kfwyre's recent activity
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Comment on Tildes Survey #2: What country do you live in? (Results) in ~talk
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentBlue Maiden (played via Indie Pass) This game is another horror walking sim, though it's much more upfront about that than Vartio. It's got all the tropes you expect: dim environments, maze-like...Blue Maiden (played via Indie Pass)
This game is another horror walking sim, though it's much more upfront about that than Vartio. It's got all the tropes you expect: dim environments, maze-like corridors, a flashlight, unsettling sounds, jumpscares.
Plot wise, it focuses on a tradition that happens every 25 years where the blue maiden ritual must be completed in order to not enter the red purgatory (not the exact name, but I can't remember what it was).
Unfortunately, this one left me cold.
I feel bad for criticizing it, as it's another solo dev project and I want to encourage those, but I found the whole game to be unfulfilling. The exploration and puzzles are rudimentary and the lore is sparse. I saw it through to the end given that it's quite short (maybe an hour and a half?), but I don't feel like that paid off for me.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #2: What country do you live in? (Results) in ~talk
kfwyre Link ParentThose visualizations are excellent, Bauke. Outstanding work!Those visualizations are excellent, Bauke. Outstanding work!
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentGood to know! And it’s quite possible that my issues with Donna were simply a result of me being bad at games. I’m legitimately terrible at most of them.Good to know!
And it’s quite possible that my issues with Donna were simply a result of me being bad at games. I’m legitimately terrible at most of them.
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Comment on Questions for ~books on self promotion in ~books
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Comment on Tildes Survey #3: What country were you born in? in ~talk
kfwyre Link ParentHey, that’s my idea!* No fair! Give it back! (Seriously though, please add me to the list. 😁) *This isn’t actually true. I can no longer remember who either suggested or did the first notification...Hey, that’s my idea!* No fair! Give it back!
(Seriously though, please add me to the list. 😁)
*This isn’t actually true. I can no longer remember who either suggested or did the first notification comment like that, but it wasn’t me. I just adopted the practice.
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Comment on Indie Pass, a PC subscription service for indie games to launch on April 13, 2026 in ~games
kfwyre LinkIf anyone's who's subscribed is feeling like trying something out: The game Aris Arcanum is quite beautiful and is very clearly trying to follow in the footsteps of Hades. I really like it....If anyone's who's subscribed is feeling like trying something out:
The game Aris Arcanum is quite beautiful and is very clearly trying to follow in the footsteps of Hades. I really like it.
Unfortunately, it's consistently softlocking whenever I get to the first boss. (Well, I think it’s first boss. It’s a red door after a shop.)
As soon as I enter the room, I get a black screen. I can still move my cursor, and I can hear sound effects when I attack/move, but other than that it just stays there until I Alt+F4.
None of the Steam reviews mention this, so I'm wondering if it's an issue with the Indie Pass build specifically, or if it's unique to me/my hardware.
If anyone wants to try out the game and see if you can actually get to the first boss rather than a black screen, that would be good information to have. Plus, I think you would like the game itself! I really liked what I played so far and am frustrated that I can't play more!
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentAris Arcanum (played via Indie Pass) This one hurts a bit, as I think this game has the potential to be quite excellent, but I also can't keep playing it because it consistently soft-locks for me...Aris Arcanum (played via Indie Pass)
This one hurts a bit, as I think this game has the potential to be quite excellent, but I also can't keep playing it because it consistently soft-locks for me at the first boss. The game doesn't hard crash, but I get tossed into a black screen with a working cursor and sound effects.
Aesthetically, the game is gorgeous. Think "Art Deco Hades". Lots of gold, strongly geometric. Altogether beautiful.
Gameplay-wise, it also takes nods from Hades and probably follows it a little too closely in terms of design. If the game were made with less care, I would think it was simply trying to be a cheap cash-in or fast-follow, but it's clear that this game was made with love.
Instead of weapons, you get spells. There are a few set base spells, of which you can get up to four. Over the course of the run, you unlock modifiers that make incremental changes to the nature of these spells. No one modifier is that significant on its own, but you can stack them up to make some pretty powerful builds in the way that incremental changes can snowball with the right accumulation.
Or, at least, this is the promise of the game. I didn't get to follow through fully on it because of the aforementioned softlocking. I initially thought it was just a coincidence, but I've now done three runs to the first boss, each of which ends up in the same black screen.
Similar to what happened with Donna, none of the game's Steam reviews mention this at all, which makes me wonder if the Indie Pass build isn't up to date.
