0xSim's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
0xSim LinkStill on Remnant II, to my own surprise. I wrote last week that I finished the campaign, and while it's basically the tutorial, it felt satisfying enough for me to move on. Or so I thought. I did...Still on Remnant II, to my own surprise.
I wrote last week that I finished the campaign, and while it's basically the tutorial, it felt satisfying enough for me to move on. Or so I thought. I did a few adventures, found new maps, bosses, and loot, and now I've just restarted the campaign, with a higher difficulty level.
There are so many secrets and stuff to unlock with this game, it's impressive. Even setting reasonable goals (unlocking all the archetypes and traits) could take me a very long time because a lot of these unlockable require you to find items on specific levels that may or may not appear in your current run. On one hand I find that really charming that a modern game requires you to put some effort to experience it fully, but on the other hand some unlockables are absolutely ridiculous and impossible to be found without a wiki. Like "stand still on this particular spot for 5 minutes" level of ridiculous.
On the Deck, I've finally unlocked the second open world area of Wayfinder, and it only took me 45 hours. Phew.
I've also earned a few achievements for finishing questlines, and it makes me a bit sad to see that less than 10% of players earned them. Like sure, you can feel the game suffered a bit from transitioning from MMO to solo/coop RPG, but the devs did a great job, and for me it strikes a perfect balance of depth, accessibility, exploration, and session length. Though now that I write it, it also maybe puts it in some weird place: it's certainly too casual for more min-maxers that want more build complexity and depth, but the combat can be too demanding for casual players that want to mindlessly mash buttons.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
0xSim LinkI finished the campaign of Remnant II, one of the games I bought during the Steam sale. This series is often branded as "Dark Souls with guns": you will roam tortuous levels, loot, craft, and...I finished the campaign of Remnant II, one of the games I bought during the Steam sale.
This series is often branded as "Dark Souls with guns": you will roam tortuous levels, loot, craft, and improve unique weapons and armors, kill many enemies and bosses, and allocate points into passives. So while there are definitely similarities and equivalent mechanics, Remnant is far less punishing and overall just "more fun".
Because Remnant is what I call a "self-aware game". There is a serious story, but it's just an excuse to send you into random alien worlds. "If we fail, all is lost", but still let me fail (and respawn without consequences) five times before I finally beat this boss. The campaign is kinda short (15 hours), but the game encourages you to replay all the worlds again and again to unlock quests, gear, archetypes, view new random levels, random bosses, random events, random everything. Even the campaign is random: my very first level and quest were actually from a DLC. I'm done with the campaign but I probably only have seen 20% of the game, at most? And parallel to the campaign, you can progress you character in the Adventure mode, which will roll a new random adventure on your chosen biome.
Though the random construction can also be a detriment to the immersion and power fantasy. You'll speak to what seem to be important characters, only to never see them again in the campaign. Enemies constantly scale to your level, so you never really feel powerful.
The bosses also felt like a high point. I often dislike boss fights in Souls-likes, but not in this game: most bosses are truly original and interesting to fight, and the first difficulty level was perfect to make them feel challenging, but not tedious.
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Comment on Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? in ~tech
0xSim Link ParentThat comment gave me an epiphany. I recently received a 1.400 (!) lines PR for a project, totally vibe-coded. Maybe it works, I don't know, I don't even want to pull the branch. At that point I'd...That comment gave me an epiphany. I recently received a 1.400 (!) lines PR for a project, totally vibe-coded. Maybe it works, I don't know, I don't even want to pull the branch.
At that point I'd rather vibe-code it myself again. At least I would understand what's happening.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
0xSim LinkStill on Wayfinder - see here for my previous post. Two weeks ago I was saying "I'm 20 hours in, and in the end of the first open world area". Now I'm 40 hours in, and huh, somehow still in the...Still on Wayfinder - see here for my previous post.
Two weeks ago I was saying "I'm 20 hours in, and in the end of the first open world area". Now I'm 40 hours in, and huh, somehow still in the first open world area. Not that I'm complaining, and I'm actually surprised that the game manages to still give me more fresh things to do here. I wonder if the rest of the game will keep the same pace, because the more I play it, the more it opens itself.
The passives systems become really interesting as I unlock more challenging dungeons, I keep swapping characters depending on the situation (or on my mood), I still find new weapons and gems that change the gameplay... Though beware, I almost put it down when I first started it 40 hours ago. I'm used to playing more front-loaded games (exciting features are very quickly unlocked), and this one is quite back-loaded. The first hours are rough with only 2 or 3 characters, almost no skills, no gems, and no gear. It's a good thing that the complexity is progressively introduced, but the pacing could have been a bit better.
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Blog owners, do you write under your real name, or under a pseudonym?
And what do you write about? Currently, my personal website is under my real name. I'm asking this question because I'm about to rebuild it (as is tradition), which gave me some energy to write...
And what do you write about?
Currently, my personal website is under my real name. I'm asking this question because I'm about to rebuild it (as is tradition), which gave me some energy to write about a recent personal event, and I'm realizing that I'm not comfortable with writing this under my real name. So I'm here, wondering what to do with my personal thoughts that I want to share, but not too loudly.
