<![CDATA[What's Inked in my Mind]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!B4Xp!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F46d93137-1107-4422-95ae-294282bffa21_1000x1000.pngWhat's Inked in my Mindhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.comSubstackThu, 16 Apr 2026 16:37:44 GMT<![CDATA[From Relaxing Mining to Stressful Horror: Wall World 2 Review and Subliminal Demo Impressions]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/wall-world-2-subliminal-mining-horror-impressionshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/wall-world-2-subliminal-mining-horror-impressionsThu, 11 Dec 2025 03:07:20 GMTAll images used were sourced from their Steam store page.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co

Wall World 2

Wall World 2 is a mining rogue-lite where you drive your mining vehicle up a wall, get pelted by monsters, and dig for resources that you take back to upgrade all your equipment.

The game’s main loop is a simple one. Every level you go into has its own objective, such as rescuing survivors or getting a certain resource. In each level you go to, you find the hole, park on top of it, and get to mining. During your mining, you fly around, shoot enemies, and collect resources that you’ll use to upgrade your gear and robospider during the run, and some resources can be used to have permanent upgrades to your suit and the robospider. It’s a very easygoing game, making it a great game to play when you’re not looking for something stressful.

That being said, there are monsters inside that you’ll have to murder, and every so often, you’ll get invaded by a horde of monsters, and if you take too long, there will be an even bigger monster that will try to murder you. What I’m saying is, as long as you don’t take your sweet time, then you can have a relaxing time.

I own tons of games that are the type of games that I play when I just don’t have enough brainpower at the time. And I think this is one of those games, but to be honest, it’s not really for me. The sounds are off, the doesn’t get more fun, but the game is competent in what it’s doing. It is sitting at a Mostly Positive on Steam, so it is enjoyable to a large group of people.

Subliminal (Demo)

Subliminal is a psychological horror game inspired by the Backrooms, liminal spaces, and SCP games. You know the ones, where they make ordinary places scary with their detailed graphics, good audio, and the overall feeling of dread emitting from nothing, and everywhere at the same time.

While it is one of those horror games, and if you’ve played some SPC or Backroom games, you understand what I mean, it did something I hadn’t seen in the ones I played. It had a story. It had storytelling.

See, most of these types of horror games I’ve played are just very visually detailed, spooky, and done. This one, however, tied the empty and spooky sceneries to your memories. In the demo, you figure out that the places you go to are places your character has been to, but blocks out certain parts of it, for whatever reason. And there’s a narrator that wants to steer you away from what’s scary or dangerous, in a way, not allowing you to face your fear, in a way. There’s something else in this game, and I am here for it.

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]]><![CDATA[Karate Survivor Review: The 80s Kung Fu Survivors-like with a Fresh Spin on the Bullet Heaven Formula]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/karate-survivor-review-kung-fu-bullet-heavenhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/karate-survivor-review-kung-fu-bullet-heavenSun, 07 Dec 2025 15:31:22 GMT

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co

Karate Survivor

Become an ‘80s action Kung Fu warrior

Karate Survivor is an 80s martial arts themed survivors-like, where you become a kung fu action movie star and fight off waves of thugs and goons, using your fists, feet, and anything else around you.

A Fresh Spin on Kung Fu Combat

Bullet heavens or survivors-like are all very similar, and usually what sets them apart is their visuals and sounds. In this case, thankfully, it’s more than just that. Karate Survivor may look like and feel like another solid game, but its combat mechanics set it apart from its peers.

While in many survivors-like you pick up a weapon every time you level up, in this one, you pick a martial fighting move from three schools: Moonlight Dagger, Fist of Fury, and Deathly Touch. They all have their respective colors, giving you a percentage bonus if placed next to a move from the same school in your limited six slots, and with each move having its own number, you get a bigger boost if it follows the sequence.

Because this is a martial arts inspired survivors-like game, everything combat-related is arm’s length close, and if you’ve played these sorts of games before, you know that, usually, that’s not how close you want to be. While you do have a circle above you that shows you when you’ll execute the moves, spacing has never been more crucial in a game from this genre. What also makes it interesting is that each move attacks in a certain direction, meaning you will have to face a direction according to the move that’s about to be executed. Thankfully, there are other ways you can fight back against the horde of thugs.