Also, given that I've now had technical issues with two games, it makes me wonder if there's something up with Indie Pass itself? Like, maybe these builds were tested on Steam and worked there, but when run without Steam, something gets mixed up? I don't know enough about software development to know if that possibility even makes sense.
I'm certainly a strong conclusion to draw from very little evidence, I just find it odd that it's happened twice so far.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentMy friend's wife doesn't really game at all, but she does love Greek mythology. On our encouraging, she picked up Hades for a quick run while we were hanging out together. The next time I saw her,...My friend's wife doesn't really game at all, but she does love Greek mythology.
On our encouraging, she picked up Hades for a quick run while we were hanging out together.
The next time I saw her, she had a dedicated Hades notebook where she was tracking all of her progress through the game, trying to 100% it. She got fully sucked in.
The game does a lot right, but one of its best features is that you progress on like, ten different fronts at the same time. A lot of other games have a single currency for metaprogression, so you just go back to base, pick something from the upgrade list, and then dive back in with that one thing being the only real change. Hades, on the other hand, dripfeeds you progress through boons, items, characters, story. It's sort of a masterclass in embedding a reward schedule in a game that feels organic so that it does its job of hooking you without ever feeling cheap (or, like many other games, predatory).
And yeah, Supergiant always crushes it with music. Like you, I've listened to their soundtracks far more than I've played their games. I still go back to the Bastion soundtrack, and I've probably heard that thing 100+ times in my life.
My friend's wife is currently working on Hades II with an equal gusto to the first. In fact, her not being a gamer led to a very funny conversation with her husband that we got to witness back when it was released in Early Access.
She's the kind of person who puts a lot of stock in a "release" of something, staying up until midnight to stream a new album or going to the store as soon as it opens to get a new book she wants. Also, she was itching for more Hades after she did complete the first one 100% and filled out everything in her notebook.
Because she's not really a gamer, she had no concept of what Early Access was, so the conversation went something like this:
Her: "So Hades II is out."
Him: "Yes, but you won't want to play it right now."
Her: "Why wouldn't I want to play it?"
Him: "Because it's not finished, and you'll get frustrated by not being able to complete everything."
Her: "But it's out."
Him: "Yes, but it's not done."
Her: "Why would they put it out if it's not done?"
Him: "So that they can work on things, fix stuff, add new content."
Her: "Why wouldn't they do that before they release it?"
Him: "Because that's part of how they work on the game?"
Her: "But don't they work on it before they release it?"
Him: "Yes, but they're also working on it now."
Her: "So, let me get this straight: the game is out, I can buy it right now and start playing it, but it's not anywhere close to finished. Instead I should just wait until some undetermined point in the future when it’s finally actually done to buy and play it, even though I could go ahead and buy it and play it right now?”
Him: "Exactly."
Her: "THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE."I'm not saying this to make fun of her in the slightest. I thought she actually made some great points!
If you compare game releases to any other media, Early Access doesn't really compute, because a book or movie or album releases in a complete, final state. It's really only with games that we end up in that situation, and it truly is baffling from an outside perspective.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentI thought Q.U.B.E. was okay but Q.U.B.E. 2 was genuinely excellent. The first game feels like a proof-of-concept for the second, which feels like an actual, full-fat game with great puzzles and...I thought Q.U.B.E. was okay but Q.U.B.E. 2 was genuinely excellent.
The first game feels like a proof-of-concept for the second, which feels like an actual, full-fat game with great puzzles and less frustrating execution.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentI played this one way back in the day! I don't remember much about it, except that I had to essentially sequence-break a puzzle because the game was having issues letting me solve it the intended...I played this one way back in the day! I don't remember much about it, except that I had to essentially sequence-break a puzzle because the game was having issues letting me solve it the intended way.
I can't remember exactly what I did, but I think I was able to hop up on a wall and over a barrier or something?
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - April 2026 - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See in ~books
kfwyre Link ParentIt did! Helped me appreciate the care and effort that the author put into getting things right.It did! Helped me appreciate the care and effort that the author put into getting things right.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - April 2026 - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See in ~books
kfwyre Link ParentI thought the argument between Ci-teh and Li-yan was one of the most compelling scenes in the book. It could have easily been a simple "right vs. wrong" disagreement, but See layered a lot into it...I thought the argument between Ci-teh and Li-yan was one of the most compelling scenes in the book. It could have easily been a simple "right vs. wrong" disagreement, but See layered a lot into it to make it more complex. Li-yan is an outsider, yet wants to hold to tradition; Ci-teh is an insider, yet is embracing change. Li-yan is trying to promote honesty with nothing but a promise to back that up; Ci-teh is being dishonest but that's backed by her actually improving the material conditions of the people in the village.
