#go play Signalis it's really good

[wonderblundrart]

"Both of us, we are incomplete. Let us become whole again."

So I played Signalis.

[waywardsalt]

probably not going to try and lean into any sort of like weird fiction/lovecraftian/eldritch whatever horror-specific aspects with the new bellum x linebeck fic inspirations asides mostly bc i dont actually find that stuff interesting as horror

[paracosmicka]

might be a somewhat awkward question, so feel free to ignore, but how do you usually go about drawing stuff like kissing and cuddling? i would be curious to know your process, because you always manage to portray that stuff as incredibly soft and.. vulnerable? if that makes any ounce of sense. sorry if it doesn’t TvT

No you’re all good this isn’t an awkward question at all! Actually this is kind of a fun ask to answer bc I wanna know if any other people have similar experiences to how I draw lol.

First off, wanna say that there’s a one specific song I’ve listened to religiously for the past 3 years, and it's also the song I listen to most often while drawing sonadow. I feel like it’s encompasses almost the entire range of human emotion while somehow also being able to match exactly to any single specific emotion on that range.

Typing this out now my feelings and experiences with the song might be a little biased because it’s part of the OST for Signalis (which is such an underrated game and especially the soundtrack), but I feel like even if you haven’t played the game it can still give you this melancholic atmosphere. But really it feels like….I feel like there are words to describe what i’m trying to say but I can’t think of any other than like, … an “ethereal comfort”.

Okay sorry about that ramble I just really wanted to give you some context and also I need more people to play Signalis. But anyway to answer your question:

My “Creative” Process: featuring symptoms of autism and insomnia

I like that people use words like “soft”, “intimate”, “tender” in the replies and stuff of my art because (while that is the intention behind a lot of my art) it makes me think about the actual process that took place while I was drawing and if that in anyway impacts the viewer interpretation.

I might have talked about this before on my blog, but if so I can’t remember. So I wanna ask any other artists (or actually just people in general) if they do this too or if it’s something Not Normal because it does concern me sometimes lol. Like it’s probably not that uncommon, but I’ve just never seen anyone talk about this before:

I always (like 90%) fall asleep while I draw, it’s never usually for long, sometimes I just doze off for like 5 minutes, but more often I get a lot of half-hour naps in. It most likely, probably, definitely, literally guarantee is because I do things that, maybe don’t encourage, but definitely make it easier to not stay awake. I listen to more calm music while drawing, all of my canvas templates absolutely cannot be white and instead have to be a warm color with both the saturation and brightness really toned down so it’s like a comforting hazy-yellow. I also have all the lights turned off in my room, especially in the day, because I hate the light-reflection on my iPad screen while I draw.

I know I just listed all those things I do like they were intentional but I only just recently realized I do this because someone pointed out how my background colors are always like a soft-yellow which is apparently not common and I was like “oh yeah I guess you’re right”.

So, to be honest, I’m not really sure how I do draw sonadow kissing and cuddling other than…I just do? I’m sorry I know that’s not very helpful 😭 Like, literally the only tip I can think of is “try to be really eeby and neebies to sleeby” while drawing soft gay hedgehogs, 10/10 doctors highly recommend and another cool perk: no nightmares (at least so far, I always get warm and nice dreams 💖)

I definitely like to use references tho lol. Kids, if you run out of Heartstopper clips or any other cute kissing scenes in your favorite movies and shows, don't be embarrassed to go on Youtube and search “makeout scenes” and watch almost all 300 videos in a playlist that definitely seems like it was created like a bot, because sometimes those are the only references you’re gonna get for kissing animations.

Well, I think that concludes this edition of Unnecessarily Long Dissertation Papers by Paracosm, thank you for the ask anon!!

OH ACTUALLY sorry for promoting another Spotify playlist but I made one specifically for Soft, Vulnerable, and Intimate Sonadow Vibes™️ because as much as I love using my regular sonadow playlist I needed one for pillow and blanky time. It’s got The Red Gate and a lot of other songs with similar vibes so here’s that if you wanna listen :3

WAIT SORRY ALSO???? A friend said that my playlist is the most liked sonadow playlist on Spotify apparently 😭 but I actually don’t know if that’s true I’m just surprised that people actually save it to their libraries (970 likes last time I checked I didn’t even know that many real human people were on Spotify) bc it’s like a million hours long and there is no consistency at all like the music genres will switch from borderline-hyperpop MGNA Crrrta to soft instrumental OSTs to the loud unidentifiable noises of Nero’s Day at Disneyland/Lauren Bousfield’s music.

Okay actually done talking now, I love answering asks because everyone is always so fucking nice and sweet I have teared up at times but because they make me feel so many things every time I sit down to answer one I probably use a good hour or two writing everything out and then quickly proofreading so that my one coworker that follows me on here won’t bully me in public for being an idiot.

