andro's domain

Some Thoughts On No More Heroes and Killer 7

2024-05-09T16:45:00.000Z

I was trying to figure out the best way to write something about my recent experience playing both No More Heroes and Killer7 and found myself too dependent on lame descriptions of the story and mechanics. Both of those may be important, but I don't think I effectively captured what I actually got out of my playthroughs. So here's attempt no. 2.

Games are a frequently misunderstood medium. The most frequent debate is the one about whether games are art or just a toy. I would posit that even those that are closer to being a toy are still a kind of art. Fortnite may be a lowest-common-denominator game, but it is still the artistic expression of a team of people and the sumtotal of their influences and interests. Even if it is now a corporate-driven product above all.

Despite the fact that I would consider games to be a unique art form, very few game developers seem to take full advantage of what the medium has to offer. In fact, there almost seems to be a level of embarrassment for a lot of developers and writers who end up in the industry. I'm rather annoyed that I can't find it, but I remember a quote from one of the female developers or writers working on Dragon Age (maybe 2?) saying that she would get rid of as much of the "game" part of the game as possible because it didn't interest her. When you play something like DA2, you definitely get this sense. Why play it? Why should this not just be a visual novel? It's a challenging question that can be difficult to answer, but one that must be answered for a game to actually be meaningful as a real, artistic, aesthetic totem.

No More Heroes

One of the developers who does understand the potential for gaming as a unique medium is Suda51, who uses his projects as a springboard to explore his interests and influences. While you don't always get mechanical depth, the mechanics are always there to reinforce the themes and the style of the game. Take No More Heroes for example. You play as an incredibly violent psychopath (Travis Touchdown) who kills thousands of people in his pursuit for pussy. Seriously. That's the plot of the game. To place you in the shoes of this protagonist, everything is made exceedingly cool to do. You chop people up with a lightsaber and drive around in a rocket motorcycle. Normal mooks explode in a fountain of blood. Bosses are all unique, with their own backstory, and have particularly brutal executions. You are desensitized to what you're doing simply because it feels awesome to do.

Cut up your enemies into a glorious fountain of blood.

The game is filled with homages and references to things and people Suda loves in a way that doesn't feel contrived but contributes to the overall aesthetic and setting. Even the name is a likely reference to the same-named song by The Stranglers. The blade katana is an obvious reference to Star Wars. Travis' room is littered with pop-culture paraphernalia and his shirt is emblazoned with some doki-doki moe-moe anime girls. At one point, Travis passes out on a bus and imagines himself playing a 2D SHMUP. Suda51 wants to place you into his world, his mindset, and his influences.

On a mechanical level, it is rather simple. You have access to a few types of attack and a few combos. There are a handful of weapons with trade-offs and upgrades. No one is going to compare NMH to something like Dark Souls any time soon, but it gets the job done and is more than servicable. The focus of the game is the style and the feel of things. You are a dorky, otaku assassin motivated by sex and murder. To gain access to more murder and sex, you complete mundane part-time jobs as a debt-slave to your assassin organization. Why do they want you to kill these people? Why is there an assassin organization with a ranking system? Who cares! All you care about is murder and sex. And that's all Travis cares about as well! It is certainly more than the sum of its parts. Every aspect, from the mechanics, to the HUD, to the cel-shaded art-style, to the gonzo story all serve to make you feel this feel.

Admire the Sex Pistols reference before driving around town on your very anime rocket bike.

Some of the game is lost with the game's transition to other platforms like the (much-maligned) PS3 port and the recent PC port. The game was originally developed for the Wii and took advantage of the platform's unique capabilities to enhance the feel of the game. Some depth afforded by the high/low stance system is neutered when it takes a simple button press to accomplish the same thing. Instead of miming masturbation to charge up your beam katana, you just waggle the joystick back and forth. Overall, it's not a very good port and it remains broken to this day. There are still plenty of crashes, some achievements are outright impossible to complete, and the settings menu is almost non-existent. I'm disappointed my first experience with the game was not with the Wii version.

Sex and violence.

Killer7

While No More Heroes is probably Suda's most popular game series, Killer7 is perhaps his most cherished. Everything about Killer7 is kind of anachronistic and goes against what you would expect from most games. The first thing you'll notice is how it plays. You don't have free control of your character, but instead more forward on-rails by holding the A-button. If you hold down the right trigger, you enter a shooting mode, where pressing A now fires your weapons. It's as if the developers realized that free-movement wasn't necessary for the game, so they got rid of it. And it serves to complement the themes of free will and invidualism present in the game by denying you this mode of engagement.

The next thing that will hit you is the overwhelming style the game posesses. Taking some cues from his prior games Flower, Sun, and Rain and The Silver Case, he uses color very effectively and carefully. Most levels have a strong color palette to them. Such as the bright whites associted with Alter Ego and the much harsher and darker reds and oranges seen in later levels like Smile. All this is paired with a very striking cel-shaded look which is both very of its time and timeless. The HD remaster available on the PC looks outstanding. All that's needed is a higher-resolution and the game can go toe-to-toe with anything that comes out now on a visual level. And the environments and models are rather simple! You don't need high visual fidelity to have striking presentation, just a clever visual style (which, is still an incredibly challenging thing to pull off).

Coyote Smith can jump up to places not normally accessible by other characters.

The thing that most cuts against the grain is what might be described as an arthouse story. It's multi-layered and very complicated. On the surface, it's almost an espionage thriller where the global power structures are engaged in a secret war for control over the future of the world. But dig a little deeper and you get a nuanced take on Eastern vs Western modes of thought, free will, technology, government, philosophy, and so much more! All this in a game where you play as a split-personality assassin who frequently confers with a man in a red gimp suit.

It's also a character drama focusing on the "protagonist" Garcian Smith and his relationship to the world, the rest of the personalities of the Killer7/Smith Syndicate, and the mysterious Harman Smith. While not all of the characters get the full development they were intended to, some, like Dan Smith, get their time to shine. His story with the truly psychopathic murderer Curtis Blackburn is one of the highlights of the game for me. It's also one of the places where you see the most extreme violence in the game. And boy, it Killer7 violent.

Kaede and Samantha share a peaceful moment in Harman's Room.

It's not as over-the-top or cartoonish as what we get in No More Heroes, but much more shocking. In one sequence, we see things from Curtis Blackburn's perspective as he coldly executes a woman in his car, before entering a high-rise business complex to kill several more. Blood pours out from their foreheads as the bodies slump over in a realistic looking fashion. The game can also be quite sexually disturbing. The most notorious sequence is probably the one where Samantha Smith basically rapes the elderly Harman Smith, who is immobile in his wheelchair.