As you kick and punch the waves of enemies, items are highlighted all around the map, and depending on what they are, you can use them as weapons. From throwing flowerpots and chairs at your enemies on rooftops to using a swordfish as a weapon at the supermarket and kicking a cart at your enemies, it really did remind me of the movies I watched as a kid. But not only did the combat flow like the action movies I watch, but also the traversal.

If crowds of enemies are ganging up on you, you can jump over a counter, kicking everyone on the other side; you can slide under beams to create space; you can jump on a chair and spin around, hurting every foe around you; you can use poles to cross from rooftop to rooftop. These are little things that make Karate Survivor unique, and a homage to martial arts films. And while all of this sounds great, it’s not without its flaws.

When the Action Stops: The Repetitive Grind

As it’s a survivors-like, it’s still very loyal to the formula. Everything I said before is locked behind actions, such as leveling up a certain type of move. The way I looked at it, in other survivors-like games, you grind to increase your damage through meta-progression, while in Karate Survivor, you grind you unlock better moves, and the ability to do moves with your environment.

That being said, you can still exchange currency to unlock the usual, such as increased damage, but it was the more impactful moves you’ll unlock that matter the most, such as being able to slide over and under objects, or even the moves having a number attached to them. And expect the game to be pretty hard until you get the moves, but if you’re already used to the grind of survivors-like games, then it should be expected.

It would’ve been nice to be able to use more than one character, maybe giving each character their own move sets. This would’ve added some more variety to the gameplay, because every run does feel the same, especially when you don’t have much room for expression. Even if each run starts with one random move, if it weren’t for the environmental aspect of the game, it would get boring fairly fast.

A Strong Homage, But Is It a Must-Play?

Karate Survivors is a strong and faithful homage to martial arts fighting, and a fun theme explored through the survivors-like genre. Its combat mechanics are a refreshing concept for the survivors-like formula, with the players being able to fluidly combo kicks and punches, and sliding and pole vaulting away from enemies. But besides its combat and movement, it does lack variety, as every run can feel the same after two hours of gameplay, with only five maps available, and only the biggest difference being visual, except for one or two traversal or damage options, there’s not enough content. The game’s restricted to one fighting style, and I bet that if it had more than just one style, different characters with their own charm, it would’ve been a must-play game. While I still recommend it, mostly because of the low price, if you’re not a fan of its inspirations, then it’s something you can miss.

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]]><![CDATA[Brew (Quick) Review & 3 Cool Demos: Wasteland Bites, Mama’s Sleeping Angels, Scritchy Scratchy]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/brew-wasteland-bites-mamas-sleeping-angels-demos-reviewhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/brew-wasteland-bites-mamas-sleeping-angels-demos-reviewFri, 05 Dec 2025 02:06:35 GMT

All pictures were sourced from their respective Steam page.

Another week, another timeframe where I dove into plenty of games! And there’s still some I haven’t been able to fully dive into, like The Secret of Weepstone, RACCOIN, Pinnacle Point, Glasshouse, and Drowned Lake. I do think that some of these are limited-time playtests, so hopefully I’ll be able to get some time with them. In the meantime, check out these three cool demos I enjoyed, along with a quick review of a full game!

Brew

Ever heard of a rags-to-riches story? Well, this is a loser to a cooler story.

Brew is a third-person action roguelite game with a very charming cast of characters and a protagonist with an unbreakable will. In this action-packed shooter filled with talking creatures, you’re a rat (or a mouse?) that, after failing to get accepted to the Alchemy Academy, a mysterious person sponsors you, paying for your fee to entry, and giving you a shot at achieving your dream of becoming a Grand Alchemist.

But every day, before you journey through the tower, battling different enemies, climbing the floors with each showcasing their own biome (or in this academic environment, class), you get to talk to your classmates. After all, this is a school! Each classmate his their quirk, whether they’re very shy, hate you with a passion, or really like sports, they all have their flair.

But it’s through these connections, and occasionally your ventures, that you discover new potions and ingredients, allowing you to use different elements and attacks in your battles. Just be sure to find out what they like to strengthen your connection with them, as you’re able to give them gifts, but that doesn’t mean they’ll like all of them.

