Video Games Archives - the bird on fire

First we Bopl, Then we Battle

January 23, 2026 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By 8th-Grade Blogger Max Pretorius

Bopl Battle is a game published by Zapray games. The game was first published on November 23, 2023, for Windows and Steam Deck. And, despite the simplicity of its nature, it is, in my opinion, the greatest game of all time, and everyone reading this post should give Bopl Battle a try!

Bopl Battle is a game that prides itself on simplicity. You, and 1-3 other people, go into a round–playing as little slime creatures with three abilities on a map that consists of oval-shaped platforms. You battle it out with those abilities. Despite being simple, the game is fun and addictive.

Bopls start a game with three abilities. The player chooses the abilities. Here I chose “grenade,” “blink gun,” and “air dash.” (Screenshot by Max)

The abilities in Bopl Battle are different tools/actions that the Bopls can use with “cooldowns” to help them be the last one standing. The abilities in Bopl Battle are also very intuitive, but they work because of the complexity added when you combine them with other abilities or the map itself. For example, you could just throw a grenade using the grenade ability, or you could combine it with “duplicate” to send four–instead of one–grenades flying towards your opponents. Or, you could just use a missile to explode your opponents, but you could also combine a missile ability with smoke in order to have larger explosions. Ability combos are what make Bopl Battle so re-playable.

To employ a grenade ability, you simply throw it. (Screenshot by Max)

But, this isn’t just my opinion; I asked some of my friends who play Bopl Battle what their favorite thing about this game was, and these were their responses:

Hunter Fossey: “Killing you.”

Mason Mello: Beating you (paraphrased).

Jaxon Pacilio: “That I can play multiplayer.”

Mason Conway: “I like how the devs abandoned the game because the abandonment makes it niche.”

These replies, though varied, show off the most popular part of the game, being the multiplayer between friends. When my friends and I play Bopl Battle, we are very competitive and have a lot of fun beating each other–so much to the point where we make rankings on how good we all are at the game. (I’m last.) Furthermore, if you want to play with your friends and family on the same device, you can! Bopl Battle supports a shared screen, meaning you can play with multiple people by connecting multiple controllers to a device.

Overall, Bopl Battle is a fun yet competitive game that you can play with your friends and family. So give it a shot!

Mason Mello, Hunter Fossey, and Max played Bopl Battle two weeks ago. Max compiled clips of the game.

Удалять*

September 1, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Junior Remy Haring continues with his second installment of his serial fiction inspired by The New Order–a mod for Hearts of Iron IV. If you recall, Remy visits an alternate dark history here, where, in WWII, the Axis powers have won.

Zeya, Amur, the Russian Far East, January 23, 1962

Rodzaevsky was sitting at his mahogany desk in his office. Behind him two flags flanked him — horizontal, yellow, black and white tricolor with a double-eagle grasping a bundle of sticks on each. To his left was an ashtray; to his right was a pile of photos of dissidents. Some had a red X drawn over their faces; others didn’t. Their occupations ranged drastically from those of lowly citizens to bureaucrats to the most trusted officials of his own cabinet. One photo in particular stood out to him.

It was an old black and white group photo from the beginning days of the Russian Fascist Party (RFP). Rodzaevsky was in the center with Grigory Semyonov on his left and Mikhail Matkovsky on his right. In each of their hands was a raised shot glass of vodka. None of them had a red cross marked over their faces. The photo was marked, “Harbin, Manchuria, September 13, 1932.” As Rodzaevsky was looking down at this photo, he heard a knock at his door.

“Enter,” Rodzaevsky ordered.

A Blackshirt entered the room. His uniform was pristine, all black snow gear with the only splash of color being his medal of the double-eagle grasping a bundle of sticks.

“The dissident Vlodimir Kozlov has been eliminated,” reported the Blackshirt. “He was hiding out in a forested neighborhood a few kilometers away from Zeya. He was… difficult but has been pacified. Given the remote area and that I was under the cover of night, I doubt anyone saw.”

