An awful lot is going on today. It’s the 4th anniversary of The Escapist. Congrats to all my friends who have worked so hard on it. Here’s to selling off the whole thing to Ziff Davis and the lot of you retiring like kings!
Just kidding. I’d rather you continued to amuse me once a week than got rich. Priorities.
Today is also the final entry in the Left 4 Dumb series.
The Escapist originally began by releasing their issues as a PDF each week. In honor of that, they’ve made a special PDF issue for their 4th birthday. It has a special Stolen Pixels, which is only available in the PDF. Also, they also interview that one oddball reviewer they’ve got. You know, the Scotsman who lives in New Zealand or whatever. What’s his name? Backgammon or something? I forget. Anyway. They interview that guy.
What is Vulkan?
What is this Vulkan stuff? A graphics engine? A game engine? A new flavor of breakfast cereal? And how is it supposed to make PC games better?
Shamus Plays WOW
Ever wondered what's in all those quest boxes you've never bothered to read? Get ready: They're more insane than you might expect.
Do It Again, Stupid
One of the highest-rated games of all time has some of the least interesting gameplay.
Seven Springs
The true story of three strange days in 1989, when the last months of my adolescence ran out and the first few sparks of adulthood appeared.
The Best of 2019
I called 2019 "The Year of corporate Dystopia". Here is a list of the games I thought were interesting or worth talking about that year.
The last line (about how many zombies have been killed) is beautiful, and oh so very true.
great ending. I loved the end-game stats. :)
Wow, they advertise the PDF as having “a special edition of Stolen Pixels”, and Russ Pitts mentions in his Editor’s Note that last year was special because the Escapist launched their first-ever webcomic, Stolen Pixels!
Your mom must be so proud! A cartoonist in the family!
Nice work Shamus!
Despite never playing Left4Dead, I still enjoyed your comic.
I wonder what game you’ll be choosing to give the Stolen Pixels treatment to next?
Thanks to our Contributors:
…
Filamena Young
Stuart Young
(I think they forgot someone.)
The special-edition Stolen Pixels is the best non-DMotR comic you’ve ever produced. Broke my “laughs-per-panel” record, it did.
The last words of Francis:
Guys?
Guys…?
I HATE THIS CAMPAIGN!!!
Oh, and gotta love the ending swipe at EP3. :)
Many thanks for bringing us this, Shamus.
A fitting end. The scrolling stats were a nice touch. That’s always the best part of a real match–laughing over how many times you shot each other, were killed, etc.
Well Shamus, you should give props to Yahtzee, because that’s how I and many others came to the Escapist, and that’s also how we discovered Twenty Sided… so yeah.
B.J. That WAS the joke – the idea that someone who frequents The Escapist couldn’t remember who Yahtzee was.
Although to be fair, a majority of the readers here are from my pre-Escapist days. (Most people came here via DMotR.)
@5: That’s because that someone is listed under “Staff”, on the very next page. :)
I can’t wait to see what game you’ll do next Shamus. I thoroughly enjoyed the L4D series.
OT: TF2 has had an update, and it looks like the servers haven’t been restarted to take advantage of it…meaning everyone who has updated cannot get in.
Seems fixed.
Well, at least the L4D strips are done.
Sorry; I didn’t care for them at all. SP isn’t really well-suited for an ongoing arc. Hopefully we can get back to something I’ll actually find amusing. No offense to everyone who liked the L4D strips, but they weren’t my cup of tea, so I’m quite happy they’re over.
I hate endings!
Fittingly grand finale :) Loved the credits! The broom is powerful, indeed!
This episode made me laugh out loud! At a number of things, for example the “Friendly fire incidents: 1 (self-inflicted)” – sure would have been cool if this was actually possible in-game, btw.
Wonder what you’ll come up with next, Shamus.
In my mind, Francis defeated all the zombies and created a vest-based society without hospitals, lawyers or elevators.
hate to say it, but that went on just a tad too long…
can’t wait until we get some comics about a game I care about.