#favourite review on this game is:

[mangomonger]

does tumblr know about webfishing yet imagine animal crossing avatars and stardew valley fishing game had baby and then alcohol and gambling came into play you guys should try it out its so fun

[drmajalis]

Since I've been seeing a lot of it recently, sell me on Signalis

Signalis is a 2022 indie survival horror game about lesbians. It's very openly a queer work set about finding individuality and love within an oppressive, fascist environment. The setting of Signalis is heavily inspired by East Germany, with some bits of Communist China thrown in. Security cameras are everywhere, people live in bunk beds with cages over them, and people aren't even called people, they're either Gestalts (humans) or Replikas (basically biomechanical androids with the neural pattern of a Gestalt). It's an extremely surreal experience where reality becomes more and more fucked up the longer you go, and things start to make less and less sense, leading you to come up with your own interpretations for much of the content past the halfway mark. What remains ever consistent is Elster, the main character, who made a promise to her wife and will do anything to fulfill it, even as reality falls apart around her. It's definitely a very sombre and depressing work in the end, you will cry, but, I found peace, as well, and the fandom is very happy to focus on the happy moments within the story and flesh those out, so, I think it's bearable, even for me, who normally hates depressing queer work. As a game, Signalis is the best classic survival horror experience since the original Resident Evil 3. If you like classic RE and Silent Hill, you'll love Signalis, and I think even people who couldn't get into them may vibe here, as the control in it's semi-isometric viewpoint is a lot easier to manage than the tank controls and fixed camera angles of classic RE. It is truly a 10/10 game in all aspects. Any complains are minor and feel like nitpicks as best. Signalis deserves a shot, you won't want to say you missed out after you experience it.

[ynfg-review]

Yume Nikki Fangame Reviews: Ultra Violet

Dev Twitter | Wiki | Play online

Ultra Violet was first released in 2012 by heat_thinker, and was last updated in 2019. The player explores the dreams of a girl called Sometsuki, and the game has no endings at present.

Atmosphere: Ultra Violet is a game of soft pink and yellow expanses filled with rabbits and flowers, although it conceals a gloomier and sometimes bloody underbelly beneath its cutesy or pastel nexus worlds. Sometsuki’s dreamscapes are less lonely than many YNFG protagonists', with many NPCs who watch you or follow you around. Rather than vast and isolating, her dreams feel comforting and a little sad.

Exploration: This game is still in development. Many of the nexus worlds have a single and ultimately dead end connection, but you can find multiple interesting events and effects in these areas, so they don’t feel unsatisfying. There are also some more developed and better connected routes to be found. I’ve seen people say that the game’s looping worlds are too big, but this hasn’t bothered me at all and I’ve found it pretty easy to navigate.

Art: The graphics are very cute and well drawn, and the vibe of the game switches roughly between pale pastel pinks and darker desaturated blues. I don’t find Ultra Violet very atmospheric, and I think that’s because its almost all of its colouring feels ‘flat’ – it doesn’t do much with lighting or contrast. You get that pastel aesthetic in exchange for this quality, though, and it really pulls that off.

Storytelling: Ultra Violet does a very good job of suggesting relationships between the protagonist and various characters, and it has some of my favourite interactions you can have with NPCs in any YNFG. There are also some areas which hint at things which may have happened in Sometsuki’s past, and, of course, a lot of recurring imagery. Of bunnies. There are no endings available as of August 2024.

Horror and CWs: This game has a few areas containing blood, violence, dismembered bodies, and chasers, but for the most part it lacks a creepy or unsettling atmosphere. There aren’t any areas where I personally feel spooked out as I explore, as is the case with a lot of YNFGs. There’s a bit of body horror in the more disturbing events, and a recurring motif of decapitation.  

Best thing about it: The implied toxic yuri. Ok, maybe also the puzzles and the NPC interactions in general. It’s a great game for interactivity.

If you like… She Awaits, high school yuri manga or magical girl anime.

[the-mad-owl]

how do i find Dragon Age Veilguard reviews for someone who doesn't know anything about Dragon Age and does not care about the lore. I just want to know wether I'll have fun 😭

[bagadew]

Disco Elysium Spoiler

Disco Elysium Spoiler

Disco Elysium Spoiler

Disco Elysium Spoiler

INSULINDIAN PHASMID??!!

[plznomonkeys]

Wtf is up with reviewing on fanfiction these past years?

Mini-rant incoming

Y'all, idk what happened to these sites, but over the last couple years there has been huge changes on FF.net and AO3.

When I first started out in like, ~2011 ish, I was 16, young, dumb, wrote pretty cringe fanfics. MF's, I got a review on the first chapter of fics within 24 hours that I posted. They were honestly dogshit and I didn't have ANY concept of characterization. They just... did what I wanted them to.

One of my fanfics got over 400 reviews IN 3 MONTHS.

