Wes's recent activity
-
Comment on The truth about AI (specifically LLM powered AI) in ~tech
-
Comment on The truth about AI (specifically LLM powered AI) in ~tech
Wes Link ParentI'm not sure who the ruling class is in this hypothetical (OpenAI?), but if the last three years have proven anything, it's that there is no moat when it comes to models. There's dozens of good...I'm not sure who the ruling class is in this hypothetical (OpenAI?), but if the last three years have proven anything, it's that there is no moat when it comes to models. There's dozens of good open-weight options available, allowing for all kinds of use cases that were thought impossible just a few years ago. And you can run them now, on your own PC.
Check out GLM Air, DeepSeek R1, GPT-OSS, Qwen, FLUX.2, Phi 4, and all the other great open models. There's no need to be reliant on any cloud service.
-
Comment on Five browser extensions to make every website more useful in ~tech
Wes Link ParentI understand Grammarly is popular with students. Many colleges and universities make it available to their students for free. I'd find it a little heavy for conversational use, but for more...I understand Grammarly is popular with students. Many colleges and universities make it available to their students for free. I'd find it a little heavy for conversational use, but for more serious writing I'd appreciate having a review pass.
As a heads up, you can set the default search engine, as well as custom search keywords in almost all browsers. So you may be able to drop the Kagi extension from your lineup.
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club 2025 retrospective in ~books
Wes Link ParentI'm seeing with 20/20 vision for the first time in my life. :)I'm seeing with 20/20 vision for the first time in my life. :)
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club 2025 retrospective in ~books
Wes Link ParentI can't believe I didn't mention Born a Crime in my comment. You're right, that was an incredible story. I'm not normally one for autobiographies, but I very much enjoyed it. I had corrective eye...I can't believe I didn't mention Born a Crime in my comment. You're right, that was an incredible story. I'm not normally one for autobiographies, but I very much enjoyed it.
I had corrective eye surgery in February, so all I could do was listen to audiobooks for a week or two straight. I finished that novel, plus all three Lord of the Rings books that month.
-
Comment on Tildes Book Club 2025 retrospective in ~books
Wes (edited )LinkAs for me, I was able to participate in about half the threads and enjoyed each book we selected. I'd say Hyperion was my standout novel, as I immediately went on to read its direct follow-up (The...As for me, I was able to participate in about half the threads and enjoyed each book we selected. I'd say Hyperion was my standout novel, as I immediately went on to read its direct follow-up (The Fall of Hyperion).
I also intend to revisit the Bobiverse series, which others members have raved about. I think they'll be good palette cleaners for me, read between other stories.
Finally, I really enjoyed Stories of Your Life and Others. I hope to read more of Ted Chiang's works, including Exhalation, which was suggested by @kfwyre in the discussion thread.
For 2026, I'm most looking forward to reading Nabokov. I find his style of writing particularly beautiful, and I'm excited to experience that with others.
e: Typo
-
Tildes Book Club 2025 retrospective
Here we are at the end of another year. This was our first full year of the Tildes Book Club, so congratulations are in order for reaching this milestone. Currently we're taking a well-earned...
Here we are at the end of another year. This was our first full year of the Tildes Book Club, so congratulations are in order for reaching this milestone. Currently we're taking a well-earned December break, until we return in January for more.
This year saw us reading more variety across both fiction and non-fiction, covering scifi, history, autobiographies, and short stories.