As is the case with No More Heroes we also get plenty of homages and references in typical Suda fashion. Mask de Smith is a reference to one of Suda's close friends and collaborators, Mask de Oh. All of the playable characters being part of the "Smith" syndicate is a reference to Morrissey and The Smiths. We see copies of real world literature and music, like The Picture of Dorian Grey. And, like NHM and the aforementioned The Silver Case, there are some references to songs from New Order and other bands and artists that Suda likes.

Killer7 takes full advantage of the medium to combine a unique aesthetic, interesting plot and characters, and meaningful mechanics to deliver an experience that is only possible in a video game. It's probably one of the best games available if you ever wanted to prove to someone that games have plenty to offer. Compare it to something like Uncharted. I don't hate Uncharted, but those games are basically interactive movies where the mechanics and presentation almost feel like an afterthought or an attempt to capture what you get in a movie. Above all, Killer7 is a game.

Games are cool

Suda51 was quoted in a 2005 issue of Nintendo Power as saying "It is my firm belief that video games are the most challenging form of artistic media we know." And he is 100% right. The possibilities of games are limitless and you're able to use video, interaction, music, sound, text, and technology in ways that are simply not possible in any other medium. It is a shame that games are so frequently reduced to simply lame mechanical descriptions or to be used as yet another vector in the culture war. I play Counter Strike and greatly enjoy it, but games are so much more than a toy or a sport. Games are most meaningful as an expression of a single, unified vision to tell a story and engage in the player in a way that is not possible in any other medium. An experience with a beginning, middle, and end. Not a "live-service" that is designed to be played forever.

Travis is always there with some words of wisdom.

The poor state of gaming currently isn't due to every game being stuffed full of "woke propaganda". That's simply a symptom of a lack of direction and passion. Direction and passion being the two things required to make something truly great and transcendent. God bless the Tarantino of gaming, Suda51 himself, for creating games that he wants to make. Games with a clear vision, even if they usually don't accomplish everything he was aiming for. While Killer7 may always be a playground for weirdos, the commercial success of something like No More Heroes proves that there is plenty of space for projects like this in the landscape. People want them. People will play them. And people will return to them again and again, even if they don't understand why. You can't fake soul, and Suda has got it in spades.

Please let the Republic Party make the most of your precious vote,
--- Andronicus

Northern Journey Game Review

2024-04-21T23:35:00.000Z

One of the most appealing things about video games is their ability to place you in the direct role of a player avatar. You act as a physical being in the world. You don't simply control a character - you are that character. Games that are able to decrease the separation between the avatar and the player are usually the most interesting games that the medium has to offer. Take titles like Metal Gear Solid, for example. The entire series does this to great effect, possibly reaching its culmination in the disorienting MGS V with its brilliant "shadow story" evident only for players paying attention.

One of the many lovely sights you'll see.

FPS games are perhaps have it the easiest when it comes to shortening the distance between player and avatar. I mean, its the closest you get to the perspective that you see every day and you usually directly interact with the game world and the elements around you. Mechanics are less abstract than what you might see in an RPG, for example. You aim, you shoot, you open doors, you speak with people, etc, etc. Basically, FPS games are ripe for atmospheric, immersive games that try to bring new things to the table. This is a long-winded way of saying that Northern Journey does this, does it well, and is worth your time and investment.

Northern Journey: A Primer

You're out in the sea when your boat starts to sink. Crap. Best start trying to make you way over to the nearest island and hope to God that people are there. Or, at the very least, food and water. Huh, why is there a weird flute player asking you to do stuff? Why is the village priest so creepy? What is that idiot's worm thing? That doesn't look like anything you've seen before. Oh no, you're not getting off of this God-forsaken rock anytime soon. Whelp, best help teleporting flute guy and his messenger crow get back all the dimensional violators and magical items that the village idiot lost across the island! I mean, you've got nothing else better to do and flute guy seems like he might not be happy if you go against his wishes.

This is basically the premise of Northern Journey. You get stranded on an island and, with the promise of helping you start back on your journey, you assist an enigmatic flute player in his attempt to locate a series of magic items that are causing all sorts of problems for the villagefolk and island at large. you'll meet some other quirky characters along your way, but your primary way of interacting with the world is through exploration and combat. Let's start with the former, which is the most compelling part of the experience.

I'm sure he's a trustworthy fellow!

Exploration

The closest thing I could compare the feeling of Northern Journey to is Lord of the Rings. While it does deal with themes around European folk-lore and imagery like LOTR, that's not really what I mean. What is the same is the feeling of a person out of sorts in various locales where nature itself conspires against you. Verdant green environments followed by ice-capped mountains and even a place reminiscent of Mount Doom! Combine the wonderful locales with the soundtrack, and you have a brilliant atmosphere to get lost in.

Of course, the thing that really carries the atmosphere is the visual aesthetic. It sort of goes for an early 2000s look, with graphics that might be reminiscent of the early Source Engine games or a highly modified version of Quake 2 or something. Needless to say, it's gorgeous. Dark, dank, mysterious, colorful, cold - whatever it needs to be, it captures it. At many points, I found myself just appreciating my ability to traverse the levels and appreciate the work that clearly went into the art direction. In this sense, it greatly reminded me of something like Death Stranding where you want to explore and go over the hill just because you can. You're frequently rewarded for doing so as well, with health and capacity upgrades carefully hidden. Supposedly there's a weapon upgrade or two, although I was unable to find them on my playthrough.

I know this place hates me, but it sure is cozy!

You don't just get to run and jump around either. There are plenty of mechanical contraptions to facilitate your exploration. Pulleys and winches power wooden elevators that take you through different levels. You'll eventually get a handheld winch that allows you to take advantage of the many ropes around, giving you a new means to navigate the environment and see old levels from new angles. There's even a few segments where you get to go underwater with some frightening looking contraptions. Frightening, at least, if you don't want a great heap of metal over your head if you're in a lake with some sort of creature from beyond! You even get to fly at one point. Just be sure not to crash head first into the craggy rock below and you'll be fine.

