kfwyre's recent activity

  1. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    It turns out Phoenix Wright was unavailable, so the court has now appointed Jayjay Falcon to represent you. However, you might not need him, as “playing it for the crabs” is a genuinely...

    It turns out Phoenix Wright was unavailable, so the court has now appointed Jayjay Falcon to represent you.

    However, you might not need him, as “playing it for the crabs” is a genuinely bulletproof defense. No jury would ever convict on such grounds!

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Audible mandating authors transition to new royalty system or lose payments in ~books

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    How is this the first time I’m hearing about the QLL?! What an awesome resource! Thanks for the pointer, moocow. They just got a new signup.

    How is this the first time I’m hearing about the QLL?! What an awesome resource!

    Thanks for the pointer, moocow. They just got a new signup.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I Am Legion: Stand Survivors (played via Steam) Well, now that we know that u/aphoenix has been secretly playing games this whole time, I feel like I should come clean and admit that I've been...

    I Am Legion: Stand Survivors (played via Steam)

    Well, now that we know that u/aphoenix has been secretly playing games this whole time, I feel like I should come clean and admit that I've been playing this Steam game the whole time, despite my promise to focus on non-Steam games.

    Did I do it as a brilliant pre-planned ruse like aphoenix did?

    Of course not. I lack the guile.

    Instead, it happened for a far more pragmatic reason: every day I walk on my treadmill, and I need a game with simple inputs and an engaging loop to play while I do it. The simple inputs mean I don't ever lose my balance (I've tried playing a platformer while walking and it did not go well), and the engaging loop takes my mind off the fact that I'm exercising and makes an hour of sweaty intensity feel far shorter.

    So, this game is what I've been playing all month while exercising, and it's only now that I feel comfortable adding it to the Backlog Burner given that I really did fill my whole card with non-Steam games like I said I would.

    The game is a bullet heaven, which I can now say officially because that finally got a Steam tag. In the multitudinous pantheon of Vampire Survivors followers, this one is genuinely pretty good (and it's made in Godot, which I always love). The premise is that you have your own player character, but you can also recruit up to 8 others to join your legion. The game calls these "stands" (hence the name).

    The stands themselves follow a 2048-style upgrade path where you can combine copies into one to make them more powerful, then combine copies of those copies to move them up another tier. This is neat, but there are also chains where you combine different ones to produce all new and far more impressive stands, similar to the weapon evolutions in VS.

    Game-wise, this one's a slower burn than some of the other bullet heavens I played. You get a tiny amount of progression after each run. Rather than being able to come back in and spend your metacredits on a ton of upgrades, you might get one or two total. It makes for a very gradual start, requiring a decent amount of time put in before you start to really get to the most interesting part of the game (unlocking the stands that require more complex combinations).

    If I weren't playing it on the treadmill I probably wouldn't have stuck with it, but the slow in-game progression matches my slow actual IRL fitness progression, as I inch my way towards being healthier and, hopefully, more fit. In this way, I like its vibe. Its very... dare I say it... mellow.

    I'd recommend it if you're in the market for a solid bullet heaven and have already played through the mainstays of the genre. It's not a must play, but it holds its own.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I’M SCREAMING YOU UTTERLY MAGNIFICENT FIREBIRD

    I’M SCREAMING YOU UTTERLY MAGNIFICENT FIREBIRD

    2 votes

  5. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Three games played, two bingos, giving repeated best efforts in a soulslike (a notoriously difficult genre), finally killing the duchess... Seems pretty motivated to me. And yes, your trial will...

    Wait, when did I get moved to Team Motivated? I was on Team Mellow!

    Three games played, two bingos, giving repeated best efforts in a soulslike (a notoriously difficult genre), finally killing the duchess...

    Seems pretty motivated to me.

    And yes, your trial will follow u/Wes's. I suggest you consult with your legal counsel, Phoenix Wright, to prepare a defense.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link
    My doppleganger and altogether excellent human being u/aphoenix saw my peril and put together the game list for last week for me. Thank you aphoenix! You have won an ✨⭐️ HONORARY BINGO ⭐️✨

    My doppleganger and altogether excellent human being u/aphoenix saw my peril and put together the game list for last week for me.

