Souls Like Strings

The psychedelic gardening metroidvania

Why

• A real sense of exploration, not just of the map but of systems
• The 'attack variety' mechanic puts an interesting twist on otherwise basic combat
• Incredible, psychedelic art direction
• The central time-loop conceit is a big swing

Why Not

• Lack of direction can be frustrating at times
• There are times where you know the solution but just need to wait for it to grow
• Time looping requires plenty of back tracking

Impressions

Ultros isn't content with having been designed by an art team eating LSD like it's food;...

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh.

Maybe aliens are people too?

Less than halfway through this book I was genuinely confused by how there could possible be another half of a book left. Kyr had successfully escaped her the militaristic cult she was raised in, started seeing aliens as people and started to understand why her older sister did the same. Sure she still planned on killing an alien dignitary but to be fair he did end up being personally responsible for the destruction of Earth. Then everything goes downhill; her genius 'friend' decides to use the...

Bright but short lived

Why

• Clean visuals, especially the fire-related stuff
• Combat is solid & varied, especially for a short game
• Frequent checkpoints to prevent frustration

Why Not

• Very short, under 2 hours
• Easy to inadvertently miss secrets

Impressions

As with most people I got this while it was free to promote the sequel, and it was pretty effective at that. There's defnitely enough here to pique my interest in what the team can do with a longer, more ambitious game.

The focus of the game's world is fire and its role in combating...

I have an embarassing confession to make; I've been using vacuum cleaners wrong my whole life.

You know how canister vacuums all have a button you can press to retract the cord at lightning speed, beloved by small children and dogs everywhere?

I always approached this button with a degree of trepidation because as the plug nears its home the speed of its approach tends to make it flail wildly, often rapping me on the knuckles with its metal prongs.

Well today I had an insight. You can simply hold the plug. Just take it in your hand, push the...

It's Golden Week in Japan but The Wife still needs to work, so probably too busy gaming to learn much this week

• Someone reacting to your comment with the eyes emoji does not mean they've read it

Links

• Scroll-driven Animations - Josh w Comeau

Finally, something Josh writes about that I can maybe use! Could be good for scrolling the institution list on Vault? Thought tbh it could also just be annoying... If nothing else I now have an easy way to add a reading progress bar to my blog.

• How the...