But seriously tho, feel free to send me any asks you might have, you are literally never bothering me I love reading you guys’ messages 😭💖!! I wish I had more time to answer all of them but just know I check my inbox at least once a week and try to read all the new ones. My goal is trying to answer at least one a day, which doesn’t always happen but at the end of the week I always make sure to put myself in a Saw trap to answer at least a couple 💖 Seriously just thank you for all the support I feel like I don’t say it enough I love you guys and I love talking with you guys and I love how everyone here is so nice and we can all be cozy and enjoy our gay hedgehogs ☺️

[five-one-two-station]

Thinking about how good @arainydancer is, and how lucky the Signalis fandom is to have her. Every little gesture feels so organic, even with the fairly minimal low poly models, and the amount of story/feeling/movement is always *just* right to hit the mark every time.

Look at You Are My One Desire. There's so much going on, but it all makes sense together! It should be visually smashy and chaotic, but there's a thread of poetry to cohere every image. The gory violence wouldn't mean anything without the contrasting gentle intimacy; the gentle intimacy wouldn't be as convincing without the unapologetic sex (and they aren't at odds with each other). The unapologetic sex wouldn't mean anything without the gory violence and gentle intimacy. And doesn't that last shot bring all of it together at once brilliantly?

It's less than a minute long, and it delivers a bigger wallop than plenty of 2 hour movies!!!

And then on the other hand, you've got stuff like Anata Sonata, which on paper is pretty much just Elster playing a bit of halting, rudimentary index finger piano, in a nearly silent room, for the best part of that same 60 second minute. But because of how it's composed, because of the underlying mini-narrative and the confidence in telling it, and because of all the threads of subtext and implication involved, it's really a gorgeously crafted, sharply effective bit of tragic love story-ing, and it knocks the wind out of me every time.

But don't let me forget stuff like the one with Ariane "helping" with repairs. Isn't that just the sweetest goddamn thing you've ever seen in your life? Doesn't it feel exactly right for both characters, even though - in many ways - the game only lets us see them both as their own ghosts? Doesn't the casual, practical body language tell you all about their months, years, of undisturbed closeness? Doesn't it tell you everything about both these two very different people, and how they live life on the ship, and why they would fall in love? Didn't you giggle at the whole cute as hell scenario? 20 seconds! All of that in 20 seconds!

She has the range!!!

Anyway, just taking a moment to rave.

[social---moth]

a love letter to my favorite game

My favorite game is unlike any game I’ve played, comparing it to anything else i’ve played feels unfair, it’s barely a game but it could occupy my top 10 games by itself

It isn’t the most fun, engaging, adrenaline rush ever, ultrakill or titanfall have it comfortably beat in that category

It doesn’t have the most well constructed narrative, signalis has more intrigue and disco elysium is a better character study

but all of those are constructed, you always feel the hand of the author

There are games with better character creators, but they don’t let you actually *play* your characters

in baldurs gate you can change basically anything about your appearance, but at the end of the day the preset dialogue the developers came up with is your only real option for roleplaying

which is understandable, letting a character say *anything* would be basically impossible, there’s no way for an AI to account for every possibility. Though it still feels like half measure, like i’m playing a customized variant of a default character

The trick is to pack 100+ people into a game and let the situation unfold

A simulated space station with simulated air, you need a proper mix of Nitrogen and Oxygen or else you’ll suffocate (or waste oxygen)

your characters body is the most in depth health bar i’ve seen in a game

you have blood, everyone has an appropriate blood type, and getting the wrong type is toxic. If you get shot the bullet can cause internal bleeding, which you need surgery to fix.

The same bullet can hit your bone, breaking it, a broken hand won’t let you hold something, a broken leg will slow you down, a broken skull will be very bad for any important organs that happen to be in it

if you get hurt enough, your body goes into shock

it gets harder to breathe, you gasp for air and collapse onto the ground, struggling to get back up before dying, if you don’t get medical attention you will inevitably die

The Station itself is similar to a body, needing a working engine to pump electricity through the hull, making sure the lights stay on and the doors keep working

Breaches in the hull leak air out, needing an engineer to fix it before the room succumbs to vacuum, if the station computer gets a virus it can pump flammable gas into the same hallways, leading to the most lethal analogue for a fever since plague inc

And every person, the doctor that keeps you from bleeding out, the engineer that keeps the station powered, the security guard that makes sure the law is obeyed

every single one is a real, living human, a person who logs in to the server to play

the stories that this makes is unmatchable, you do something and everyone acts in the unpredictable but sane way that humans do

what happens when a crewmember takes a contract from a rival corporation, or said rival corporation decides that nuking your station would be a good idea

how do people react to a creature straight out of The Thing replacing a crewmate

what happens when a vampire starts abducting people and enthralling them?

what if a Space Wizard attacks?