Now, while this is the only game on this list that’s a full game, it tears me a bit to say that it doesn’t feel like one. Brew is an early access game, without telling you it’s early access, but let’s mention the positives first.

Brew is a quick roguelite shooter, meaning it does have that “one more run” feeling, and randomizes your loadout, but allows you to take one potion. This ensures that there’s an adaptability concept, while also allowing you to grab your favorite potion. Speaking of potions, each potion has its unique strengths, and it all depends on how you use them. For example, if you load the fire potion into your weapon, it becomes a powerful fire shotgun; if you drink the water potion, your jumping melee attack becomes a stomp, and your dash changes; and if you throw the air potion, it creates an updraft spot that lifts anyone inside.

The characters outside your tower are as colorful as the game is, which is nice considering that there’s a relationship system where, depending on what ingredients you give them, they’ll like you more, unlocking different stuff that will help you climb the tower. And speaking of ingredients, a cool mechanic of this game is that you create your potions as you fight, because with every enemy you kill, and every object that you break, there’s a chance they’ll drop an ingredient, allowing you to craft a potion, and allowing you to blow through the levels!

And you’ll need the potions, as the bosses can be a huge pain if you don’t have any, as these bosses will require tons of movement, and different spacing. Although with the wind potion, which turns my gun into a sniper and gives me fast feet, it made plenty of fights comfortable. But unfortunately, that’s where the positives end.

I say this game is an early access game without telling you that it is, because it lacks polish, and I mean this in different ways. I can forgive characters sliding away during a conversation, or how character snaps to their movements. But something I couldn’t forgive was how the game sounded. For a hectic game with fun movement, it is very quiet and unsatisfying to punch, dash, and shoot people. For some reason, it feels like there’s no visual feedback, let alone audio feedback, to your actions. Everything you do lacks punchy oomph.

And speaking of combat, as you venture through the tower, you need to make the constant decision of whether you will hold onto your potion until you get to the boss or use it for your encounters. Granted, you can get these badges—which are like skills that stay with you for the run—that increase ingredient drops, but besides that, you get the age-old gamer question, “To hoard or not to hoard.”

Because it’s a roguelite, you get to fight the same boss over and over again, and it gets pretty tiring reading the same lines over and over again. I ended up spamming left-click every time their dialogue box came up, because they only had around two things to say.

But, don’t get me wrong, as I know that saying that this is an early access game is not nice, it’s a game that lacks polish, but has tons of promise. As said, the characters are charming, and while I wish there was a way to track their likes in dislikes—besides me writing it down on my notepad—I enjoyed the lighthearted voices, even the hateful ones. And the developers released their roadmap, with one section being called “addressing feedback,” meaning they’re working on many of the things I’ve said, maybe. I could see this game turning into a real gem in the near future, but for now, I’d just keep my eye on it till it blossoms.

Scritchy Scratchy (DEMO)

My wrist hurts, but my wallet’s getting FATTER.

Scritchy Scratchy is an incremental game. If you’re wondering what an incremental game is, think of an idle game, but with a little bit more interactivity. In this game, you are some random guy who, after washing the dishes a couple of times, gets a random call telling you to try on some scratch-offs.

And that’s the whole game! You buy scratch-offs, level them up so they award you more money, then get better scratch-offs, rinse and repeat. Like every great idle game, you get to prestige, allowing you to climb up the scratch-off food chain faster.

This game isn’t for everyone one, oh, but is it for ME. I can’t wait to boot up this bad boy on my Steam Deck and scratch off some scratch-offs for real. While I am not a fan of these in real life, because the chances are so low, there are pretty cool hear. Just be weary, your wrist might get tired because you have to do a scratching motion—or maybe I’m getting old. Who knows, really.

Wasteland Bites (DEMO)

The Wasteland really Bites.

Wasteland Bites is a horror-based food truck sim, where instead of serving up survivors of the wasteland, you’re serving up what’s left in this post-apocalyptic future. In the future, not sure how far though, you run a food truck in a world where civilization has fallen, but the profits keep coming. But as no normal people are left, and it is a dangerous wasteland, who are you really serving food to? Well, to hungry freaks, of course!

