Maghook Recommends
My favourite games, music, movies, television shows, etc. that have stuck with me over the years. I hope some of them will stick to you too. In the case of musicians I will only list my favourite album / song of theirs. Expand each entry for further details. I will continue updating this list so check back for more. You can also follow what I’m listening to and now watching.
Medium | Title / Album / Series | Artist / Director / Studio | Genre(s) | Origin | Link / Trailer / Playthrough | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | BioShock (series) | Ken Levine (Irrational Games) | Action / Adventure / Horror | USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoYorK3E4aM | Honestly some of the best blending of music, story, and philosophy in any video game series |
| Game | The Curse of Monkey Island | LucasArts | Adventure / Point and Click / Comedy | USA | https://store.steampowered.com/app/730820/The_Curse_of_Monkey_Island/ | One of the first point and click games I ever played when I was a kid, still holds up today with the hand drawn animation, voiced cast, and soundtrack |
| Game | Dark Souls I & III | Hidetaka Miyazaki (FromSoftware) | Action / RPG / Horror | Japan | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCndbjbf5j8 | We don't speak about II, the others are perfect in their length and mystery |
| Game | The Good Time Garden | Coal Supper | 2D / Adventure / Abstract | UK? | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUpKTj456Gw | Hand drawn animation, original soundtrack, lots of weird nudity |
| Game | INFRA | Loiste Interactive | Puzzle / Thriller / Walking Sim | Finland | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6fTatqALw | Out of control conspiracy theories, very fun and interesting story with insane secrets |
| Game | Jet Set Radio Future | Masayoshi Kikuchi (Sega) | Action / Sports / Rhythm | Japan | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf6naKIIuf0 | JSRF is in its own genre and no one has been able to replicate it since. Legendary music by Hideki Naganuma |
| Game | Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | Hidetaka Miyazaki (FromSoftware) | Action / Adventure / RPG | Japan | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIcWQQPIIXo | Absolutely beautiful art direction and immersive atmosphere |
| Game | Stilstand | Ida Hartmann (Niila Games) | Visual Novel / Mental Illness | Denmark | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysx4If9oqM8 | Stilstand is a visual novel set in Denmark about the life of a woman who is so vulnerable and sad and whimsical and funny and impulsive and self-destructive and... I don't know, hopeful? It's just beautiful, okay. I love everything about it |
| Game | The Sydney Mystery | Brendan Reville (Twilight Software) | FMV / Point and Click | Australia | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hvCDBDuo_s | So bad it's good, also because I lived in Sydney for about 20 years so it's funny seeing a game set there |
| Game | Teenage Blob | Team Lazerbeam, The Superweaks | 2D / Arcade / Rhythm / Abstract | South Africa | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28eldRS9VNI | Combination game / music EP release. Really cool and fun and wholesome. Only about 30 minutes long and very replayable |
| Game | Welcome to Elk | Triple Topping | 2D / Adventure / Drama | Denmark | https://store.steampowered.com/app/1015940/Welcome_to_Elk/ | Very cute graphics mixed with serious stories, as if it's some kind of late night Adult Swim cartoon |
| Music | Ghost (album) | Angharad Drake | Folk | Australia | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtSdRg77CyE&list=OLAK5uy_mT4XCWB-WobPbywjDg6hRVT-3wj5Zj7YM&index=2&t=0s | Female vocalist. How depressing can you get? I listened to some of these songs while I was on the drive to put my sick cat to sleep and I almost fucking died from crying |
| Music | Hold Me In (single) | Bent Knee | Indie / Progressive / Experimental | Boston, USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q63OhjXmjw4 | Female vocalist who sometimes sings in Japanese, incredibly powerful voice, god-tier musicans |
| Music | Silent Flight Parliament (single) | Between the Buried and Me | Progressive Technical Death Metal | North Carolina, USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prRjZM2WDHE | No one else sounds like them. Mix of clean and mostly rough vocals and their instrumentation is insane. Sometimes moving into very short segments of surf rock and xylophone breakdowns. They're very fun to listen to |
| Music | Black Hoodie (single) | Body Count | Rap Metal | California, USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_0xYamFYYI | Ice-T co-founded and raps over some pretty dope metal with profound lyrics about current events that show how the world never really has changed since this band started in the early '90s |
| Music | Dark Hair Down (single) | Caligula's Horse | Progressive Rock | Australia | https://youtu.be/45wyp4NfYSw | Quite clean, tenor vocals. Very grandiose lyricism and dope guitar work. Sound just as good live |
| Music | Casualties of Cool (album) | Casualties of Cool | Dark Folk / Ambient Country | Canada | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNQDWKzjDqY&list=PLNao9d8nfylVbRLXDcl9YTmB38kRAd0i_ | Collaboration between Devin Townsend and Ché Aimee Dorval and it's the best country album I've ever heard, includes sci-fi elements. Black female vocals. The music itself is so pretty and sad and etheral |
| Music | This Is the Warning (album) | Dead Letter Circus | Alternative Rock | Australia | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKa7qBFlGPc&list=PLtaXqjQStDD5igQtOcNfiRYezdX_dM54A | This is my hipster band, I listened to them before they dropped their first album |