No round is the same, and I haven’t even talked about half the jobs

There is something to love for anyone

there’s combat with more true to life pacing than dedicated shooters

there’s roleplay with more reactive characters than any constructed narrative

there’s always a way to optimize a system a bit more, always a reason to come back

It is my favorite game, it’s barely a game, it’s a playable movie

I spent my whole life learning lessons from media i watch, because they’re all meant to have a purpose, something to say

but i get really annoyed when someone does something stupid, i wonder what i would have done in their situation, i wouldn’t monologue before killing my victim, i wouldn’t go into the dark hallway with a xenomorph hiding in it

i know i’d find some other way to fuck up, and Space Station 13 gives me the chance to

I see this game in everything, it’s addicting enough that i barely realize i’ve been playing it for 8 hours straight, i have my current *real job* because of this game

and it’s free, short of donating to the people hosting the server, or the people working on the engine itself, you cannot spend money on this game

this game is older than i am, based in an engine that predates Y2K, and nothing released since has captured its magic

Play Space Station 13, you might not like it, it took me 2 tries over 3 years for it to click, but once it did I had hundreds of hours in my first few months of playing

as for where to start? Paradise Station is pretty cool. GoonStation (yes that’s its real name) is way more advanced than any other codebase, at the cost of lag. /TG/ is pretty ubiquitous, at least some code fragments from there are in every server.

Personally, i recommend Para, but each station i mentioned has an appeal to someone

If anyone who reads this gets a bit curious and does any amount of research into the game, I’ll be happy

thank you for your time, and I’ll see you in outer spess

[lefarte]

Gamer Ranking

(Modern au / any au where they’re given access to video game consoles really)

Abella: A hardcore nostalgia gamer. Only plays on PC (built it herself). Bethesda hater and still won’t let it go. Has a picture of Todd Howard in her desk drawer with his eyes cut out. Her favorite series is fallout and has a solid year worth of time spent on New Vegas alone. Well known in the TF2 community. Used to have a competitive record in Tetris, but lost her touch from spending too much time at work. Favorite games are factorio, subnautica and terraria.

August: Calls every console a ‘Nintendo’. Calls on Abella for help with his computer frequently. It’s still on windows 7. Favorite game is solitaire.

Daan: Wouldn’t call himself a ‘gamer’, but has a steam account which he opens once in a while. Prefers narrative based horror games or puzzle games. Never spends more than 7 dollars on a game. Favorite games are bioshock, disco elysium, signalis and pathologic.

Henryk: Likes to dip his toes into a little bit of everything, but never able to get into the gamer scene. Owns a perfectly good PS4 that sits neglected and unused. Likes to talk about the nostalgia of his favorite games when he was younger and how modern games aren’t as fun. He also just has no taste. Favorite games are detroit: become human, fallout 4, borderlands, until dawn, bully and minecraft (the type of guy who always wants to make a big group world, and then when it’s made he never uses it). Abella trashes his collection.

Karin: Runs every game on her shitty company work laptop. Likes roguelikes, or any game that has a satisfying ‘tactile’ feeling game loop. A big resident evil fan, but they make her computer ‘make weird noises’. Favorite games are: Ultrakill, pizza tower, project zomboid, and multiplayer games like phasmophobia and lethal company. Currently has an obsession with Balatro that has gotten her in trouble with her boss. Has been known to play Fortnite regularly. Note: she’s BAD.

Levi: Definitely prefers 3D horror games. Nothing actually scares him though. Favorite games are amnesia: the bunker, alien isolation and the forest. Fromsoft fan, favorite game was bloodborne. He owns a decent gaming laptop and a PS2 where he plays tony hawk pro skater. Also likes half life, silent hill and the shin megami tensei series.

Marcoh: He owns a crunchy ass Nintendo DSi where he plays some pokemon like, once in a blue moon. He already finished the game 7 years ago but will never delete the file. If you look into it you’ll see that his starter is like level 100 and everything else is level 8. Never learned how to play, probably never will. Not a gamer.

Marina: Marina is a visual novel supremacist who downloaded the entire Fate series off a shady backdoor website that probably did something horrible to her computer. She loves horror, but is also not opposed to lighter fantasy stuff. Doesn’t like games that have no story. Favorites are the WTC series (Umineko supremacist), tsukihime, melty blood and rance. General classic nerd stuff.

Olivia: She runs a custom steam deck with a really cute pastel purple layout. She’s pirated the sims with every single dlc + a disgusting amount of mods (including That mod 😏) and it took up so much space she had to put in a 2 TB sd card to hold it. She likes all kinds of games, but has a preference for games with heavy writing/plot. Favorite games are SOMA, Mouthwashing, Stay out of the house (Really any games by kittyhorrorshow, puppet combo or yames) and Who’s Lila. Similar taste to Daan, but likes her games more gory.

Osaa: Probably the worst gamer of all time. Even mobile games are confusing to him. Always complains that the screen is too bright, even at the darkest setting. All games bore him. Horror games are juvenile. Story games are predictable. Action games are a waste of time. Don’t bother.