Without another word, Rodzaevsky dismissed him with a wave of his hand. After the door shut, Rodzaevsky took a red marker from his drawer and crossed out the face of the most recent victim. Kozlov had been a middle–aged woodsman and a father of two. It was his youngest child who had reported him for the crime of freemasonry.

Rodzaevsky leaned back into his chair and turned on the radio:

“This morning, at 4:00 a.m. CET, the Swiss Seismological Service detected a seismic event from southern Burgundy that reached a 4.6 on the Richter scale before suddenly ending with no aftershock. The Swiss government has come to one terrifying conclusion: the SS State of Burgundy has successfully tested its first nuclear device.”
Radio Free Alps

*Purge

The Archon War: Part 1

December 15, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Our Genshin Impact expert Izumi is back again, this time with an exciting trilogy that will lead you down a cold and stormy path of war. What a cliffhanger! Want to know what comes next? Find out next blog installation as the saga continues. – Jesse Denyer, Editor

By Izumi, Middle-School Gaming Correspondent

The Archon War is a huge event in Genshin Impact. The Archon War is at the base of the whole game story. The Archon War is still unknown as to how it started or why, and there is no information on how the victors or losers were decided, or how the nations divided. According to the non-playable character Soraya, “The war began as a struggle over the seven divine seats in Celestia. Those who struggled fought both for supremacy and to see their plans for a prosperous humanity come to fruition. However, not all gods participated in the war with the intent of taking a divine seat; some wanted simply to defend their territory; while others wanted to save as many people as possible from the destruction of the war” (genshin-impact.fandom.com).

After the Archon War, the seven Gods who won split into the seven nations of Teyvat, while the rest became evil, which leaves a lot of evil. To share all of the information of the Archon War and the events during it, I will split it into two posts, the first post will be about Mondstadt, and how it got its first and only Anemo Archon.

2600 years ago, in the middle of the Archon War, there were two warring Gods, Decarabian the God of Storms, and Andrius the King of the North Winds. The two fought in Mondstadt. The Mondstadt nation was located in the northwest, where it would now be known as Stormterror’s Lair. The God of Anemo, Barbatos, didn’t exist at this point. Barbatos was nothing but a wisp of wind, an elf with almost no power. Monstadt was very cold. It was all snow and ice, cold air and endless blizzards–a condition that mortals could barely survive. This cold was all caused by Andrius, who not long ago obtained powers from a likely deceased God. Andrius wanted to start a war against Decarbian, who enclosed the city of Monstadt with a wall, making sure nothing came in or out. Andrius tried to attack the wall, but never left a scratch on it. Decarabian didn’t seem threatened and was only devoted to protecting his people. However, his people worshipped him out of fear, thinking he was trying to trap them from the outside world. (genshin-impact.fandom.com)

While Barbatos was a wisp of wind, he befriended a young bard who always dreamed of freedom. The bard left Decarabian’s walled city to save the Gunnhildr clan. He ended up living in a frozen wasteland, but the resulting faith of the Gunnhildrs empowered him. At one point, Barbatos and the young bard, alongside Decarabian’s disillusioned lover Amos and a knight, raised an army against Decarabian, God of Storms. They were victorious! The Archon Decarbian was slain and all of the people were saved from the stormy walled cage. Unfortunately, Amos and the bard did not survive the war, leaving Barbatos with lots of grief and regret. (genshin-impact.fandom.com)

In the end, Barbatos was given the title of the first and only Anemo Archon. In honor of the bard, Barbatos took the form of him and brought freedom to Mondstadt, ending the extreme cold and blizzards. He often visited the neighboring Archon Morax, who will be mentioned in the next blog post.