| Music | Entire Discography... but, maybe start with Supercrush! (single) | Devin Townsend | Progressive Rock / Metal / New Age / Ambient / Sci-Fi Space Opera | Canada | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvnOvUy78cI | One of my favourite musicians of all time. This guy has done almost everything and I've never been disappointed, I honestly believe if he stopped making music he would wither away and die, it's his obsession, maybe even a coping mechanism as he's been very open with his mental illness struggles. Devin has also collaborated with an extensive list of high-profile musicians |
| Music | Voodoo Mon Amour (single) | Diablo Swing Orchestra | Avant-Garde / Swing Metal | Sweden | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2mZVOd0jWY | Incredibly unique band. Who knew brass instruments and metal mixed so well together? Really heavy metal instrumentation with operatic vocals. No one else plays like this |
| Music | Sound Awake (album) | Karnivool | Progressive Rock / Metal | Australia | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjvtx3HMUks&list=PL6E86AD3BA50F2620 | Top 10 progressive albums of all time, not just in Australia |
| Music | Winter (single) | Oceans of Slumber | Progressive / Doom Metal | Texas, USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxzqnetYSbk | Black female vocalist, quite gothic, closest I've felt to Opeth without being an Opeth rip-off |
| Music | Ghost Reveries (album) | Opeth | Progressive Metal | Sweden | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NttJB0DfiQ&list=PL6ogdCG3tAWj4IWzc74ZSYt5K4W2ATjjK | Rough and clean vocals, effortless demonic voice with amazing instrumentals, my favourite Opeth album |
| Music | FU (single) | Sordid Pink (formerly Destiny Potato) | Progressive Metal / Djent | Serbia | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cYgIRGkSQA | Female vocalist. Sick djenty, off-beat riff. Aleksandra Djelmash's voice has a really nice gravelly texture. Another David Maxim Micic collab |
| Music | Shitstorm (single) | Strapping Young Lad | Extreme Death Metal | Canada | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMKFR73GvQ8 | My first experience with Devin Townsend's chaos. After SYL disbanded he mellowed out and became way more complex. Enjoy this complete clusterfuck of noise and emotional screaming |
| Music | Coming for You (single) | Twelve Foot Ninja | Fusion Metal | Australia | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ST85Sui43Q | Weird, funny guys who mix metal and every other genre under the sun in a generally cohesive way. Going from djent to samba to funk and back pretty flawlessly. Also, some of the sickest riffs in metal. Their video clips are very entertaining |
| Film | Annihilation | Alex Garland | Sci-Fi / Cosmic Horror | UK / USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89OP78l9oF0 | Has one of the scariest monsters put to film lmao. Feels like a Dark Souls movie at times, really quite beautiful and bizarre |
| Film | Hereditary | Ari Aster (A24) | Horror / Drama | USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6wWKNij_1M | I will never stop recommending this lmao, probably one of the only horror movies that actually made me stressed out. Toni Collette is a beast of an actress here |
| Film | His House | Remi Weekes | Horror / Drama | UK | https://youtu.be/DYY0QJhlXjc | A refugee couple makes a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, but then they struggle to adjust to their new life in an English town that has an evil lurking beneath the surface. Very impressive and horrifying visuals. My favourite horror of 2020 |
| Film | Oldboy | Park Chan-wook | Action / Drama / Psychological Thriller | Korea | https://youtube.com/watch?v=Iu2HoAruGsM | Incredible revenge film, my favourite movie of all time. Everything is perfect, including the soundtrack. Part of a loose trilogy comprising Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005) |
| Television | The Defiant Ones | Allen Hughes (HBO) | Documentary / Music | USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhwAuYcInMQ | How Dr. Dre's relationship with producer Jimmy Iovine started and how they both took on the very stale music industry at the time. Interviews with Eminem, Trent Reznor, and a bunch of other cool people. Pretty fun and interesting |
| Television | O.J.: Made in America | Ezra Edelman (ESPN Films) | Documentary / Crime | USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmca421urfo | Probably the best documentary I've ever seen and I don't even like sports. Incredibly heavy subject matter. Revisits the systemic racism of America's past, O.J.'s rise as a star, the murders, and the imprisonment of O.J. Simpson |
| Television | The Sinner | USA Network | Drama / Crime / Mystery | USA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEfnpFuzxnE | Season 1 is amazing. Maybe even perfect. Season 2 is just as good, featuring Carrie Coon. Season 3 starts strong and turns really boring fast |
| Literature | The Egg (short story) | Andy Weir | Sci-Fi / Philosophical | USA | http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html | Have an existential crisis, why not? |
| Literature | House of Leaves (novel) | Mark Z. Danielewski | Sci-Fi / Mystery / Expirimental | USA | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves | Really quite difficult to read as the words go forwards and backwards across many pages without conventional structure, sometimes there are no words, along with tonnes of references to read along the bottom |