Souls Like Strings

The Hex

Yep, that's a Daniel Mullins game

Why

  • Typically deft 'game about games' from this dev
  • The more different games you play the more you'll enjoy this
  • 'Break/build the game' sections are a highlight gameplay-wise

Why Not

  • Genre-hopping affects pacing if you dislike some genres
  • Don't try the 'Space Marine' sections on a trackpad

Impressions

You might think being known for 4th-wall breaking meta-games might blunt the impact of said games, but that doesn't stop Daniel Mullins churning out bangers. Inscryption set a high bar; and while The Hex doesn't quite reach it a...

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TWIL July 24th 2026

  • Don't assume prod resources are in the prod AWS account and staging resources are in the staging one
    • Turns out both staging & prod S3 buckets for the React app are in the prod account, along with the prod Cloudfront
    • But staging Cloudfront is in the staging account, explaining why CI could never find the Cloudfront distro let alone invalidate it
  • It's possible to have ~4 hours of meetings in a day and still feel productive
  • state is meant to be a random, opaque value in OAuth
    • It's definitely not meant to be a nested...
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Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth

Self enjoy. Game good.

Why

  • Beautiful hand-drawn art-style
  • Plenty of chuckle-inducing moments
  • Chill & atmospheric

Why Not

  • You require action or difficulty for a game to be good
  • Completionists may have the chill atmosphere ruined by rage-inducing hide and seek

Impressions

I bought this as another attempt to nostalgia-bait The Wife into enjoying gaming after Axyz ended up being more fun for me than someone who played Kula World decades ago. This time was much more successful, as she actively asked to play Moomintroll multiple times (and in quick succession!). I even had...

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TWIL July 17th 2026

  • After spending far too long wondering if things are safe to have in the URL I'm of the firm belief that every request type should allow a body
    • Luckily the upcoming QUERY method has my back
  • It's possible for a professional, senior web developer to not know how to use a native multi-select
    • And of course he suggested a JS package which provides a dropdown select as an alternative
    • The JS framework brainrot is real
  • A commonly overlooked drawback of using LLMs is the effect it has on other people's productivity
      ...
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Donut County

I bet you're hoping I do-nut make any puns

Why

  • Satisfying core loop
  • Expands (slightly) beyond 'eat small then big'

Why Not

  • Doesn't expand on the core concept enough to be memorable
  • Story best described as 'functional' and 'there'

Impressions

You can spend a solid 2 hours with Donut County, but you might not remember them in a month. The concept is fun (you control a hole which grows as it eats) and there are some nice touches of humour, but despite some token efforts at puzzles nothing much changes from the first...

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