Here are some stats for 2025:
- Books Read: 11 (18 if counting short stories)
- Total Pages: 3,919
- Participants: 50 unique users (134 total participations)
- Total Comments: 456
- Nominations Submitted: 55
- Nomination Votes Cast: 233
The superlative awards:
- Most Discussed: Hyperion (68 comments)
- Deepest Discussion: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (averaged 5 comments per person)
- Longest Read: The Ministry for the Future (563 pages)
- Shortest Read: Elder Race (199 pages)
- Oldest Read: Cat's Cradle (published 1963)
The full list of 2025's discussions can be found here:
- Jan: The Ministry for the Future
- Feb: Born a Crime
- March: Hyperion
- April: Elder Race
- May: A People's Future of the United States
- June: A House with Good Bones
- July: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
- Aug: Cat's Cradle
- Sep: Stories of Your Life and Others
- Oct: The Poisoner's Handbook
- Nov: We are Legion (We are Bob)
Much thanks as always to @boxer_dogs_dance for organizing this club for us. We have a great lineup for 2026, including renowned authors like Kafka, Nabokov, and Pratchett.
Feel free to share your favourite Book Club reads from 2025, or what you're looking forward to in 2026.
14 votes -
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap in ~games
Wes Link ParentI can confirm that both are indeed awesome. Though since you're interested, let me just give a quick rundown on how to play mods safely. First, DS1: PTDE has no servers whatsoever. You're free to...I can confirm that both are indeed awesome. Though since you're interested, let me just give a quick rundown on how to play mods safely.
First, DS1: PTDE has no servers whatsoever. You're free to mod it to your heart's content.
All the other games with active servers (except Sekiro) have a concept called softbanning. This is when your Steam account is flagged, and you're put in an online lobby with other "bad players". You want to avoid this, especially if you do PvP or wish to coop with others.
There are two things that will trigger a softban:
- Connecting online with a modified game client.
- Connecting online with a save file with modded data.
So to safely mod your game, you'll need to stay offline completely until the mod is uninstalled. I strongly suggest using Steam offline mode for this, rather than the game's "Go offline" feature, just to ensure it doesn't connect without your permission.
You'll also want to back up your original save. As a Linux user, I'm sure you can handle that. Just remember to move or delete your modded save afterwards.
There are tools to automate this process like ModEngine. I haven't personally used it, nor do I know which platforms it supports, but it may be an option for you. Larger overhauls like Archthrones and the Seamless Coop mod also handle this for you by using a custom online server and storing save data separately. So those are a lot easier to install.
Daughters of Ash, I believe, is a regular mod. It unpacks some modded game files which you install to the game's directory. So if you're playing the version for DS1 Remaster (which has online servers), you'll need to be careful to avoid going online. Or the PTDE version is also available, if you don't mind 30 FPS (or you can add dsfix).
Out of paranoia, I tend to use a second account with Family Sharing turned on. I also temporarily hide the game from my regular library so I don't accidentally launch it from there. This helps ensure that the modded files are only ever opened from the second account. As a bonus, you can play mods in coop this way. The second account will be flagged and put on the naughty server, but you can still matchmake and exchange data with other players. I've done synced randomizers in multiplayer this way.
When you've finished your playthrough, be sure to remove all the mod files and your old save. I tend to just nuke the whole directory, as uninstalling via Steam will not always remove everything.
That's everything you need to know about how softbans work. It's a little scary, but if you take the proper precautions, you can go nuts in modding these games.
-
Comment on Is “green AI” even possible? in ~tech
Wes Link ParentArguably, most of the expensive processing (video decoding) is happening on the user's device. This allows them to distribute the work. At least in some communities, nuclear plants do charge...Netflix never had to build way more energy capacity available to run whatever it needed, let alone nuclear plants.
Arguably, most of the expensive processing (video decoding) is happening on the user's device. This allows them to distribute the work. At least in some communities, nuclear plants do charge user's smartphones.
OpenAI's work is entirely centralized, both for model training and chat inference. They accept all the power costs associated with that. Training will likely always be focused in data centers, but it seems plausible that inference will move to local use. New hardware made video decoding accessible to phones, and the same could be true of AI applications as well.
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap in ~games
Wes Link ParentAppreciate the tips on Ender Lilies. I definitely wouldn't have thought to farm previous bosses for upgrade materials, but it sounds like it makes a big difference. Dark Souls 1 is also one of my...Appreciate the tips on Ender Lilies. I definitely wouldn't have thought to farm previous bosses for upgrade materials, but it sounds like it makes a big difference.
