0xSim's recent activity

  1. Comment on Do you play knock-offs of celebrated indie games? in ~games

    0xSim
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    Perfect Dark being made by the same people as Goldeneye 64, I don't think that counts :D (and Perfect Dark is the superior game)

    Perfect Dark being made by the same people as Goldeneye 64, I don't think that counts :D (and Perfect Dark is the superior game)

    3 votes

  2. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    0xSim
    (edited )
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    I was craving some roguelites for my Steam Deck, I ended up buying 3 (and refunded one). Gunfire Reborn (refunded) It was a tie between that and Roboquest, and I chose Gunfire Reborn because it...

    I was craving some roguelites for my Steam Deck, I ended up buying 3 (and refunded one).

    Gunfire Reborn (refunded)

    It was a tie between that and Roboquest, and I chose Gunfire Reborn because it looked slower, so more playable with a controller on the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, it plays terribly with a controller, and that's a deal breaker.

    I guess I'll give another chance to Roboquest on the Deck.

    Hell Clock

    A mix between an ARPG (Diablo-like) and a roguelite (Hades-flavored). From what I've played so far, it's the game I wish Hades was. The developers nailed the ARPG gameplay loop in short 10 minutes rounds: mow down enemies, get more powerful, loot stuff, and see numbers go up until monsters become either too strong or the titular Hell Clock brings you back home.

    Because that's the twist of this game: you're running out of time and need to go as far as possible before being sent back to the hub. For this reason, the maps are fairly linear (there's 0 exploration), but with several dead-end branches, which are all choices to make to trade a few seconds against money (to buy upgrades) and maybe a stat increase or a neat charm that can be gameplay-changing.

    Like The Slormancer was one of my GOTY last year, I know that Hell Clock is already a strong contender for this year.

    Voidigo

    A fever dream amalgamation of Nuclear Throne, Enter the Gungeon, and The Binding of Isaac. On the surface it looks like yet another shooty roguelite, but there's a lot more to say about it.

    This game came out to a relative general indifference, failed to meet its public, and the developers (Semiwork, who are probably well-off with their other game R.E.P.O.) decided to permanently drop the price from 20€ to 5€. Which is a shame, because you can tell it was absolutely made with love and craftsmanship, and it's definitely worth more than 5€.

    So, if there's only one thing to say about this game, it's that Semiwork were absolutely committed to their design choices.

    First, everything is lovingly animated, everything wobbles, moves everywhere, stumbles, digs, ... it's full of life, it's colorful, the sprites are all richly detailed, it's a feast for the eyes, and it manages to stay clear.

    The weapons and powerups are wacky; the first one I got right after the tutorial was a mini-stadium full of mini-jelly people cheering for me. What did it do? No idea. One of my first weapons was a bubble launcher, and its description said something like "it stings the eyes". It seemed to be stronger than the base weapon, but I'm not sure either. You have to choose your gear from vibes, feel what works for you, and remember that for the next time. It's a design choice that works well in Gungeon and Isaac for different reasons, and I don't have yet enough playtime to say if it also works for Voidigo, but I can appreciate a top down shooter that doesn't take itself seriously.

    The other strong decision is the fact that almost every user interaction is diegetic (if that's the correct term). There's the usual shop with its shopkeeper where you have to physically go get your items, stations randomly dispatched on floors to chose between upgrades or to trade your current items, the hub has dedicated spaces to invest money in meta-progression, you have to move into a precise point to save and quit or continue your game, and even the fast travel is a physical space where the whole map is drawn on the ground. That's bold, and while it sometimes feel a bit tedious or busy, it makes for a stronger identity.

    The gameplay itself is good. Kill enemies to lure the floor boss, destroy enough altars across rooms to make it vulnerable, and kill it. It's Nuclear Throne on psychedelics, there's adjustable difficulty levels, and enough stuff to unlock and keep you occupied many hours. All the roguelite specs are here, it works, not much to complain about.

    Edit: forgot that point: you're strongly encouraged to stomp the enemies. It makes them more vulnerable for a second, and the first character has a bonus explosion for combo-stomping. Make the gameplay a bit more hectic, and is a fun "risk vs. reward" mechanic.