Combat

At your disposal are a number of varied weapons, each with their own quirks and caveats. Oh, and all of them are projectile based and almost all of them have limited ammunition. So don't expect to be going around chopping stuff up with a sword. Instead, you can expect to throw them at the many enemies! The starter weapon (which mericfully has unlimited ammo) perhaps best sums up what you can expect from all the weapons in the game. It's a slingshot that gets stronger the longer you spin it. Less than three spins around your head and it's not likely to do much of anything, but once you hit three, it's capable of one shotting a lot of the weaker enemies. The weapon also has the added caveat of range. You've got to be careful to consider the drop off of your shots and how far away the enemy is. Your crosshair is sort of teardrop shaped, which helps a little bit with determining where to aim, but you really just have to pick it up via intuition.

Contrary to what you might think, combat isn't actually that janky. Sure, there are some weird moments where you get surrounded by enemies that devour your health in seconds or you fall off the map due to some slightly weird collision. But largely, combat is fun and engaging. It's never especially hard, but there are some challenging encounters. In particular, one of the final bosses has you fight on a narrow platform off of a cliff against your flying opponent. You're unable to abuse some of the "tricks" that may have worked in the past as one drop means you plummet to your death. Some of those abusable tricks can take you out of the game at parts. Especially in some of the early areas where if you leave an enemy's radius, it will simply run off and let you attack it from afar. However, as the game goes on, it gets harder and harder to pull moves like that off. Especially as you begin to encounter more varied foes.

Thin bridges! It's a miracle these things stay up in this weather.

There are something like 50 varieties of enemies and bosses throughout the game, most of which attack in quite different manners. Many are based on some sort of creature you might expect to find in a forest - bears, bugs, deer, trolls. Wait, what was that last one? They range from the mundane to the otherworldly, but only a handful are especially annoying to fight against. They usually represent a fun challenge that force you to switch up your arsenal to dispatch. One encounter is particularly unsettling, as you get swarmed by creepily animated spiders. The first time you see these things, they are legitimately a bit frightening and I panicked before realizing that the repeating crossbow could dispatch them with ease. But not before getting surrounded by dozens of them! Most engagements have that kind of energy, as the high variety of creatures means that each area has its own unique flavor that requires you to play differently.

I'm sure he won't bite :-)

Why play it

Play Northern Journey if you want to be lost in a pretty, yet hostile and unfamiliar environment. If getting to contend with malicious spirits, witches, and all manner of creepy crawlers appeals to you. If unique "gunplay" with a variety of unique weapons titillates you. I know I enjoyed my time with the game and I think it is likely to appeal to anyone looking for an experience that is mechanically familiar, yet goes against so many of the current trends. It looks like an old game, but doesn't try to be a "boomer" shooter. It's linear and focused, but not short or restrictive. Virtually everything it sets out to do, it does well. A pretty impressive accomplishment for a game made by a solo dev. So solo that the credits just consist of a thank you to some friends, family, and the kids he works with. Well worth a purchase and well worth your support. I'm looking forward to whatever the dev plans to do next.

90%

Highs: Picturesque and atmospheric environments. Fun combat.

Lows: Occasional jankiness. Ugly HUD elements.

Bottom Line: A great experience from beginning to end - all killer, no filler.

EXCELLENT

In the wastes,
--- Andronicus

Should I Pay For My Search Engine? (Kagi Review)

2024-04-13T18:15:00.000Z

Kagi was founded in 2018 with the mission to "humanize the web." It's main product to accomplish this mission is their paid search engine, Kagi.com. At the entry price of $5 a month for 300 searches/month or $10 a month for unlimited searches, it's reasonable to ask "is it worth it?" My own answer to that question is a resounding yes, but I will get into some specifics on why I think that here.

The sorry state of web search

Over the past few years, most people have felt a clear decline in the quality of virtually all search engines. Even beyond the ad-filled, manipulated indexing behind something like Google, services like Brave search and DuckDuckGo frequently serve up useless pages of links that seem to have nothing to do with your initial query. One can only scroll through so many pages of Indian AI-written tutorials before he questions his sanity! And this shouldn't be surprising, as the business model for search engines has traditionally been to sell ad-space and user data. After all, "data is the new oil" and you have plenty of people willing to pay top dollar for highly targeted ads or access to the search histories of millions of people. Kagi did their own back-of-the-envelope analysis and determined that ad-based search engines "make almost $300 a year off their users"! If something is free, then you're the product.

For me, the decline in the quality of searches has been the biggest pain point. I've tried DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, and even Yandex - none of them remain on par with Google, which is usually useless itself anyway. Encouraged by Kagi's excellent Small Web site (https://kagi.com/smallweb/) which serves up a random small website or blog usually run by one person, I decided to look further into their own search services. With a free tier that offers 100 searches a month, it's not like it was much of a risk. And, needless to say, I was very impressed with what they had to offer!

Kagi's core features

The main sell of Kagi is that they don't push ads, have no search telemetry, are highly customizable, and are very focused on speed, low latency, and quality. They know they will never challenge Google, but want to offer an alternative for people who are privacy conscious, want a better experience, and are willing to pay for it. It's the equivalent of shopping at a boutique store instead of a Walmart. Sure, it might have its own niggles and come with a premium, but you'll probably enjoy shopping there more. At least, you'll feel like you're something more than another data point.

On top of their core competencies, Kagi has a wide suite of supplementary features like Lenses, which allow you to specifcy the kinds of websites you see in results, superior personalization, enabling you to block or raise/lower the ranking of a website in your results, and bangs, which are shortcuts that take you to specific search results on other sites. If you don't care about a site, you'll never have to see it again! There are plenty of other features that I won't go into detail about, like the quick action menu, site info tab, FastGPT, Universal Summarizer, and more that come with your subscription. I use lenses on a daily basis, enabling me to quickly filter results across a number of different factors. If I just want PDFs, I turn on the PDF lense. If I want results with more features from noncommercial sites, then I turn on the Small Web one. If I'm looking up programming questions, I turn on the Programming lense. It's easy, and incredibly helpful. And you can even create your own!

Search quality on Kagi

Across the board, Kagi has much higher quality search results than any other service I've tried. Kagi functions by making API calls to traditional search engines while also leveraging their own index. In theory, this means that you get the best results possible. It's also significantly faster, both according to their own numbers and to my own, anecdotal experience.

As far as I can tell, they do not censor or manipulate search results either (beyond ensuring you get relevant results). My test for this is to look up some horrifically racist site from a persona non grata. Keep in mind that this does not mean I endorse these sites... but if you look up "The Daily Stormer" or "Radical Agenda" on Google, you will not get the actual site. On Kagi, it's one of the top results in both cases. You'll get them on a service like Yandex too, but that's where the rest of what you get with Kagi comes in.

Who is it for?