Dark Souls 1 is also one of my favourites. It may in fact be my favourite game. I never got into the PvP scene as you did, but I did complete a number of challenge runs. Since then, I've also spent a fair bit of time modding the game to add new content, challenge, or just to shake things up.
-
Comment on Elite Dangerous discussion in ~games
Wes LinkI'm an on-again, off-again player. I have around 1,500 hours in-game, and have completed most of the grinds (engineering, reputation, guardian), so I mostly just try out new content as it becomes...I'm an on-again, off-again player. I have around 1,500 hours in-game, and have completed most of the grinds (engineering, reputation, guardian), so I mostly just try out new content as it becomes available.
I dropped the game for a few years at the release of Odyssey. That update tanked my performance, introduced some very buggy gameplay, and I was miffed that I never got credited for my pre-order items.
I finally came back for the showdown of cocijo and protection of Earth. It sort of reignited my passion for the game, and I played heavily for the next few months. Let me tell you, supercruise overdrive is a game changer
I'm now back to playing a little more casually, but I still participate in many of the community goals. I also recently completed a second trip to Colonia to finish pinning all my engineering blueprints.
My feelings are a little mixed on the current state of the game. I'm glad that Frontier is back to developing it, after they shifted focus to other properties for so many years. Colonization was a great update, and I'm glad that truckers can now create their own long-term goals.
I don't love that the game now includes pay-to-win elements. Being able to outright buy pre-engineered ships and even space stations just feels contrary to the original pitch of being a trailblazing upstart, working up from a Sidewinder to controlling a grand fleet. I know that's the realities of business, but it does feel like it cheapens the game.
As a whole, I feel things are in a better place now than they were five years ago. They lost a lot of their original dev team to attrition, but the new team focused on Elite seems to slowly be getting up to speed on the codebase, and are now making more substantial fixes and improvements. The "orbital lines" rendering bug was finally fixed in VR, and just this week the dumb Odyssey unit AI was improved. Hopefully soon they'll take a look at some of the anti-aliasing issues that have long plagued the game.
Elite continues to be my comfort game. I can always hop in to do a few missions, take down a pirate warlord, or work towards a community goal. The VR experience is bar none the most impressive sense of scale you can experience in a video game, and the community's dedication to creating custom tools and meta-narratives around the game is unmatched.
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap in ~games
Wes Link ParentOh wow, I completely missed your Gothic 1 write-up. You sneakily edited it in to an existing comment! I'm glad to hear you were able to get it running with a little troubleshooting. It's kind of...Oh wow, I completely missed your Gothic 1 write-up. You sneakily edited it in to an existing comment!
I'm glad to hear you were able to get it running with a little troubleshooting. It's kind of funny how common ".ini fixes" were as a troubleshooting method for older titles. It still comes up when I get my triennial urge to play Skyrim and need to make a few performance tweaks, too.
I'd definitely be curious to hear your thoughts on how Gothic 1 compares to the remake in the future. I have high hopes for all the patient fans out there that have been waiting.
Thanks for joining in the event, and I hope you have a good time with all these classics.
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap in ~games
Wes Link ParentI played Tails of Iron for my card as well, though I liked it a little more. Combat is decidedly heavy-feeling, which I can understand turning a lot of people off. Most modern soulslike games...I played Tails of Iron for my card as well, though I liked it a little more.
Combat is decidedly heavy-feeling, which I can understand turning a lot of people off. Most modern soulslike games focus on iframes, rapid dodges, and reactive gameplay.
For me, the slower combat of Tails of Iron reminded me of of Dark Souls 1, where it's more about reading the situation. You can't panic chug estus if you take a hit, as in later titles. You need to wait for an appropriate opening, balancing your spacing and stamina in the meantime to avoid a second hit.
