#maybe I should do this more often

[septiseph]

didn't bring my laptop/tab with me this weekend so I'm back to sketchbook doodling

[adhdemongirl]

Kind of a review of "Laika: Aged Through Blood"

Over the past weekend I managed to put 24 hours into this little game and I have so many feelings about it that I decided to write up a review of it. So let's get into it:

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a 2D metroidvania by Brainwash Gang that released on the 19th October of this year. It's also a shooter with bullet time. And also one of those bike-platformers like the Trials games or Happy Weels. And a post-apocalyptic spagetti-western.

Gameplay: Like I've mentioned before, Laika plays a lot like one of those bike-platformers, meaning that you'll spend the vast majority of the game driving trough the desertificated ruins of civilisation, making sick flips and trying desperatly not to break all of your bones on the pavement. The major way in which Laika differs from those games is that it also gives you a gun and asks you to shoot facists with it. Because aiming while having enemies shot at you while also trying not to crash isn't that easy, the game throws you a bone (because your playing as a canaid, get it?) and activates bullet time as soon as you press down the trigger, firing the gun only when you release. This doesn't only alleviate the chaos, but also makes you feel cool as fuck! Your guns (of which threre are six in total) all have infinite ammo, but require you make a backflip to reload. You are also able to parry enemy bullets by pressing the turn button at the correct moment. Your parry only replenishes after doing a front flip. This is fucking brilliant, because it forces you to do tricks and tricks feel satisfying to pull of.

The metroidvania aspect of the game honestly falls a bit into the background. There are only 3 really new abilities that you unlock over the game, one of which doesn't get utilised enough. The gamplay at the end of the game doesn't feel that different from the beginning. Luckily enough, the gameplay that is there feels amazing and the game isn't long enough for this lack of evolution to become a problem. Still, it would probably be more honest to call this an open world game than a metroidvania, especially more so because while exploration is definitly a thing that happens, it happens more passivly while you are doing quests for the people in your village or other wastelanders. A couple of other (really minor) misgivings that I have are that I only really found myself using 2 of the 6 guns, that there should have been a couple more teleporters around and that the dash upgrade should have been a nitro boost.

Presentation: Laika has a really cute cartoony art stile that contrasts brilliantly with it's bleak world and gruesome violence.

Even the most minor encounter will lead to mangled corpses and our heroine being soaked in blood (partially because this wastelands currency are the guts of your enemy)

That doesn't mean there isn't time for more peacefull or communal moments though

And honestly, the game needs an artstyle like this. Anything less and it's world would feel to bleak. A game this bleak and melancholic needs a bit of cartoony levity, else it would be to depressing.

Speaking of melancholy, the soundtrack by Beícoli is hauntingly beautifull. Tracks like "The Whispers" or "Mother" will be spooking around in my head for a while. The soundtrack is also completely diagetic! Because not only is Beícoli a character in the game, but the songs you listen to are cassetes that you listen to with a walkman (that you can eject and replace whenever you want through your menu).

The rest of the sounddesign is also great. Menus have all the right clicky noises, your bike roars apropiatly and while I'm not completely satisfyed with the guns (could use more cracking) they still sound better than in some FPS games I've played.

Story and World: I'm honestly a little bit afraid to say too much about both, because I'm afraid to spoil to much of an amazing experience. I'll still try to give at least a (very tiny) ocerview. I'll also get into the content warnings for this game. Because besides the extreme, although cartoony, violence, the game also features depictions of extreme violence against kids and depictions and mentions of suicide, as well as mentions of sexual assault. Now the game itself warns you of these and it didn't feel like it relished in any of them. I still think that they are worth mentioning though.

As I've alluded to before, Laikas world is not a happy place. The world you inhabit isn't dying, it died a long time ago. And there are still people that want to deprive others of what little they have. Specificaly these racist as fuck birds with legally distinct guns and uniforms that definitly aren't a stand in for real world imperial powers, what are you talking about?