Character Yae is not all she appears to be, and she may be more…

December 15, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

In this week’s blog we get to meet yet another Genshin impact character–Yae. We learn Yae is a very mysterious person and a bookstore owner. Read to the end to see the drawing and the pictures of the mystical land. – Roman Rickwood, Editor

By Izumi, Middle-School Gaming/Animation Consultant

Welcome back! I have drawn another Genshin Impact character. Meet Yae Miko, a woman who oversees the Grand Narukami Shrine and the Yae publishing house, also a woman who has a load of secrets.

Yae is a mysterious person, as an old friend of the Raiden Shogun or Ei. Yae tries her best to keep in touch with Ei. However, Ei’s been in her eternal meditation, not speaking with anyone, so Yae has kept to her own business. Yae is the Guuji of the Grand Narukami shrine, a shrine located at the top of a mountain in Inazuma. Yae also owns the “Yae publishing house,” a bookstore also in Inazuma. She holds many events and has a very nice appearance to people she doesn’t know very well. Her personality underneath is very different though; she’s a blunt and cynical person, maybe even a bit selfish.

You can see the shrine centered on the top of Mt. Yougou.

Yae is one of the only friends of the Raiden Shogun that survived through the rages of time (Archon War, etc) and is also one of the few to refer to the Shogun by her first name Ei. That’s how close they are. Ei also calls Yae by her first name–in Japanese culture this means they are very close friends. Yae has taken the time to be shrewd and resourceful while Ei was in seclusion. Yae took advantage of the traveler (the player) coming to Inazuma to mend the damage and sadness caused by Ei’s withdrawal and Yae’s loneliness.

*Yae is not a playable character yet. But, Izumi predicts she will be playable in a future update. Watch for her in Version 2.5.

Don’t Try to Lie to this Genshin Impact Character: She’ll Find You Out

December 2, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Below, Izumi details one of her favorite Genshin Impact characters, Mona. Learn who Mona is and what she stands for in the latest Genshin impact character blog post. — Ike Spry, Editor

By Izumi, Middle-School Gaming Correspondent

Welcome! Today I will be talking about one of my favorite Genshin Impact characters. Meet Astrologist Mona Megistus.

If you ever met Mona, you would know she is one to take her passion seriously. When it comes to astrology, she is very knowledgeable. She unites her astrology abilities with hydromancy (hydro power), which makes her popular or well known. In Genshin Impact, any vision, let alone a hydro-power vision, is rare. Mona has other skills. She can tell if people are lying or not, sense a person’s intentions and tell someone’s fate accurately. She can even–and here likely she gets her title–deduce a person’s personality from knowing their constellation (fandom.com).

Mona gets a sense of pride from her work with astrology, but the work serves as a double-edged sword. Whenever Mona gets her hands on mora (currency), she immediately spends it on astrology-related materials (fandom.com). Mona doesn’t exactly have a lot of Mora, but she tells herself, “It matters not. Astrologers must rid themselves of material desires. Only by ridding oneself of clutter can one see the true world around them” (fandom.com). However, Mona always forgets about the things she needs for daily survival. Sometimes she doesn’t have shelter. Sometimes she spends days without food. When Mona does have currency, she is very picky and gets only small simple dishes. Note: she does not tolerate people who disrespect her or make fun of her lack of material goods.

Shogun the Puppet Ruler

November 17, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Introducing your newest Genshin Impact character Raiden Shogun! Who is she? What is she like? What is her story? Blogger Izumi tells all in this informative blog. — Editor Jessica Denyer

By Izumi, Middle-School Gamer Correspondent

Hello again! Today I will talk about a newer character added to Genshin Impact in the past couple months. Meet Raiden Shogun, the leader of Inazuma.

The Raiden Shogun isn’t exactly “real.” The Shogun is a puppet that Ei has created. The Shogun was created for the purpose of Ei staying in an eternal meditation in the Plane of Euthymia while the Shogun acts as the ruler. Ei believes in eternity, a place in which everything is kept the same, regardless of what goes on. As far as personalities go, Ei is cold and stern. Sometimes she may be callous. She lacks emotion, has no likes or dislikes, and no need for recreation. Due to Ei’s indifference to anything other than her goal of eternal peace and meditation, the puppet Shogun can easily be manipulated by outside forces. For example, the Kujou Clan and the Fatui tricked Shogun into initiating and maintaining the Vision Hunt Decree (genshin-impact.fandom.com). The Vision Hunt Decree was a group hunting down people with visions, and taking them away, getting rid of individual’s elemental power. It was a bad idea.