THATS OBSCENE

But now? I'm lucky to get a single review with a thumbs up emoji. And I get it, some people have nothing to say, but even little, "hey this is great, I like this, don't like this bit, but I'm still reading" is totally fine! I even rather have people give a review when they stop reading and tell me why. Because how the frickity frackity am I ever going to improve as a writer if nobody stops me?????

And I get it, maybe my writing just isn't good enough. That's entirely possible.

HOWEVER

If that was the case, why is my view count on FF over 500 reads per chapter? How about my AO3 being at over 5000 hits? If they were so shitty, why are people reading them?

And then I see these fucking posts online about people saying "oh yes, this fanfic was amazing, it means a lot to me, I love this author, they're amazing" but have they ever told the author that? No? Then they're shocked when the story gets abandoned.

I'm sorry, but reviews and commentary seriously matter for us authors. Seriously, they do. When I post a chapter that finally lore drops some seriously important notes to a story and nobody gives feedback, I start questioning myself. Did I do it right? Was it poorly written? Am I just fucking with myself and an idiot? I don't know, can't tell.

Tell your authors that their book is good. Once is not enough. Seriously, even just every few chapters tell them!

I've written two fics that are approximately 200,000 words deep, but they have very few reviews. And do you know what that looks like to a viewership? There is a massive amount of people who will read a review on the story before they pick it up. If there's a 1% ratio of reviews/comments to hits, it looks really really bad. It makes the story look like nobody is actually reading it through. This is why stories get abandoned. They live in the author's head, rent free.

I don't have to write it out honestly, I can keep it to myself if people don't want to review it. My Naruto fic is complete inside my head, the ending is set, I don't need to do anything more. So if people don't tell me they want to read it, then I'm not gunna write it. Like it's a pretty straight forward concept people seem to misunderstand.

And I get it, writing is supposed to be fun and stuff, but there's time and effort put in to making it work and keeping characters in character, in editing, in making the story read more enjoyable. Why would anyone put themselves into free labour for nothing in return?

It's just shitty, if I'm being honest, that people don't realize their stories are more likely to get put to the side if they don't show interest. Me personally, I comment and review everything I read, even if it isn't great, because I understand how important that fucking is.

Well, rant over, I guess, but I'm just super fucking salty.

And to those that do review, you're amazing. I have 3 loyal readers that I'm genuinely writing just for them, that's it. I hope they have warm sunshine and cool pillows.

[nexus-nebulae]

why does my youtube recommended always tend towards videos of people talking about terrible things that they hate. i want to watch people talk about things they like

[acearohippo]

Just going to document the only time I've ever been number one in an event. It's not gonna last, but I was able to hold onto this for most of the day AND get it back before my day was over.

Unwaz already has valeria so I'm sure she's gonna end up being the meta and the ranking will fill up with her and whatever shimmer I don't have :')

[weedle-testaburger]

i think sometimes about how the angry video game nerd has canonically died and met the devil multiple times

[unrestrainedbalderdash]

Played Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League for a bit over 3 hours. It's not really my cup of tea (could be because I'm not very good at videogames), the experience was kind of like me playing Sonic Frontiers on the day before returning to college and feeling very lost and confused and feeling "this isn't the games I know and love". I'm not very good at the combat system, my Arkham brain keeps just spamming the melee. As time passes I am feeling a bit less disoriented? (I think the Batman encounter was the turning point from "I don't like this" to "I think I could get into this") It's also a bit buggy? The biggest example is that sometimes the audio keeps cutting out then coming back then cutting out.

Riddler appears 3 hours in (there are references to him beforehand though, including a big cardboard cutout of him that I stared at for a while). It's Arkhamverse Riddler, they haven't butchered his characterisation! (was kind of terrified that they'd look at the popularity of The Batman 2022 and go and ruin him, in which case I would have probably cried at having wasted my time and money on this). Only completed one Riddler challenge at the moment - it was a generic "run through the checkpoints in time" sort of thing. I hope they have more puzzley challenges but I guess the gameplay isn't really suited for that (no gadgets, mostly combat based which is really not my thing).

I think maybe the biggest problem is, returning to the first point - it's a skill issue from me, I am very bad at videogames if I'm not really used to the style. It breaks the formula of the Arkham games - which could be positive or negative depending on your perspective. For me it's a big negative, but I can see why people might love the gameplay.

Definitely still gonna persist because I'm desperate for good Riddler content :)

[myreia]

Why is it that whenever I have an unintentional nap it always makes me grumpy. Or amplifies any previous grumpiness by 1000%. And then I see something on my dash that is completely unrelated to the thing that I'm annoyed about and then that unrelated thing annoys me and the grumpiness is amplified by another 1000%...

[theindiegamesautistic]

A Short hike

probably spoiler free (I did my best, but no guarantees)

An impulsive lockdown purchase that I have yet to regret.

The idea is that you are a bird (I know, already brilliant) and you must climb to the top of hawk peak to get phone signal, so you can receive an important phonecall.