If you care about your privacy, want to encourage and support alternative services, want to get off of the Google plantation, and just want to stop feeling like you're the product, then you should pay for your search engine. Most people will not care about any of these factors at all and will be content to use Google or any of the other competing platforms. But for the discerning internet user, services like Kagi are a Godsend. It just works, and damn well at that. Cut the crap out of your life and at least give the free tier a try. You won't regret it!

Stay frosty,
--- Andronicus

Rich Evans is Defeatable

2024-04-03T23:00:00.000Z

I'm not entirely satisfied with the following screed, as I feel it doesn't capture everything I dislike with RLM and that it is perhaps too negative. But no matter, this is my damn site and I'll dump whatever nonsense on it I want!

Red Letter Media are some of the OGs of YouTube. The early Plinkett Reviews of the Star Wars prequels were some of the early videos to set the standard of what was to be expected from reviewers and commentators on the platform. However, the cracks in RLM's particular brand of criticism that I'm going to expound upon were evident all the way back at the beginning. Before we get into that, though, I want to make it clear that I do enjoy RLM. They've got strong production value and their videos are entertaining. I just think that they're not as infallible as some might think.

I believe that almost all the issues plaguing RLM can be summed up in the person of Rich Evans. The portly, jovial man with the grating laugh could well be considered the face of the channel. As although Mike may be the most frequent person seen on camera, Rich's presence is felt in almost every video. Whether he's playing Mr. Plinkett on screen or making sets and filming behind the scenes. My grievances with him and the channel on the whole can be summed up in a few key points:

Reddit Commentary: The conception of movies almost as a logic puzzle to solve, rather than a piece of art.
Anti-Anti-Woke: The attempt to remove oneself from politics by acting above it all, while still pushing particular political and philosophical viewpoints where they don't belong.
Bad Humor: Jokes that fall flat, bad skits, or filler nonsense that lets them pretend they are filmmakers.

Reddit Commentary

Baked into the very DNA of RLM is their hatred of the Star Wars prequels and a disdain for George Lucas. This is evident in their most recent video on Andor, in which Rich Evans opens by saying something along the lines of "George Lucas is too stupid to write dialogue this good". Really? George Lucas is stupid? An, at worst, very competent film talent who was involved in countless great movies throughout the late 20th century? I've generally found this to be the mark of what I would describe as a "materialist filmgoer" or a "Redditor". Those who view film as a sum of its components and nothing more. You take the story + acting + writing + cinematography and that gives you a movie!

Mike and Rich are both of this mindset, which leaves Jay the only one with the capacity to appreciate anything beyond a standard Hollywood film. And I don't dislike standard Hollywood films, but viewing film in this manner leads to a denial of the art of a movie. It is tiresome when everyone looks at Jay and says he watches "weird movies", leading to what almost amounts to a rejection of filmmakers like David Lynch.

I really dislike the film Prometheus, but it serves to illustrate a key point here. You may recall a particular sequence where a character was running from a giant rolling ring that threatened to crush them. Audiences overly fixated on the question of "why didn't she run to the side?" and ignored everything else about the movie. In their eyes, it didn't matter what else the movie had to offer, it was already anathema. The same occurred with Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Cries of "Martha, Martha!" replaced any real criticism.

And you know what? This line of criticism is fair, even if I disagree with it. Their preferences are their preferences. But it does mean it's occasionally hard to take them seriously. Really? Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire "wasn't that bad" while Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker is a cinematic abortion? I struggle to see the difference, frankly. At least you get some decent criticisms and comments in their re:View series, which they seem to take more seriously.

Anti-Anti-Woke

I really don't mind the Reddit Commentary that much. It sometimes means their criticism is either unfounded or nitpicky, but in the grand scheme of things that's not really a big deal. No, the thing that grates the most is what I would term "Anti-Anti-Woke". In a backlash to "conservatards" who are annoyed that every new show and movie seems to be created for a non-existent audience of black transgender women, they take the stance of being above it all. Neither woke, nor ant-woke - they scoff at the whole thing!

They addressed this most blatantly in their recent Half in the Bag for Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire, where they laughed at a lesbian relationship in the movie while not really saying much of note about it. Then they lamented how so many "grifters" would make videos about how "Ghostbusters had gone woke" and how horrible that was. Really? Nerdrotic is a grifter for explaining what is going on in the movie and why he doesn't like it? He's a grifter for putting "woke" in a video thumbnail? You would think a channel like RLM that dedicates a fair amount of time to reporting the sorry state of the film industry would be against blatant attempts to pander to random social issues, but nope. It's the people who disagree with that who are evil! You'll watch your Rings of Power and you'll like it! But at the same time, apparently, The Boys was really smart and clever for doing the same shtick with "Girls Get It Done".

RLM still makes plenty of political statements, of course. Rich Evans seems to be the one who engages in this the most. You'll frequently hear him complaining about "bad Christianity" that is against homosexuality. Generally unprompted and for no reason. Yes, Rich is an enlightened atheist or agnostic with no particular worldview of his own beyond a vague liberalism that wants to let people do as they please. It's surprising that they don't whole-heartedly endorse every other attempt to force political nonsense into every other film. Especially when they're friends with annoying DNC agents like Patton Oswalt. But their criticism of these things is generally in the vein of "this was lazy pandering that didn't go far enough, actually!" Give me a break. It's as if they are embarrassed by the portions of their audience that are tired of this nonsense and simply want a return to watchable movies that don't feel like a struggle session about how white men are evil.

Bad Humor

Oh boy, another bad joke and annoying laugh from Rich. You've gotta love it... While many of their videos still manage to be very funny (especially their Nerd Crew ones), the extended bits at the beginning of some Half in the Bag episodes seldom work. I particularly despised one episode where they spent 10 minutes on a COVID-19 joke that would've been tiresome a year prior. I can't reacall which video this was for, but trust me, it happened. I don't even feel like the skits, which are less common than they used to be, are worth mentioning beyond saying that they're there and they don't do anything for me.

Rich Evans is the one member of the RLM crew that has seen the biggest decay from this perspective. Their Canadian friends were never funny, but Rich could have his moments, at least! He has not had any such moment in a while. This extends beyond any video discussing a recent film, but even touches their Best of the Worst series. However, he's a bit more insulated from it there, as there is more content to latch onto that is funny in its own right.