I actually quite enjoy that more methodical approach to combat, so I found it appealing. But it took me a little while to adapt to the slower pace. The "Clubba" fight was basically my Asylum Demon, demanding I understand the flow of combat before moving on.
I do completely agree that gear is mostly just stat minmaxing, and adds little strategy. It's really just a matter of choosing your preferred weight breakpoint and optimizing around that.
Ender Lilies is still on my wishlist, but it sounds like something I'd enjoy as well. The art is gorgeous, at least in screenshots.
That is a shame it doesn't let you annotate the map. That feels like such an important feature in metroidvanias, especially those with expansive maps.
I know you played on PS5, but for my PC colleagues, Steam does now include a built-in Notes feature. It's certainly not as good as having built-in map annotations, but you can use it to record your current objectives, things to check back on later, etc. I find it especially helpful in metroidvanias, games where you balance many tasks (eg. Satisfactory), or those with long-term progression (eg. MMOs).
It looks like the Ender Lilies team have a new game out as well that looks quite promising. So that'll be one more for the eventual-backlog.
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap in ~games
Wes LinkWow, what an event! The contributions are always great, but I feel like the bar was somehow raised even further with this one. There were so many utterly brilliant comments made by all of our...Wow, what an event! The contributions are always great, but I feel like the bar was somehow raised even further with this one. There were so many utterly brilliant comments made by all of our contributors. I loved reading all of your thoughts, impressions, personal anecdotes, and even backstory/development history of some games.
I failed to send in any highlights this month, since I was so focused on finishing my own task on time, so I'd like to offer a few shoutouts now.
- @J-Chiptunator, for some seriously impressive write-ups across a range of platforms.
- @JCPhoenix, for playing a ton of games, only some of which were detective-themed! The Let's Plays were great, and add so much richness to your first impressions.
- @Evie, for showing us the platonic ideal to strive towards.
- @dannydotcafe, a big welcome to a new face who nailed the assignment.
- @CannibalisticApple, for lulling us in with sweet stories of Animal Crossing and Katamari before converting us to a strange new religion.
- @kfwyre, for a non-golf blackout with some of the strangest classic titles and indie picks around. Thank you as always for emceeing these threads for us!
- @aphoenix, who snagged a blackout win while also leaving tons of replies/interaction. I really appreciate the added liveliness you bring.
There is of course more, but I'm trying not to embarass everyone! I promise I've read every single comment you folks have shared.
November was a crazy month for me. I played 32 new games, and some of them I even finished. I set out with the plan of doing rapid-fire game sessions and write-ups, but found I naturally migrated back into my overly-loquacious habits. Whereas in week 1 my writeups averaged 200 words per game, by week 4 they'd ballooned to well over 500. Whoops! Task failed successfully.
I think I'll set more reasonable goals for myself in the future, but I'm also super proud of making more than a dent in my backlog this month. Even better, I found a bunch of games I enjoyed and will get to continue playing.
I'll include the four cards I completed this month, in checklist format for easier reading.
My complete games list
Category Entry ✅ Quantity Back 4 Blood ✅ Threshold Pistol Whip ✅ Faith Prodeus ✅ Fight Rollerdrome ✅ Aesthetic Cyber Hook ✅ Courage Paper Birds ✅ Unlock UNLOVED ✅ Bright Proteus Category Entry ✅ I I Expect You To Die ✅ F We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip ✅ S Shipwreck ✅ P Pumpkin Jack ✅ K Katamari Damacy REROLL ✅ O Out There: Ω Edition ✅ V Venba ✅ Z Zenith MMO Category Entry ✅ Soulslike Tails of Iron ✅ God game Paper Beast ✅ ARPG Titan Quest ✅ Horror Doki Doki Literature Club! ✅ Driving/piloting Starsector ✅ Dungeon crawler Lunacid ✅ Cozy A Bird Story ✅ Shop keeper Moonlighter Category Entry ✅ Focuses on exploration Manifold Garden ✅ From a series you have never played GOD EATER 3 ✅ Known for its real-world drama Wuchang: Fallen Feathers ✅ Randomness determines your fate Golfie ✅ Same number of letters as your username Hoa ✅ From now-defunct dev studio Thief Gold ✅ From a studio you haven't heard of before Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn ✅ Has a time limit The Forgotten City Since my write-ups, I've now completed Manifold Garden, and put another three or four hours into Carnivores. I'll bag that T-Rex yet.
