Quarantine can be a bit of a pain, being stuck inside with nowhere to go is more than enough to drive anyone mad, fret not! The GWW Staff is here with our top picks in Games, Movies, and TV to help pass the time, until Quarantine ends.
Max Levin – Injustice Games and Comic series
The Injustice Universe is an alternate universe in which Superman accidently kills Lois Lane and his unborn child due to the Joker’s meddling while inadvertently detonating a nuke in Metropolis. The comic series is a 153-issue (Digital) series tackling Superman’s rise to dictatorship and his loss of humanity and the increasing tension between him and Batman. The first comic series acts as a prequel to the game, that detail the 5 year gap before the events of the injustice game. Written by the Legendary Tom Taylor and Brian Buccellato the first 5 years of Injustice encompass the entirety of the DC universe with constantly high stakes and impactful character death. The 1st game is like a mortal kombat game but without favorite DC heroes pummeling each other. The Sequel, while not as good as the first game is still a great continuation of the story of that universe in which Brainiac attacks a post-Superman dictatorship world and the former Justice League must put aside their past to fight the intergalactic menace Brainiac!
Brian Villar – The Basics
The easy answer would be Animal Crossing and One Piece, as both are long and take up so much time you can forget what’s happening in the world around you. Those are mindless choices so I am thinking about revisiting some of the older books and the one that’s on my list is Doom Patrol. Specifically the Grant Morrison run on it. Considering the time we are in that comic run seems perfect with the out there thinking and understanding of a different perspective, which many of us are going through now. Just viewing the world differently will help with the ever changing days. The Game part is easy, The Witcher III. Side quest for days.
Jessica Chaleff – Alternative Entertainment
I’m an odd duck. While, yes, I’ve been playing some games – most notably, Minecraft (even got a Creeper beanie while in isolation), I’ve been mostly watching YouTube. Not television, not Netflix, not Hulu, but YouTube. There’s something for everyone on the platform, and you can find yourself suckered in to some playthroughs (FNAF, Resident Evil, Detroit Become Human, etc), or find some craft/art channels (might I recommend Moriah Elizabeth or Jazza?). But my favorites are Creepypasta channels, and Paranormal/Horror themed channels. You can listen to some amazing narrators read off creepypastas while playing games or drawing (which I tend to do often), like CreepsMcPasta, or my current favorite, Dr. Creepen. Nuke’s Top 5, Chills, Top15, Top 5 Scary Videos, and OmarGosh are my favorite paranormal/horror channels to watch, especially as of late. Another addition (I keep thinking of channels as I write this!) to this would be the channel “The Carpetbagger.” He goes around the US to look for and show you some awesome roadside attractions and odd places you would never have thought existed! So… yeah. Make art and watch YouTube!
George Huertas – Well Rounded
Movies: I’ve been watching Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and HBO like everyone else, but the streaming channel that has taken most of my attention for movies has been the Criterion Channel! It’s been such a joy to get caught up on all the weird, artsy foreign flicks that may have escaped my attention earlier, but now I have all the free time to enjoy! A recent favorite was Kathryn Bigelow’s vampire western, Near Dark, which stars Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen in some great, scenery-chewing roles as hundred year-old vampires.
Games: Two games have captured my attention like nothing else this quarantine: Bloodborne (PS4) and Hollow Knight (Switch). Despite seemingly disparate gameplay styles, a careful glance shows that they share more than one would think. They are both set in dark, strange, yet beautiful worlds that are wrapped in mystery. Your only chance of solving the mystery comes through uncovering in-game lore which serves to clarify your picture. Finally, both games are unapologetically difficult. Each death is a learning experience, not a setback. You may lose all of your hard-earned currency in the process of going to reclaim it, but each time, you learn a different lesson. Neither is easy, but the satisfaction that comes with conquering either is unparalleled.
Shows: Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spin-off featuring Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman as the central character, is the main show I’ve been getting caught up on this break. I’m on Season 4 right now, and I dare say its quality has come to equal its forerunner. While it lacks the wall-to-wall action of Breaking Bad, it more than makes up for it in emotional stakes, terrific dialogue, and astonishingly great performances all around. Anyone who has seen Breaking Bad knows how this series ends, but how it gets there has been one riveting journey.