Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Review! I, @zombeepeeI'm once again honored to be your host as we look back at site-related news and the best community creations from the past week!
If you're reading this on release day, that means there are only two days left until Giant Bombathon! If you're still not aware, there will be a 24-hour personal Steam and Membership Drive happening from October 27th to 28th! The staff is busy over the weekend getting where they need to be, rehearsing the fun scenarios and segments they have planned, and testing the equipment to make sure nothing blows up. Obviously, if you miss it or can only watch part of the event, VOD will be available on the website and YouTube.
However, please remember that this is a membership campaign. For those of you who don't have Premium, be prepared re-enable subscriptions when the broadcast starts. For those of you who have already maxed out or have a lifetime subscription, consider one of the following options. If you have friends who are into gaming, encourage them to create a Giant Bomb account and give them a subscription. As we move closer to moving to a new location, we would greatly appreciate new blood. Also, consider contributing to the Ko-Fi Giant Bomb page if gift subscriptions aren't right for you. The good thing about Ko-Fi is that you can donate any amount that matches your current financial situation.
And for those of you who can't donate or subscribe, don't worry, you can tune in and enjoy the fun. This stream is open to everyone, whether they are a premium subscriber or not. Plus, with how often things go, you can get a gift subscription if you tune into the Giant Bomb Twitch channel if you're lucky!
Next, let's talk about Extra Life 2025! As I mentioned in the announcement thread posted this week, I'm captain of the Giant Bomb team this year as part of the Extra Life program.. I will be coordinating with staff and Chuck to post community threads and updates. Right now we're really looking for people who stream games on Twitch or YouTube but don't have an Extra Life team. Even if you can't stream on Game Day (November 8th), or even if you only stream a few times a month, if you're playing games online for the rest of the year, join the team and see if anyone in your audience can send you and the Giant Bomb team a few dollars to help kids in need.
And for those of you who are thinking about streaming during Game Day, there is a form you can fill out so I can schedule community streams on the site! Again, check it out and use any of the handy links below if you have even the slightest interest in participating in Extra Life this year!
For those of you who have been following Bacalar's webcomic What Lies Beneath the Lilies, an episode has been released its last 20th episode of the first season! For the last 5 pay-only episodes, you can save 10% by purchasing in bulk.
Finally, as the end of the year approaches, be sure to let everyone you know know that they need to log into their accounts on the giant bomb site before the end of the year. If you really want to check if you're okay click on this link.
You will see a disclaimer with a button to click only if you have not yet agreed to the account transfer process.
If you still can't log into the beta site and get the premium version, message Chucktowski on Discord with your username and email and he can sort it out.
Art
High resolution banner for Darkest Days Blight Club (TO: @jearum)
If you enjoyed Dan's hilarious journey through The darkest of days you should be equally happy to know that jearum have made a high resolution version of their banner for this season of Blight Club, available to EVERYONE! Most of you will agree that they just don't miss a beat with these.
Dan: Is all fire real? (Author: Slow-PC)
Jesus Christ, Dan. Big thanks to Slow-PC on the GB Discord for pouncing on turning Dan's latest danism into a meme, but Jesus.
bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/picklegiraffe.bsky.social/post/3m3wzxqpwsc24
https://bsky.app/profile/jupiterjazz89.bsky.social/post/3m3w5il7tls23
https://bsky.app/profile/nikigrayson.com/post/3m3vu6pgvm224
https://bsky.app/profile/ajguy.bsky.social/post/3m3nvum2mf226
Activity
The GB Album Club 101 – Panopticon! by Dreamcrusher (TO: @unclejam23)
Panopticon! by Dreamcrusher has been selected as this week's Giant Bomb Club Album of the Week! Join the fun! Are any of you familiar with the genre of “noise” music? Even if this is not the case, you can still join in the fun by leaving a comment in the thread above.
Creatures Of Ava is the 10th UUGPGC game of Year 4. Will end by November 1st. Flag all spoilers. (TO: @bigsocrates)
Ava's creatures To Inverge Studios and Chibig has been selected for this month's Giant Bomb Game of the Month Club! Do any of you have any tips and tricks on how to explore the different biomes in the game? If so, join the fun by clicking the link above!