    Thank you aphoenix! You have won an ✨⭐️ HONORARY BINGO ⭐️✨

    3 votes

  7. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    The “thing” in this game isn’t as big as in that other one (at least, I assume it isn’t — I haven’t actually done it yet so who knows?), but it’s still pretty cool.

    The “thing” in this game isn’t as big as in that other one (at least, I assume it isn’t — I haven’t actually done it yet so who knows?), but it’s still pretty cool.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    DEAD LETTER DEPT. (played via Steam) Now that I’ve met my goal of filling my card with non-Steam games, I can finally play Steam ones guilt free DEAD LETTER DEPT. is somehow not in the DEAD SPACE...

    DEAD LETTER DEPT. (played via Steam)

    Now that I’ve met my goal of filling my card with non-Steam games, I can finally play Steam ones guilt free AND OVERCHARGE MY CARD TO THE MAXIMUM.

    DEAD LETTER DEPT. is somehow not in the DEAD SPACE universe (or is it?). Despite this obvious flaw, I’m happy to report that this is exactly my kind of horror game.

    It’s short, doesn’t overstay its welcome, and is almost entirely reliant on a smartly executed slow-burn buildup of dread. I can’t say that there aren’t jumpscares in the game (that there are some quick, unexpected moments), but I can say that those are exceedingly well done and don’t come across as the often schlocky, cheap spooks that the term “jumpscare” often brings to mind.

    In the game, your character’s actual job is to type up the text on letters and packages that couldn’t be identified by the postal service’s OCR algorithm. In effect, you’re solving CAPTCHAs all day to make your rent money.

    Of course, as you play, things start to get weird in that horror-game kind of way. I won’t say more specifically because discovering it for yourself is most of the fun.

    What I will say is this:

    The game really impressed me on my playthrough. I thought it was superbly executed, though I did feel it was a touch too straightforward and rote.

    I got to an ending, and the game notified me that it was one of several. Interesting! There are multiple endings. That surprised me, because the game lacks a lot of explicit choices and you’re pretty strongly railroaded.

    So I snuck a peek at a guide.

    And that’s when I found out that there’s a whole big “thing” in the game that I flat out missed. Not like, an area I didn’t go to or anything, but a significant, game-changing “thing” that I didn’t figure out in my playthrough.

    I know being vague is annoying, but I’m again trying to avoid spoilers. For anyone who’s played the game or doesn’t care about spoiling it:

    Bigtime spoilers

    I didn’t realize you could mail letters to yourself. I did the one that’s built in to the narrative, but it never occurred to me that I could do it for other letters too.

    I just dutifully always typed the text as written and got the Possession ending for it, which, well, yeah, it’s hard to argue that it should have gone any other way given that I just blindly followed the instructions. Sometimes I contemplate the severity my lawful alignment…

    It’s not that the game hides it from you or anything, by the way. In fact, it clues you into it pretty strongly, but I completely missed it. I didn’t put the pieces together. What this means is that I can now go back and play the game again with that newfound player knowledge and fundamentally change my experience (which I intend to do). That’s very cool, and again affirms that this game is really smartly designed and executed.

    I’ll put one more spoiler tag below for what I felt was the game’s biggest strength:

    Spoilers again

    The buildup of the game’s eventually suffocating, oppressive atmosphere is SO good. I don’t know that I’ve ever played a game that felt this heavy while also not being a chore to play. The game did a great job of keeping you at the keyboard, wanting to keep going, while also crushing you at the same time.

    In that way, it’s a pretty brilliant thematic fulfillment of your character’s situation where they have to keep soldiering on in their increasingly terrible job under the increasingly terrible stress of making rent and their increasingly terrible spiraling.

    One more thing: if anyone does play this, know that there is a setting that lets you save more than once. The game defaults to letting you save once and only once, meaning that you are forced to complete it in a maximum of two sittings.