While Ei has a more stern demeanor, she is notably more emotive and sociable than the Shogun. Unlike the Shogun, Ei has preferences, such as a love for sweets and her passion in martial arts (genshin-impact.fandom.com). However, Ei’s dedication to eternity has made her clueless about change. The reason for Ei’s dedication to eternity is because of how many people she’s lost in the past. Ei doesn’t want to lose anymore people she loves, so she wants to preserve Inazuma so she never has to lose anyone again. By staying in a meditative state, she blocks herself out of reality and the regular world and won’t have to suffer any longer. During her story quest, the traveler takes Ei out of the Plane of Euthymia. Ei soon realizes how much the world has changed, for she has been in meditation for centuries. Ei learns to accept change and decides not to return to the Plane of Euthymia. When that happens, Ei disables the Shogun and Ei takes over rule Inazuma herself.

Halloween’s Approaching. Celebrate with a Spooky Genshin Impact Character.

October 7, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

Meet Genshin Impact’s Hu Tao. She loves jokes, selling coffins, and planning funerals. She’s perfect for October.

By Izumi, Middle-School Gamer Correspondent

Hello again! Today I will be writing about another Genshin Impact character to celebrate her re-run banner! She’s a limited character. You can only get her once every banner. Meet Hu Tao, 77th director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, a company that manages Liyue’s commemorations of the dead. She’s the perfect character for the spooky month of October.

Hu Tao seems to be a quirky and cheerful girl at first sight, but once you get to know her she loves pulling pranks and making jokes about going to the other side (the not-living part of life). Everyone sees her jokes as frightening. It even gives a negative impression of her. But, Hu Tao doesn’t seem to take the rude comments to heart; she’s always cheerful and loves what she does–selling coffins.

Hu Tao is a bit precocious. As a child, Hu Tao loved reading volumes of classic texts while doing handstands. At age six she would cut classes and fall asleep in coffins. At age eight started learning how to plan funeral ceremonies (genshin-impact.fandom.com). Hu Tao has been fascinated by funeral works ever since she was young, very different from what a stereotypical child thought about. Her co-workers think that she is very odd but accept her for the way she is. For example, her co-worker Zhongli said, “It would be best not to underestimate someone as whimsical as her. However, should you enjoy surprises, then I believe a visit [to Hu Tao] is in order.”

That’s it for this week!

-Izumi

Klee Who Plays with Fire

October 6, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Our gamer guru Izumi has been walking us through the details of the popular Genshin Impact, introducing us to the game’s many characters. Today, she shares Klee with us.

By Izumi, Middle-School Gamer Correspondent

Hello! Today I will be sharing a drawing for Klee, another character from the game Genshin Impact. She is a very enthusiastic and outgoing person, who loves experimenting with bombs.

Klee is a part of the Knights of Favonius, a foundation held in Monstadt. The foundation’s goal is to help and protect the people living in the city. Klee has two other names, Fleeing Sunlight and Spark Knight Hero. Aside from her young age and small body, she happens to be one of the most powerful knights in the Knights of Favonius. Holding a pyro vision, her passion is making bombs. Yes, Klee, a small eight-year-old child, loves making bombs. Honestly, she just likes explosions. Klee is always trying to come up with new ideas. She taps into her creativity through making bombs. Somehow she doesn’t get fazed hearing explosives. In fact, as she plays games with her friends, most of the time she brings explosives for amusement.