…Favorite game: Papa’s Burgeria or Bloons Tower Defense.

Pav: Favorite game series is metal gear solid. Owns a PS3. Another ‘nostalgia gamer’ who won’t touch modern games. Likes the typical PlayStation stuff like GTA, Assassin’s Creed, and New Vegas. Yes, he’s the type of person to play COD. Doesn’t have time to play games much anymore due to work (thank god).

Samarie: The same kind of visual novels as Marina, but worse. Big into denpa horror. Yes, she plays eroge. Has no one to talk about her niche vns with. Favorite games are cross channel, saya no uta (of course), chaos head and gore screaming show. She also read homestuck (which is technically classified as a denpa on the visual novel database, so….)

Tanaka: The number 1 mobile gamer in the world. Clicks on every single weird ad he gets with no hesitation. Like a cocomelon baby. Top of the worldwide charts in candy crush for 3 weeks straight. Plays these apps in public with the sound on. No shame.

[last-starfighter]

plural playlist? plural playlist

ive been makin a playlist thats all "songs that make me think about bein plural/have plural vibes/are about trauma and systems/whatever" for a hot second. im not 100% happy with it but yknow i think we all need a distraction rn so.

have like 3 hours of ✨songs to split yr personality to✨ /s

if u vibe with this u can reblog it. this aint just for did systems or endo systems or trauma systems or whatever its for anyone who wants it.

content warnings: self-destructive vibes/suicidal ideation, drugs/alcohol, unreality, amnesia, bad choices, bad headmate relationships, breakups, fuckin kpop for some reason

tracklist + explanations under the cut

hive mind - tmbg i think this one speaks for itself

birdhouse in yr soul- tmbg listen this one has fucked up headmate to host vibes tell me im wrong. im yr only friend/im not actually yr friend/make a place in yr soul for me.

voices in my head- naked eyes pure goddamn 80s cheese but the lyrics are on point

simple and clean- utada hikaru raise yr hand if yr a sora fictive, have a sora fictive in yr system, or were personally victimized by the end of kingdom hearts 2. yeah thought so.

my truth's a lie- psylosia i think this ones supposed to be about schizophrenia but tbh it works.

where is my mind? - the pixies ik its a cliche but you cant really have a crazy playlist without it.

paranoid android- radiohead again. ik its a cliche but here we are. it fuckin works. like half of radioheads back catalog does

blow up your mind- the cramps ok i know this is mostly here cause i wanted more punk shit but it works for how i feel about this shit? idk

my own worst enemy - lit tfw you have that One Guy who keeps makin the WORST DECISIONS (its me im the guy)

the becoming- nine inch nails the me that you know/he doesnt come round much/that part of me/isnt here anymore. WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO FUCKIN SAY.

i'm not there - sonic youth ok this is mostly there for the title and for the good distorted guitar but fuck me i like noise rock

never let me down again- depeche mode ik what this song is rly about but. sometimes you just gotta let the other guy take the wheel.

carousel - tempting fate thx @eklesia-system for this one- it has THE VIBES

disintegration - the cure and now that you know that im breakin to pieces/ill put out my heart and ill feed it to anyone/crying for sympathy crocodiles cry/for the love of the crowd and the three cheers for everyone

otherside- red hot chili peppers this ones for all the fictives out there who want to blow up their lives.

bodies (ghosts) - 1000 eyes can you believe we aint never played signalis? it has the vibes tho.

myth- delerium thx @endogenesis-evangelion for this one. its on fuckin point.

voices in my head- steve aoki/bassjackers/teddy bee can you tell part of this was just searchin spotify for 'voices in my head' lol. i think it has the vibes but ymmv

my favorite stranger - depeche mode can you tell host really fuckin likes depeche mode. lmao. ht to @the-masked-bandits-system for this one tho

voices inside my head- the police again do i really need to say anything

the passenger- siouxie and the banshees this is for all of us who sit and watch while other people do shit

the projectionist- thoushaltnot another @endogenesis-evangelion banger. thx forte

disconnection notice - sonic youth the narrator may not be plural but hes profoundly alienated from everyone and everything and thats close enough /meme

clones (we're all) - smashing pumpkins can you believe that there aint anything from siamese dream that fits on here. that title is ~pluralcore~ af. but nooooo

personality crisis - new york dolls is this a new guy or am i going crazy??? who knows???

imaginary friends - splitsville i hate the 'i' word as much as the next headmate but the song is good so.

who do you want to be - oingo boingo listen i know this is about 80s tv pop culture but like. ~source separation~ vibes. who do you wanna be today?

am i awake - they might be giants ik ik ik ik. tmbg is lemon demon for 80s/90s kids. but this has the dissociative vibes

voices in my head - falling in reverse what can i say about this one other than that its got the content warnings and its catchy.

