#i genuinely cannot stress enough how formative this movie was for me in retrospect. just.

[dandelion-roots]

[ID: a couple digital sketches of Baron Humbert von Gikkingen from the Cat Returns. In one, he's dressed like a musketeer and in the other he's in a suit and kneeling with a smile. End ID]

someone recently asked about people's furry awakenings on here and got me thinking about the baron again. the cat returns is one of those things that I look back on as an adult and go oh. i see how we got here. furryism swords faggotry historical suits aromanticism, it's all in there.

[mrkanman]

The Top Five Games in my Steam Library: A 2020 Retrospective

i must unfortunately announce that video games are important to me, and have been important for me for about 2/3 of my approximately 21 years of life. and over the years i have...formed....opinions of games, and had favorites. games i’ll play over n over. i like to talk and read my own blurbs so HERE WE GO--

1. Hollow Knight

over 250 hours on a story-driven single-player metroidvania’s is a goddamn STATEMENT to the replayability hollow knight has. my initial blind playthrough of hollow knight took me up to 60-70 hours to complete at 100%, and it was possibly the most breathtaking gaming experience i ever had. the music, the setting, the 2d animation, the artwork, the smoothness of the gameplay and how the game lends itself so easily to just getting lost in the world, it is: amazing. i cannot gush enough about how this game has been definitive to my 2010s gaming experience. it’s a game that you can play again and again like your favorite childhood movie. the one game deserving of the “like dark souls” title in more ways than one. it’s PERFECT. 

2. Don’t Starve Together

my long-term followers might remember this: but this blog was initially a don’t starve fandom blog. it’s a franchise that has a lot of personal importance to me and honestly, it’s a game that i feel a lot of nostalgia for. klei entertainment’s don’t starve together is practically the “sequel” to don’t starve, complete with a whole lotta lore, new patches and characters being introduced all the time, AND committed to giving each character their own unique cinematic and love. don’t starve’s old-timey sketchy aesthetic really carries it as a unique survival adventure. along with its charming and quirky cast of playable characters, each with their own special mechanics, the game has super creative mob design that you can just fall in love with. don’t starve? pretty good game. don’t starve TOGETHER? REALLY. good. game. 

3. Stardew Valley

what can i say about stardew valley that hasn’t already been said? charming pixel art style, intuitive controls, a game that almost always gives you something to work for in the endgame, nearly unlimited customization of your farm, and you can be gay. it’s DAMN good game. with every FREE patch, the game improves on itself more and more to give you more stuff to do and more fun to play with, it’s genuinely just such a feel-good game that gives you that warm feeling in your tummy of coming home after a long day. 

4. Darkest Dungeon 

darkest dungeon is like stardew valley if your home was full of blood and skeletons and everyone you wanna date is fucked up and depressed. the grim art style of darkest dungeon and the positively HORRIFYING atmosphere it creates is one of darkest dungeon’s greatest strengths. i like to think that not every good game has to be FUN to be good, and darkest dungeon is one of my favorite examples to talk about. because this game is designed to just STRESS YOU OUT. it wants you to make calculated, or in my case impulsive, risks and approach every battle in this turn-based rpg as if it could be your last. the quirk system adds such an interesting layer of depth to your roster of heroes, and it makes every romp across your ancestor’s land exciting and stressful. 

5. Undertale

if there was any game i could forget all memory of just so i can re-experience the absolute JOY i had playing it for the first time blind...it would be undertale. and i know i’m not the only person to feel the same. it took the internet by storm when it was first released and this simple little ole rpg that advertised itself as “an rpg where nobody has to die” is still just. amazing. the characters feel so lively, the story has so many hidden layers while giving its players enough information to effectively theorize, and it’s just: FUNNY. it’s fun and its sense of humor is what sets it apart like its inspiration: earthbound. i made a lot of friends through undertale and it inspired me a lot when it was released, and on some level, continues to inspire me to this day. despite everything, it’s still a beautiful story about staying strong in the face of what feels like insurmountable odds and keeping that certain tenderness in your heart to share with the people you meet. it’s probably the shortest game on this whole list, but i think its place was well-earned.