Male, 33 years old. (I'm even more dead than before.)
Likes (other than writing and roleplaying): I'm into all genres of music. I love to cook. I love the outdoors, and walking through the park near my house. (Yes, really.) I read a lot of thriller/mystery novels. And I usually watch seasonal anime. (Or cooking shows. Because Western Media provides even fewer things that are worth watching.)
But as for my many other neglected hobbies, I've played basically every sport. (Soccer and Bowling being my favorite of the bunch.) And I'm trying to play more video games. (Going through my never-ending Steam library.) Plus, I've dabbled in making electronic & metal music, and I used to play a number of instruments. (Guitar, French Horn, etc.)
But for the few shows that I am watching 100% legally, wherever they might be.
Digimon Beatbreak is finally starting to pick up and highlight its characters. And it's already far more promising than Ghost Game, or that fuck-awful remake of the first season.
Fate/Strange Fake is essentially pure aura sakuga moments & popcorn thrills without a lot of plot. But it's the first not terrible Fate series in a while. Been a consistent spectacle.
Hell's Paradise Season 2 might be the first good second season of a Shonen anime I've seen in a while. (The amount of shows in both anime and western media that instantly drops in quality a season in, is astounding.)
And, Sentenced To Be A Hero, is essentially what Shield Hero wishes it was. Though this one probably has the least interesting plot and characters of the four. But there's little to complain about otherwise.
Slay the Spire 2 has sold 3 million copies in 1 week. (I should go back and play more of the first one.)
Monster Hunter Stories 3 seems to be well reviewed? (But it's currently running like sh*t on PC like Wilds did. Good thing my old roommate plans to get this on console.)
A new Deep Rock Galactic game is being made. (Hey, that's something that might interest me. Depends on how long they plan to stay in early access.)
The solo dev of Chained Echoes is hopefully winning a future lawsuit against a sh*t company.
Some indie game dev streamer made $30k in one day & basically paid off his four years of work.
Cavemanon is making another dinosaur visual novel. (And Hug A Gator was genuinely good.)
Piece by Piece: This is incredibly dull. There’s not much more I can add. It also shares the exact same name of another different cozy-style game with a demo. Bad luck there.
And despite my opinion of this game. Apparently both devs worked together and bundled their games with a discount. So that's wholesome.
Quick Reviews
Drill Bird: Decent little game. A little too simple when you figure everything out.
Sisyphus Is A Bug: Game has charm and challenge in equal amounts. I really like figuring out how the gameplay loop is supposed to work. But I think the timer might be a little too tight. (Certainly deserves more recognition than it's gotten so far.)
Babushka's Glitch Dungeon: Suckered in by an art style yet again. I found this game incredibly obnoxious in parts. (Or far too easy/unexplored in terms of what mechanics it introduces.)
Where We Went: Free game. Neat proof of concept. Got stuck on the last level though.
I don't think there's anything that should be considered "off limits" in terms of how you want to portray your character(s).
But in terms of "how you manage them in roleplaying or collaborative writing?"
My only true advice, is that giving your characters disabilities is a writing challenge that should only make it harder for you. (A personal flex to show how well you can portray said character.)
So, if your character doesn't speak. (Or speaks rarely in stressful situations - that let's be honest - good roleplays will likely put them in.) Then it's up to you (your character) to effectively communicate without using words. Whether its more focus given to facial expressions or body language. Or maybe using a gimmick that shows that the character is clever and pro-active in mitigating said disability. (Knowing how to sign, carrying a journal to write in, or maybe wearing something differently to show that they're too stressed to verbally communicate?)
Anything like that, will surely make your character far more likable and sympathetic.
Because the alternative answer is to make a character that's effectively an anchor to progress. A typical one I see all the time is the "shy" character archetype, which effectively means having literally no agency for themselves. So they almost never contribute or act first in the narrative. And that's not fun for anyone else.
So, try your best to not make a disabled character 'a Mary Sue' or 'a Damsel in Distress'. You should show the struggle they're going through. (Maybe their usual workaround doesn't always work.) But your character shouldn't act like a puzzle or trap that forces the other players to adapt to them.