birthright - celldweller thx @eklesia-system for this one - i think i got a new fave band from yr recs cause this fucks

lucretia my reflection - sisters of mercy lucretia / my reflection / dance the ghost with me

personal jesus- depeche mode feelin unknown n yr all alone/flesh and bone by the telephone/lift up the reciever ill make u a believer

voices in my head - vicetone + chelsea collins anxiety, wanting yr fuckass headmate to fuckin shut the fuck up

voices in my head - dj univxrsel another one from the spotify mines

imaginary friends - deadmau5 we needed more good fuckin crunchy edm on here. im tryin to get more into edm so if u got recs hmu. also fuck the title but this slaps

voices in my head (they said) - jack harris instead, instead of panicking again/ i'm making friends with the voices in my head

mad world - tears for fears i know this songs kind of a meme but the lyrics man. if you got hte trauma and u dont listen to tears for fears yr missin out on a band that gets it

whistling in the dark - they might be giants theres only one thing that i know how to do well/and ive often been told that you only can do what you know how to do well/and thats be you/be what yr like/be like yrself

over my head - lit overwhelm is a v system feel for us ig? ok ill own it this is mostly here to lift up the mood at the end.

imaginary friend (english version) - itzy ok this song is the whole reason this playlist exists. hosts partner is real into kpop and was listenin to this and we started laughin about how big the system mood is with this one and how"LYRICS GUY YR EXPERIENCES ARENT UNIVERSAL." it made me wanna see how many songs i could find about the system experience tho. i dont like kpop. at all. but this one speaks 2 me.

@endogenesis-evangelion @lizardywizard @furyfuzz @eklesia-system @thegmsys @the-masked-bandits-system all either wanted to see this playlist or recced songs to put on it. i didnt get to everyones songs so if u want urs on here- well ill see if i can cram it in somewhere lol

[lintwriting]

i think i really love how visceral the politics of signalis is. not just in the in-your-face propaganda aspects. but like, the way it dooms the narrative.

the whole plot of signalis is based around two entirely disconnected settings -- the Penrose ship and the Sierpinski prison. They are so disconnected from each other across time and space that you spend the whole first half of the game disoriented by the whiplash these two locations give you.

and personally? I stayed confused until I realized what connected them:

they're the two branching paths of Ariane's future.

after her military service, she gets a state letter informing her that if she's not accepted into the Penrose program, she'll be sent to Sierpinski, a "re-education" camp that's actually just a prison mine.

And, to her luck, she "somehow did end up joining the Nation's Penrose Program, the same one on the posters she had seen years prior."

I love and hate the way the wiki frames it, because yes the Penrose space expedition program seemed preferable to the prison camp.Yes, she had seen posters of it and glamorized it as a new start for her. After all, she was an art-obsessed outsider in a world where people molded into being unfeeling machines, where art is frivolous and degenerate except for how it serves as propaganda. Why not dream of a new planet?

But it's all a lie. The Penrose program sounds too good to be true for Ariane-- how can this under-qualified, ostracized freak get accepted into such a prestigious program? -- because it IS too good to be true.

The truth of the program is that it's a glorified propaganda tool, and a useful way to get rid of political enemies. Just send them off into space and tell them it's for the good of the empire, to find new planets to colonize. Then, after 7.74 years of loyal service to the program, tell them:

If you have not found a suitable world for landing by this point, accept that you will not. Find solace in the thought that others might be successful where you failed.

Remenber, you will die having served your Nation by partaking in a glorious demonstration of our power. --- End of decrypted transmission ---

As you are probably aware, your ship's spare parts and rations will soon be depleted.

Penrose is ostensibly about founding new colonies on different planets, but the reality is that these vessels seem to have very little planning put into them, like throwing darts at the wall and hoping one of them will stick. Some people wonder about the efficacy of wasting ships of supplies for this seemingly useless endeavor, but they're missing the point and buying into the propaganda.

The truth is that Ariane was just a pawn for their political power play, quite literally a demonstration of their power, like a horrifying version of The Tallest sending Invader Zim on a useless quest to conquer Earth to keep him out of their hair, like Ozai banishing Zuko off to chase a hundred year old myth. And it cost Ariane her future.

And like, that means no matter what, Ariane never had a future. Penrose is death by space, and Sierpinski is death by mines. She never had a choice, only the illusion of one, because she was doomed by the political reality of living in under an authoritarian state that would never value her.

And like, it's so impossible to ignore the similarities of this to the Cultural Revolution in China. I think the retro aesthetic of the nation references that, along with the Chinese characters littering all the walls.

Ariane's story reminds me a lot of Ye Wenjie's story from the 3 Body Problem, as a similarly powerful woman who also dooms the whole world because of the ANGUISH of the Cultural Revolution destroying her future.

Except, unlike Ye Wenjie, we're not going to get a bunch of assholes calling her an Eve, doomer of mankind. Instead, the story actually succeeds at portraying Ariane as a tragedy doomed by the narrative.

[lakemojave]

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a wonderful October and an above average friday!

