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Game Thoughts: Animal Well

As a hobbyist game developer (theoretically, anyways) I have been warned many times "don't idolize one-person indie developers". Most one-person indie titles never make it, and realistically any indie title that does make it ultimately has a production team, a QA team, and all kinds of other people that make "one-person" less true.

I can't help myself, however. There's something about games crafted painstakingly by a single mind that just makes the ones that float to the top special. Early Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Undertale, Cave Story, Iconoclasts -- these are games that execute a vision and they do it so well I can't help but idolize. If not the creators themselves, then the process and the drive.

Animal Well is one such game, created by Billy Basso. Eventually picked up by Bigmode Games which brought it into the spotlight, the game presents an eerie metroidvania world full of puzzles, charming graphics, and horror vibes.

I absolutely loved my time with this game. The bosses were wild, exploration was a blast, and every puzzle was fun. The game elicits a kind of joy I've only experienced playing one-person games. It's full of weirdness that would have been voted out in a team-built game. Everything's connected and lovingly thought out, everything feels coherent. It's like getting to know somebody without ever meeting them.

The game has several "layers" to it, and despite loving the title I tapped out after layer 1 -- beating the final boss and rolling credits. You can continue on to find all the collectibles in the game to unlock more, which usually isn't my cup of tea. I did shoot for getting all the eggs but decided to tap out at 50-something, as I was starting to rely on guides and having less fun.

Does this title belong on the shelf with Undertale and Stardew Valley? I don't think it has the same impact as its peers, each of which generated massive fanbases and countless clones -- yet I'd happily categorize this as another one-person masterpiece and proudly shelf it with the others.

Book Thoughts: Piranessi

Looking for something a little more fantastical to read after Slaughterhouse-Five, I reached for Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I read "Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norell 1000 years ago, and while I couldn't tell you a single thing that happens in that book I remember it fondly.

Spoilers after the jump

Book Thoughts: Slaughterhouse-Five

Occasionally I actually get around to reading some literature (I mean to do this more, but I can't stay away from my darling scifi/fantasy). After my last read I got my hands on a copy of the Ethan Hawke-narrated version of Slaughterhouse-Five.

This is a novel you can't really criticize; not only because it's globally recognized as a fantastic piece of literature, not only because anything there is to say about it has probably already been said, but because it's weird, and due to it's level of unorthodoxy it carves for itself a special untouchable place wherein any flaw could easily be intentional.

It was a thoughtful and thought-provoking slow burn and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am glad that I didn't read it earlier, as I only recently binge-listened to a couple of WWII history podcasts. Knowing more about the gritty details of the war helped color in the edges of this loose collection of time fragments, and definitely resulted in a more fulfilling experience.

Book Thoughts: Embassytown

Some authors you just can't vibe with, no matter how on-brand their subjects are. For me one of these authors appears to be China Miéville, the writer of such famous works as Perdido Street Station and The City & The City.

I've previously tried to read Perdido Street Station and fell off halfway, the strangeness of the setting never quite settling in my head. Perhaps it's due to my weak mind's eye, or perhaps it's just their writing style, but of the two books I've attempted, both felt as if I was only skimming the loose details of a much deeper world.

Embassytown is the second of their works that I've attempted, and I nearly gave up a few hours into the audiobook version. Everything felt slow and dreamy (in a boring way) despite the complete alien-ness and wonderful creativity of the scifi setting. I ultimately finished the book, and really did love all the ideas on display in the story -- but the writing or the pacing or something kept me from getting in deep, and I found myself avoiding the audiobook more than reaching for it.

This is a scifi book about language, and it takes a very interesting approach, giving us aliens that are incapable of understanding human speech and communciation. The ways humanity works around this, and the sheer curiosity around the ways these aliens comminicate and interact with humans was fascinating in ways the story sadly only ever hints at.

I was left wanting to know more -- more about the strange alien lifeforms, more about their language, more about the strange dreamed-up form of space travel. More than anything I wanted to see more of the other alien lifeforms hinted at that communicate in bizarre and creative ways. I almost would have preferred a documentary format than the story and characters that were presented, which were ultimately vapid and boring on such a vibrant and curious backdrop.

Game Thoughts: Abandoned 09-2024

Despite my best efforts I've got yet another pile of unfinished games. Just stuff that I didn't have the patience to get through or wasn't clicking with me. For the sake of preventing future me from repeating my mistakes, here are the reasons for putting them down:

(Sekiro, Mother3, Void Stranger)

Story: A King De-Phoned

The following is a short story / writing exercise I'm titling A King De-Phoned. It's a fairly mundane tale of first-world problems involving relatively privileged individuals and occasional hyperbole. That said, this stuff actually happened and was pretty shitty.

Book Thoughts: The Saint of Bright Doors

Thrusting out blindly for my next read, I ended up settling on the most recent Nebula winner: The Saint of Bright Doors. The audiobook version is superbly narrated, and the whole experience was a very fun departure from my normal fantasy/scifi reads.

The setting is a modern-tech alternate indo-inspired continent with very different takes on magic. Where I frequently enjoy fantasy that provides clear constraints on it's magic system, this book leans heavily into a more mystic world of vague demons and inexplicable occurrences -- such as how any door left closed too long in the City of Luriat will seal forever.

The author brought the city to life, painting an extremely vivid and interesting world with which they tell the story of Fetter, a man with strange powers trained from childhood to assassinate a spiritual leader.

Spoilers below.

Comic Thoughts: Tokyo Ghoul

With a little too much time on my hands I decided to finally give Tokyo Ghoul (main series plus :re) a read. I remembered enjoying the first season of anime 1000 years ago, but recall that the second season didn't hold my attention at all -- but as they always say: "the manga was better".

Comic Thoughts: Innocent

I just finished the last chapter of Innocent & Innocent Rouge. I was craving some grown-up-oriented manga and settled on this. It was certainly something.

Game Thoughts: Disco Elysium

After another back injury I found myself bedridden once again. I decided it was time to finally get through Disco Elysium.

It's a game I've struggled to play for a while now. One that felt like it was very much catering to everything I could want in a game, but frustrated me at every attempt to play.