Latest news with #Stanescu


Sunday World
5 days ago
- Sunday World
Umbrella-wielding drunk ‘squared up' to and threatened doormen, court hears
Father-of-five Bobocel Stanescu (31) was arrested after gardaí found him threatening security at a Spar in Dublin city centre A drunken man who brandished an umbrella and 'squared up to' doormen when he was refused entry to a shop has been fined for public order offences. Father-of-five Bobocel Stanescu (31) was arrested after gardaí found him threatening security at a Spar in Dublin city centre. Judge Michele Finan fined him €100 when he appeared before Dublin District Court. Stanescu, from Romania and with an address at Killarney Court, Killarney Street, Buckingham Street, Dublin 1 pleaded guilty to threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour, public intoxication and failing to give gardaí his details. The court heard gardaí on patrol at O'Connell Street Upper on December 8 saw the accused outside Spar. He was swaying, could not stand properly and was refused entry. Stanescu began shouting at security staff, brandished an umbrella, threatened and 'squared up to' them, the court was told. The gardaí stopped him and found him highly intoxicated. He was arrested. Stanescu had very little recollection of what happened on the night, his solicitor Tracy Horan said. Judge Finan said it 'wasn't very pleasant for the gardaí' who conducted themselves with the 'utmost professionalism'. Stock image: Getty News in 90 Seconds - June 18th
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Moroi preview: A grimdark action game that's actually pretty funny
The most surprising thing about Moroi is its sense of humor. Moroi is a top-down, dual-stick action and puzzle game set in a dungeon of surreal horrors, where each cell contains a unique and grotesque vignette. In the first area of the map, there's a cell containing a sentient meat grinder that craves human flesh. In another, a dead man is strapped to a feeding tube that's still pumping slop into his bulbous, pulsing stomach. The next room over, you meet a talking duck with far too many human teeth in its mouth. One tooth would be too many, but this duck has a full, smiling set. And then he rips them all out for you, leaving behind a bloody, empty bill. And this moment makes me laugh out loud. The gore in Moroi is so ridiculous that it turns the corner into hilarity, tapping into the gruesome absurdity that makes b-horror movies so charming. You don't expect the duck to have human teeth, but what's even more surprising is their sudden removal and the duck's leftover, blood-smeared smile. These shocking moments of levity appear in Moroi at a rapid-fire pace, twisting the vibe from brutality to bizarreness and back until it feels like you're trapped in a Francisco Goya fever dream directed by Sam Raimi. It's pretty awesome. Moroi comes from creator Alex Stanescu and his independent studio, Violet Saint. Though he's now based in Switzerland, Stanescu is Romanian and Moroi is filled with grimdark takes on his homegrown fairy tales. The game's name refers to a vampire in Romanian folklore, even. Stanescu was also inspired by David Lynch, Heironymous Bosch, H.R. Giger and Little Nightmares, with a dash of Robert Sheckley and Douglas Adams for humor. But at its core, Moroi is a completely original world of creepiness, Stanescu explained during a media briefing hosted by the game's publisher, Good Shepherd Entertainment. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. 'There's a big pool of things in my subconscious from which I pull,' he said. 'General grotesquery, maybe carnival art, Bosch and early medieval art, and caricature. I always try to find my own style.' Stanescu later clarified further, saying, 'Creepy things. Like, for example, in a puzzle, you have to vomit blood into the mouth of someone else. And you will find reality shifting in some places, like in a room you find someone else than you expect to find, and so on. Let's say dream logic.' It's more like nightmare logic, really. Each of the cells in Moroi is connected — get the severed hand from the autocannibal so the meat grinder can make bone dust, which you can then give to the creepy wizard, who turns it into salt for the witch, who's then devoured by her own potion, and so on. Eventually in the introductory level, you find a sword, break down a door and continue your quest to escape, but the prison only grows more strange. Every now and then, a voice interrupts your progress, whispering for you to find it. The creatures in the cells seem to know who you are, even though you have no memory of this place. There's way more going on in Moroi than meets the eye. 'I tell a lot of it through the lore and collectibles, so those will carry a lot of storytelling,' Stanescu said. 'The storytelling given by the characters and by the gameplay is pretty cryptic. You have to find and pay attention to what's happening.' There are no branching storylines in Moroi, but your choices throughout the game will affect how it ends, according to Stanescu. He said the full experience should take about nine hours to complete, but this can be extended if you hunt down all of the secrets. Combat in Moroi is fast and fun, and heavy metal replaces the game's moody dungeon music at the beginning of each fight, setting an appropriate tone of chaos and carnage. Dungeon guards are the main enemies and they appear in waves of five or so at a time, some with more powerful moves than others. I ended the hour-long demo with an enhanced sword and a gatling gun in my arsenal. With a sword, you have basic and heavy attacks, plus a finishing move that builds up as you deal damage. The gun doesn't require ammo but it runs on a cooldown mechanic, and it has a basic shot and a finisher. Dodge rolls round out your moveset in the early game, and the balance in these battles feels just right. On top of dodging and attacking, there are fiery cores scattered around the environments that you can explode for AOE damage — but be warned, if you're too close to the boom, you'll get hurt, too. The end of each battle is marked by piles of intestines and busted corpses — hopefully not yours — littering the cobblestones. The amount of blood-soaked surrealism, frantic combat and body horror in Moroi's first hour is impressive, and I'm amped to discover all of the secrets in the full game, no matter how many exploded corpses I have to dig through. Or maybe even because of all the exploded corpses. Moroi is due to hit PC pretty soon — 'early 2025.'