In Summation

RLM is still a good channel with plenty to offer, but their commentary and humor gets worse as time goes on. Maybe it's because there is barely anything even interesting at the movies anymore, maybe it's because I don't particularly care about new movies anymore, or maybe it's because they've lost the motivation. They certainly seem more interested in pumping out long trivia competition videos than doing anything that could be considered "constructive" and "original". And Rich Evans grows more and more tiresome with each appearance. For someone who has complained about lack of character growth in movies, I feel we've not seen much from the man himself. At least nothing but a continued decay of the soul and mind sitting in his pudgy, rotting flesh.

So long and thanks for all the fish,
--- Andronicus

Game Review: Felvidek (2024)

2024-04-01T23:35:00.000Z

I have rewritten this review a few times now. Each time, I have struggled to determine the best way to do the game proper justice, as it greatly impressed me for its mature presentation and refreshing inclusion of explicitly Christian religious elements without resorting to the usual "woah, the Catholic Church is evil" stuff. Nope, you do in fact play the good guy and the cult you're investigating throughout the game is evil. You could argue that that's a spoiler, but I think it is a strong point in favor of the game and a good reason to play it. There is no sudden turn halfway through showing how you've been manipulated the whole time and that the cult is trying to liberate you from patriarchal oppression!

Taking a break to use the restroom

You play as Pavol, an alcoholic knight in an alternate history Slovakia. Drunkenly gazing out your window, you see the old castle in the distance set ablaze and are tasked by your lord, Jozef, to investigate it alongside the monk, Matej. Throughout your investigations, you encounter plundering Hussites, scheming Turks, deranged cultists, and some eldritch abominations, for good measure. One of the core motivating things for Pavol, beyond his duty to the kingdom, is finding the truth about just what is going on with his estranged wife, Paula, as she not only seems to despise him, but is highly ranked within the cult. The plot doesn't take any extreme turns or go in any particularly surprising directions, but it still works rather well. The characters are especially compelling. I particularly like the monk, Matej. While you initially get the impression he's somewhat of a disagreeable coward, he proves a formidable asset in battle and has his fair share of humorous dialogue.

The dialogue in Felvidek isn't necessarily laugh out loud funny a lot of the time, but it is consistently amusing. You'll enjoy your run-ins with the brothel-frequenting priest, the drunkard man-beast, and the lonely painter on the cliffside. I cannot read Slovak, so I experienced the game in English and was impressed by the quality of the translation. The occasional slight technical, grammatical, or spelling issue aside, every character is memorable and interesting.

Unintentionally killing a hen... for investigation purposes!

However, the most obviously striking and memorable thing about the game are the excellent visuals. It has the most lovely environments, with each screen rendered in different shades of a single, muted color. In contrast to most RPG Maker games, the game played in a semi-isometric point of view, contributing to the unique sense of style. The cutscenes use the same kind of coloring, but with low-poly 3D animations. The character portraits and models are all semi-realistic. Some are seemingly pictures of someone, with their armor/clothes driven over the original image. When taken in consort with the soundtrack, it can make for an especially eerie or cozy game, depending on where you happen to be. I especially love the village's BGM, with its relaxing guitar and slightly melancholic nature. The rest of the OST is great as well. While not as experimental as some other examples in the medium, some tracks are definitely not what you might expect to hear in a medieval video game. Overall, the presentation is very effective and perfectly fits the mood of the story.

You'll notice that I haven't mentioned anything about the combat yet, and that's because it's about what you might expect from an RPG Maker game. That's not to say it's bad... it's serviceable! You're unlikely to be challenged at any point, especially because of generous it is with handing out cash and items, but each battle has enough strategery to stay engaging. The most interesting aspect of the system are the fullscreen animations accompanying any action you take. These appear to be rotoscoped and add a sense of style to the otherwise standard turn-based proceedings.

Using some plum wine to recover my health - as one does!

The strength of Felvidek lies in its aesthetics and the feeling you get while playing it. Although short, you'll enjoy exploring the map, meeting different characters, and solving the mysteries. It doesn't overstay its welcome, but I do wonder what a longer game in this style might be like. I would be interested in seeing more of the exploits of Pavol and Matej. And it looks as if many people would agree with me, as despite coming out only a few days ago, it has seemingly already attracted a cult following. You can definitely count me amongst those ranks! Felvidek comes highly recommended to anyone who is even remotely intrigued by the screenshots and description.

May God bless you,
--- Andronicus

90%

Highs: Wonderful aesthetic; interesting story and characters.

Lows: Standard combat; short playtime.

Bottom Line: One of the most compelling games I've played in some time. Get it!

EXCELLENT

Indie Doesn't Mean Anything Anymore

2024-03-29T16:30:00.000Z

Warning: This is kind of a rambling and unfocused piece. I don't mean to be particularly incendiary with anything here either :-)

A few weeks ago I came across one of the dumbest tweets I have ever seen. Unfortunately, despite my attempts to save it in my bookmarks, I don't see it anymore. Perhaps the man was suspended? Who knows. Considering he was a Gamergate 2 guy, it wouldn't surprise me. However, the specifics of his wording don't matter, but his point does. Namely, that "indie" games are destroying the AAA scene. Fair thesis, but how does he back it up? With Stellar Blade, Helldivers 2 and Stellar Blade. The first, because you can play as a scantily clad woman (which AAA games don't let). The second and third, because they're actually fun and successful! But wait, there's a problem here - are any of these actually indie games?

Shift Up and Stellar Blade

Let's start with Stellar Blade. It's being developed by a South Korean company called Shift Up. While primarily known for mobile games in their home country, Stellar Blade represents their entry into console and PC gaming. In fact, they opened a subsidiary - Shift Up Second EVE Studio - to do so! And guess what, Sony bought the marketing rights and is publishing it! Some indie company.

Huh, I wonder why people like this game...

So yeah, Shift Up is not an indie company. They're not even a small company. Tencent has a 20% stake in them and, as of 2021 (the latest figure I can find), they have 250+ employees. On top of that, they have an imminent IPO at a projected valuation of $2.3 billion and, according to Pitchbook, at least $26 million raised prior to their IPO. They are a major player in the Korean gaming market! And those mobile games they're known for? Well, one of them is Goddess of Victory: Nikke (2022), one of the biggest mobile games currently active.

Helldivers 2 - The Return of Sony!

Helldivers 2 was developed by Arrowhead Game Studios, who achieved success back in 2011 with Magicka, which was developed by a team of about 12 people on a low budget. While it was published by Paradox Interactive, it was considered somewhat of an indie success at the time. Fast-forward to 2024 and they have a team of over 100 people with one of the biggest games in the world. Both Helldivers 2 and the first game were published by Sony, just like Stellar Blade. The same Sony that many have railed against for producing basically nothing but AAA drivel, I remind you (I agree with this, for the record).

