kfwyre's recent activity
-
Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of May 10 in ~games
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentNot that I'm encouraging anyone to buy any new games this month or anything, but this one just went on sale on Steam for 90% off.Not that I'm encouraging anyone to buy any new games this month or anything, but this one just went on sale on Steam for 90% off.
-
Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of May 10 in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentAll bangers. This is practically a must-buy if you don't own any of them, but I assume that a lot of people already have several of these. I'll highlight Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night as a...All bangers.
This is practically a must-buy if you don't own any of them, but I assume that a lot of people already have several of these.
I'll highlight Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night as a standout (though, genuinely, they are all standouts). It's the spiritual successor to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and is like, THE perfect game for the Steam Deck.
I know this because I didn't actually play it on my Steam Deck. I played it before the Deck came out. I was chilling on vacation at the time, and I set my laptop in my lap and connected a gamepad to it and played it for like, 40 hours that way. If I was willing to see it all the way through to 100% completion with my janky proto-Deck setup, then I can confirm that it's definitely worth the time on an actual handheld.
-
Comment on The possibly endangered games of the Humble App in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentYeah, the old one really felt like if GOG could just have every old game instead of only the ones they had the rights to. And unlike some downloads from sketchy abandonware sites, the files were...Yeah, the old one really felt like if GOG could just have every old game instead of only the ones they had the rights to. And unlike some downloads from sketchy abandonware sites, the files were clean. It was beautiful.
That said, my info might have been wrong about the rolling release window. This article on the shutdown says they didn’t allow anything past 2004. So, my memory about the specifics of the embargo might be wrong. Either way, they made sure to disallow new games in part to keep their profile down but also because the site was much more about archiving gaming history than it was pure piracy.
Them getting taken down in 2013 for hosting, among other things, FIFA ‘98, is just… really sad.
I’m glad the spirit of the site is living on in the tracker you’re in though (and undoubtedly in others too). Game archivists are some of the most dedicated and thorough people out there. I just wish that it all didn’t have to be hidden away behind walled communities, but I don’t fault the trackers for that in the slightest.
-
Comment on The possibly endangered games of the Humble App in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentThat’s genuinely good to hear and a nice real-world reminder that trackers like that are some of the best places for media preservation. I used to be on a game tracker that has long since shut...That’s genuinely good to hear and a nice real-world reminder that trackers like that are some of the best places for media preservation.
I used to be on a game tracker that has long since shut down, but it had an embargo period of 5 years (I think?), so you couldn’t upload newer games to the site (i.e. in 2012, you were allowed to upload games released in 2007 or before).
I really liked that policy because it meant that the site wasn’t a place where people were just downloading the newest hotness instead of paying for it, and it instead was a very organized catalog of gaming history. Shame it got shut down. I feel like a lot of good stuff was probably lost when it did.
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentYou could have just a few scattered categories in select squares and then fill in the rest of the boxes with conveyor belts.You could have just a few scattered categories in select squares and then fill in the rest of the boxes with conveyor belts.
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre (edited )Link Parent(See that @Wes, my numbers are growing!) Welcome to the fold. Now that you mention it though, putting 35 hours into a single game in such a short amount of time is only something a highly...(See that @Wes, my numbers are growing!)
Welcome to the fold.
Now that you mention it though, putting 35 hours into a single game in such a short amount of time is only something a highly motivated individual would do, so I've retconned the topic text to place you with the appropriate team for last week too.
This was done ENTIRELY out of a THOROUGHLY IMPARTIAL sense of fairness, by the way, and not just because it helps my numbers. ;)
-
The possibly endangered games of the Humble App
Background: While playing games for the Backlog Burner, I was surprised to learn that the Humble App (which is a "free" perk of having a Humble Choice subscription) has a few games that are...
Background:
While playing games for the Backlog Burner, I was surprised to learn that the Humble App (which is a "free" perk of having a Humble Choice subscription) has a few games that are actually exclusive to it.