(The birds in question)

The game beginns with a child having been brutally murdered by them and his father having gone out to take revenge. Our heroine, the anthro coyote Laika (whoever would've guessed that she's called that!?), follows him. soon enough she's sent out by her village to wage a one person war against the enemy. Luckily, Laika is cursed (ha), which means that she can not only see the ghosts of the recently decesed, but she's functionally immortal (because resporning at checkpoints is also diagetic, hell yeag!) Laika is also a single mom looking after her daughter Puppy (there is an actual story reason she's called that, the writers weren't just lazy). Laika doesn't want this fucked world to rob her Puppy of her childhood (for more reasons one). Her own mother, Maya (who she has a very strained relationship with at best), disagrees. Maya believes that Puppy needs to grow up to have a chance surviving. Both of these plotlines, Laika fighting the Birds and Laikas relationship with her family, are surprisingly nuanced, overlap at times and, most importantly, hurt me. Laika: Aged Through Blood is one of these stories that, even right after beginning them, you just know can at best end melancolic. That doesn't mean there is only tragedie to be had here, just be aware that you shouldn't play this game if your goal is only to feel great.

Final thoughts: I could talk about this game for hours (but that would involve heavy spoilers and isn't fitting for a review). I don't think I there was a moment in the 24 hours I spend with it that I didn't enjoy (mind that someone that was better at the game wouldn't need that long, I just fucking sucked at it, lol). It's a game that made me cry multiple times. It's a game that definitly deserves more attention than it is currently getting. It's a game that you can try out right now because there is a demo available! It's probably my game of the year.

[aviul]

abstractober day 30: bricolage

[radi0activec0smos]

part 2 to that doodle spam post which I absolutely could've done as a reblog but like. cmon. why would I do that. do I look like someone who uses logic to you? /hj

(once again under a read more cuz I don't want to like take up massive chunks of space)

First of all THESE two doodles I didn't get to fit into the og post - surprise bitches, im also a cookie runner (though I'm not really that active, even less so in the fandom, so, like. do with that as you will). also yes I got infected with the "give blorbos pointy ears" disease and it's exactly one friend's fault /pos

And now: style change :3 @starlightlamplighter mildly encouraged me to share the doodles I did in their style so bestie here's also your time to shine

and of course we start with gay people real because why not

iirc THIS doodle with Mur and @starlightlamplighter's Ryuva was what really sent me properly into cementing her style into my styleset as well :] (I still remember when she ended up encouraging me to use it more often and I have to say it's REALLY fun to use)

Okay, context behind these four: I massively headcanon that Wounded Warrior (who I refer to as Mur or Murtagh) may have defected from Eden/wherever the fuck Resh's army may have been situated or whatever and rejoined the war effort on Tsadi's side, mainly because of the symbol on their chestplate and the fact that there's the sun shield in their memory. These doodles are set both during their time in Eden and during their escape.

And to top it all off, more gay people (which is actually from this month!)

[illumacati-aka-cati]

"Hph... Welcome aboard then." They say. "Huh? What do you mean?" "How do you think we increase in numbers? We need fresh minds so our judgment is correct for each generation to follow." Two of the judges grab you off the pedestal and hoist you up with them, you adorning their white robes and heavenly flair without even noticing. One of the more older judges jumps off, plummeting to the Earth below. And the cycle begins anew.

In the afterlife, people will be measured by how good or evil they are in their lifetime. You scored a perfect zero, without a single decimal points. According to the regulations, it’s illegal to send you to heaven or hell so nobody knows what to do now.

[casualberries]

ROAD, by me

If you ever met someone

Going through the same thing

You used to go through

What would you do?