If you own a personal website or blog, what do you do? Do you use a pseudonym for everything? Are you ok with publishing personal stuff under your real name? Do you have two blogs to separate things?
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
0xSim Link ParentMorphe is a fork of Revanced. I have used Revanced in the past, and Morphe is an overall cleaner and more user-friendly experience. It seems Revanced devs also backport Morphe improvements without...I am not sure if you are familiar, but how does Morphe compare to Revanced?
Morphe is a fork of Revanced. I have used Revanced in the past, and Morphe is an overall cleaner and more user-friendly experience.
It seems Revanced devs also backport Morphe improvements without the correct attribution, their maintainers have an over-inflated ego, and on their subreddit they ban on sight anyone who even hints at Morphe.
The usual open source drama.
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
0xSim (edited )LinkAndroid users can use Morphe to patch the official Reddit app and make it more bearable. It won't make the content better, but it will remove ads and a bunch of annoyances. Also, timing...Android users can use Morphe to patch the official Reddit app and make it more bearable. It won't make the content better, but it will remove ads and a bunch of annoyances.
Also, timing coincidence, but yesterday I wrote a userscript to crudely make old.reddit read-only, because 99.9% of the time, it's not worth participating anymore. I have also deleted all my comments history (again).
// ==UserScript== // @name Better reddit // @namespace http://tampermonkey.net/ // @version 2026-07-01 // @description Fewer annoyances and lower blood pressure // @author 0xSim // @match https://www.reddit.com/* // @match https://old.reddit.com/* // @icon https://www.reddit.com/favicon.ico // @grant none // ==/UserScript== (function() { 'use strict'; setTimeout(() => { // You don't care about notifications $('#notifications').next('.separator').remove() $('#notifications').remove() $('.message-count.badge-count').remove() // Read-only mode $('li.reply-button').remove() $('div.usertext-edit').remove() }, 100) })(); -
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
0xSim (edited )LinkWayfinder It's 3.50€ on Steam right now and for this price I can heartily recommend it. This is a "free-to-play-MMO-turned-coop-or-single-player" and it shows in its design. I do not find it...It's 3.50€ on Steam right now and for this price I can heartily recommend it. This is a "free-to-play-MMO-turned-coop-or-single-player" and it shows in its design. I do not find it deterrent, but the game definitely has that kinda off "dead MMO" vibe. Important note: there are no micro-transaction: everything that was supposed to be monetizable is now included for free in the game.
The gameplay loop is divided between large open world areas for exploration with light quests and a bit of combat, and procedurally generated themed dungeons called "Lost Zones". Lost Zones get unlocked as you progress through the story, and can be spiced up with some risk/reward mods. You get to play your own style by mixing character archetypes, leveled weapons, "echoes" (stats/bonus gems), and passive stats. This combination can be changed for free at any time, and the only limitation is that each character gains XP individually.
As for the content, I'm 20 hours in, only at the end of the first open area, and I haven't unlocked all characters yet (but I like to take my time). I think unlocking all armor sets should take me a few hundreds hours at this rate... So it's not gonna happen, but that means I'll always have something new to look forward to.
All in all, it's a great game for shortish sessions and completionists.
Steam Deck notes:
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-windowedas a launch argument is required. Some graphical settings (such as resolution) must be reset each time you start the game. - Open areas are kinda straining, but dungeons are easily 50+ FPS.
- ✅ Can be put to sleep and resumed.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
0xSim Link ParentI played Celeste (though not finished it) on PC. I started with an Xbox One controller and it was terrible. Like, I never had an issue with Super Meat Boy, but playing Celeste was painful. After a...I only really appreciated that when moving from Switch to PC and didn't have to deal with the considerable stick drift
I played Celeste (though not finished it) on PC. I started with an Xbox One controller and it was terrible. Like, I never had an issue with Super Meat Boy, but playing Celeste was painful. After a few hours I switched to a Playstation controller, and that made the game much, much better.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
0xSim Link ParentDiffering opinion about the DLC: I really disliked it. Outer Wilds is a chill game with no pressure other than the time loop, but Echoes of the Eye was too stressful with a wildly different mood....Differing opinion about the DLC: I really disliked it. Outer Wilds is a chill game with no pressure other than the time loop, but Echoes of the Eye was too stressful with a wildly different mood. The puzzles and story are as good as the base game, but it was just too different for me to enjoy it.
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Comment on The 2026 Steam Summer Sale is live (runs June 25 - July 9) in ~games
0xSim Link ParentThank you. Dragon's Dogma looks a bit too dark, not what I'm looking for atm but I've added it to my wishlist for another time.Thank you. Dragon's Dogma looks a bit too dark, not what I'm looking for atm but I've added it to my wishlist for another time.
