1022 – Dead Cells (2017 video game)

Dead Cells is a roguelike–metroidvania video game developed and published by Motion Twin. Following about a year in early access, Dead Cells was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on August 7, 2018.

In the game, the player takes the role of a slime-like creature that takes control of a corpse in a dungeon, through which they must fight their way out. The player gains various weapons, treasure and other tools through exploration of the procedurally-generated levels to fight undead creatures within it. At times, the player may gain “cells”, a type of in-game currency that can be used to purchase permanent upgrades or unlock new items for the player if they reach the vendor between each level. Dead Cells uses a permadeath system, causing the player to lose all cells and other currencies or items upon each instance of death.

The plot of Dead Cells is minimalistic, only giving bits of information to the player. Taking place on an unnamed island, the player character is referred to as the Prisoner, a humanoid with a pile of gelee or plantmatter in place of a head. The Prisoner is immortal, as every time he dies his “head” manages to lurch its way back to the starting prison. According to a guard, the Prisoner is said to have been executed for some crime, but the nature of the crime is never specified.

Every time the Prisoner dies, the island reconfigures itself, which serves as an explanation for the rogue-like mechanics. In the game, the reason for this is specified as the island being a living organism that evolves over time. In the end, he kills the Hand of the King and stabs the real king only to explode and wind up back at the start like nothing happened. (wiki)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows 7+ / Processor: Intel i5+ / Memory: 2 GB RAM / Graphics: Nvidia 450 GTS / Radeon HD 5750 or better / Storage: 500 MB available space / Additional Notes: DirectX 9.1+ or OpenGL 3.2+

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Easter Eggs and References 

steam   /   dead-cells.com

1012 – Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014 video game)

timespace coordinates: alternate 1960s Nazi Europe

Wolfenstein: The New Order is an action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released on 20 May 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game is the seventh main entry in the Wolfenstein series and the sequel to 2009’s Wolfenstein, set in an alternate history 1960s Europe where the Nazis won the Second World War. The story follows war veteran William “B.J.” Blazkowicz and his efforts to stop the Nazis from ruling over the world. (wiki)

Wolfenstein®: The New Order reignites the series that created the first-person shooter genre. Under development at MachineGames, a studio comprised of a seasoned group of developers recognized for their work creating story-driven games, Wolfenstein offers a deep game narrative packed with action, adventure and first-person combat.

Intense, cinematic and rendered in stunning detail with id® Software’s id Tech® 5 engine, Wolfenstein sends players across Europe on a personal mission to bring down the Nazi war machine. With the help of a small group of resistance fighters, infiltrate their most heavily guarded facilities, battle high-tech Nazi legions, and take control of super-weapons that have conquered the earth – and beyond.

Wolfenstein®: The New Order_20140518212252

Tour Of Resistance Hideout

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system / OS: 64-bit Windows 7/Windows 8 / Processor: Intel Core i7 or equivalent AMD / Memory: 4 GB RAM / Graphics: GeForce 460, ATI Radeon HD 6850 / Storage: 50 GB available space

Wolfenstein: The New Order – Full Walkthrough

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steam

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963

1011 – The House That Jack Built (2018)

timespace coordinates:  1970s and 1980s  Washington.

!extreme violence!

The House That Jack Built is a 2018 psychological horror art film written and directed by Lars von Trier, starring Matt Dillon in the title role of Jack. The story follows Jack, a serial killer, over the course of 12 years in the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S. state of Washington. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, marking von Trier’s return to the festival after more than six years. (wiki)

The shot of Jack and Verge standing in a boat strongly resembles the painting “La Barque de Dante” by Eugène Delacroix, which was in itself influenced by “The Raft of the Medusa” (Le Radeau de La Méduse) by Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault. (read more: trivia)

von Trier described the film as celebrating “the idea that life is evil and soulless”.

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1005 – Mysterious Skin (2004)

timespace coordinates: summer of 1981 > Christmas Eve 1991 Hutchinson, Kansas / New York City

Mysterious Skin is a 2004 Dutch-American drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on Scott Heim‘s 1995 novel of the same name.

Mysterious Skin tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who are sexually abused by their baseball coach, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous male prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction. (wiki)

The film score was composed by Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie.

imdb

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1003 – Gia (1998)

timespace coordinates: 1978 – 1986 New York City

“Dear book, this is another day in the life. A life is like a book. A book is like a box. A box has six sides. Inside and outside, so, how do you get to what’s inside? How do you get what’s inside, out? Once upon a time, there lived a very pretty girl, who lived in a beautiful box, and everybody loved her.”

Gia is a 1998 biographical HBO film about the life and times of one of America’s first supermodels, Gia Marie Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizabeth Mitchell. It was directed by Michael Cristofer and written by Cristofer and Jay McInerney.

imdb

1002 – Lo imposible (2012)

timespace coordinates: 2004 Khao Lak, Thailand

The Impossible (Spanish: Lo Imposible) is a 2012 disaster drama film directed by J. A. Bayona and written by Sergio G. Sánchez. It is based on the experience of María Belón and her family in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The cast includes Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland.

response from victims   /   imdb

1000

52. ARCHAEOLOGY. … Wondrous religion … —antiquities are at once products of the future and of the distant past—Goethe contemplates Nature like an antiquity.

 

Notes for a Romantic Encyclopaedia: Das Allgemeine Brouillon / “Universal Notebook,”(pdf)  – Novalis