Obliterating space bugs in the name of Democracy - Source: Gameranx.com

Is Pocket Pair the Indie Hero We Need?

On the surface, Palworld seems to have more claim to being a true indie game. It came out in early access, has a high concept, and is pretty janky. Surely this was developed by a small team~!?? Sure, compared to something like The Witcher 3, but Pocket Pair is no small company either. The Wikipedia page for Palworld claims the game cost about 1 billion yen to develop (~$7 million) with a staff north of 40 employees (probably somewhere from 40-80 employees in total). So, once again, we have a moderately sized company with a decently budgeted game. They might publish their games themselves, but does that make them indie? They might be independent from the auspices of a larger company, but at what point does a company get large enough to be considered not indie?

Crafting with my pals in an exciting new world that is definitely not inspired by Pokemon!

WTF Even Is Indie?

I think I've pretty adequately conveyed how none of these games are indie, at least not how I would define it. All the teams are larger than 15 people, with significant financial backing or decent budgets, and they all have offices! These are not bedroom programmers working on a passion project, they have HR and meetings to determine if they're gonna hit their numbers this quarter. And don't get me wrong, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, but I think accurate definitions are meaningful and we otherwise obfuscate actual independent productions that merit support.

The recent controversy over Dave the Diver, a Nexon published and developed game, getting nominated for an award for Best Independent Game is insane enough. Even the developer coming out and saying that they were not an independent company wasn't enough to stop bootlicker in chief Geoff Keighley from saying "independent can mean different things to different people and it's sort of a broad term, right?" All these big companies want to trick you into thinking they're putting out these nice little indie games. Like when you buy a product at a supermarket, thinking it is a small brand, but it's just from some huge company, trying to trick you into thinking you've supported a Mom and Pop company.

Dave the Diver doing some diving - Source: IGN.com

Basically, indie as a term is meaningless. Even the actually indie trash Goodbye Volcano High still secured $1.2 million in funding from the Canadian government and contracted third party consultants to weigh in on their game. It's a visual novel with some animation and a bad rhythm game component! And it was still janky and ugly! Where is the money going! Gone are the days of Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Cave Story. The vast majority of these commercial "indie" games all seem to have a ton of cash behind them with large teams. And many seem to be anything but a passion project - clearly developed as a PRODUCT first, not a game.

Why Do People Lie to Themselves?

People want to support the underdog and fit everything into some grand narrative. The resurgent Gamergate (rightly) believes that mainstream video game companies are filled with their political enemies and make games fit that worldview. The Gamergaters are the heroic heroes struggling against the titans! And yet, they still support those same companies by buying their games time and time again, but complaining when it has elements they don't like. In the case of Stellar Blade and Helldivers 2, by buying either, you are directly filling Sony's coffers and subsidizing their other game development/publishing efforts.

The way to project influence is to stop buying new games from such companies and to create your own games. The latter is not a path for everyone, but it's ground that people are all to ready to cede. Thankfully, some follow this path. The upcoming SSR Wives: The Murder Of My Winter Crush is one such example. A game bearing the distinct marks and influences of the creators, but not being overtly polemical garbage.

SSR Wives could be one of the games to watch in 2025!

Indie Games Still Live!

There are still plenty of small developers making cool stuff. Many of which I even disagree with on a personal or a political level, but still create interesting things that are worth playing. Take KIRA's Basilisk 2000 for example. It's a really innovative and compelling horror exploration game where you are exploring the dev tools for an unfinished, cancelled game with a dark secret. And it is genuinely scary at points! You feel like a real sleuth trawling through both the actual files of the game and the dev tool program, looking for any hints. I even kept notes in a physical notebook, just to keep track of all the clues. It comes highly recommended. And Itch.io is filled with experimental and cool things like this that are either free or pretty cheap.

Exploring the depths of a cancelled video game in Basilisk 2000

And Steam obviously still has plenty of really cool projects. Take Blagmoz for example. It's a really fast and frenetic 2D PVP game in the vein of Towerfall Ascension or Duck Game. You play as wizards who use a variety of spells and movement options to one-hit-kill your opponents. The precision platforming is fun and games are often really close, as one wrong move can send you to your doom! I may in fact do an individual review for this one just because it's gotten so little attention. There are also games like Lunistice or Pseudoregalia that succeed where larger 3D platformers fail.

Get annoyed with your friends or kill them repeatedly in Blagmoz

We even get plenty of indie projects that aren't interested in any commercial aspect at all. The Doom WAD scene is still going strong, with MyHouse.wad getting plenty of attention last year. There are plenty of user-made games on platforms like Roblox or even Fortnite now. Tools like PICO-8 or Godot are either free or pretty damn cheap, significantly lowering the barrier of entry, enabling single programmers or small teams of developers to make more games more efficiently than ever. And hey, RPG Maker is still always an option too! And if you can't or don't want to make a game, it's easy to make a visual novel with free tools like Ren'Py.

Really, a lot of so-called "indie" games are AA games now. So let's return the term to where it belongs - with bedroom programmers and small, driven teams who lack the ongoing support of a publisher or significant financial backing. At the very least, lets not mischaracterize million dollar productions being published by Sony!

Long live the individual,
--- Andronicus

Sources: Game World Observer, Pitchbook, Wikipedia (Goddess of Victory), Wikipedia (Palworld)

"Boomer" Shooters Have to Stop (POSTAL: Brain Damaged)

2024-03-27T05:45:00.000Z

There is currently a dreadful trend afoot that threatens to truly swallow up the entirety of the indie FPS scene. And no, I'm not talking just about PSX graphics... Okay, maybe I'm over stating it a little bit, but I am tired as hell of every other game pretending to be a throwback, "boomer" shooter! Especially when they make no effort to actually be like any of those actual "boomer" shooters!

Yes, yes, the classic "boomer shooter" as popularized by recent successes like Dusk (2018) or ULTRAKILL (2020 Early Access). While Dusk definitely feels like a modern take on the design principles you may have seen from any 90s FPS, ULTRAKILL just kind of apes some low-poly aesthetics and calls it a day. Instead, it focuses on hyper-kinetic action and movement tech. Hey, that's fine. It's fun and rather innovative. It sold itself as "Devil May Quake" - something very distinct from "boomer shooter".

Entering into the Dante's Inferno inspired hell that is ULTRAKILL (2020 Early Access).