I come bearing news about things related to twitch! I've been really enjoying my hiatus this month, been catching up on horror movies and playing Persona 3 Reload, and though my mental and physical health have waxed and waned this month I think this break has been really positive! However, over the last couple of days I've had a nearly ceaseless twitch in my left eye. I will not lie, it's kind of driving me crazy. I don't really know what it's about, but my intent is to rest up, eat well, and get a good night's sleep the next few days so this goes away.

That's all, have a good evening guys!

OH you wanted to know about streams. Right. That makes more sense.

I'm coming back soon! Tomorrow we're gonna be going back to Star Wars: Tales of the Rambler, our RP series with Dot, Jordan, Heather and Jill, lead by our GM and proud imperial gooner, Bill! We were gonna have another one of these this month, but unfortunately Jordan got trapped in the trash compactor last week so we had to reschedule a bit.

Anyone got Halloween plans? I do! Because I haven't done any kind of horror games this month I'm planning on doing a marathon of one of my OTHER favorite horror games, one that I've talked about many times but never actually finished on the channel: the blood-soaked space horror classic, SIGNALIS!!! I've played this game a few times and it has never failed to scare the fuck outta me, so if you're around this 31st of October, don't miss it!

HADES 2 GOT A PATCH!!! I haven't played any of it yet! On Friday, November 1st, I'ma sit down and return to Supergiant's latest game with my drink in hand, just like the Olympians of old. I would be a fool not to return to stream with a drunk hades night. This one might also run a little long, expect a night of merriment and unhinged horny chaos!

Hey US folks, I know that every election year really sucks lately, and this one is pretty spicy. Election day can be a huge source of anxiety, so to help provide some honest and entertaining coverage for y'all, me and the gang are gonna do a stream that day too! Not only will we have our ears to the ground for results as they come in on Tuesday the 5th, but Dot, Jordan, newcomer Brett, (and maybe some surprise guests too!) will be conducting a few delightful minigames and segments! We've got tier lists, the campaign trail, a fun hot or not game Dot cooked up, and more!

That's all the upcoming streams I believe! Stay tuned for more announcements for my return in November, including a modified schedule! Very excited to return to you all, see y'all then!

[letsrevince]

hi, sending a random ask because of that post. would you recommend playing signalis? all i really know about it is that it's survival horror and it has those lesbians that you like.

as a guy that has written a couple signalis fics, yeag i can recommend it! Permanently altered me for good, go forth and play it!

[artversestheworld]

In no particular order they are all fantastic in my eyes! My rating system is based on, Story, Music, Art and Gameplay. 

EASTWARD: 

Is an action adventure role-playing game. Set in a near future world in which humanity has been nearly wiped out by a toxic plague called the “MIASMA”. You play as John a grumpy old miner looking after a child thats not his, Sam on adventure neither of you planned. But boy is it a good adventure! This is another game that I really wish I could play again for the first time. This one took me about 20 hours to beat and I gave it 10/10.

BREATH OF THE WILD:

You know this one. Everybody love it. Just play it. 

OPUS COLLECTION:

Is actually two games in one, Opus: the day we found earth and Opus: Rocket of whispers. TDWFE is an adventure game focused on story and exploring the stars. There isn’t a ton to this one but the story is very cute. ROW is where the real fun is at, it takes place after an apocalyptic plague in a destitute future. You play a John going out and gathering supplies to build a rocket ship to send the souls of the departed to the moon with the help of a friend you find along the way, Fei. This one took me about 10 hours and I gave it 9.5/10

ORI AND THE BLIND FOREST:

Is a platform adventure game. You play as Ari a small white spirit on a journey to restore the forest after a cataclysmic event. It is probably the most difficult game I have on this list but the death revival is very fast so it doesn’t feel as punishing. It took me about 11 hours to beat and I gave it 9/10. 

GOROGOA:

Is a puzzle game about moving tiles around to create the correct image (you’ll get it when you see it). I don’t want to spoil too much of the story so I will just say you are following the story of a boy life. It is sad and beautiful and full of life. I also hope to forget this game so one day I can play it again. I finished this game in about 2 hours (it was develop by one dude what more can you ask of him) and I gave it 9.5/10. 

DICEY DUNGEONS:

Is a rogue-like deck building dice game. There isn’t really a story to this one. But you progress through dungeons rolling dice and placing them in weapons and shields and other elements in order to beat the creature and progress to the next level. I got addicted to this game and didn’t put it down for like 2 weeks straight. I put about 35 hours into this game before I moved on from it and I gave it 10/10. 

SIGNALIS: 

A survival horror game set in a futuristic time. The story is a time loop centred around your character Elster trying to save the woman she loves and losing her mind in the process. The majority of the game play is searching for keys, cards and other elements to help progress you through the story with resource management. The art style is amazing with its pixilation. Took me 13 hours to beat. I gave it 8.5/10. 