    There’s a thematic reason for this, but I toggled the save option on and did it in four shorter gaming sessions instead. It also will help you out if you happen to get interrupted and have to quit out unexpectedly. Without the save toggle on, you’d have to restart the whole game (did I mention the game deletes your one save immediately after you load it?).

    So yeah, turn on the save setting to prevent future grief.

    4 votes

  9. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    Three days left! I have so many games I still want to try to cram in! Can I do it? OF COURSE I CAN, THAT’S THE MOTIVATED WAY! Flow Custom bingo ✅ 25/25 ✅ Mr Rescue ✅ Heeey! Park-Boy ✅ Assault on...

    Three days left! I have so many games I still want to try to cram in!

    Can I do it?

    OF COURSE I CAN, THAT’S THE MOTIVATED WAY!

    Flow Custom bingo ✅ 25/25
    Ascent
    ✅ Mr Rescue    		 Happiness
    ✅ Heeey! Park-Boy    		 Style
    ✅ Assault on Proxima    		 Niche
    ✅ Blast Rush LS    		 Absence
    ✅ Vartio
    Resistance
    ✅ Zodiac XX    		 Contrast
    ✅ Quiet City    		 Causality
    ✅ Forgotten 23    		 Increment
    ✅ Aris Arcanum    		 Defense
    ✅ Cards and Towers
    Choice
    ✅ Crescent Bay    		 Humor
    ✅ Elephant in the Room    		 ★ Wildcard
    ✅ Keyboard Sports    		 Vision
    ✅ Rogue Mansion    		 Slow-burn
    ✅ Kaamos
    Love
    ✅ SuperTuxKart    		 Simple
    ✅ Donna: The Canine Quest    		 Tradition
    ✅ Blue Maiden    		 Order
    ✅ THOR.N    		 Unlock
    ✅ Roman Sands
    Pride
    ✅ co-open    		 Uncertainty
    ✅ Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective    		 Transformation
    ✅ Subserial Network    		 Verticality
    ✅ Woten    		 Chaos
    ✅ Pie in the Sky

    CARD OVERLOAD METER ( 1 2 3 - - - - - - )

    • DEAD LETTER DEPT.
    • Dead Space Demake
    • I Am Legion: Stand Survivors
    5 votes

  10. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link
    Pinging all Backlog Burner participants/conversationalists: here's the last weekly discussion topic (though it's really only for 3 days). IMPORTANT: Please put all Backlog Burner entries in this...

    Pinging all Backlog Burner participants/conversationalists: here's the last weekly discussion topic (though it's really only for 3 days).

    IMPORTANT: Please put all Backlog Burner entries in this topic before June 1st, so that I can fully count everything for our final recap topic.

    You will get one more ping from me on June 1st when the recap topic goes live. That will be your place to summarize your time with the event, gush about your favorite games, compliment others on their bingo wins, etc.

    Until then:

    • TEAMOTIVATED: THE DEADLINE IS LOOMING MAKE SURE YOU'RE MAKING IT HAPPEN GIVE 110% AND THEN GIVE 110% MORE THIS IS YOUR MOMENT

    • teamellow: So, there's nothing better than a gentle wind down, yeah?

    Notification List

    @1338
    @BailerAppleby
    @Bullmaestro
    @CannibalisticApple
    @CompChris
    @dannydotcafe
    @Durinthal
    @Eidolon
    @J-Chiptunator
    @JCPhoenix
    @ShroudedScribe
    @sotix
    @Wes

    4 votes

  11. May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion

    ~games Text 755 words
    Only a few days left! Post your current bingo cards. Continue updating us on your games! Quick links: Backlog Bingo Site Week 4 Discussion Week 3 Discussion Week 2 Discussion Week 1 Discussion...

    Only a few days left!

    Post your current bingo cards.
    Continue updating us on your games!

    Quick links:

    Week 4 Recap

    11 participants played 9 bingo cards and moved 43 games out of their backlogs!