Part of the reason I chose to play games from the Humble App is that I don't expect it'll be around much longer. It isn't getting updates or new games added to it. Also, Humble Games, the publishing arm of Humble which released many of the games available through the app, was abruptly dissolved in 2024.
With this in mind, I went through the entire current library for the Humble App and tried to identify games that I could not find available for purchase/download elsewhere.
Below is a list of games that I consider to be "endangered" because they might become unplayable/lost media if (i.e. when) the Humble App does shut down or stop working.
If you've got the Humble App, it might be worth playing some of these sooner rather than later.
If you've got game preservation sensibilities, it might make sense to download and archive these for posterity.
Game List:
Here are the games that are, as best as I can tell, Humble App exclusives and in danger of being lost permanently.
For each title below, I tried to find a decent link that gave information about the game. Many of these simply don't have a lot of online presence.
Some of them have Steam pages linked, but in those cases, they're just placeholders and you cannot actually buy the game.
-
A2Be - A Science Fiction Narrative - Steam page
-
after HOURS - info link
-
Crescent Bay - info link
-
Divinoids - Steam page
-
Elephant in the Room - trailer
-
fistful of nothing - homepage
-
Heeey! Park-Boy - Steam page
-
Keyboard Sports - Steam page (note: I found an itch.io page with it available for download, but it is clearly unofficial)
-
Lyric Sonata - gameplay video
-
Operator - trailer
-
Quiet City - trailer
-
Rogue Mansion - Steam page
-
Roman Sands - gameplay video
-
Space Routine - Steam page
-
Spoolside - trailer
-
The Groundz - gameplay video
-
THOR.N - gameplay video
-
Woten - Steam page
-
Yojimbrawl - gameplay video
-
Zodiac XX - trailer
Feel free to check my work and let me know if I missed any, or if some of these games are actually officially obtainable outside Humble and I didn't find them.
Also let me know if I whiffed any of the links or if you find better ones for any of the games.
25 votes -
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentI don’t feel like you’re arguing at all. Quite the contrary, I’m loving the intensity of your writeups! You’re embodying the Team Motivated spirit through and through. I think the only reason I...I don’t feel like you’re arguing at all. Quite the contrary, I’m loving the intensity of your writeups! You’re embodying the Team Motivated spirit through and through.
I think the only reason I have a pulse on the wider FNaF/Bendy situation is that, being a teacher, I’ll occasionally see students with related merch (folders, t-shirts, etc.). My thought is that if it’s big enough that kids are wearing it, then it’s at least reached minor-cultural-phenomenon status.
Not that this is an endorsement of these series or anything, and I think your criticisms are entirely valid. I’m just trying to speak to the (what I think is) rather surprising reception and resonance these games have.
-
What’s something that didn’t work for you?
Something that generally works for most people, but you were an exception. Something you were expecting to help, but it didn’t. Something that promised a lot but failed to deliver. Something that...
Something that generally works for most people, but you were an exception.
Something you were expecting to help, but it didn’t.
Something that promised a lot but failed to deliver.
Something that fell through.
Something you couldn’t get used to.
Could be an item, a piece of advice, a plan, a path, a relationship, etc.
Whatever it was, it didn’t work and that was significant.
What was it? Why do you think it didn’t work? How do you feel about it?
31 votes -
Comment on Dusk: an unofficial cross-platform release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess in ~games
kfwyre LinkRelease TrailerYou must provide a dump of your own copy of the original game to run Dusk.
-
Dusk: an unofficial cross-platform release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
27 votes -
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentFirst off: hilarious. But in a surprising actual answer to your question: kind of? That song has a cool 212 million plays.What's with that terrible name, too? Did this game have a Top 40 hit that I didn't know about?
First off: hilarious.
But in a surprising actual answer to your question: kind of?
That song has a cool 212 million plays.
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentI think Bendy is a Five Nights at Freddy’s protégé. It’s a kid-friendly horror game that hit it big and became a phenomenon, building itself out into a full franchise. Bendy has multiple games, a...I think Bendy is a Five Nights at Freddy’s protégé.