DISCO ELYSIUM:

Is a roll playing game written by the novelist Robert Kurvitz. You take on the role of an amnesiac detective trying to solve the murder of a hanged man with his enigmatic partner. As you progress through solving the murder you start to uncover the detectives past and affect things for his future. The game uses a dice based skills element to bring some chance and some strategy as to which skills you increase. The game is fully voiced by an amazing cast (TW the detective is an alcoholic). I finished the game in 15 hours and I gave it 9.5/10. 

PERSONA 5:

Is a turn based role playing game about the internal and external struggles of a troubled group of high school students who live dual lives as phantom thieves. After school and between their part time jobs they fight demons in what they call the Metaverse. The story to this game is very good and the turn based mechanics are very well done. I think I sunk 70 hours into beating this game and give it 8/10 but looking back it should be 9/10. 

CITIZEN SLEEPER:

Is a role playing game with a deep and well crafted narrative experience. Let’s be honest this one is a bit of a visual novel, but it is a great one at that! The characters in this story really come to life with their struggles and victories. There are multiple ending so keep going after the credits. Dice are used in th game to preform actions based on their rolls. I honestly wish I could play this game again for the first time. It took me 12 hours to beat and I gave it 10/10

[iantimony]

duesday

listening: idk, stuff on my phone on shuffle. some more coral bones youthemism i guess. friends at the table sangfielle, episode 3; i might not actually relisten to the rest of the arcs i already did and just skim the transcripts.

no children (ska remix) by sad snack: im back in my ska era. really funny song to have an upbeat ska tone.

the mountain goats deserters fan album: have not listened to the whole album yet but god, what a cool and unique thing that i don't think could really exist for most other bands. Five Fucking Hours

reading: Polynesian Tattooing Tools, linked from Fairhaven comic

why gen z is obsessed with point-and-shoot digital cameras: it's funny because a few months ago i was considering getting a cheap point-and-shoot to fuck around with. looks like i am not the only one who was thinkin about it.

i'm working my way through le guin's 'the left hand of darkness'! i bounced off it the first time i tried reading it a few years ago but last year i read a le guin short story anthology that had some stories set on karhide and i think that gave me a good enough primer on the world/her writing style to get it to stick this time. i'm enjoying it! it's a good book!

watching: mina le - booktok & the hotgirlification of reading: some good background video for crochet etc. bernadette banner - hand sewing regency stays should be quick...right?: oughhhhh so pretty. bernadette banner - this regency court gown is probably my favorite project ever: i won't lie i got a little misty-eyed at the artisans getting to sign their names on the robe.

rewatched the gay and wondrous life of caleb gallo. i forgot how good it is, it really holds up and is still funny

also, continued doctor who watch/rewatch. i'm ngl i think the way rory and amy were shoved off screen was...really stupid. "he can't go back to that specific year in ny :(" ok, before amy gets zapped back you just go "yo go to new jersey in a few days" and go pick them up. really silly imo

playing: fallow. did buy miserichord, omori, and slay the princess in the steam summer sale. i have signalis, voyager 19, and a short hike in my cart as we speak. more games that i haven't played to feed the steam library let's goooo

making: crocheted some granny squares.

pattern for the yellow one is this lantana square...if anyone has any interesting looking granny square patterns that would be good in one solid color send em my way!

thinking of getting this pattern too.

i realized this past week that my urge to Make has been very stale and derivative the past few years, if that makes sense. like i don't feel Creative, i see something and mimic it - i do paintings based on photos i took, i follow knitting patterns, i come across something ceramic and decide to make one of my own, i find reference images to copy. but no actual, like, Inventing on my own end. i think that's why i haven't done a lot of fanart or fanfiction as well, just no ideas. i know that's just part of the cycle of creativity and i'm just in a "hunter-gatherer" period of amassing skills and references but idk. i'm tired of it. i want to create more meaningful things but i have no actual ideas, the well feels dry, and i'm not sure how to fix that.

eating: fallow

misc: stares at my mom and brother doing politics doomerism re: supereme court ruling in the family group chat. looks away. chants 'nothing ever happens' to myself like a mantra.

[internetskiff]

SIGNALIS SPOILERSSS GO PLAY IT GO PLAY IT IT'S THE BEST SURVIVAL HORROR GAME I'VE EXPERIENCED ... ... ... ... ... ...

I've immediately begun a second playthrough after my first blind one and I've realized something that's probably extremely obvious in hindsight but

technically this is the moment Adler lets it slip that he knows about the loop. He's asked Elster for the picture before she even revealed she had it. He's quite an interesting character to me since it seems like he's the only one who's both aware of the loop and not going insane, or, well, going insane in a different way. Every other Replika's either turned mindless or obsessive but he's still trying to make sense of the loop, and even seemingly trying to maintain it.