An example of "mutism" you'd want to avoid that happened to me; is my character was trapped and had to somehow communicate with someone else who was mute. But when my character found parchment and ink to write questions down for them "to shake their head yes or no" to. My writing partner didn't seem to realize that was an option, and never really had effective way to handle it. Because "not speaking to them" was the entire point of their character. And I found an impossibly simple and obvious workaround...
Never thought to just make the character illiterate either. But yeah. If every single interaction with the character goes down like "Bob listens to the frantic questions of his peers. All sinking into a strange quicksand that only Bob knows how to escape. So Bob looks away and says nothing. His disability is very traumatic. Woe is he." People will be more annoyed at *you the writer* over Bob's accurate portrayal of a guy you might know.
I might’ve listened to/reviewed this many days ago.
Review of Perihelion - “Sungazer, Josh de la Victoria”: 7/10 I’m not the biggest “vibe” music guy. So I couldn’t tell you what makes a good or bad one of those songs. But I think this track works well enough. (I’m giving it a +1 for style.) Sort of reminds me of a Pogo track. (Plus math rock.)
The original Dreamer from Voyager is fun. ^-^’
I realized that finding new music is hard. Especially as Spotify only gets worse with its discovery tools. But here’s a few actual tracks from 2026. (Be in a mood for heavy.)
The less I say about the industry as a whole, the better.
So 'Chronoquartz' was a treat. It had good puzzles and a handful of clever reveals. Though its English translations (from a french developer) did lead to one section being very obscure/difficult to understand what you were meant to be doing.
But it was good enough to be one of the very few games that I’ve “replayed” for its good ending. So I’d probably give it a strong 7. And for the last few days of February (good riddance), I attempted to play through twenty-five demos for NextFest. (Before it ends tomorrow.) So here’s a list of what I tried and how I felt…
Cream Of The Crop
A kingsfield-like that knows how to have fun. There’s no other way to put it. It rewards your exploration and experimentation. It has challenges and plenty of ways to overcome it. (And unlike other recent titles in its genre. It doesn’t have inexplicable and obvious political pandering.) So huzzah. Easily the best and most expansive demo of the whole lot.
My complete surprise of the bunch. Didn’t expect much & this was the first demo that made me sad that I had to stop playing it. (It also was one of the very few games that had no bugs in it.) It’s a puzzle game with very clever gameplay/level design. (Though it does make you play a Donkey Kong arcade mini-game.) And I’ll likely buy this one on release, if the price is right.
A third-person shooter/creature collector is an odd but interesting game. The demo was fun, rewarded exploration and worked surprisingly well. (Considering how many games that struggle with controls.) It’s the only demo’d game that I added to my wishlist, as it comes out in a few months.
Instantly reminded me of Easy Delivery Company. It was bug-free, and had an easy to understand gameplay loop. Seems like it has a potential for narrative/being a good example of the “cozy” genre.
Solid Demo
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to this release. (Probably the most out of anything on the list.) It’s just the demo was a solid tease of (two) bosses & a sample of the new abilities in this game. With mostly large and empty areas to explore. (With an introduction of a female sidekick character/rival?) I’ve been burned on good metroidvania sequels before. (Looking at you Blasphemous 2.) And it did have a bug that froze my character when I tried to use a save point one too many times. But I’m hoping this game will be on par with its predecessor.
This one feels like a solid “action adventure” game. And I already feel something for the pitiful puppet MC. Feels on par with something like “Death’s Door” maybe. (Just because the combat takes place in a lot of arenas.)
A solid (and surprisingly challenging) puzzle game. Huge props for how much content that it had for the demo. (Thirty whole puzzles compared to some that had *literally one* or four.)
Sable-Souls, but this one was actually entertaining. It definitely needs some polish & I got stuck in the terrain several times. But I’d like to play the full release whenever it comes out.
I wouldn’t mind having another fun and simple “Duck Detective” style game. And this one seems like it’ll be a fun time. (It does need some polish with its tutorialization though.)
Underwhelming
This was my first true disappointment. Because I think it’s just a straight up poor demo of what could still be a decent stealth/platforming game. It had problems running smoothly & the sections it chose to highlight were trial-and-error & very frustrating. Then, it delivers a potentially fun skill to utilize…and then the demo is already over. (Konami’s at it again.)