It’s a kid-friendly horror game that hit it big and became a phenomenon, building itself out into a full franchise. Bendy has multiple games, a series of books, and a film adaptation in the works — the same path that FNaF walked. I don’t think it got quite as big as FNaF or will likely have the same staying power, but it’s still pretty noteworthy in its reach.
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentLet’s plays are back! I’m so excited. The 30+ slides on increasingly specific first aid scenarios was unintentionally hilarious. Also, you’re getting a bit spicy with your commentary! I had a...Let’s plays are back! I’m so excited.
The 30+ slides on increasingly specific first aid scenarios was unintentionally hilarious. Also, you’re getting a bit spicy with your commentary!
I had a friend a while back who was an emergency dispatcher, and she had genuine nerves of steel. She was thoroughly unflappable and astoundingly competent — so, basically, the exact kind of person you want on the other side of an emergency call.
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentTHOR.N (played via Humble App) I mentioned this in my Heeey! Park-Boy comment, but this is, surprisingly, another Humble App exclusive. I couldn't find it on itch.io, Steam, or anywhere else...THOR.N (played via Humble App)
I mentioned this in my Heeey! Park-Boy comment, but this is, surprisingly, another Humble App exclusive. I couldn't find it on itch.io, Steam, or anywhere else online.
This is a short first-person incremental game that feels more like a tech demo than a full-fledged release.
The vibes of the game are pretty good: you're clearly in a dystopian future with an AI that
surveilswatches over you. You are tasked with fulfilling orders, which get you points, which you can use to spend to make the jobs that you do go faster and easier and unlock other jobs. It's the standard chore/incremental game loop, although the chores in this one are just pushing buttons on different machines, so it's closer to a pure incremental game.As you do this, the AI chimes in to help guide you and give you feedback, alternating between effusively affectionate and menacingly dictatorial. There are also some environmental clues that help establish the tone of the setting. I've never worked there myself, but I suspect the game is a bit like working at Amazon.
Anyway, once you level up enough to gain enough points, you get to advance and the game ends. I won't spoil the ending, other than to say that I think it was a bit abrupt and would have liked to see more. The game's site suggests that the devs planned to do this:
Both audiences and critics have expressed overwhelming positive reviews and plans are now underway to expand this experience into a more full-form game.
I'm doubtful we'll ever see more. Maybe this was another casualty of the Humble Games closure? If so, it's a shame, because thus far I'm 2 for 2 wanting more out of their games. Both of these had the potential to be great but don't fully live up to that in their current states, which they're likely to be indefinitely (or at least until the Humble App shuts down).
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentHeeey! Park-Boy (played via Humble App) In a somewhat surprising turn of events, this game appears to be a Humble App exclusive(!!!). It has an itch page linked above, but you cannot buy it from...Heeey! Park-Boy (played via Humble App)
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, this game appears to be a Humble App exclusive(!!!).
It has an itch page linked above, but you cannot buy it from there. Furthermore, it has a Steam page that says it's Coming Soon™.
If you look at the comments on the itch page, someone asks about the Steam release, and the dev says this:
Hey Zach! I am currently getting the Steam Build ready for release! Should be released sometime soon!
And that was... four years ago. I'm wondering if this was a casualty of the abrupt dissolution of Humble Games. Could be a situation where the dev doesn't have the rights to distribute the game and no way to get them back.
Which is a shame, because this game is legitimately charming.
You are Yuu-Boy, a spacefaring being whose spaceship runs on happiness. Unfortunately, you have crash-landed on Earth, and you need to generate happiness in order to get your ship up and running again. How do you do this? Well, you've landed in a decrepit park that could use some freshening up. The better the park is, the happier the people are, and the sooner you'll be able to return to your spacefaring ways.
There's an indie dev group called Arcane Kids that have the slogan: Make the games you wish to see on the Dreamcast. While this game isn't from them, it fits in perfectly. This feels like a Dreamcast game through and through (non-derogatory).