Each stop you make has its own difficulty level, amount of earnings you’ll get, and the fuel you’ll use to get there. The harder it is, the more money you’ll make, but these wastelands are not as predictable as one would think. While you do get your hungry weirdo you have to shoot (normal freaks are just green, while evil freaks have red lines), there are special, dangerous, weirdos lurking around.

Picture this: you’re running your food truck in a post-apocalyptic world, and while you’re serving what they requested, such as raw meat or a shish made with raw patty and raw eggs, an evil-looking corn on the cob peeks are you, what would you do?

Well, you look at it until it goes away, of course! On your handy-dandy notebook, you have information on all the special freakazoids that lurk around, letting you know how to react. Look at them, close the shutters, turn off the lights, and many of actions that you have to take while you serve the hungry clientele.

Just remember that, while you figure out how to survive the special monsters, shoo away the rats that get in the way of your ingredients, scare away the dogs by honking your horn, or cleaning your grill so it doesn’t catch on fire (yes, some freaks do want their food cooked), you have to serve your clients! Each weirdo walks up to you requesting different foods, such as hot dogs, shish, bowls, soda, and more, so try to stay alive and make a profit while you’re at it, so you can make it to your paradise at the beach.

Mama’s Sleeping Angels (DEMO)

Feed Mama her cursed items.

Developer/Publisher: itamu

Socials: Website | Twitter | Bluesky | Discord | Youtube

Release date: Q1 2026

Mama’s Sleeping Angels is a co-op exploration game, where you and up to three other friends can work together to feed Mama and wake up from this dream. But her hunger is eternal, and your life is not.

What got me extremely interested in this game is its style. The second thing that got me was the absurdity of this game. While playing the playtest, I discovered that Mama’s Sleeping Angels plays like Lethal Company. While the demo only allows one scenario, you drop into a dream, and in that dream, you have to find items to drop on a scale that, once you have enough weight, wakes up Mama for you to feed her those items.

The items are normal objects, but some of them have curses that will affect anyone near you, and yourself. From hearing voices, to hearing people knocking at your door, and very curious to see what other curses will be in the full game. There are also masks that you can attain from your imaginary friends (people that show up, and if you find them, do some neat stuff), like a mask that spawns a swarm of bugs near curses.

While it is a game like Lethal Company, I hope that doesn’t push people away. Mama’s Sleeping Angels’ atmosphere is very unique, and its execution is unlike other games of its kind. While I won’t say that the art style wasn’t what dragged me and kept me there, the environments and that odd macabre-dreamlike feeling of the game kept me interested, which is great that it involves you roaming around these odd dreams collecting cursed items to feed it to mama.

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]]><![CDATA[What Even IS an Indie Game? (Plus GODBREAKERS Impressions and 3 Must-Play Horror Demos)]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/godbreakers-impressions-horror-indie-demoshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/godbreakers-impressions-horror-indie-demosTue, 18 Nov 2025 02:25:28 GMTThe soapbox

Video game awards nominees, and indie game awards nominees, am I right? Looking at that last has shown me two things: one, I do not know what the cool people are playing, and two, I do not really know what an indie game is. Is it the team’s size? The money invested? Developers holding majority ownership of the property? If there’s a fez involved, or just very pixelated blocks or regular squares? The meaning of indie has changed, just like gaming has evolved. But, even as I don’t know what indie is, I know what’s pretty cool, and that’s the following games.

GODBREAKERS

You’re humanity’s last hope! Go kick A.I.’s bum!

GODBREAKERS is a fast-paced rogue-lite co-op where you’re humanity’s last hope against the powerful and evil A.I. I love the game’s visuals, and the combat is very quick, so it’s definitely not a cozy game to play with friends, but a hectic game to destroy enemies with them. Go into different planets, each with its unique biomes, enemies, and bosses, until you reach the final boss that… Well, has a pretty cool move-set.

So far, the meta-progression (which is the progression that stays with you even after death, making each run easier) is minimal. For now, it’s composed of spawning more healing chests, being able to use coils (potions) faster, and so on. There are six different weapons, and each does feel unique, making it very clear within the first few swings if you like the weapon or not. From swift daggers to a heavy pillar, I’ve liked them all, but I stuck with the dagger because movement is very important in this game, especially with these bosses.