    Voidigo is genuinely a "hidden gem". A gem that's a bit rough, maybe a bit tacky, but it's not often that I think I didn't pay enough for a game.

    4 votes

  3. Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities

    0xSim
    Link Parent
    Absence of proof vs. proof of absence. I can't prove that God doesn't exist, doesn't entail that God exists.

    Absence of proof vs. proof of absence. I can't prove that God doesn't exist, doesn't entail that God exists.

    8 votes

  4. Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games

    0xSim
    Link Parent
    Well, the 8bitdo Ultimate is 60€, and has all the features, minus the trackpads. So 40€ for the trackpads is a lot, especially when I plan to use that controller on my PC, where my mouse &...

    I'm not sure I get the surprise at the price I've seen across the internet

    Well, the 8bitdo Ultimate is 60€, and has all the features, minus the trackpads. So 40€ for the trackpads is a lot, especially when I plan to use that controller on my PC, where my mouse & keyboard are right here.

    I still want a Steam Controller because I love the Deck, but 100€ is kinda hard to justify

    11 votes

  5. Comment on Valve uploads Steam Controller unboxing video, launch imminent in ~games

    0xSim
    Link Parent
    I own the original (bought it when it released, with the Steam Link), but it was too different from what is now the de-facto standard modern controller layout. However, the Deck controller solved...

    I own the original (bought it when it released, with the Steam Link), but it was too different from what is now the de-facto standard modern controller layout. However, the Deck controller solved this: it has all the standard buttons, plus the trackpads, plus the excellent touch-triggered gyro, plus 4 back buttons. I can't wait to finally use the same controller on my PC.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on The center has a bias in ~tech

    0xSim
    Link Parent
    It's a little more nuanced than that, actually. Licensing can be not proprietary, especially in the open source world. One of these licenses, the GNU General Public License (GPL) basically says...

    It's a little more nuanced than that, actually. Licensing can be not proprietary, especially in the open source world.

    One of these licenses, the GNU General Public License (GPL) basically says "do whatever you want with this project, as long as you contribute back and also open source your own fork". I'm simplifying, but that's the gist. The deal is I give you my work for free, but if you're making something with it, you're obligated to share your own work with the same license. That effectively makes monetization really hard, and enterprises usually refuse to touch GPL code because it's a legal minefield.

    However, LLMs producers proudly and loudly don't give a damn about copyrights and licenses. They stole our open source work to feed their beast and make tons of money from it. Hence the intellectual theft. It's not about "my" work or the perceived stolen monetary value, it's about a broken legal and social contract. It's stealing the collective intellectual work of everyone, not only developers, and privatizing that immense sum of knowledge to make a profit from it.

    38 votes

  7. Comment on The center has a bias in ~tech

    0xSim
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    As a developer, I've been an LLM opponent since it began to become mainstream, for all the usual reasons. Then I've been heavily nudged to use it at work, and I have actually used it. I conversed...
    • Exemplary

    As a developer, I've been an LLM opponent since it began to become mainstream, for all the usual reasons.

    Then I've been heavily nudged to use it at work, and I have actually used it. I conversed with colleagues that are much more enthusiastic than me, and others that are also more cautious. I learned (and I'm learning, as they're evolving way too fast) LLMs strengths and weaknesses, and while my views are mostly unchanged, I now know what they can(not) do, and I've experienced the effects on my work. I think I'm dead in the biased center the article describes.

    But because those people kept using the tools long enough to learn those lessons, they can appear compromised to outsiders. And worse: if they continue to use them, contribute thoughts and criticism back, they are increasingly thrown in with the same people who are devoid of any criticism.

    Absolutely, and that's terrible. I'm active in a few communities where people are strongly anti-AI, and I no longer engage in such discussions because I'm afraid to be seen as "one of them", a traitor developer encouraging intellectual theft and ecocide for convenience. And quite honestly, that's also how I see myself.

    36 votes

  8. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    0xSim
    (edited )
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    Back to Last Epoch for the latest season. Honestly, I don't really care about most seasonal features in ARPGs: most of the time, they just feel like useless tacked-on growths that exist solely...