This one has potential maybe? I liked the art style and premise that it’s one of those “tells you nothing” style of games. But I literally finished the demo after doing basically nothing but roll my pill-bug ass around the levels. It’s only notable bit is when I had a Skyrim Chicken moment, and I won’t go into further detail.
A puzzle game that basically plays itself? Lots of ‘fun’ dialogue and childish humor that will probably entertain the kids that it was made for.
Walk The Frog, but with infinitely less charm. This is incredibly dull. There’s not much more I can add. (Except that my controller didn’t work at all, despite saying it would on the store page.) It also apparently has the exact same name of another different cozy-style game with a demo. Bad luck there.
It’s a sequel to a cute platformer/puzzle game that I didn’t play. And these few separate puzzles from different sections of the game, didn’t really make me want to buy either of them.
Besides the downgrade name change. (Original being The Mermaid’s Tongue.) The demo was finished in fifteen minutes of “gameplay” with a single deduction puzzle. I will probably still get this game (on sale), because I liked the other Detective Grimoire games. But this demo was pretty lame. Not gonna lie.
We have Hollow Knight at home. There were several of those in the NextFest. This one was just the one I tried. Being the first game that I played - and I got to say - I’ve already forgotten about it. (Though I didn’t really like the parry-focused combat.)
Terrible
Furry Path Of Exile, and my lion warrior sucked all kinds of ass. There was no real loot & the "identify scroll” equivalent unlocked basic ass abilities (that didn’t work well anyway).
Very buggy “““mystery””” game. And I got lost as to what I was meant to do. So I didn’t (or possibly got soft-locked and couldn’t) play on.
A college student’s first 2d action platformer. Where the dash barely moves far enough to do its own tutorial sections & I recorded myself hitting the same basic enemy after I “parry staggered it” for over two straight minutes of me just clicking my mouse. This game does not belong on Steam, friend.
Kingsfield-like. It’s HARD. (Dark Souls 2 hard.) Your character is slow and sucks at everything. Fight an enemy, fight an enemy, fight an enemy, fight an enemy, fight an enemy, fight an enemy, fight-oh you died. See, that was so hard. Fuck off with that.
Something I’d expect for free on Itch.io. It’s a cartoon “““music in heavy quotations””” platformer where you die in one hit & get a wholesome “Hang In There” quote every time you die. That made me question if this was supposed to be a ragebait game.
Didn’t work
Controller recommended and controller didn’t work. So that’s as far as I got, unfortunately. (The same devs that made Skulls Of Shogun. A PS4 tactics game that also basically didn’t work for me. Because it was so buggy.)
Supposed to be a “climbing game” about junk-collecting frogs. But it’s just an Only Up style platforming game, with a jetpack jump that does not work properly.
The Yogscast are making this puzzle game & it was an absolute mess to play. Has obnoxious design and UI.
We have ‘Divinity: Original Sin’ at home. But the controller didn’t work & the camera made me stop playing it, before I got very far.
I waited for a bit. But I have a sneaking suspicion this might just be a back-and-forth between us. Not that I mind. Anything to get me to listen to new music.
So here's a review for Berlin (English ver.) - Unprocessed. This song was interesting. There's some things that work for me, and a few more things that don't. But I won't deny the lyrical effort (has decent lines) & that the chorus works for me. (Gets in your head well enough.) The acoustic part at the last third is the instrumental section that I enjoy. The chorus instrumental sounds a lot like Innerpartysystem & the "club hardcore" bits w. "Berlin" are less successful bits of experimentation. So the song as a whole feels a little disjointed? (If that makes sense.) 5/10
And out of curiosity, I listened to their most popular track on Spotify too. It had the acoustic instrumentation throughout/more coherent sound. But the song sounds like it might be fitting for a YA movie soundtrack. (And looking into things even further, I also liked one of their older songs Abandoned on Youtube. So the band has certainly made better. In my opinion, anyway.) Here's more songs & genres.