Playing with bombs does get her in trouble with Jean though. Jean takes care of Klee, although she is not her mother (Jean is called the Dandelion Knight and is the headmaster of the Knights of Favonius). Klee’s mother, Alice, is currently absent. Klee’s father has died, but unfortunately no one has told Klee, and with her naive young mind she believes that her father is just out on a trip. Meanwhile, she has Jean to take care of her and monitor her bomb exploits.

Meet the Characters of Genshin Impact: Kamisato Ayaka

September 30, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By Izumi, Middle-School Gamer Correspondent

Kamisato Ayaka is the daughter of the Yashiro Commission’s Kamisato Clan. She is sister to the head of the clan. This clan belongs to Inazuma–one of the three existing regions of Genshin Impact. She is dignified and elegant, as well as very wise and durable. Ayaka is a kind-hearted girl with a relaxing temperament. She treats others with kindness and courtesy. She loves and cares for the people of Inazuma, often going out of her way to personally assist those in trouble. She is a member of the Yashiro Commision, one of the commissions in charge of cultural events. She feels the urge that she must help people in need. She is earnest with a steady personality. Her dedication often moves people, enough that she earned the honorary title of Shirasagi Himegimi (Translation: White Heron Princess). People in the neighborhood constantly talk about her with sincere admiration. “Lady Ayaka may be of noble birth but she is gentle and polite to us. She is kind, loyal, and is willing to help others. She even went against the opinions of others [to take] in [a] commoner . . . .” —Genshin Impact, Story 1

Have You Tried Genshin Impact? You Should.

September 21, 2021 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By Izumi, Middle-School Gamer Correspondent

Genshin Impact is an action story game made in China. What is its story? Our correspondent explains.

Genshin Impact: Process and Overview

Genshin Impact is an action RPG made on September 28th, 2020, after the company miHoYo made another similar action RPG called Honkai Impact 3. That game was made on October 14th, 2016. Development of Genshin Impact started in January 2017 and started with a crew of 120 members in Shanghai. That crew grew to 400 at the end of the year and reached 700 by February 2021 (gamefaqs.com). miHoYo revealed Genshin Impact in June 2019, three months before the release. From soundtrack, animation, backgrounds, and character designs, miHoYo worked three hard years on the start of the game and has added lots of updates in the past year, including new characters with each update. As a matter of fact, new character Sangonomiya Kokomi comes out today!

Genshin Impact: Regions and Elements

In Genshin Impact, there are seven regions. Every region has an archon (ruler/god) based on the seven elements. Characters (playable ones mostly) have visions based on the elements. Dendro (nature), Geo (earth), Pyro (fire), Cryo (ice), Hydro (water), Electro (electric), and Anemo (wind). So far only three out of seven regions are in-game, Anemo, Geo, and Electro. Each region is based on another country. In the photos below you can see all three regions. The Anemo Archons city, the first region to come out in Genshin, is based on Germany. The Geo Archons city, Liyue, is based on China. Lastly, the Electro Archons city, Inazuma, is based off of Japan.

Side note: Characters don’t have to have the same vision as the archon for their city. For example, Beidou, an electro character, isn’t from Inazuma; she’s from Liyue, the geo archon’s city.

Genshin Impact – Step Into a Vast Magical World of Adventure — Monstadt

Liyue | Genshin Impact Wiki | Fandom — Liyue

Genshin Impact: Diluc Ascension And Talent Materials - Flipboard — Inazuma

Genshin Impact: Storyline

Here is the story of Genshin Impact. You (player) have a twin, and you both travel from world to world, but one day when you and your twin were traveling to the next world, an unknown god stood in your way. As you try to defeat her, and travel to the next world, she kidnaps your twin. Right after, you’re both sent into an unknown world separated from each other. Your goal is to travel through this new world called Teyvat and be reunited with your twin. Through this journey you have a companion named Paimon, who travels alongside you. You and Paimon will explore Teyvat, adventure through new regions, and meet characters, while in the process, reuniting with your twin.

Next post, I’ll be drawing a character from Inazuma named Ayaka