    Back to Last Epoch for the latest season.

    Honestly, I don't really care about most seasonal features in ARPGs: most of the time, they just feel like useless tacked-on growths that exist solely because the players need a new mechanic, and they don't add depth in any way. So for me, seasons are just an excuse to try another class or another build and play it until I'm bored (usually before endgame).

    Though for this season, the devs added what is usually known as an "item corruption" mechanic. You loot rare(-ish) craft materials that can randomly make a powerful item even more powerful, or just make it absolutely useless. I like that because, as I'm usually not venturing into endgame, it gives me some opportunities to also get powerful items without grinding for hours.

    Hero Siege

    Another zoomy ARPG that I bought it when it was on sale for like 2€, and did not play much yet. The game gives strong mobile gaming vibes with dozens of micro-transactions, but I figured for that price...

    Anyway, it got a sizeable update last week, and it's been an incredible clusterfuck. It's a car crash in slow motion since Thursday, and I kinda feel bad for the devs that must have had a terrible weekend. One of the important points of this update for me is that the devs announced they totally rewrote controller bindings for the PS5 release. As this is the kind of games that I'd rather play on the Deck than on my main computer, I was kinda excited: up until now, the bindings absolutely sucked and were quite buggy if you dared rebinding them.

    So, not only the bindings aren't fixed, but they're even buggier. By default, single button presses are for the menus, and skills must be used with combinations, like LT+LB (really). If you want to rebind (b) it goes back and closes the window. If you want to rebind the default "interact" action from (x) to (a), you can't talk to NPCs anymore. (Select) isn't recognized at all, so no map toggle or item comparison.

    I paid 2€ and I still feel robbed.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Mamma mia! ‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ karts $372M+ in global debut, best for Hollywood pic YTD; ‘Project Hail Mary’ on path to half billion in ~movies

    0xSim
    Link Parent
    Seriously, the character with the most development is Bowser, and they ruined it in 10 seconds.

    Seriously, the character with the most development is Bowser, and they ruined it in 10 seconds.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on Backrooms | Official trailer in ~movies

  11. Comment on France confirms oil crisis, says 30-40 percent of Gulf energy infrastructure destroyed in ~society

    0xSim
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    Just like enterprises that could never offer homeworking suddenly implemented it overnight in 2020, maybe this crisis will be the much needed kick in the ass for our leaders to overcome the...

    Just like enterprises that could never offer homeworking suddenly implemented it overnight in 2020, maybe this crisis will be the much needed kick in the ass for our leaders to overcome the inertia about reliance on fossil energy.

    28 votes

  12. Comment on Tildes Gardening Group: Week 24/3/26 in ~hobbies

    0xSim
    Link Parent
    I don't have a recommendation, but I remember my dad bought several: each one more robust and expensive than the previous one that inevitably broke. He went at least through three in 10 years, and...

    Is there any you would recommend, or any position in the garden you had success with?

    I don't have a recommendation, but I remember my dad bought several: each one more robust and expensive than the previous one that inevitably broke. He went at least through three in 10 years, and the last one was definitely much more sturdy and did not look cheap. It will resist for longer if you place it (and tie it) against a wall.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

  14. Comment on Minecraft Dungeons II | Announce trailer in ~games

    0xSim
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    Minecraft Dungeons is often described as "your first ARPG" (diablo-like), as in it's mechanically simple, but IMO it's more difficult and has more depth than you'd expect. If you can get the...

    Minecraft Dungeons is often described as "your first ARPG" (diablo-like), as in it's mechanically simple, but IMO it's more difficult and has more depth than you'd expect. If you can get the Ultimate Edition on sale, it's totally worth it.

    What makes it different is that you don't have a skill tree on your character, but each piece of gear have 1-3 special passive effects that you can invest xp points into (+ 2 active items with a cooldown). My only gripes is that levels can be quite long (like 30+ minutes) with a lot of boring backtracking if you want to explore all dead ends, and it's actually meh as a couch coop game.

    It's a great game, but there are definitely ways to improve it, so I hope the sequel will deliver.