For me, it's quite simple

If someone's lost on a dark road

I'll try to give guidance

I try to be a little light

Now, I know

One light isn't always enough

But you can see better with 1 lamp

Than with none

I know the dark road

I know which way to go

I know where the end is

I've walked it myself

Some might say

That because I crossed the road alone

I shouldnt help others

They need to do it alone too

But the thing is

I wanna be the light

Because I dont want anyone

to ever walk that road alone

So, if you're alone on a dark road

And you need a little light

You can ask me, im not the brighest light

But ill try my best to help

[otpadsis]

i think these three look nice together

[justasadboi]

I got my juice in in bed. In a basement where it’s so cold im under like five blankets rn but it’s fine. I really wonder why people act the way they do ya know I feel like everyone would be so much happier if we just like said what we mean. Like I could totally text a few people and be like hey bitch I love you or care about you but like society has this like rule where if y’all don’t talk anymore than doing that is like super weird but like I still have a place in my heart for many people. They aren’t all great people but I feel like they should know that I still think about them and care even tho when they texted me like three years ago I didn’t reply. Or like after that fight I never reached out and was like im sorry I still love you. Or like it’s literally been like a fucking decade almost since we’ve spoken or seen each other but like I still think of you and ur kids ya know. Im a sentimental person and idk why that has to be such a bad thing ya know. Im full of lore. And maybe some people don’t deserve that love but like that’s not my fault it’s still there I can’t control my metaphorical heart

[marsipain]

Norwegian Mikus :)

Left is Miku as a russ and right is Miku in a bunad!

[tempo-takoyaki]

"Are you satisfied yet?"

[wefeedonnaturalchaos]

Wait...

Are there people following me???

Why???

I just exist to consume content

I've been lurking on Tumblr for AGES with no interaction for as long as I can remember

You know what I don't mind, I'll go back to being a hermit

Forgot I was here

[kugelblitz31]

Wait, you can improve your self by pushing yourself?

Bruh

[cosmicredcadet]

I wholeheartedly believe that the last thing that should be said in response to aspecs hating their identity is "don't worry! Aspecs can still do X, Y, and Z" and I'm so fucking serious about this.

The least helpful thing you can do to someone who have not accepted their aspec identity yet is give them ways to compensate for it. If an aspec person is upset over not being able to enter a romantic relationship, the last thing that should be done is to tell them they can still enter one or instead enter a QPR - not because that's not true but because that is quite literally going to stunt their ability to accept their aspec identity. Telling them they can instead enter a QPR when they're upset over the lack of romantic relationships is at MOST a bandaid for the main issue. Instead of them coming to accept their identity and accept who they are you have instead handed them an amatonormative alternative on a silver platter that allows them to pretend they still fit into amatonormativity without every deconstructing it. This is how we get QPRs getting shoved into an amatonormative framework - these people NEVER got over the "I'm sad that I'm aspec" phase because they were handed alternatives instead of given actual support in deconstructing their internalized aphobia, self hatred, and amatonormative biases.

[thekittyokat]

you ever just have a lot, a LOT of feelings all at once about a character and not even remotely enough words or brainpower to FORM the words to describe everything you're feeling. so it feels like you may explode. yeah

[traumxrei-archive]

IT’S NOT EVIL IF I’M CORRECT !!! junoace the world !!!

I SAW YOUR ACE JUNO POSTING AND !! i would like to add:

juno surprising ace one day with wearing the heart suit on his other eye, maybe during an unbirthday party. all the heartslabyul students staring bc they KNOW how much ace gripes about juno wearing the diamond suit.

and ace just bursting into metaphorical flames bc it’s kinda like…juno’s saying that he’s his own person but also ace’s person too….

meanwhile, juno acting nonchalant abt it even tho he KNOWS what it does to ace hahahhahaha—

)(=?(==)?! WHAT ?(=? I WENT TO SLEEP I DID NOT EXPECT THIS?=)=? OOHH UR SOO EVIL FOR THIS WHAT THE HELL

Why are they so meepy, they make me rot so much🙁

[o0kawaii0o]

Baby I'm yours 🎶