The spaceship interior reminds me of Space Channel 5. The character design is reminiscent of Super Magnetic Neo. It does pull in some PS2 and Gamecube influences too: namely Katamari Damacy and Chibi-Robo respectively.
The gameplay loop works like this:
- Water a seed to get a flower to grow.
- Play the flower music so it dances.
- Once it dances enough, it gains color and spreads seeds nearby.
- Repeat.
It seems simple enough, and it is, but it's got an elegant built-in escalation. As you grow more flowers, inevitably the seeds they scatter will end up near one another. You can then water this area, getting all of the seeds at once instead of just one. This causes multiple flowers to grow, which then all dance when you play your music, which then scatter a lot more seeds collectively. It's essentially exponential growth, allowing you to rapidly beautify your park.
As you continue doing this, you'll uncover other aspects of the game: you can sell flowers, clean up trash, and take down graffiti to make money. Money lets you buy upgrades which make your chores easier.
The game has an immediate cute magnetism to it. It's hard not to love it straight from the beginning. When you play music to make the flowers dance, it adds a countermelody to the background music that will absolutely put a smile on your face. The game is bright, optimistic, and cheery -- a genuine source of happiness.
If I have one complaint, it's that the game gets quite samey. It has two music tracks, and you'll hear them repeatedly. You'll grow flowers over and over again trying to get to the different unlock threshholds. If you're in for this easygoing, zen-like gaming, then this will be a splendid pick for you. On the other hand, if you need a bit more variety, then you'll likely get bored an hour or two into the game.
It's kind of a shame that this game is stuck on the Humble App, because I think it could achieve like, minor cult classic status if it were more widely accessible.
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentThat's a bummer. Graphically the game looks quite nice, but all of the gamefeel stuff you brought up end up making or breaking it. It sounds like, in this case, they broke it. I walked away from...That's a bummer. Graphically the game looks quite nice, but all of the gamefeel stuff you brought up end up making or breaking it. It sounds like, in this case, they broke it.
I walked away from my first game in this Backlog Burner for similar reasons. I wanted to like it, but the combat was just too clunky to enjoy. Don't feel bad if you have to stop playing it -- the Backlog Burner is all about trying games out, not necessarily completing them.
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentThe windows also work separately for the purposes of alt-tabbing and are independently moveable and resizable, so it really does feel like you've got separate apps going on your PC. They were even...The windows also work separately for the purposes of alt-tabbing and are independently moveable and resizable, so it really does feel like you've got separate apps going on your PC. They were even titled correctly when switching windows.
I had no idea the soundtrack was up on Bandcamp. I know exactly what I'm getting next Bandcamp Friday. It's a great "throw on in the background while working" album.
-
Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentFantastic writeup. I think games in particular are particularly good for generating this kind of introspection, simply because the question of "what draws me to these mechanics/presentation?" is...Fantastic writeup. I think games in particular are particularly good for generating this kind of introspection, simply because the question of "what draws me to these mechanics/presentation?" is such a salient one in a medium that's built around interaction. I had a similar internal reckoning with my response to incremental/idle games and how I was "playing" them out of a compulsion rather than a sense of satisfaction.
I personally prefer my shooty games to be more cartoony or sci-fi. Anything with too much gore I find off-putting, not necessarily because I'm worried about it normalizing something for me, but simply because I don't like the feeling of watching it. It wasn't until reading your comment that I thought back about what the last truly violent video game I played was, and... I genuinely don't know? Kind of makes me want to pick up a modern Wolfenstein game and see how I feel about it.
Sunderfolk and Batman: The Telltale Series are this week’s freebies on Epic.
I utterly adored Sunderfolk and gushed about it at length here.
It is a fantastic multiplayer game, and is good for seasoned TTRPG players and newbies alike. The phone integration is very well done.
I’d normally say it’s absolutely worth the money, but, given that it’s free, I’ll simply say it’s absolutely worth a look. My friends and I played it entirely remotely, streaming the screen on Discord while all playing from our phones.