Review of "Pig - ten56" (6/10) Ah. Immature angry metalcore. Stuff that I would've listened to on repeat as a teenager. My junk food of choice. I can't exactly say the "rapped" lyrics aren't corny. I'd only argue I'd wish it stuck to one topic/line like (the band) Dope. Would've made a better hook/chorus. Also, goddamn. This song sounds like it's about his sister and that he wishes she'd get aborted? Talk about a sibling rivalry. But it has a solid production and vocalist. So it has what it needs.
Bands I've heard before. One Hand Killing - Twelve Foot Ninja (9/10) This band is incredibly fun. Maybe not the strongest vocalist? But I'd argue it's a unique sound. Sunhead - Plini (8/10) One of the best at what he does. (Imo.) The vocal choir was a very nice touch, cuz I'm a sucker for them. Bands I haven't heard of. I Don't - Poh Hock (7.5/10) Instrumentals are often harder to judge. (Like how one compares to another.) But math rock does it well. Has a little shredding at the end for a cherry on top. Weston Super Maim - Bad Infinitum (5/10) I couldn't find the lyrics & I care more about those than the average listener. So I don't know if it's fair to call this "an average song". But it does sound like a metal song for people who don't like metal songs. The screams are hard to understand. The blast beats are probably my favorite part(s). But the riff choice midway sounds soft/unfitting, and the last minute is just atmosphere/noise.
Five songs & their genre too. (Something that might persuade someone to click one over another.)
Holy f*cking sh*t. Three years of the game being on the PS5.
And a DAY after my comment on the Steam forums about the menu auto-scrolling, and battles taking two repeated prompts to confirm an attack.
Then they patched it and fixed them both... (Made the class selection a drop down menu instead.)
I'm dumbfounded that I'm the sole reason the game functions. But it's just another example of how fans correctly complaining can 100% work and improve a product for the better.
Round of applause to the For The King 2 devs. Genuinely elated.
Edit: I also bought Sheepo & liked it a lot. Man really knows his stuff. (Excited for the dev's upcoming project. He's 3 for 3.)
[h3][u]My Very Brief Bio[/u][/h3]
Male, 33 years old. ([s]I'm even more dead than before.[/s])
Likes (other than writing and roleplaying): I'm into all genres of music. I love to cook. [url=https://imgur.com/a/Mvb1A5r]I love the outdoors[/url], and walking through the park near my house. (Yes, really.) I read a lot of thriller/mystery novels. And I [i]usually[/i] watch seasonal anime. (Or cooking shows. [i]Because Western Media provides even fewer things that are worth watching.[/i])
But as for my many other neglected hobbies, I've played basically every sport. (Soccer and Bowling being my favorite of the bunch.) And I'm trying to play more video games. (Going through my never-ending Steam library.) Plus, I've dabbled in making electronic & metal music, and I used to play a number of instruments. (Guitar, French Horn, etc.)
My 1X1 Interest Check: [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/175576-sleepingsilences-tavern-want-1x1-rps-please-come-in/ooc]SleepingSilence's Tavern (Want 1x1 RP's? Please come in.)[/url]
[hr]
Hope you have a wonderful day!
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Vhh9p3I.png[/img]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-h3"><span class="bb-u">My Very Brief Bio</span></div><br>Male, 33 years old. (<span class="bb-s">I'm even more dead than before.</span>)<br><br>Likes (other than writing and roleplaying): I'm into all genres of music. I love to cook. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://imgur.com/a/Mvb1A5r">I love the outdoors</a>, and walking through the park near my house. (Yes, really.) I read a lot of thriller/mystery novels. And I <span class="bb-i">usually</span> watch seasonal anime. (Or cooking shows. <span class="bb-i">Because Western Media provides even fewer things that are worth watching.</span>) <br><br>But as for my many other neglected hobbies, I've played basically every sport. (Soccer and Bowling being my favorite of the bunch.) And I'm trying to play more video games. (Going through my never-ending Steam library.) Plus, I've dabbled in making electronic & metal music, and I used to play a number of instruments. (Guitar, French Horn, etc.) <br><br>My 1X1 Interest Check: <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/175576-sleepingsilences-tavern-want-1x1-rps-please-come-in/ooc">SleepingSilence's Tavern (Want 1x1 RP's? Please come in.)</a><br><hr class="bb-hr"><br>Hope you have a wonderful day!<br><br><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Vhh9p3I.png" /></div>
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