It made that scene, and the dynamics of both characters, a lot more layered and interesting.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - April 2026 - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See in ~books
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentIt gave lots of interesting background information, both cultural and economic. It felt like See really did her homework and thoroughly researched a lot, and I think it says a lot about her skills...It gave lots of interesting background information, both cultural and economic. It felt like See really did her homework and thoroughly researched a lot, and I think it says a lot about her skills as an author that she deftly worked that information into the story without it feeling shoehorned in or out of place.
Personally speaking, I bought a cheap box of pu'er tea bags out of mere curiosity given its significant presence in the book, but I've enjoyed it enough that I might get back into drinking tea in general (which I haven't done for, oh, a decade or so now?). I'm trying to be healthier in general as I get older, and regular tea-drinking seems like a good healthy habit to have.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - April 2026 - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See in ~books
kfwyre Link ParentIn the support group scene, the therapist uses "grateful-but-angry" as a label for the girls to reflect how they had to grapple with the dissonance between living a life of comparable privilege...In the support group scene, the therapist uses "grateful-but-angry" as a label for the girls to reflect how they had to grapple with the dissonance between living a life of comparable privilege while also being disconnected from their roots and othered in an unfamiliar culture. Haley later comes to the conclusion that she's grateful AND angry, rather than "but," letting the two feelings co-exist.
When I read this, it pinged for me immediately as a crystallization of my own complicated relationship with my parents. I immediately searched the phrase online to see if "grateful but angry" is like, a well-established therapeutic concept or something, and was quite surprised to see that it wasn't and instead seems to be constructed for the novel.
I'm not Chinese, nor was I adopted, but I grew up as a closeted gay kid in a very conservative Christian family and culture, so the feelings of othering, of being an outsider, of wondering about your personal worth, were immediately familiar and resonant to me. My parents were "good parents" in that they were relatively wealthy, I didn't want for anything, they were present and tried to instill good values in me, and I had plenty of opportunity. For this, I genuinely am grateful.
But I'm also angry. I grew up in a culture and a family that cut me off from understanding who I was, judged me harshly, and did immeasurable harm to me.
I did struggle a lot with the dissonance between those two things when I was younger, because it felt like one should negate the other. How could I be appreciative of people that harmed me? How could I be angry about people that helped me?
I ended up settling into the "grateful and angry" coexistence that Haley did, without ever putting explicit words to it. I see it as a matter of the general complexity of life and the fact that multiple things can be true simultaneously: my parents were good parents, and my parents also hurt me. These are not mutually exclusive, nor do they negate one another.
I think I'm able to live in this now in part because my parents have "come around" for the most part. I don't think they'll ever be holding pride flags or anything, and I think they still harbor the same core beliefs about homosexuality that they always have, but I also have to acknowledge that they were and are, from their own internal belief system, acting in the ways they think were best for me at the time. They've also chosen, over time, to prioritize maintaining our relationship over their concerns for me, which I know genuinely does carry a cost for them.
Of course, I'm still hurt because this means that they'll never have a full accounting for or understanding of the ways that they did hurt me. That stings, and still does, decades later. I've mostly made peace with it not out of any conscious decision to but because it's better to tune out a constant, low-burn bother than to allow it to offset every single day. I don't think they'll ever consciously know the full extent of the "angry" part of me.
Of course, they see the flipside and think that I'm not grateful enough. They can point to days, months, YEARS of conscious, present parenting and support and want that accounted for. And they're right, that should carry some genuine weight. I'm sure they think that I'll never fully understand or appreciate how much they did do for me. The grateful and angry situation looks different depending on the perspective, and I don't think it's one that will ever fully be in balance. Instead, we've reached a sort of detente that has allowed us to rebuild different relationships than the ones we used to have.
In the novel, we don't fully get Haley's perspective over time. Instead we get glimpses here and there. The "grateful but angry" line was where I went from "hmmm, I wonder who Haley is" to "oh I know exactly who she is" in my understanding. Her situation is admittedly different than mine, but the core feeling that defines her is, I feel, nearly identical.
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Comment on Tildes Book Club discussion - April 2026 - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See in ~books
kfwyre LinkThe past two mornings, I have awoken early (due to sleep quality issues, unfortunately). Each morning, I made myself a cup of pu'er tea and sat down to read the book, finally finishing it this...The past two mornings, I have awoken early (due to sleep quality issues, unfortunately).