My pick of the month goes to Venba, which came as a complete surprise to me. It was a heartfelt story that really resonated, and gave me some cultural awareness that I really appreciated. I don't know that I'd ever have tried it if not for rolling the letter "V" by chance, but I'm glad I did. That's one thing I appreciate about the bingo card system -- it can turn us onto content that we'd never have experienced otherwise.
Other picks also left a lasting impression for me, including I Expect You To Die (superlative VR experience), A Bird Story (decidedly poignant), and Doki Doki Literature Club! (uniquely disquieting).
I plan to return to The Forgotten City next, where I'm excited to resume my investigation. Tails of Iron and Wuchang are also both waiting for me afterwards.
It's been an intense, yet fulfilling month, folks. Thanks for helping to make this event what it is. I'll see you all around the site, and for our next Backlog Burner in May!
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Wes Link ParentWoohoo, look at all that green! I swear, I'd never even heard of No One Lives Forever until a few months ago. I must have been Baader-Meinhof'd though, because it now seems that everyone is...Woohoo, look at all that green!
I swear, I'd never even heard of No One Lives Forever until a few months ago. I must have been Baader-Meinhof'd though, because it now seems that everyone is talking about it. It was the 25-year anniversary recently, so that may have fired up the fanbase.
I'm glad that PC preservationists have stepped in to make the game available. I don't always love using "abandonware" as a justification for piracy, but in this case, I think it's completely appropriate. If the publishers involved are so far removed that they don't even know if they own the game, then I'm not convinced they deserve to profit from it 25 years later.
I know from past threads that we're both waiting patiently for Agent 64, but I'm delighted to learn of another like-game in the meantime.
Nice working on getting in your blackout bingo, just under the wire.
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Wes Link ParentWell done on the golfing bingo! Not to mention crossing so many long-term games off your backlog. Those can feel the most satisfying to turn in. Between Eastward, Cassette Beasts, and Katamari,...Well done on the golfing bingo! Not to mention crossing so many long-term games off your backlog. Those can feel the most satisfying to turn in.
Between Eastward, Cassette Beasts, and Katamari, you shared a lot of overlap with other backloggers this event. I really enjoyed reading about games from multiple perspectives, so that was a lot of fun.
Catch you soon in the final recap thread!
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Wes Link ParentOh my god, you've gone off the rails, Kefir! Madness has descended and words no longer have any meaning. This reality is failing before our very eyes. Okay, but interesting pick. I had a quick...I bought new shoes ... and I was surprised at how comfortable they were. [marks game as Comfortable]
Oh my god, you've gone off the rails, Kefir! Madness has descended and words no longer have any meaning. This reality is failing before our very eyes.
Okay, but interesting pick. I had a quick look at the developer's page, and they've actually produced a handful of very competent looking indie games. It's a bit of a shame that none of them seem to have sold very well, but it's also gratifying to know they keep trying. Best of luck to you, Somepx!
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Wes Link ParentManifold Garden - What will you grow? A mind-bending, surrealist experience; Manifold Garden is a living Escher painting. Like a painting, the world is stunning to look at. The scenery seemingly...Manifold Garden - What will you grow?
A mind-bending, surrealist experience; Manifold Garden is a living Escher painting.
Like a painting, the world is stunning to look at. The scenery seemingly stretches on forever, daring you to jump. The minimalist architecture is punctuated by bold colours that draw the eye and signal puzzle design.
