Souls Like Strings

All the Living and the Dead by Haley Campbell.

You might not enjoy reading it, but you'll be glad you did

Most people spend their lives trying to avoid thinking about death; Haley Campbell may have tried a little too hard to do the opposite. Many chapters in this book lead me to think 'huh, I guess it makes sense that exists' about jobs I never would have considered without reading it. Many chapters also made me more than a little squeamish, or sad, or uncomfortable. Despite this I'm glad I read it, and I think most...

• Skipped last week because of Silver Week + 2 days annual leave
• Git tracks file permissions
• Apple makes it way too easy to find 'developer docs' that read like marketing materials
  • And way too hard to find the actual docs even from there
  • They also steer you hard toward their preferred way of doing things by kinda implying other ways aren't possible
  • i.e. why would I need an app in the App Store to use OIDC against someone's Apple account???
  • but the docs heavily imply this is the case
• If there's an accessor for an attribute...

Games

Clair Obscur achieved the impossible by living up to and even exceeding the ridiculous hype established for it by sweeping every gaming award in existence last year; making me very glad I didn't have to decide between it and Silksong for GOTY.

Denshattack established it as my go-to 'sneak some gaming in while wife is in the shower' game with its bite-sized but insane levels, very shonen anime aesthetic and brilliant difficulty curve.

Future Knight was a cool little throwback in both style (reminiscent of those handheld games you could buy in a supermarket for $5)...

Good but not great

Why

• Interesting lane-based combat with different archetypes
• Giant space mechs will always be cool
• Story/characterisation is delivered in a variety of ways
• Whole other game included in the roguelike mode

Why Not

• Voice acting is bland enough it kinda detracts from the experience
• Nothing to make it really stand out from similar games
• Gives you too much leeway; I never felt in danger of losing

Impressions

Another review where I bemoan Steam's binary thumbs up/thumbs down; I definitely can't give a game this good a thumbs down but it also...

I hurl my sentient tumor at you

Why

• Distinctive 'supermarket handheld' style
• Creative enemy designs
• Unhinged (barebones) story
• Kinda easy but keeps you on your toes and has some interesting mechanics

Why Not

• You don't like the aesthetic
• Time limits aren't your kind of difficulty (maybe hard mode addresses this)

Impressions

You'll know immediately whether this game's aesthetic clicks with you; and if you spent as much time as me messing around with supermarket-shelf handheld games because your parents wouldn't buy you a Gameboy it will. The soundtrack is solid & definitely a good...