Discover Top Posts Tagged with #oakmont

Dormition of the Theotokos Orthodox Church in Oakmont, Pennsylvania

#Christianity #Orthodox Christianity #Church #Oakmont #Pennsylvania

THE SINKING CITY - Charles Reed

After seeing the trailer for The Sinking City 2, I couldn't resist starting this game over from the beginning. It's so creepy and well-written! And Charles Reed and a poor tormented soul that I just want to wrap up in a blanket. Note: He ALWAYS has resting bitch face.

#charles reed #the sinking city #oakmont

Moving Day at the 125th United States Open. Back Nine, early Saturday morning before the crowds.

Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pennsylvania.

#Oakmont #U.S. Open #USGA #JJ Spaun

BioShock/Sinking City: The 1960s and the Return of Rapture

Continuing with my BioShock/Sinking City crossover, we’re going into the time period between BioShock and BioShock 2, 1960-1968, as the Jolene family (Jack took his mother’s last name) live their lives in the strange city of Oakmont, Massachusetts.

After getting settled into their new place in the Grimhaven Bay lighthouse and into his job as the lighthouse keeper, Jack begins looking into the remnants of his father’s company, Ryan Industries, on the surface. Using documents and connections obtained from Tenenbaum, he begins taking these pieces of his father’s legacy and putting them back together. Another gift he inherited from Andrew Ryan’s genetic code was a gift for finances, and he intends on using this gift.

Along with helping the former Little Sisters to adjust to the surface (and aiding the orphanage staff in caring for them), Tenenbaum also begins studying the “Innsmouth Look”, a genetic condition exhibited by the “Innsmouthers” and passed along to their descendants, and the strange genetic compositions of the “Wylebeasts”. Despite her promise to utilize proper ethics in her research, Jack and Liz keep an eye on her anyway.

In November of 1962, shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Jack and Elizabeth finally got married. With the world having just escaped nuclear war and holocaust, they both figured that it was time that they tied the knot. Charles gave Elizabeth away, Tenenbaum was the maid of honor, and Sally, Masha, Leta, Annabelle, and Daisy were the flower girls. Robert and Rosalind Lutece made an appearance as witnesses.

On November 22, 1963, both Jack, Elizabeth, and Tenenbaum were in Dallas, Texas, having gotten a former, adopted Little Sister out of a bad situation. Rather than head home to Oakmont, they decided to stick around and see the President. When Liz saw movement in a dark window, she used Peeping Tom to see what it was. To her horror, she saw not one, not two, but THREE would-be shooters, all at different vantage points, all them waiting to take out JFK.

She alerted Jack and Tenenbaum, and the three of them went into action. Between Tenenbaum’s experience in skull-drudgery and stealth, Liz’s invisibility, and Jack’s strength, the three shooters were thwarted before they could kill JFK. The trio stayed long enough to see the would-be assassins carted off by the authorities before they left to catch their flight.

A little while later, the nation was shaken to its core by the arrests of multiple figures in the military, the CIA, and the government itself, including Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Turns out, while one of the shooters, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a lone wolf acting on his own, the other two were sent by the CIA and the US military to assassinate President John F. Kennedy in a plot to prevent his interference in pursuing their own agendas.

Jack, Liz, and Tenenbaum were contacted shortly afterwards by the Kennedy’s themselves. In private, John and Jacqueline Kennedy thanked Jack and Elizabeth Jolene and Brigid Tenenbaum for saving his life. The two families strike up a friendship which aids them both greatly; the Jolenes have the ear of the Kennedy family and their connections, while Jack provides a better example for John to follow in his relationship with his wife.

In the fall of 1964, Elizabeth begins her studies at Oakmont University. About the same time, the Paris Peace Accords ended the Vietnam War, dividing the country into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Hailed as a hero for peacefully bringing the Vietnam War to a close, JFK is re-elected to a second term in the 1964 election.

In 1965, Liz gives birth to her and Jack’s first biological child. They decide to name the healthy boy, “Booker DeWitt Jolene”, after Liz’s dad and first friend. Masha, Leta, Sally, Annabelle, and Daisy are enamored with their new baby brother. Tenenbaum wonders aloud which, if any, of Jack and Liz’s plasmids and gene tonics were passed along to Booker; she is expressively forbidden from trying to figure out.

In 1966, Jack’s efforts to bring Ryan Industries back from the dead finally pay off. While just a ghost of its former self, the money generated from his father’s old company allows Jack to quit his job as a lighthouse keeper and buy the old Blackgate Manor. Before moving his wife, daughters, and son into it though, he spends a day clearing it of the strange creatures that took up residence following the Flood.

One night in 1967, Jack stumbles across a tall, gangly, helmeted and suited figure attempting to make off with a little girl. He finds himself in a fight for his life as his plasmids surprise his opponent more than anything else. Jack is able to rescue the little girl, but the diver escapes back into the ocean. The resemblance between the helmeted figure and the Big Daddies of Rapture is too much to ignore.

