takes all the gold within it. Just before he leaves, the dragon stops him and requests his aid in removing the brotherhood’s hold upon her, claiming they are using her for evil and are planning to make her go on a major rampage

Aliens vs Predator – Intros – Marine, Predator, and Alien (2010, Rebellion, SEGA) Reshade Enhanced

James Schumacher — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 08:13:38 +0000

2010’s Aliens vs Predator was developed by Rebellion, now perhaps best known for the Sniper Elite and Zombie Army spinoff series, and published by SEGA. The game featured three single player campaigns for Marines, Predator, and Aliens, along with a well-liked multiplayer component. The game has great sound design and atmosphere, and the graphics, especially with a little touch of reshade hold up pretty well at just over a decade old as of this upload. The game on the whole is a mixed bag experience and reviews reflect this. The melee combat is kind of clunk as are some of the story and mechanics choices.

This was the follow-up to the AvP 2 but is basically a reboot of the series, featuring a mix of story bits, characters, and the titular creatures from the breadth of the series. It released on the Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms in February of 2010.

Wiki Info: There are three campaigns in the game, one for each race/faction (the Colonial Marines, the Aliens, and the Predators), that, while separate in terms of individual plot and gameplay, form one overarching storyline. Following the storyline of the campaign modes comes the multiplayer aspect of the game. In this Multiplayer section of the game, players face off in various game types in various ways.

This was Mark Rutherford’s first video game score. It was 70 minutes of live orchestral score recorded in Slovakia with the Istropolis Philharmonic Orchestra. To create a unique and original sound for the Alien and the Predator he made his own percussion kits constructed from bits of metal and various tools which were then scraped and hit with nails, sticks, brushes, and mallets

Claire – Intro – 2014 (Hailstorm Games, Limited Run)

James Schumacher — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 16:13:46 +0000

Claire is 2d scroller horror game from indie developer Hailstorm Games who also published the initial release, with the extended cut getting publishing help from Limited Run Games. It a classically-styled horror adventure similar to that of Lone Survivor, The Last Door, Home, or Uncanny Valley.

Blurbs via Steam:

Claire is alone, lost, and hunted. The world has quickly becomes shrouded in darkness with unseen threats stalking Claire from the shadows. Aided by her dog and armed only with a flashlight, Claire must conquer her fear and find her comatose mother. However, there are others lost in the darkness seeking salvation. Claire must decide who she is going to save. With every choice she’ll begin to discover who she really is and whether she deserves to be saved herself.

-Play as Claire and explore multiple levels accompanied by your dog, Anubis.
– Use a lighter or a mouse-controlled flashlight to explore an increasingly dark world.
-Contend with the panic system, a system that increases the scariness of the environment as fear tightens its grip on Claire.
-Fight back Claire’s fear and stay alert with items scavenged from the dark corners of the world.
-Find others lost in the darkness, help them and decide to save them or leave them be.
-Multiple endings determined by plot choices and interactions with the others.
-Multiple difficulty settings, including “Nightmare” where Claire can literally be scared to death.
-New Game + allows you to keep your items and ramp up the difficulty.

Rise of the Dragon – Intro – MT 32 Talkie – 1990 (Dynamix/Game Arts)

James Schumacher — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 20:13:40 +0000

Cleaning out some old folders on my drive and I found this unposted/unedited video. It’s from awhile back, but to the best of my memory it used a custom patch in order to enable both MT-32 and voice acting at the same time. However in live playback there is noticeable pausing between each line of dialogue, probably due to the way it was patched in. I quickly edited/smoothed out the transition between the lines for this video.

Rise of the Dragon is a classic adventure from developer Dynamix released in 1990/1 for DOS and Amiga. The SEGA CD version, later released in 1992/93 featured voice acting and some new censorship, as well as a limited color palette and music. Most people prefer the original Amiga/DOS versions.

The game takes place in a gritty, futuristic world where the protagonist is a private detective.

WIKI INFO:
Rise of the Dragon is a graphic adventure game released in 1990 for DOS and Macintosh, and later remade for the Sega CD (1993) as well as the Amiga. It was one of the few adventure game titles developed by Dynamix, a company that was better known as an action and flight simulator game developer. The game is set in a dark future cyberpunk version of Los Angeles.

In 2053, William ‘Blade’ Hunter is a former Los Angeles Police Department officer turned private detective. When the mayor’s rebellious daughter Chandra is found dead and horribly mutated after experimenting with a new designer drug called MTZ, Blade is called upon to track down those responsible.

Evil Dead: Hail to the King – Intro and Tiles – Upscaled (Dreamcast & PC, 2000)

James Schumacher — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 18:14:23 +0000

Rights belong to THQ and Heavy Iron Studios

This one took quite a bit of work. The PC version of Hail to the King is quite buggy and upscaling wasn’t satisfactory. However the disc does have all the videos and music in open directories. The in-game footage of the Dreamcast version played through emulation at 4x internal scaling looks fantastic though and the console version have some Bruce Campbell voice over in the titles. So I did a bunch of work and combined elements of the two for this intro.

Bik losslessly converted for editing. 15 fps to 60 fps with different AI profiles for each segment of the video. Results are good but mixed. In-game footage captured from game disc through Demul at 4x scalling with scanlines 60fps 1080p. Game menu footage also from Demul featuring Bruce Campbell one-liners. Everything spliced together in post through DaVinci and rendered at 1440×1080 60fps 100k

A little about the game: It’s not very good, featuring tank controls in the style of old-school Resident Evil. But it does have fantastic music and good voice acting.

Wiki Info:
Evil Dead: Hail to the King is a survival horror video game developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ. Released for the PlayStation, Dreamcast, and Microsoft Windows, the game acts as a sequel to the 1992 film Army of Darkness. This was the second video game released to be based on the Evil Dead film franchise, following the 1984 title The Evil Dead, and was also the first video game to be developed by Heavy Iron Studios.

Actraiser Resurrection – Intro and Titles (2021, Square Enix, PC)

James Schumacher — Sat, 25 Sep 2021 02:13:24 +0000

Actraiser Renaissance is a Remake/Revival of the Actraiser franchise for most modern platforms. Releasing today (Sept. 25, 2021) the game is available on PC, iOS, PS4/PS5 and Switch. Graphics are stylistcally remastered in HD resolution and players can toggle between the original and reimagined version of the soundtrack during gameplay.

Actraiser was a unique blend of side-scrolling action platformer and light city-building. In Resurrection, the city-building has been expanded and some tower defense has been added into the mix, along with shorter mini levels that fill in the game between the main mission bookends of side-scrolling action.

Resistance: Fall of Man – RPCS3 Gameplay Test (2600k, 980Ti)

James Schumacher — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 00:13:22 +0000

RPCS3 running on older CPU and not quite as old GPU.

Looks like the old girl can still have some fun. My trusty old, perpetually dying 2600k machine, with a recently borrowed 980ti replacing a dead 780ti, has had some emulation adventures lately with BOTW and now Resistance. All my systems and games are getting boxed up, as I’ve lost my place to stay, but instead of finishing my packing, I thought I’d check out the current state of emulation. And here we are.

I’m having the most problems getting the audio stable, but it seems like with some tweaking, a lot of my PS3 games will run fairly well. And yes, I have old compatible Lite-On Bluray Drive. Here are the settings that I’ve messed with so far:

SPU ASMJIT
Lower SPU Thread Priority
SPU Block Size Mega
Resolution Scale 150%
Scale Threshold 120×120
FSR 25%
Framelimit 30
Anisotropic Filter 8x

I would love for these to get a full-on remaster or even a new entry/remake now two generations ahead.