The unique mechanic of GODBREAKERS is the absorb mechanic, which is when you get an enemy low enough to absorb them, allowing you to use one ability of theirs, and now only does it functions as a buff or allows you to use an extra strong skill, but also as an escape. It feels pretty cool possessing an enemy until the area’s clear of imminent danger.

I’ve been enjoying it so far, and I’m trying to convince a friend to dabble with it so can get some help beating the final boss. I don’t think he’s that hard; I just think I’m that bad. What I will say is that the gameplay loop and the current content, depending on your skill level, should be enough to get more than ten hours on the game.

A.I.L.A

Glued to a VR headset, and forced to live your worst fears.

We can all agree that A.I. has its uses that can be good for society. We can all agree that A.I. shouldn’t touch some stuff, because it would be detrimental to society. A.I.L.A. is a first-person narrative horror game that does both, as you play as a game tester testing a revolutionary A.I. that surfaces your deepest fears.

The demo showcased how it’ll take advantage of its setting, as not everything is real; the player will experience unrealistic things. Surprise mannequins that follow your movement, impossible halls with looping doors, and by changing the channel on the television, you get to change realms.

While the idea of evil A.I. isn’t a new one, I’m excited to see how they explore the concept, as I enjoyed the demo. That being said, it ends with the protagonist getting their head chopped off before they could put on the VR headset, but I really do hope they explore the theme and not just “escape your fears.”

Project Songbird

I’ve experienced writer’s block before, but not like this.

Project Songbird is a cinematic first-person narrative horror game that takes place in the Appalachian forest, which is the place your protagonist escapes to to get rid of writer’s block, only to stumble on some creepy stuff. Unfortunately for us, the demo that was released is a separate entity from the game; fortunately for us, it shares the same feel, tone, and creepiness.

The demo is set in the same forest, but it is explicitly stated that the gameplay has been altered, so maybe the story, and even the gameplay, represent the full release, but nothing was said about the tone. The demo did feel creepy at times, specifically in closed environments, making even a closing window scary.

The combat left a lot to be desired, only needing you to block one attack, then go off on the monsters, rinse and repeat. But seeing that the combat will be different, I’m very interested in what this game has to say about writer’s block, and how they convey that message.

Becrowned

Did everyone disappear? Or did you disappear?

If you enjoyed old survival horror games, like Resident Evil or Silent Hill (allegedly, I have never touched any, except for F), then add this to your list. Becrowned is a survival horror game where you’re teleported to another realm filled with monsters and odd characters.

The demo gave me a good feel of what the game is: a survival horror with puzzles, creepy atmosphere, a confused protagonist, and a potentially tragic backstory that led to the current event. The fact that you begin in a normal place, and everyone’s gone, and then you end up in a medieval dark realm, makes it feel like he’s dead, or his partner is dead. I don’t have much proof for this, except the classic “trust me.”

The gameplay feels solid and everything you’d come to expect from a survival horror game, but what I wish I had gotten more of a grasp of was the story. But to be honest, it did show me just enough to spark my curiosity.

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]]><![CDATA[Wayfinder's Forced Pivot, Running A Supermarket With Friends, And Killing One Billions Robots]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/wayfinder-supermarket-together-shooty-robot-invasion-impressionshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/wayfinder-supermarket-together-shooty-robot-invasion-impressionsSat, 15 Nov 2025 17:41:02 GMTWayfinders

Wayfinder is an ARPG, where you can play as 6 different Wayfinders (really epic warriors) with up to 2 other friends. I remembered that I played this game when the first playtest happened, or at least I remember it as a playtest. Although I only played it for around 30 minutes and never touched it again. But to give you a very, very rough summary of this game’s past: Wayfinder used to be an MMORPG, but after Digital Extremes—of Warframe fame—laid off some people and stopped supporting outside projects, Airship Syndicate pivoted the game in a new direction, turning Wayfinder into an ARPG without the free-to-play shenanigans, and it shows.