A little research, and Jack, Liz, and Tenenbaum realize the horrible truth: There are little girls disappearing from coastal towns and cities all along the Atlantic, and everything points to it originating from Rapture. Andrew Ryan’s Dream, turned Nightmare, has coming back.

Using the connections he’s made and the money he’s acquired, Jack begins putting together an expedition to go to Rapture and stop whoever has been kidnapping little girls. He’s hesitant to let Liz and Brigid come with, but between their protests, Liz’s stealth capabilities, and Brigid’s knowledge of Rapture and of ADAM, he accepts they’re are coming with.

In November of 1968, Jack and Co. reach out to Mark Meltzer, the only man who seems to connected the dots (e.g., the disappearing girls, the strange, underwater lights, and the sightings of the “Mariner”), only to learn that he has vanished. Suspecting that Meltzer is on his way to Rapture, and having finally lost her patience, Tenenbaum steals the submersible that Jack had made for the mission and sets off on a one-woman quest to stop the kidnappings.

In response, Jack and Liz accelerate the efforts to get the rescue mission underway. They were plenty motivated when they were just going out to stop the kidnappings and rescue the girls. Now, it’s personal; they have a friend to save, from herself and from Rapture.

As Thanksgiving approaches, Jack and Liz say goodbye to their daughters and son before departing. As their ship, the Mary Catherine Jolene, approaches the Lighthouse, Liz calls out to Jack from the bow of the ship, telescope in hand. Something just surfaced not far from the Lighthouse, and there’s movement on it.

Thoughts? Hope you liked my headcanons!

Review for The Sinking City

This is a game I have recently played that is by far one of the most fascinating and mysterious games that I have ever had the pleasure to experience. But since it is made by a small company, I would like to support this work of art and let others know about it so you can experience it as well.

The Sinking City is a game based upon the works of H.P Lovecraft, the master of eldritch horror. This game offers an incredibly unique story and atmosphere that makes one feel very much as if they are living in one of Lovecraft’s stories. The game is a mystery-horror where you play as a private-eye detective who travels to the half-flooded city of Oakmont, an unsettling island surrounded by a sea that is completely filled with flesh-eating eels. The detective, who suffers from nightmarish visions, arrives at the strange city in order to discover the cause behind the hysteria that has been breaking out among some citizens. But the more you discover, the mystery instead continues to grow. There seems to be secrets at every corner. Not only that, but our detective character has a psychic ability to see into the astral around him, allowing him to see visions from the past and even grotesque creatures that try to attack him. Though don’t worry, there are some creatures in the physical as well that will chase you.

It should also be known that this is not an action game, it is a mystery that will require logical reasoning, taking your time exploring, and a lot of reading through disturbing notes. It also requires one to take their time going through their menu screen at first in order to understand the layout (this is where you can level up, go over your clues, make deductions, etc). If you are a person who requires fast-paced stories and lots of action to be satisfied, then this game is possibly not for you. There are some creatures to fight, yes, but they are not constant and are usually hiding in abandoned basements or solitary marshes. Also, this is pretty much a survivalist game since Oakmont is basically in a post-apocalyptic state due to the many horrific events (including a flood) that have racked the city. And since it is also a Lovecraftian game, that means it follows his ideals for what horror should be. Because of this, the Sinking City is a game that is meant to make you feel small and vulnerable. You are a relatively normal person trying to uncover mysteries, you are not a proper fighter. You do have a gun and a shovel to attack with, but don’t expect the fights to be simple. So for a lot of times, you will have to run away from fights instead of face the enemies head-on like you’re some super-human in most games.

As for the atmosphere itself, the Sinking City is beautifully haunting and macabre at the same time. The ambience is chilling, and that set with the maddened and sometimes mutated locals of Oakmont makes everything seem all the more real. Every character you come across is unique and when speaking during investigations, you are able to arrive at your own conclusions, which will change some events of the game. There are also many things to explore, including side-quests with other cases to solve. There is a quest where you must track down seven occult tomes, which were used in dark rituals and necromancy. There are also strange murders that have more twists in them than one might initially expect. The more one looks through the haunting city, venturing into even its darkest crevices, the more the unsettling enigma unravels.

So if you are someone who loves Lovecraftian horror or is just curious to discover the morbid mysteries of the eldritch city of the sea, then I highly recommend you to play this game. I had fallen in love with it in just ten minutes of playing, realizing that this was no common game. I honestly feel that I will not ever find a Lovecraftian piece of media that will live up to this; it is truly top-quality and does justice to the legendary horror writer himself, who had written captivating tales based upon his own nightmarish visions and traumatizing past. If you wish for a challenge of detective-reasoning and wandering through the misty land of arcane secrets, then this marvelous game will not disappoint.