So, color me surprised when ULTRAKILL ended up in a recent Humble Bundle these so-called boomer shooters alongside 6 other games. I've not played really any of them other than ULTRAKILL, which I wouldn't consider as relevant for this line-up, Quake 2 (1997), which is just an old game and not aligned with what boomer shooter seems to mean at the moment, and about an hour of POSTAL: Brain Damaged (2022). We're going to focus on POSTAL today, as I believe it is most indicative of the problems with this nebulous genre classification.

What is a Boomer Shooter?

So, yeah, that seems like a fair question to ask! And well... I don't really have the best answer for you as it seem to be (like a number of supposed "genres"), more a feeling than anything else. Let's first take the example of one of the titles in that Humble Bundle collection, Forgive Me Father 2 (2023 Early Access). It has an aggressively modern, cartoonish, cel-shaded art style. On a mechanical level, it looks as if it plays like a kind of Quake game - fast-paced movement and so on. "But, wait a minute, what does this have in common with ULTRAKILL then?" I hear you ask. And yes, that is a great question! For it doesn't have the same art style and, while it is fast paced, it is not a "movement shooter" either!

Forgive Me Father 2 (2023 Early Access) - image credit indiedb.com

And the answer to that question is that well it just kind of gives you the feeling like it is a game that might've come out a while ago and is most definitely not Call of Duty or Valorant. Ergo, it's gotta be a boomer! Yeah, no. That's not good enough for me, but it seems to suit most people. As boomer shooters tend to sell decently well and find a good niche fanbase.

So, to answer the question - boomer shooters are FPS games that are not mainstream. Sure, some might be a bit more mainstream than others, but it's not the aforementioned Call of Duty, it's not Bioshock, it's not Escape from Tarkov. It's usually a level-based linear game, usually with an emphasis on speed and movement, usually with no regenerative health, usually with your classic Doom or Quake weapons, and usually with some driving soundtrack (frequently metal).

You were going to talk about POSTAL, you idiot!

Hey, stop whining at me! But yeah, let's get back to POSTAL: Brain Damaged. Released in 2022, it acts as a spinoff to the main POSTAL series. The main POSTAL games (POSTAL 1 excluded, though it shares some similar design elements) are open-world-ish FPS games with an emphasis on dark humor, freedom of choice, and simulating a reactive world with a good sense of life to it. Brain Damaged just kinda throws all that out the window and chooses to be a very linear "boomer shooter" with a bunch of wacky weapons with cool alt-fire abilities and wide open level design. It has more of an emphasis on movement and, while it doesn't get quite as bad as some of these "throwback" games, circle strafing.

So you might think that Brain Damaged might look like POSTAL 2 then, right? Oh yeah, some early 2000s Source Engine goodness! We're in the perfect nostalgia period for that... oh wait, it's not? It's... some horrible parody of what someone misremembers PS1 graphics looking like? Yes, it goes for a visual style with a little bit of flavor of PS1 graphics, Quake, some other random influences, and a whole heaping of modern graphics techniques and stuff that was probably impossible to do on computers 20 years ago. In short, a style that is completely foreign to the POSTAL series and anything else. For a game marketing itself off the back of "throwback graphics", it's disappointing that it uses a style that is neither old nor new. It feels lazy and certainly doesn't impress.

POSTAL 2 in all of its Source Engine glory. Don't mind me, just burning some civvies alive.

The story setup is that you're playing a version of the POSTAL DUDE in his own mind. So the levels are all "wacky" and "crazy." To settle you in, it starts you in a parody of suburban America. Green lawns, red cars, white families, and a whole bunch of raving dogs and flying fat dudes. As an opening level, it's okay. It's wide open and has some challenging arenas to conquer. There are even a few secrets, although some are lazily telegraphed with a giant floating portal (so are they even really secrets?). You get access to a chainsaw melee weapon, a pistol (with a lock-on alt-fire), and a shotgun (with a grapple hook). The shotgun is by far the most fun of these, as it serves both as a traversal mechanic (though only at specified points) and as a tool in gunfights. You can fling yourself all over the arena by latching onto enemies. It's most fun with the flying ones.

However, after this level, I decided to drop the game. There was simply something missing. The game lacked a meaningful reason for me to keep playing. Is this better than Doom? Is this novel? What does it offer me that I can't get elsewhere, better? And the answer to those questions is that it is just rather dull and uninspiring. It's junk food that you buy and you realize a quarter of the way through the meal that you didn't really want it at all and that going to McDonalds at 2am was a horrible idea. Oh yeah, and the entire first level is about killing all kinds of white people stereotypes. Like those damn MAGA Drumpf supporters! And those big fat burger eaters! Take that straight white America! Having country bumpkins in an otherwise yuppie middle class environment doesn't make sense, you say? Who cares! We hate white people, so it doesn't matter.

Brain Damaged reminds us that The Sims was a thing. EA seems to want us to forget!

I wouldn't care about the lazy attempt at a satire of suburban America, but it just shows this game has very little to offer anyone. POSTAL 2 worked so well because, despite the crass humor and simple graphics, it was an innovative game that pushed boundaries and tried to do something original. Brain Damaged damns itself by being UNoriginal. It is a spinoff of an existing series that mixes and matches a bunch of random, disparate elements from other, popular games. What's there is... fine. It's not horrible. It can be fun. But the whole thing just begs the question of "why"? And I simply choose to play something else instead.

Post Script: Alternative Options

As I've said, I wouldn't consider ULTRAKILL a boomer shooter, but it is certainly good fun. It has some issues, but I would also recommend Sprawl. However, I'd like to take it back a little bit further and recommend a 1999 game I never see talked about. And maybe that's with good reason, as it has trouble running on my modern rig. Trouble enough to the point that I dropped it back when I initially tried it and only recently have made the determination to see it through this time (so keep your eyes peeled for a possible article in the future!). That game is Requiem: Avenging Angel. You play as the angel Malachi, chosen by God to save earth from hell's fallen angels. You get a whole bunch of cool angel powers and get to run around cool, edgy, religious-inspired, techno-future environments. Cool stuff!

An example of some of the cool architecture you can see in Requiem: Avenging Angel

Going Postal,
--- Andronicus

Complete Site Refactor

2024-03-25T05:15:00.000Z

Fed up with the horrible early 2000s chaos that is HTML tables... I decided to try to refactor the entire site. I've kept a lot of the same visual design, but have made it easier for me to change things and slightly more reactive.