The maps you can roam do feel like an MMORPG’s map, littered with mobs, events, and entrances to dungeons. The quests are mostly "go to this zone, kill a couple of monsters, then come back,” or “do this dungeon.” There’s a battle pass that, while it functions just like one, is free and rewards you with resources, skins, and furniture (that’s right, you get your own apartment to decorate) like any other battle pass would. With all this in mind, knowing that it used to be a free-to-play MMORPG turned into a co-op focused package, expect a grind, but at least for me, it’s a fun grind.

Of course, any game is fun when played with friends, but so far, it has been a solid experience. I love the cartoony visuals of the game, the combat is simple but quick and satisfying, and the grind isn’t overbearing. Even with the remnants of free-to-play stuff in the game, such as needing to grind for stones to level up characters or stats, it’s all very quick and not even close to how horrible real free-to-play grinds are. If you’ve ever had your eye on this game, I highly recommend it. It’s not perfect, but it’s a fun time (and I heard there’s a mod that allows more players to play, just saying).

Supermarket Together

Because my friends and I are on a Wayfinder grind, we also agreed not to play unless we all play together. Because of this, I had the bright idea to go through the free-to-play section on Steam to play with one of my friends while I wait, and I found this gem of a game: Supermarket Together, which is a game where you run your own supermarket with friends, if you want. If you ever wanted to play those simulator games all those YouTubers are always playing, but didn’t want to spend the money, this is it.

Because you run your own supermarket, you get to place the shelves, the check-out counter, the storage, and anything else needed to keep the place running, and most importantly, profitable. The progression system in this game is tied to a sort of talent tree, where every time you level up, you unlock different products and other perks.

Not only do you have to worry about having enough space for your products, keeping in mind there are different types of products (electronics, dairy, gardening, and more), and keeping a storage to refill once it runs out, but you’ll eventually be able to ship out orders, meaning someone is going to need to get those products, package them, and ship them.

Is it clunky? Yes. A little bit jank? Of course. Pretty simple? As it should be. Pretty fun and relaxing? It is for me. While that one friend ended up hating it, the other friend who joined later was all hyped up.

Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion

Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion is a First-Person Shooter with an absurd and over-the-top sense of humor, a colorful art style, and tons of robots to kill. If you’re a person who wants to play a crazy shooter, without the too-quick mechanics, this is a great pickup.

You play as Shooty, one of the members of FORK (Force of Robot Killers), and you’re tasked to repel the robot invasion by killing a large number of robots, but the game’s charm doesn’t shine through the combat, as it’s too simple, but through its art style and outrageous characters.

It’s really hard to expect how anyone in this game will interact with you, or how you’ll interact with them. It’s even harder to understand what’s about to unfold. On one side of the map, you have to help a spoiled rich girl—whose dad says he loves but then says he hates her because she’s spoiled—win a prize at the carnival, which then turns out to be an evil robot, and on the other side you’ll use a metal detector to expose then fight a giant robot worm, not to mention the evil alien crab that’s hiding inside. one of the buildings. Many, many outlandish moments made me laugh, so if you’re someone who likes the outrageous, this is 100% up your alley.

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]]><![CDATA[RV There Yet? Review: The Chaotic Co-Op Game That's About Finding Your Way Back On The Road]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/rv-there-yet-co-op-game-reviewhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/rv-there-yet-co-op-game-reviewThu, 13 Nov 2025 03:54:12 GMT

RV There Yet? is a funny co-op-focused game, where you and a couple of friends try to find your way back to the highway by going through a forest, river, and much more. It’s a co-op game centered around teamwork, constant communication, and everything else friends can get wrong in wacky and unfortunate situations. If you’re looking for another friend-slop game to have fun with your friends, this might be it.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co

RV Really There Yet?

Everyone needs some time to relax, and what’s a better place to relax than deep within the forest? And better yet, with your closest pals, some beer, and a large amount of sliced ham. And so you grab your closest friends to you, get on an RV, and do exactly that. But, as it’s time to leave, and you are your friends head back the same way you went, the road is blocked off with rocks on top of rocks! I guess you guys are going to have to find another way there.

Get Back On The Road!

The RV isn’t going to drive itself! Luckily for you, you and a handful of your pals are able to drive it back onto the road, if you can all figure out where that road is, and how to get there without the RV falling apart.