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Comment on The 2026 Steam Summer Sale is live (runs June 25 - July 9) in ~games
0xSim Link ParentREPO is awesome with 4+ players, genuinely funny. I wholeheartedly recommend it. I didn't like Peak. It's a much more difficult and demanding game, and you have to play the whole adventure in one...REPO is awesome with 4+ players, genuinely funny. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
I didn't like Peak. It's a much more difficult and demanding game, and you have to play the whole adventure in one go, which can easily take 90min+. It's rewarding but not relaxing.
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Comment on The 2026 Steam Summer Sale is live (runs June 25 - July 9) in ~games
0xSim (edited )Link ParentLooks like it might! I'm downloading the demo right now, thanks. Edit: the demo is generous and the game totally fits my criteria!Eternal Strands might fit this bill?
Looks like it might! I'm downloading the demo right now, thanks.
Edit: the demo is generous and the game totally fits my criteria!
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
0xSim Link ParentFrozen Synapse is an incredible game. I recommend getting another copy to play with someone who is also interested, as I suspect that the community is probably super-dead (or only consists of...Frozen Synapse is an incredible game. I recommend getting another copy to play with someone who is also interested, as I suspect that the community is probably super-dead (or only consists of hardcore players) by now.
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Comment on The 2026 Steam Summer Sale is live (runs June 25 - July 9) in ~games
0xSim (edited )LinkLooking for recommendations for Action RPGs A few months ago I bought Wayfinder (it's like three fiddy right now, well worth it), and I'm looking for similar games. Criteria: preferably runs on...Looking for recommendations for Action RPGs
A few months ago I bought Wayfinder (it's like three fiddy right now, well worth it), and I'm looking for similar games.
- Criteria: preferably runs on Steam Deck, preferably 3rd person, solo first, exploration, real time combat, loot and a bit of crafting, preferably "lightweight" (no Souls-like), no survival or mandatory base building.
- I liked Wayfinder, Diablo-likes (kill stuff, loot stuff), Assassin's Creed Origins, The Division 1/2, Destiny 2
- I disliked Borderlands 2/3, V Rising, Monster Hunter.
I'm eyeing these ones: Outriders, Cloudheim, Farever (a bit too early access), AC Mirage, Horizon Zero Dawn
I'm not against something different, as long as there are places to go and loot to discover.
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Comment on Around twenty drown in France as French seek relief from heatwave in ~enviro
0xSim (edited )Link ParentThank you. It was still 30° inside and outside yesterday at midnight, I just want to sleep at night and not suffer, without being judged because I didn't bother to check if a ceiling fan pushing...Thank you.
It was still 30° inside and outside yesterday at midnight, I just want to sleep at night and not suffer, without being judged because I didn't bother to check if a ceiling fan pushing hot air down from my ceiling would somehow magically cool down my home.
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Comment on Around twenty drown in France as French seek relief from heatwave in ~enviro
0xSim Link ParentDo you also judge people who heat their home in the winter? I could just use more blankets. I live in a high humidity country, in an older brick house (with a renovated and well-insulated attic,...Do you also judge people who heat their home in the winter? I could just use more blankets.
I live in a high humidity country, in an older brick house (with a renovated and well-insulated attic, though). The sun hits my kitchen dome skylight and the back facade all afternoon. You can feel the heat radiating from the walls inside. It was 31°C inside yesterday evening, I'm not sure a ceiling fan will make things more tolerable. Don't suggest cheap tips or tricks to cool my home, I know them all, and I'm already using them.
Renovating that house to make it passively heat resistant would probably cost as much as buying a new one. Installing a reversible AC is affordable (all things considered), and will also lower my dependency on fossil fuels.
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Comment on Around twenty drown in France as French seek relief from heatwave in ~enviro
0xSim Link ParentWindow boxes basically don't exist here. AC is becoming more common in newer buildings, but still really rare in older houses. The mentality has always been "we don't need it for the 1 or 2 hot...I ’m going to guess that in Belgium, much like the rest of Europe that you don’t have anything like window box ACs that you can rely on?
Window boxes basically don't exist here. AC is becoming more common in newer buildings, but still really rare in older houses. The mentality has always been "we don't need it for the 1 or 2 hot weeks in a year". Each time we power through it, each time we suffer a bit and pat ourselves on the back once it's over.
But this year is the breaking point for me, and we'll invest in a multi-split.
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Comment on Around twenty drown in France as French seek relief from heatwave in ~enviro
0xSim LinkI live in Belgium (bordering the north of France), and... yeah, that's rough. It's been at least 30° since this weekend, and the temperatures are expected to still rise up to 38° on Saturday. Yet...I live in Belgium (bordering the north of France), and... yeah, that's rough. It's been at least 30° since this weekend, and the temperatures are expected to still rise up to 38° on Saturday. Yet we're still "cooler" than most parts of France that already went up to 40°.
Meanwhile, all our goverments can do is publish bullshit like "drink water" and "find a cool place". We will all suffer and no-one will ever be held responsible.
Ah, that must be my problem 😄 I only play coop with friends, but none of them own the game so I only play solo and enjoy the fact that I can pause and leave whenever I want. Nevertheless, the game is awesome and it's just a minor quibble. I actually prefer to not engage with the wiki and stumble upon things as I play.