Blogs
Tuesdays* Terror: …Iru! + Indie Game of the Week 442: Necrobarista (TO: @mento)
It's time to continue Moderator Mento's blog series on Halloween-themed retro gaming with their fantastic article on …Tail! on PS1! Is this iconic game worth the hype and worth tracking down and playing?
And the dark vibe continues with their latest Indie Game of the Week blog, dedicated to Necrobarista. Do they think it fits well with other similar indie games such as VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk bartending action And Coffee conversation? Well, you just have to read to find out!
Reading a 3,000-year-old epic as a novel tied into a video game (TO: @infantpipoc)
infantpipoc decided to experiment with his latest blog! What if you read the Iliad AND the Odyssey as a companion to Hades And Hades II? Do you understand the characters in the series better? See how their perspective has changed here.
How to kill a console – the beginning of the end for Xbox (TO: @vendettadylan)
Given Sarah Bond's comments about the price and volume of future hardware, as well as Xbox's new approach to “exclusives” and Halo now coming to PlayStation, is this really starting to feel like the “end” of Xbox? This? VendettaDylan is sure he thinks so.
Green: Game Pass price hike explained (TO: @gamer_152)
Speaking of the possible end of Xbox hardware as we know it, it seems more than appropriate to go back to Gamer_152's article in response to the Game Pass price increase and return to their discussion of what the price increase says about where Xbox is now. Not to spoil it, but it's not good.
Discussion topics
Thread about planning the Extra Life 2025 community broadcast! (TO: @rasgueado)
Are any of you planning to stream Extra Life 2025? Do you need help planning your broadcast idea or are you having trouble working with the event template or widgets? Whether you're an Extra Life veteran or a newbie, leave a comment here and get some tips on how to have a busy and fun game day this year!
Dan really sold me on the LEGO party. (TO: @dya)
Dan seems to be enjoying himself Lego party but what do you think? It looks like other community members took Dan's advice and tried the game and loved it! Are you one of them? If not, what's stopping you from trying the game?
Submission discussion topic (TO: @junkerman)
Send is out, but it will be in episodic format and it features some people, especially those who weren't big fans Test gameson the verge. For those of you who stuck with the first few episodes, what do you think and say to those naysayers?
Name me an episode of television that's a hell of a lot better than the show it appeared on. (TO:@atheistpreacher)
This was THE most successful topic over the past week, and that's reason enough to promote it for at least the second week in a row. As the title suggests, what TV show do you feel like there's one really good episode, but the rest of the show is very average or average? Share your choice in the thread!
Halloween costumes for video games? (TO: @matpaget)
This theme comes back almost every year and has been around for a while, but it's that time of year again and some people have already started sharing their ideas for video game themed Halloween costumes. Are you going to dress up as a video game character? Share in the comments if yes.
Lists
Green ladies (TO: @jacobproper1)
JacobProper1 has another fun and silly list of character concepts that could use YOUR HELP! They are trying to create a list annotating all the female video game characters associated with the color green. They know they don't have everyone willing right now and are open to suggestions.
25 Best Single Player First Person Shooters (TO: @drjimmyb)
The years haven't exactly been kind to the single-player first-person shooter. So, DrjimmyB decided to try to create, in their opinion, the best campaigns in the history of first-person shooters.
User reviews
@gamer_152's Callisto Protocol The review talks about why they felt unsatisfied mechanically and mentally as an overall experience, even if it looked beautiful and had creepy moments. Plus, they reveal why its failure feels like the end of modern AAA horror games.
@doomocrate's Hades II review the relay why they think the game was so close to greatness but missed the mark a little. They still liked the game, but a few quibbles irritated them enough that they couldn't help but think about how they could make it better.
Wiki of the week
It's amazing to think that Shadow of the Colossus celebrated its 20th anniversary this month! What makes this “cult classic” so beloved by so many in the gaming hobby? If you need an idea, check out our HUGE wiki page for a game that leaves no stone unturned!