    There were three bingo wins. Congratulations to u/CannibalisticApple, u/kfwyre, and u/Wes! 🎉
    There was one ✨⭐️ HONORARY BINGO ⭐️✨ for u/aphoenix.
    There was one betrayal. u/Wes will go on trial following the conclusion of this event

    teamellow

    TEAMOTIVATED

    Y'all are going to have to wait on the game list. I got my allergy shots today and they wreck me, so I don't have the energy to link up everything right now. I'll get to it tomorrow. Sorry!

    Game list:

    Week 3 Recap

    11 participants played 10 bingo cards and moved 37 games out of their backlogs!

    There was one bingo win. Congratulations to u/ShroudedScribe! 🎉

    Team mmmeeeelllllllooooowwwwwww

    Team MO! - TI! - VA! - TED!

    Game list:

    Week 2 Recap

    11 participants played 9 bingo cards and moved 28 games out of their backlogs!

    Team Mellow

    Team Motivated

    All but one are listed above.

    u/Wes

    Is he still Mellow? Or did he join the Motivateds?

    He played three different games, which seems very motivated...

    ...but Mellow is also a state of mind, a pace, a vibe.

    With whom will he stand?

    Game list:

    Week 1 Recap

    Week 1 Recap

    ⚔️🛡️ Battle lines have been drawn. 🛡️⚔️

    Team Mellow

    Calm, easygoing, relaxed (<3 games played this week)

    Team Motivated

    Driven, energized, results-oriented (≥3 games played this week, or, like, only one game played but for a LONG time)

    Who will come out on top? Which team will reign supreme? What metric will we even use to determine what counts as a win? STAY TUNED.

    11 participants played 10 bingo cards and moved 24 games out of their backlogs!

    Game list:

    9 votes

  12. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I had no idea! That's fantastic news. Insta-wishlisted.

    I had no idea! That's fantastic news. Insta-wishlisted.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    But like, the win is RIGHT THERE! HOW CAN YOU NOT?! Also your passage about the guilt of having "unplayed" time on Steam could not hit more close to home. Shortly after Steam released those...

    Let it be known far and wide that dannydotcafe never betrayed the sacred principles of Team Mellow!

    But like, the win is RIGHT THERE! HOW CAN YOU NOT?!

    Note: secretly I admire your conviction, but, as a Team Motivated diehard, I would never admit that publicly.

    Also your passage about the guilt of having "unplayed" time on Steam could not hit more close to home.

    Shortly after Steam released those (annoying) trading card drops for games and you could get actual real money out of them because they were the new hotness, I ran an idler on my account.

    In theory, it played one game at a time, waiting until the game dropped all its cards, and then moved on to the next one. Also, in theory, I only queued it up for games I had no actual intention of ever playing.

    And it worked really well. For a bit.

    But then one time I left it to run and came back to find out that not only did it not stop idling after the card drops were done, but it also wasn't running one game at a time. No, it randomly chose ~20 games and ran them concurrently. For over 20 hours.

    I used to love to sort my Steam library by total playtime as a way of looking at my most-played games the way people love their Spotify Wrapped each year. Not only could I not do this anymore because so much of the list was populated by stolen valor, but I also felt simultaneously obligated to play the games out of guilt but also not wanting to play them at all because doing so would push their playtime even FARTHER up!

    That was well over 10 years ago and I'm still bothered by it. One of these days I'll download them all, throw Steam in offline mode, and try them all out or something, just to close the door on them.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Between the squirrels and the crabs, you've got cute animal games on lock. New bingo category list idea: animals. NOTHING BUT ANIMALS.

    Between the squirrels and the crabs, you've got cute animal games on lock.

    New bingo category list idea: animals. NOTHING BUT ANIMALS.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Congrats on the bingo! It's perfection that it happened with a squirrel game, which looks really freaking cool. I would say I plan on playing it soon (because of course I already own it), but...

    Congrats on the bingo!

    It's perfection that it happened with a squirrel game, which looks really freaking cool.