I've not really every done any web design like this myself. I greatly appreciate the help of Mozilla's documentation on CSS and ChatGPT for some assistance in debugging.

Thanks for reading,
--- Andronicus

Prototype (2009): The Merits of Edginess

2024-03-25T04:30:00.000Z

Massacre Them For the Hell of It

There are few things more misunderstood and unfairly maligned in media than the concept of edginess. People look at a brooding protagonist with a chip on their shoulder and a penchant for uberviolence and assume that the work is without meaning. In many cases such edginess is just funny.

Take the game Hatred (2015) for example. You play as a character known only as "The Antagonist" who decides to destroy the world he hates and everyone in it, culminating with a self-sacrifice(?) where you blow up a power plant, killing millions of New Yorkers. It is just dour and depressing, without even anything interesting to say beyond violence is bad? I guess? And is it even saying that?

Hatred (2015)

Hatred was essentially a modern update of 1997's highly controversial game Postal. Postal, however, is rather fondly remembered. I've never played Hatred, so I can't comment on how that game feels to play, but Postal holds up very well today, with a cool art style, disturbing soundtrack, and a dark sense of humor. It takes itself seriously, but there is a wink and a nod, letting you know that they know exactly what they're doing.

Postal's 2016 remake, Postal Redux

Due to the mixture of a dark subject matter, humor, and the fact that you don't actually have to kill any innocents to proceed, Postal actually manages to be a more disturbing game than Hatred. You're an agent of chaos murdering entire small towns because it is fun to set them on fire and watch them die - not just because the game tells you to do so to get to the next level.

And yet, Postal's use of edginess and dark humor is a difficult balance to get right. Postal 3 and 4 are not particularly funny. Postal 2 mostly works by virtue of novelty and its nature as something of a time capsule for today's audiences. Even the original game is not all that funny, it's just irreverant. And irreverance means is not going to get any kind of strong emotional reaction beyond perhaps laughter and a sense of having fun.

So is it possible to do something like Hatred right? Is it possible to have something deeply edgy played completely straight? Or do we have to continue to rely on the "Get Out of Jail Free" card that is "dark humor". All is forgiven when you're in on the joke, after all! Right? Right!?

Here Comes Prototype

When I was a young lad I read a fair few PC Gamer magazines and a fair few other miscellaneous mags covering similar kinds of games. As a kid, I was always fascinated by the games that looked dark, edgy, and violent (naturally). So it is no wonder that Prototype (2009) sparked my interest and I read any of the articles I could get my hands on. The screenshots made it look so fun, after all! The angsty amnesiac protagonist, Alex Mercer, seemed so cool, after all! Shapeshifting and flying around Manhattan sounded like a great time. Of course, as an M-rated game, there was no chance that I was going to end up with a copy. So, I settled with Infamous (2009), which I got for free during the whole Sony hack fiasco, if you remember that.

But while Infamous allowed you to choose between an "evil" or "light" side with its binary morality system, Prototype was more than happy to let you play the anti-hero. Or, what basically amounted to a villain. At the very least, Alex Mercer is quite morally ambiguous. But with a superpowered parasite stuck to him that makes him the target of rampaging monsters, the military, and insane black ops mercenaries, who can blame him?

A Prototype promotional image, perfectly conveying the tone and what the game has to offer

Alex has a whole suite of powers that allow him to wreak chaos all over the city. You've got multiple, distinct attack modes and a plethora of movement options allowing you to speed across the city while killing hundreds of random pedestrians just because it is so damn fun. In fact, the game basically encourages you to kill them considering consuming civilians restores your health. At a lower rate than consuming the many monsters you face or the military, but still. New Yorkers can't be tasty, but they come in handy if you need a pick-up.

This is all to say that Prototype is deliciously edgy, from top to bottom. You play the ultimate angsty, emo badass. He broods in his hoodie while tortured by the minds of all the different people he's consumed. You stand alone against an existential threat, but are challenged at every corner. You can't remember your girlfriend, and it looks like she might even be on the side of the enemy. Your own sister is frightened by you. It's great! Blood, guts, mayhem - it's all here. And yet, it's not tongue-in-cheek. It buys what it's selling 100%. And it is all the better for it.

Alex Mercer using his armor power, lifting a car in an infected zone. In this mission, you actually defend the military!

It is not embarrassed by itself, it indulges in the dark and provides a great power trip for the player. It lets the player make their own dark humor, without forcing anything on them. It wants to be taken seriously, but also doesn't have any pretensions at being an art game or something that it is not. It's telling an exciting, blockbuster sci-fi story with high stakes - it knows what its strengths are and plays to them very well. This is edgy, this is good.

So why does this work where Hatred doesn't? Because it is edginess with a heart <3! Alex Mercer is a sympathetic character. He's not a faceless psychopath who is purely motivated by killing (that's for the player to indulge in) - he has goals, people he cares about, and regret for the situation he's in. The edginess is derived from his capacity for violence and the bloody action, not from the game telling you at every corner "WOAH THIS IS EDGY AND SHOCKING!!!!!!". Importantly, it also lacks pretension. This differentiates the edginess of Prototype from that of something like the brilliant anime series Texhnolyze (2003).

In this way it compares favorably to other edgy media like the World of Darkness tabletop games. A cool art style, attempts at conflicted characters and morally complex situations, and streets bathed in either blood, shadow, or moonlight - or maybe all three. Bring back the edge. Don't be afraid of it - embrace it!

Post Script: For Some Current Edginess

For a recent edgy game (with a fair bit of humor), I recommend the criminally underplayed character action game Heartless & Dreadful: Return by 72 Hours (2023). Made by one guy, he pumps out a steady stream of updates to satisfy the small community it has.

Shamir, the protagonist of Heartless & Dreadful: Return by 72 Hours, lamenting his position

See you on another screen,
--- Andronicus

Welcome to My Page

2024-03-24T04:13:00.000Z

I will use this website for posting random writings, projects, etc. that I work on and I think are worth sharing. If you are here, I appreciate you readings what I have to offer and I hope you enjoy your time.

My intent is to share things related to weird and interesting games, old internet stuff, random quirky computer things, and anything else that I deem cool. Please bear with me while I relearn web design things. To get up and running faster, I have opted to use an old open source design I found on archive.org. Credit is at the bottom of the home page.

If you are reading this page in particular, then you have shown yourself to be particularly curious. I appreciate and admire that. Keep up the good work :-). To reward you for your hard work and curiosity, here are a few cat gifs. Also, see my neko friend in the top left.

Thank you,
--- Andronicus