Valentina Chrysostomou

Resident Evil 7 released 9 years ago. It looks absolutely gorgeous to this day.

Rolled credits! While this installment was absolutely lacking in major ways (combat, exploration, UI, puzzles) the themes and story are something we have never seen to such extend. I am so glad Silent Hill f was brave to go there.

Large head, eye following the player. Big Silent Hill 4 nod.

Silent Hill f absolutely cooked with this 👏

Good little encounter design here.

Game makes you focus on the scarecrow ahead but shocks you with one jumping out from the side.

oldie - magical energy vine effect in unity

How's your Sunday going? I'm running away from monsters, it's good cardio.

Re-playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and I've noticed a MUSCLE dial in photomode?!? It seems to be taking the "flex" value from the game which is dynamically adjusted when Lara exerts herself.

Respect for those triceps.

Haven't been on socials for a while. You all still here?

What's the best place for game devs to hang out these days?

I'm so giddy over the best birthday cake ever!

My girlfriend makes them for me every year, with whatever my latest obsession is.

And yeah, this year it's Arcane 😁

I watched the sun rise out the sea this morning 🌅 The perfect goodbye before I travel back to Edinburgh.

Having a warm and refreshing holiday back home before jumping back into work ☀️🌴⛵️

What it feels like showing my girlfriend a clip of my kill in Hunt Showdown.

Oh no. All I see is pullup bars. Is this how I find out I've become a fitness junkie?

Can't believe we didn't get a cinematic swinging mode in Spiderman. Have to make do with what I have! 🕸

Tip: remove HUD, add 30% slow-mo shortcut to d-pad.

Sometimes I get asked what my best trait is, and I wish I could show them my gym tracker.

When I'm determined, I'm consistent, when I'm consistent I'm successfull.

Give me a reason to be determined, and you'll unlock my Ultimate Ability and trust me, it has an area of effect.

I am cautiously optimistic about LN3 because of that, we will have to wait and see.

a black and white photo of a dark hallway with a person hanging from the ceiling ALT: a black and white photo of a dark hallway with a person hanging from the ceiling

Over the next 6 months us horror fans will be eating well.

- Tormented Souls 2
- Resident Evil 9
- Silent Hill f
- Cronos: The New Dawn
- Little Nightmares 3

Which one are you most looking forward to?

I'm either really good at this creative writing business or really, really bad.

Started playing Outlast Trials. It's gorgeous, it's fresh and it's utterly f*cked up.

It's good to see systemic designs focusing on player choice, accountability and replayability in horror games.

Amnesia the Bunker and this one are definitely a step in the right direction.

Yes, and capitalism drives all of this - unfortunately it's what happens when the goal is profit optimization.

I'm trying to take personal steps to live better but it's hard when the whole world goes against that.

One of society’s biggest mistakes was deciding that fast is good and slow is bad.

We built tools to go fast, meant to serve us, but then became slaves to them.

Instead of slowing down, living, being present...we’re doing it all wrong.

I was the beetle, he was the gun. Together, we were feared.

Hunt together, die alone.

Had the loveliest of times in Germany! 🇩🇪 ☀️

Won't be there for Gamescom unfortunately, next time I should time my travels.

Alters is my GOTY this year. I haven't been so obsessively absorbed in a game in a very long time. Everything is exceptionally crafted. Cannot recommend it enough.

THOUGHTS | Home THOUGHTS is a series by Valentina Chrysostomou in which she talks about a variety of games from the perspective of a game developer.

If you're interested in checking them out, here is the link: valentinachrys.wixsite.com/thoughts

I still can't believe I got so many people to read my blogs in the short time I was doing them.

I really enjoyed writing about design and put a lot of effort into each piece - from the process to the presentation to the content.

Maybe one day I'll get back into it.

Ah yes, you know an item is interactive in games when it stands out in the dark.

Love mechanics like these. In other games, a door opening is inconsequential, but in Outlast is part of the horror experience.

Sometimes reinventing the wheel in video games means evolving simple mechanics to advanced.

Lmao, protein pizza 😅

Eating this is NOT gonna get you lean friends.