Each morning, I made myself a cup of pu'er tea and sat down to read the book, finally finishing it this morning.
The first time I made pu'er tea, there was a smell note I didn't like despite liking the tea overall. Either I've gotten used to it with subsequent cups, or I simply can't smell it because my spring allergies are active in full force.
Consequently, sitting down with the tea and a book has been a genuinely wonder way to ease into the day, and, honestly, I could see pu'er tea being my new go-to in the morning (currently I drink a mostly decaffeinated instant coffee, but the tea tastes better). I'm not one for ritual or believing that drinking tea has history or anything, but I have to admit that doing this made me more relaxed and at peace than I normally am. Maybe there really is something more to tea?
The ending of the book caught me by surprise. I think it hit at 91 or 92% completed on my ereader, so I really thought I had more runway for a denouement. There are so many questions left unanswered! I can see why the author ended it that way though. Despite having a strong skepticism towards plot-convenient coincidences, it really was a magical ending (and the author's note specifically talks about Akha belief about coincidences, so I'm even more willing to suspend disbelief).
I got a little choked up. I do wish it had been told from Li-yan's perspective rather than Haley's, because I was so much more connected to her character, but it was a magical moment and a compelling thematic closure all on its own.
I thought the author made some really smart choices in the writing of the book. A few that come to mind:
- Having the interstitials about Haley --giving glimpses of her growing up but never really inviting us into her life -- kept her as a constant presence in the book but not one that you felt like you really knew, which is exactly how Li-yan felt.
- Detailing the trajectory of China's unprecedented economic growth in such a short period of time, and using it to set up one of the central tensions of the book: the pull between maintaining tradition versus adapting to rapid change.
- The writing kept a good pace throughout, zooming in on specific moments when it needed to then pulling back to let time pass when it needed to. There were moments where I got the initial pangs of feeling that the book was starting to drag, but it always righted itself.
- There's a lot of subtext baked into the story. Like, Li-yan never outright admits that she and/or her husband are exploiting people in their pursuit of money, especially because, by the standards of the time, people's quality of living was genuinely being raised, but there was a note about one of her warehouses or factories being surrounded by barbed wire that hinted at it. There are other small nods to different unspoken things throughout the book that I can't remember directly, but I thought overall the author did a good job of writing from Li-yan's perspective and keeping her thoughts front and center, all while hinting at things that Li-yan either didn't necessarily realize or didn't want to admit to herself.
As a white guy who's never been to China nor even heard of Akha people prior to this book, I'm not one to judge its actual authenticity. What I will say is that I thought the author did a good job of making it feel authentic to an outside observer, and also created consistency and throughlines with Akha traditions and beliefs. It felt like Akha identity was central to the novel, rather than being window dressing or a shallow plot device.
Quite coincidentally, I recently read a book that was a great complement to this one: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. It's a nonfiction/memoir book that details three generations of women in China: the author, her mother, and her grandmother (very similar to A-ma, Li-yan, and Haley in this book). Her grandmother lived as a concubine with bound feet, and the story of her life and the lives of her daughter and great granddaughter progresses through to the Great Leap Forward, the Great Leap Forward, and beyond (it was published in 1991). It gives a lot of background information and cultural landscape that helped me to appreciate this book. It also says a lot about the role of women and their inter-generational differences, which was a focus of this book as well.
If it sounds interesting, I can recommend it, with two caveats:
- It is very long.
- It is very dark.
As in, if you were bothered by the infanticide in the beginning of this book, then I recommend steering clear of Wild Swans.
Overall, Tea Girl wasn't a book I would have ever chosen to read on my own, but I'm really glad it got chosen because I think it's quite excellent overall. I have a few qualms with things (e.g. I thought the writing from the perspective of Li-yan was far stronger than the writing from the perspective of Haley), but overall I think it's a beautiful story covers a lot of ground and feels firmly rooted in real-world information and experiences.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentWelcome back, 1338! I still have fond memories of you absolutely beasting your way through the May 2025 Backlog Burner. Also, playing a game from a 30 cent bundle from 10 years ago is like, the...Welcome back, 1338! I still have fond memories of you absolutely beasting your way through the May 2025 Backlog Burner.