You might be reminded of another minimalist game, Antichamber. The influence is unmistakable, and they both make use of non-Euclidean spaces and screen wrapping to create impossible landscapes. However, where Antichamber is fundamentally a block manipulation game, Manifold Garden is all about directing gravity.
Players can interact with a nearby wall to make it their new floor. Each direction has an associated colour, which is the only way to really orient yourself. There is no canonical "up" here. Most objects are colour-coded too, and can only be manipulated when you're standing on a floor of a matching colour.
I think of the world like a hollow Rubik's Cube: you can stand on the inside of a coloured face and interact with objects of that colour. When you move to a different face, gravity flips as if you're rotating the cube.
I found myself getting more familiar with the constant reorientation as I played. Indeed, the most efficient way to move is often by flipping gravity and falling down a hallway rather than walking the distance. As a result, I imagine this game has some very impressive speedruns.
The puzzles have been well-designed so far. Most haven't been too difficult, but a few had me scratching my head. I appreciate that they require you to actually solve them, as you're unlikely to walk into a solution by accident. That's definitely the hallmark of great puzzle design.
As there's no tutorial, you learn the rules through experimentation. New mechanics are introduced as you progress which gradually increases complexity. From what I've seen, the problem space appears quite large.
I'm submitting this one under the category "Focuses on exploration", though mostly due to its exploration of mechanics rather than environs.
Manifold Garden is a unique, abstract puzzler that tickled my brain in just the right way. You might like it, too!
(: ¡unɟ ǝʌɐH
GOD EATER 3 - A dangerous morsel.
I went into this one completely blind. What the heck is a "God Eater"?
I would describe this one as Monster Hunter lite. It doesn't quite have the mechanical complexity of the MH series, but it's well above that of a typical hack'n slash.
For MH vets, the gameplay loop will feel familiar. You fight large monsters called Aragami using oversized weapons. Monsters drop parts, which you use to craft and upgrade your gear. Each weapon type has a distinct yet complex moveset.
I tried a handful of weapons and found I liked the responsiveness of the scythe. For ranged weapons, the shotgun seemed a good choice for fast damage. This was not easy to test, though, as the NPC allies were so overpowered they'd often solo the early-game monsters while I was still figuring out the controls.
The game is mission-based, with story advancing through cutscenes after each outing. It takes a while to get going, and you're stuck in tutorial mode for the first two hours or so. This is somewhat justified, as the game does throw a lot of mechanics at you.
One big difference from Monster Hunter is the art style. God Eater 3 is unabashedly anime. From the opening cinematic, the game hits you with a high-intensity animation that really gets the blood pumping.
I was generally impressed with the music, animations, and art style. Though being an anime game, the body proportions are also about what you'd expect.
The character creator was fairly limited, with the notable exception of the voice options. I was given a whopping 20 voices to choose from, and each one sounded great. It's a small thing, but I was honestly impressed.
One thing that didn't impress me was the new player experience. Before getting control over your character, you need to click through roughly 50 popups. They were mostly patch notes from previous versions of the game, but it really breaks the introduction's flow.
All in all, I enjoyed it. It scratches that monster-hunting itch in a completely new universe, and really picks up once you leave the tutorial. I expect to play more in the coming weeks.
This one is going under the category "From a series you've never played", because it's from a series I've never played. But who knows -- maybe I'll tackle the other installments some day.
Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn - Clever girl.
I remember playing Deer Hunter II on Windows 98. I was a kid at the time, and never very good at it. I'm not even sure I ever had a successful hunt, but I kept coming back. I'd set up my tree stand, cover myself in buck urine, and watch the treeline.
Looking back, it seems the late '90s were a golden era for hunting sims. 1998 saw the release of Deer Hunter, Cabela's Big Game Hunter, and today's focus, Carnivores.
Carnivores has gone through many iterations. The original game, developed by Action Forms, released in '98 and was followed by three sequels over the next few years. Later, mobile developer Tatem Games revived it for iOS and Android as Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter, and also released an HD version for the PS3.