    I would say I plan on playing it soon (because of course I already own it), but that's what I thought about Squirrel With a Gun and I STILL haven't gotten around to it. XD

    Suffice it to say that I've moved it from my backlog of thousands to a special Steam category I keep that has games that I really want to play which has...

    ...hundreds of games in it.

    Hmmmm, I really should cut those down. Maybe I could, like, I don't know, burn through them or something? 🤔

    2 votes

  16. Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I absolutely adored Quern. As soon as I finished the game, I thought "I can't wait to play this again in, like, 10 years when I've forgotten mostly everything about it and can re-experience it for...

    I absolutely adored Quern. As soon as I finished the game, I thought "I can't wait to play this again in, like, 10 years when I've forgotten mostly everything about it and can re-experience it for the first(ish) time."

    I checked my GOG account, and it looks like that was 8 years ago, so a replay of this is genuinely around the corner for me!

    Like you, I found it impressive how the game consistently re-used things. I remember reading something by the devs after I had finished that said that they explicitly wanted to avoid "single-use" items to make the world feel more integrated. (I tried finding the article, but couldn't get it to turn up.)

    Also, I think it's awesome that you played it on Discord with your friends (and impressive that you did it in only three sittings!). That's a great way of turning a single-player experience into something shared. My husband and I have earmarked time for a "co-op" run of Blue Prince this summer in the same way: he wants to help with the puzzles but doesn't want to be the one playing, and I want to play it but want a second brain to help me through things!

    2 votes

  17. Comment on Audible mandating authors transition to new royalty system or lose payments in ~books

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Awww man, I can’t believe I’m late to the Libro.fm fan meetup! Glad I didn’t miss it though. I’m always happy to help promote DRM-free media.

    Awww man, I can’t believe I’m late to the Libro.fm cult recruitment fan meetup!

    Glad I didn’t miss it though. I’m always happy to help spread the sacred tenets of our sect promote DRM-free media.

    4 votes

  18. Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of May 24 in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Oof. That's a nearly 50% price hike on both. 512 GB Model: $549 -> $789 (44% increase) 1 TB Model: $649 -> $949 (46% increase) You know things are out of whack when my old used tech is somehow...

    Oof.

    That's a nearly 50% price hike on both.

    512 GB Model: $549 -> $789 (44% increase)
    1 TB Model: $649 -> $949 (46% increase)

    You know things are out of whack when my old used tech is somehow appreciating in value.

    3 votes

  19. When did you realize you were different?

    ~talk Ask (survey)
    "Different" can be interpreted in any way, in any context, for any magnitude. When did you realize you were different? What prompted it? How did you feel about it then? Has the difference changed...

    "Different" can be interpreted in any way, in any context, for any magnitude.

    When did you realize you were different?
    What prompted it?
    How did you feel about it then?
    Has the difference changed over time?
    Have your feelings changed over time?

    48 votes

  20. Comment on America’s tech-filled classrooms are facing a backlash against school-assigned devices in ~life

    kfwyre
    Link

    Just a few years ago, America’s public schools were rushing to get every child a laptop. Los Angeles middle school teacher Anna Soffer remembers it well: “The idea was that technology is the future, so we need to put tech in every child’s hands.”

    Now, the conversation has flipped. After pouring billions of dollars into laptops, tablets and learning apps, many schools are facing a digital reckoning. Classrooms have become saturated with screens, and a growing number of parents, teachers and school districts are saying it is time to scale back.

    A sweeping resolution passed last month by the Los Angeles school board requires the district to eliminate devices until second grade; set daily and weekly screen limits for all higher grades; block YouTube on school devices; and ban the use of devices at lunch and recess in elementary and middle school. The district will also audit its education technology contracts, which the teachers union says amount to $1.6 billion.

    The Los Angeles crackdown is adding momentum to calls for reform emerging around the country. In many cases, parents lobbied a few years ago for school cellphone bans, which have now become the norm. Realizing phones weren’t the only classroom distraction, they pivoted to a new target: school-issued devices.

    11 votes