Smiling Friends: The Game

apicalypse, rip apollo

I’ve been slowly replaying The Long Dark to prepare for the final episode to release, only a few weeks left! I’m part way though episode 2 so far and I’ve never played episode 4 so it’ll be a lot of new stuff.

I’ve also played a bit of Lucid Blocks which is pretty much a perfect little twist on a Minecraft style game. Exploring the world is weird and fun, and the crafting system feels very vibes-based but is learnable (especially by stamping recipes in the book). Definitely worth a few hours if you have that Minecraft itch but don’t want to play the regular game. Also it’s made with Godot!

Cairn looks so good! I played a lot of Baby Steps last year so I think I’ll enjoy it whenever I pick it up

It looks good, I’ll have to make it!

What is vegan beef wellington? Sounds like a good meal!

I made some 5 spice rice and cooked some green beans in the air fryer, with egg drop soup since it’s cold out today!

Metal Arms here I come 👀

what’s a like

okay

Oh god that sounds tedious

I don’t know what D6 is, but I agree that most players do find smaller ways to minmax! I think it’s unavoidable and would put the behavior more into general strategic planning. I’ve definitely got a more narrow definition 😆

Ah minmaxing, for players that want to suck the fun out of a game.

Does Isaac really encourage it? I know some people feel the need to do it but in my hundred or so hours I never saw the appeal. Runs don’t last very long (on average) and the massive item variety means there’s new builds to play with all the time.

While I think most of the points are fine in the base game, I’d be surprised if there weren’t mods to fix most of them!

Yep, every thread of this video I’ve seen on the fediverse has been overflowing with reminders of why people don’t want to deal with Linux

Last week DrainSim released into early access and I’ve put just over 10 hours into it… it’s a game where you unflood areas around a small town and it’s soooo satisfying. Watching the water level slowly drop is a tangible way to see your progress and some levels require digging to redirect flow out of the way which is fun. It has a fair bit of jank, but the water simulation makes me happy and the developer is constantly releasing updates with fixes

Plus it’s perfect for podcasts or youtube in the corner!

I’ll eventually get StS2, it looks awesome and I loved the first but I’ll probably wait for the release

Good point, that’s the strongest aspect of the game! I don’t think bullet drop would add much since the challenge is mostly finding the things, but it would be nice if the scope didn’t disappear while reloading

Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate updated their beta branch with a new castle layout so I explored that a bit this weekend, it’s bare but has good bones. I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the game fills out the space, especially now that there is a tank

Other than that I’ve mostly been playing the Marathon Server Slam, and it’s fun! The guns feel like Destiny (very good) and the time to kill is short which feels hectic and weighty. This is the first extraction shooter I’ve really tried and I like it! Rounds are usually 5-15 minutes so it’s not too hard to hop on and play a round or two

I tried a few of those demos! Everything is Crab is a neat idea and I’m interested to see how different builds feel, and Sniper Dan is fun enough for a cute hidden picture game. I’d probably like it more if there were bullet drop

Great write up, thanks for sharing!

Agree with everything you say, I don’t like that it has to happen but having the device report whether you’re a child or adult makes more sense than having every service do it poorly themselves.

I checked out the horse sale yesterday and picked up Unicorn Tails… it’s got a lot of problems but it has that indie jank and full voice over so I had fun with it for a few hours.

I also returned to Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate and finally beat the early access that was released last year, only to discover they have a beta branch that will be getting a big update next week. It was fun though and I’m excited for the update!