The version I played, Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn, came out in 2015 for PC. Developed by Digital Dreams Entertainment in partnership with Tatem Games, it's an enhanced version of the HD PS3 release.
Finally, Digital Dreams produced a Unity-based version titled Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunt in 2021. Unfortunately, this meant the previous version was delisted from Steam.
Carnivores has certainly been around. However, since I wasn't familiar with any of these studios, I feel comfortable slotting this under "From a studio you haven't heard of before".
So what does a 90s-PC-title–turned-mobile-game–turned-PC-game look like? Well, about what you'd expect: rudimentary gameplay, a UI with giant buttons, few graphical settings, and currencies displayed as bubbly gem and crown sprites.
I also really liked it.
All the positive memories I had with Deer Hunter II came flooding back to me as I tracked my prey. Sure, a stegosaurus is a pretty big deer, but the careful, methodical approach hunting requires just felt right. It was almost like I was camping out in a tree again, covered in urine. It was a great feeling.
The hunting gameplay is actually pretty solid, at least for the era. Sound and smell can alert dinosaurs to your presence, meaning you need to move slowly and stay downwind.
Your aim is pretty shaky after running, but you can steady it by holding your breath. Aim for the soft organs, usually in the forward belly region, for a clean kill.
To ethically hunt dinosaurs, one also needs to buy a license. This is one of the primary methods of progression, as higher-tier dinosaurs are worth more points.
Here's where I complain though. The balance in the point system still feels very much like a mobile game: unlocking guns, tools, and licenses is painfully slow. I don't know whether the developers simply removed all the pay-to-win features without rebalancing, or if it was even worse before. Either way, the current rates are glacial, and I'd happily triple them.
Still, this could make a very decent podcast- or audiobook-friendly game. It doesn't require a ton of attention - except when going in for the kill - and it's relatively low stakes. I had a good time with it, and expect to return to the hunt soon.
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Wes Link ParentGood rec on Roadwarden. I find the two-tone color palette really charming as well. They still utilize shading and other techniques, so the effect comes off as stylized yet detailed. I think I'm...Good rec on Roadwarden. I find the two-tone color palette really charming as well. They still utilize shading and other techniques, so the effect comes off as stylized yet detailed.
I think I'm already on my "third chance" with Noita. It's a game I want to like so badly, but it just doesn't click for me. I guess I need to watch some tutorials to figure out the wand building, because my experience basically echoes your own: death, death, death.
I still find their falling sand engine to be incredibly impressive, and I hope they continue to work with it, and maybe create a second game using the technology. Their wizard character would also feel right at home in a puzzle game that that employs different elements, or even a more traditional action RPG.
Ah, but knowing me, I'll probably give Noita another try yet. Fourth time's the charm?
-
Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
Wes Link ParentI was at first surprised by the the steampunk theme in the menu, thinking it seemed unusual for a stealth game. I'd assumed it was just another example of 90s software being really into...I was at first surprised by the the steampunk theme in the menu, thinking it seemed unusual for a stealth game. I'd assumed it was just another example of 90s software being really into skeuomorphism. But as I played, I kept seeing gears and steam pumps everywhere, and eventually realized it was a huge part of the game world.
You're 100% right about the control presets. It seems there's a bunch of them made available by default. Whoops. Oh well, at least I learned the key functions well by manually going over each of them.
The Forgotten City is definitely one of my standouts from this event so far. Do check it out if you get the chance. I'm even willing to forgive you for the irony of forgetting it.
Even if one doesn't have the hardware to run a high-level model like that, there's many hosted alternatives available such as OpenRouter. Since the models are freely available, companies need to compete on price to host them, and as a result it's actually pretty affordable to use even the best models. R1 is famously cheap to use.
Realistically though, smaller and flash models still work great for a large number of tasks. The big models are really only needed for difficult problems. Think major refactors, not boilerplate.