There's loads of other little guys (various creatures) to speak to with side quests and problems for you. Some of them just want a chat and they have some wonderful bits of life advice (I'm slightly joking, but some of its funny)

it claims to be 90 minutes of gameplay, and maybe, if someone with neurotypical level focusing skills made extra sure to stick to only the main quest with maximum efficiency, they could potentially complete it in a time close to that. I think I took about 4hrs to get to the top of hawk peak, then there's plenty left to do.

Personally, I don't think I've "completed" it. The boats update added more things to find and I know I've not found every golden feather yet. It's open world and there's enough going on that you can find many hours of activities, including toast!

sensory experience:

(this is based on my experience of it, so there's a chance I've missed bits)

It is in autumn colours, mostly muted, with some bright reds and greens (as shown in the picture above)

it has music that changes as the environment/circumstances change and feels like it progresses as you progress.

There are also background sounds as you interact with the environment (fires crackling, the boats engine, wind) and these, when playing with headphones, have a 3D effect (i.e. if the fire is on your characters left, you will hear the crackling on your left)

You can fly/dive with quite significant speed, causing the scenery to move fast rapidly, which made me a little dizzy, but it is difficult to create this situation by accident and it is not a required part of the game.

There is also a side of the island that is constantly experiencing thunder storms. It wasn't loud or unexpected enough to make me jump and there's no strobing, but it was definitely noticeable.

emotional experience:

Your character is unable to die and will not miss the phone call if you take a long time to get up hawk peak, which for me, lowers the stress.

Around the area with the thunderstorm, there is a small graveyard, but the style of the graphics means there's no names or any other details visible.

There are no deaths in the game.

The topic of the phonecall is revealed to be important to your character, and I believe it's implied that they are nervous about it, but you don't get more details until later.

Overall, it's fairly emotionally light and all characters are broadly friendly (some are a little blunt when they run out of things to say and want to get on with their task, but aren't we all)

Did I find it accessible?

(this is specific to me and what I find makes a game accessible, but it might be useful to people with similar access needs)

easy of learning controls: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I found the controls intuitive and simple. Information is given by characters in the game, which means you can start immediately, however I do wish there was somewhere all the controls where written that I could refer back to without having to end the game (there might be, but if there is, I haven't found it)

processing speed/reaction time requirements: ⭐⭐⭐

the main quest doesn't require fast reactions or processing, however, there are a few side quests that do. these are not critical to the game, however, I found how long I needed to spend to complete them slightly frustrating. However, most of the side quests do not require fast processing.

focus requirement: ⭐⭐

the perspective changes within the game means that you sometimes need to change keys to walk in a straight line, which can mean you go off in an unexpected direction.

overall, yes, I found I was able to access all aspects of the game, even though a small number of things took me a little longer.

overall ratings

autumn vibes: 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁 very

happy stims while playing: ✨✨✨✨ quite a few

time lost that i didn't notice:⌚⌚⌚⌚ lots

boats:🚤 only one that you get to drive, but it's alot of fun

[nedlittle]

[id in alt text]

i read a total of 10 books in november (155% of my yearly goal) and 2715 pages (167% of my yearly goal). my favourite was the fitzosbornes in exile by michelle cooper and my least favourite was a haunted history of invisible women: true stories of america's ghosts by leanna renee hieber and andrea janes.

full breakdown of star rankings and reviews under the cut 🖊📚

a net for small fishes by lucy jago 3.75⭐ [historical] [review]

the family chao by lan samantha lang 3.25⭐ [contemporary, literary] [review]

house of light by mary oliver 5⭐ [poetry] [review]

my cousin rachel by daphne du maurier 3.75⭐ [gothic, classics, historical] [review]

the dying day (malabar house #2) by vaseem khan 2.5⭐ [historical, mystery] [review]

a brief history of montmaray (the montmaray journals #1) by michelle cooper [reread 🔁] 5⭐ [historical, ya] [review]

the fitzosbornes in exile (the montmaray journals #2) by michelle cooper [🔁] 5⭐ [historical, ya] [review]

a haunted history of invisible women by leanna renee hieber and andrea janes 1.75⭐ [history, sociology] [review]

i await the devil's coming by mary maclane 3.5⭐ [classics, memoir] [review]

becoming the villainess by jeannine hall gailey 4⭐ [poetry, fantasy, feminism] [review]

[fingertipsmp3]

One thing about me is I will buy myself treats I literally do not deserve because I didn’t do anything whatsoever

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

I've been watching scarlet and violet videos all day and have spoiled myself more than I wanted to someone stop me

[hella1975]

99, 38, 12 for the spotify thjbf

i was all over her - salvia palth

'every stranger makes me feel safer and every person seems more beautiful'

bags - clairo

'pardon my emotions, i should probably keep it all to myself i know you'd make fun of me'

david & goliath - bug bites

'i would run up the staircase where you'd fall face down from stumbling up the crumbling bout of steps all thanks to karma'