Also, playing a game from a 30 cent bundle from 10 years ago is like, the platonic ideal of a Backlog Burner choice. Love it.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentAssault on Proxima (played via Indie Pass) On a Flow card, it can sometimes take a lot of thinking to figure out where to best slot a game. Not so with this one. It was an immediate lock for...Assault on Proxima (played via Indie Pass)
On a Flow card, it can sometimes take a lot of thinking to figure out where to best slot a game.
Not so with this one. It was an immediate lock for STYLE.
The game looks GREAT -- flat polygonal environments with expressive colors and lighting. Think: Borderlands aesthetic meets System Shock vibes with Halo game feel. It's hard to overstate how much I'm into it.
The game is meant to be a co-op FPS, although Indie Pass has a disclaimer on the game page telling you that it is single-player only on Indie Pass and that, if you want to play multiplayer, you need to "visit your preferred digital games storefront."
The game definitely suffers from being played solo. I don't think it's balanced for it, so you are quite vulnerable and die very easily. That didn't stop me from throwing myself at it over and over again, hoping to lock in the next checkpoint before dying so that I could progress through it bit by bit.
As I was doing this, I realized that the game has a design aspect that kind of kills it for me: enemies continue to respawn indefinitely. I want levels I can clear out and areas I can make safe, but in this game it'll just keep throwing baddies at you indefinitely. During a 4-player co-op session this probably keeps things lively and isn't too much of a problem, but during solo I grew to loathe it.
This ended up being a perverse incentive for how I played the rest of the game. If the enemies are constantly spawning, then killing them doesn't really have an effect. So, what I ended up doing was just rushing the objectives in each level, killing enemies only when I had to secure a point briefly or when the game throws a boss at you.
I then realized partway through this that I was effectively speedrunning the game, and I wanted to see what the times for it were like. So, I checked in on speedrun.com leaderboards only to find out that the game isn't even listed on the site. For a brief moment I thought I was possibly the first person in the world to have speedrun the game, but that illusion was shattered when I checked in on the game's Steam forums and saw that other people had clued into the "just run past everyone" strategy I was using.
That said, on the extremely rare chance that any speedrunners are reading this: the world record for this game is currently up for grabs! No times have been posted at all! It could be yours!
Outside of the aesthetics, I'll also say the levels impressed me with how robust they were (except for the first one, which isn't good). They get bigger, better, and more exciting as you progress through the game, almost as if the level designers were skilling up as they developed it and you can track their mastery via the campaign.
I could see this being something fun to drop into and finish in a few hours with friends. I don't think there's a lot that would keep people coming back to it -- it's got that old-school design of "play through the levels and you're done." No leveling up, no upgrades, no unlocks, no seasons, etc. Sometimes you just want something to be done though, instead of being constantly on the hook through dripfeed incentives, and this is a good fit for that.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre (edited )Link ParentVartio (played via Indie Pass) This is a short, minimalistic horror walking sim. You can finish it in under 30 minutes. To talk about why I put it in the absence category would effectively amount...Vartio (played via Indie Pass)
This is a short, minimalistic horror walking sim. You can finish it in under 30 minutes.
To talk about why I put it in the absence category would effectively amount to spoilers, so I'll simply say that I thought it did a decent job at being a slow-burn, atmospheric horror. I generally like something that tries to build up creepiness over time rather than relying on jumpscares, but I think this game actually does it TOO slowly. It gets a little long in the tooth in places, which feels weird to say about a game with such a short runtime. Boredom started to creep in for me.
The game's sound design is its standout. If the game's graphics are minimalistic, the game's sound is understated maximalism and does most of the lifting in the game. The game opens with synthesized speech that automatically put me on edge and does a great job of immediately setting an unsettling tone.
I wouldn't exactly recommend the game, as there isn't a lot of meat on its bones, but I do think it's cleverly executed and goes for a more understated horror than most, which I can appreciate as someone who likes to be unsettled but doesn't really liked to be scared.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
kfwyre Link ParentI'm not sure if there are any platform exclusives, but I guess I'll find out as I continue to play different titles on it. So far, every one that I've played has been published by indie.io (the...I'm not sure if there are any platform exclusives, but I guess I'll find out as I continue to play different titles on it. So far, every one that I've played has been published by indie.io (the company who runs Indie Pass). They also publish on Steam, so I assume most if not all have Steam releases too.
I'm wondering if indie.io is hoping to get other indie publishers on board with Indie Pass, or if it's intended to essentially be a launcher for (most of) their catalog (there are some games they published on Steam that aren't on Indie Pass, though it's possible they are saving those for later).
The third one is obviously ████ ██████.