    6 votes

  15. Comment on Is it worthwhile to run local LLMs for coding today? in ~comp

    0xSim
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    Unless you have a very powerful GPU and/or tons of RAM, you local model will just give you a slower but slightly better autocomplete. You'll pay thousands to run an LLM that is way worse than the...

    Unless you have a very powerful GPU and/or tons of RAM, you local model will just give you a slower but slightly better autocomplete. You'll pay thousands to run an LLM that is way worse than the current best models (Claude Opus 4.5/4.6) available on relatively cheap subscriptions.

    It could be worth it if you use that computing power for something else, but investing that much money to run a local LLM is an awful idea.

    5 votes

  16. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    0xSim
    (edited )
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    I bought Everspace 2 on GOG, mainly to play on my Steam Deck. It's a sort of a space dogfighting ARPG with randomized loot and nice little hand crafted levels. The main campaign seems to be long...

    I bought Everspace 2 on GOG, mainly to play on my Steam Deck.

    It's a sort of a space dogfighting ARPG with randomized loot and nice little hand crafted levels. The main campaign seems to be long enough when I look at all the areas I have to unlock, and random short missions will often pop up when flying between waypoints. I've been looking/waiting for a neat space game to play on the Deck for a long time, and this one might be it.

    The most negative point is the controls: I think the default layout is actually great, but I'm having a hard time to aim. The sensitivity is too high, I always overshoot and overcorrect, and there's no way to adjust it the way I'd like to. The auto-aim is kinda compensating for it, but it's not really satisfying. Mouse control seems to be much better and precise.

    Note: if you want to play it on your Steam Deck, you should buy it on Steam. I spent two hours trying to start it through Heroic Launcher (which supports GOG cloud saves), and it just wouldn't start in gaming mode. In the end I just added the exe as a non-steam game, and setup Syncthing to sync the saves myself.

  17. Comment on 007 First Light | Official trailer in ~games

    0xSim
    Link Parent
    To me, the end screen of that video has the same vibe as Hitman 3's elusive targets. He's probably just a seasonal or tutorial villain, I doubt it'd be the bad guy.

    I hope he isn't actually the main villain of the game

    To me, the end screen of that video has the same vibe as Hitman 3's elusive targets. He's probably just a seasonal or tutorial villain, I doubt it'd be the bad guy.

    3 votes

  18. Comment on Backrooms | Official teaser in ~movies

    0xSim
    (edited )
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    No-one owns it, but Kane "Pixels" Parsons, a young filmmaker, made a series of shorts on Youtube a few years ago, which formed a sort of communal lore background. I find it really nice because it...

    No-one owns it, but Kane "Pixels" Parsons, a young filmmaker, made a series of shorts on Youtube a few years ago, which formed a sort of communal lore background. I find it really nice because it shows an interesting worldbuilding without any over-exposition or semblance of explanation.

    I encourage you to watch the whole series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4dGpz6cnHo&list=PLVAh-MgDVqvDUEq6qDXqORBioE4Yhol_z

    Then on top (or on side) of that, many people made their own versions of the backrooms with all sorts of "levels" (sort of... biomes?), "entities" (monsters), "rules" to abide and survive, etc. Younger folks seem to like that, it's soft horror games and videos. I prefer the "less is more" aspect that Parsons built.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    0xSim
    (edited )
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    Never understood those who say that D4's story sucks. Obviously it's not particularly deep and it just serves as an excuse to make us visit the whole map, but it's more than serviceable and there...

    I heard a lot of complaints about the game's story and went in with low expectations, but what I've played has been surprisingly good.

    Never understood those who say that D4's story sucks. Obviously it's not particularly deep and it just serves as an excuse to make us visit the whole map, but it's more than serviceable and there are interesting characters and events. In comparison, Diablo 2 was literally "try to catch the corrupted hero of the previous game", and Diablo 3's was so bad it was comical.

    Anyway, Diablo 4 has a fine campaign. I'm personally not a fan of the endgame, as it feels a bit too "game-as-a-service-y" for my taste, but I always enjoy leveling up a character once in a while.

    1 vote

  20. Comment on Diablo | Warlock class cinematic trailer - New class for Diablo II, Immortal, and IV in ~games