Maybe my view of the story is still incomplete since I found out there's more to the game I've yet to see (so far I've only gotten the 'Memory' ending), but what would happen if the loop breaks? Why is Adler so afraid of it? If this is a dream reality, is he afraid that the moment Ariane wakes Sierpinski gets erased from existence? Or, at the very least, this extremely warped perception of the facility?

Also, there's this moment that I can't stop thinking about. I genuinely can't tell if I just didn't take a look at this key before or if Alina's pass photo changed to make her look wounded like this on the second playthrough. I might've just taken the key and booked it because the EULR enemies creeped me out. I think she and Adler are the only people to ever mention seeing an LSTR at Sierpinski, so I'm wondering if they were both just driven mad by bioresonance or if there really was one at the facility at some point. The way Alina talks about her makes it sound as if she was stationed at the facility for a while. Is she just being bombarded with Ariane's memories? Judging from how she mentions off-handedly about feeling sick and she's covered in that many bandages, I assume she was suffering from the same radiation poisoning-like symptoms as everyone else. Genuinely can't stop thinking about this game's story. It feels like absolutely everything connects in some way. It's so fucking good. Apologies if I got anything wrong from what I've gathered so far, trying to be more thorough when it comes to looking at the finer details on the second playthrough. Playing this game mostly blind was the best decision I made, makes me adore every second of it even more.

[quinnydoll]

No quotes from a game have had more layers to me than the initially angsty feeling line, “Perhaps, this is hell”

Let me paint a picture for you. This line came up for me after more than 12 hours of fighting through a host of encounters with what seems to be actual undead cyborgs who all seem to have one singular goal: to kill you in particular.

This whole time, your character has one goal in mind, one singular goal which is her driving force for the entire time she’s spent stranded with a downed ship and a missing partner: Keep your promise. If you’ve played Signalis in its entirety, and at least gotten the “Promise” ending, you know that the promise in question in its literal form isn’t as romantic as one might hope for through the course of the game, but I think there’s more to it than that.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what the promise is, it’s entirely metaphorical, it’s a plot device. The promise is Elster’s driving force to keep going forward, to push to find Ariane. Elster’s promise in the end is to come back, to come home.

I choose to read this line as a rejection of the idea that what Elster is doing is just a pointless hell for the sake of prolonged suffering. Perhaps, this is hell. Perhaps, this is just an agonizing circle of pain, but why should you just let the idea that this world is here to make you suffer make you not fight for what you care about?

anyway, play Signalis if you haven’t, it’s really really good.

[dilucsgreatsword]

playing signalis for the first time and enjoying my time with it! first thoughts under read more ^_^

expected it to be more horror? than it feels like currently, but also i'm finally getting to a point where it feels like it'll be ramping up soon, so i'm excited. truthfully that also makes me nervous cause i'm. a bit of a scaredy cat. but the visuals are really gorgeous, so i'm enjoying the environment a lot regardless.

i do kinda wish the horror was more... overt? i guess? the monsters aren't that scary, only the like cone-head thing really unsettles me so far, so most of my overall fear of the game comes from like a surprise monster that i don't see spawn, but even then the jump isn't very intense and they don't all work.

inventory management is also a bit. irritating atm in that they've given me so many things to collect and carry (especially in the current flesh pit questing area) and it's a slog to backtrack through especially cause my map is gone and with the inverted room directions my sense of direction is awful. plus it's like three floors vertically... just so much to keep track of.

the puzzles have been mostly ok, as in not too hard to grasp, but also some feel a little obtuse? i dont think im stupid lol but some of these have really gotten me Stuck. some are really well designed though like fixing the cassette and realizing the android had a speaker in her arms to play the radio transmission to... or the beauty and the beast speaker asking you to intuit that you can transmit audio into the receiver and subsequently giving you the door passwords depending on which station you play. aughhh sooo good. have had some really really amazing moments from it as a result.

the story is also super vague and hard to entirely piece together, but from how much worldbuilding exists it's like. i know there is a story here that is cohesive im just not. sure if i have all the pieces yet? i feel like i dont entirely have a grasp on what's going on or where i Even Am but i can't tell if that's intended, my fault, or a fault of the game. excited to play more though i'm having fun even if it asks me to think a lot while i do. i've never actually played a resident evil game myself (he who has watched many a playthrough) so while it's very reminiscent of it, it's still my first real foray into a survival horror game. it's a good one i think. really cool.

[magistralucis]

as someone who also recently played signalis (after over a year of sitting in my library), I'm really enjoying seeing more of it on my dashboard! if you're looking for games that—while not necessarily similar beyond genre and a couple of story elements—are often paired together, I have to recommend 1000xresist. would be very interested to hear your commentary if you decide to give it a go.

Thanks for your message! I hadn't known of Signalis until recently and I was blown away by how good it was 🤩 I'm not a horror game player, generally speaking (I get easily startled), so I'm glad I gave it a chance. I just checked out the Steam page for 1000xresist too and it looks incredible, I will definitely be sure to give it a go 💖