You start with everything you need to start your venture through the forest and back to civilization. You have your RV, tons of beer, sliced ham, unlimited supplies of cigarettes, some motor oil, and a spare tire. With someone behind the wheel and something looking at the map, it’s very hard to lose yourself in the forest, but it’s fairly easy for things to go wrong.

The RV can fall apart in many different ways. From the tires falling off, the doors breaking, the roof flying off, or just the whole RV going “kapoot” after driving into a tree, it only takes a small mistake. Luckily, depending on where the fault is, there are different ways to fix it.

  • Fix it as you go: If part of the RV is missing—say, the door, the walls, or the roof —they can be repaired with spare metal found throughout and a trusty hammer. If the tire fell off, get the drill and a tire to bolt them back in. If something’s wrong with a motor, throw some motor oil in there.

  • Terrains: If you’re trying to go up a hill or get up from a bad turn, get your winch going and get back on the dirt road. Which comes pretty handy with the different terrains you’ll traverse.

From crossing precarious gaps to flying off a giant ramp to dodging mines or bears, these obstacle courses had me yelling at my friends, but mostly at them, because I was on RV driving duty. Thankfully, there are checkpoints every so often, allowing you to reset back to the point if needed, and giving you the resources to repair your RV.

Is It A Good Addition?

RV There Yet? is another addition to the friend-slop category that surprised me. Does it do anything out of this world? No. Is it very entertaining, funny, and fun to play with your friends? Yes.

The first time I played it with a group of people, I was only going to give it thirty minutes, but I ended up playing for more than an hour. After a couple of sessions, it became another game to enjoy with the group. It’s very low stakes, even if you could easily lose your progress or your life, and it made for tons of funny moments.

From getting picked up and thrown to death to reversing off a cliff, the game was able to create fun moments on an ordinary night. While this game will not revolutionize anything, and it doesn’t really offer anything new, it’s an inexpensive way to enjoy a gaming night with your faraway friends. Isn’t that what friend-slops are all about?

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]]><![CDATA[Sunken Engine Early Access Review: The Lovecraftian Shipyard Simulator Blending Horror and Cozy]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/sunken-engine-lovecraft-shipyard-simulator-reviewhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/sunken-engine-lovecraft-shipyard-simulator-reviewSun, 09 Nov 2025 17:58:12 GMTI Just Wanted to Clean Ships and Repair Them. Turns Out, An Evil Book Was Out To Get Me

Sunken Engine is a Lovecraftian Shipyard Simulator, where you take over your late father’s shipyard business and work towards uncovering his mysteries. While the game is still a work in progress, it intersects the line between cozy cleaning/repair simulator and cosmic horror smoothly.

Something to keep in mind as you read this article is that this game is on Steam’s early access, which means that it’s an unfinished product, but it will hopefully be polished and finished as time passes.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co

Story

Jeremiah Marvin was a good man; now he’s a dead man. Last time he was seen, he had been acting strangely. He kept talking about a book, but everyone at Blackreef just thought the sea had finally caught up to a man his age. But his untimely death brought a new resident to the town: his son John Marvin, you.

You inherited his shipyard, his business, and you develop your skills little by little, until one day, you get a package delivered to you. It’s from your late father, a book with an odd inscription. When you open the book, you’re teleported to another world, surrounded by eyes in a narrow hallway.

As you walk past these eyes, you see someone at the end, someone familiar. You see your father, who tells you that he is still alive, and that you need to learn how to use the book to save him, but to be careful, because the book—the Necronomicon—was the thing that sent itself to you.

Gameplay

Sunken Engine is a cozy game with an uncozy theme. The gameplay is simple, to the point that it could feel tedious if not in the right mindset, but enjoyable if you want something you don’t have to sink your teeth into to enjoy. As the proud owner of Blackreef’s shipyard—which you can name whatever you want and customize its look—your first task is to learn the ways of running the yard:

Work on the ships!

  • You’ll get faxed requests from passing ships asking for specific fixes. This can range from scraping barnacles and scrubbing muck to picking up trash and fixing bent railings. As you progress, you’ll level up, allowing you to purchase licenses to work on bigger vessels and on more intricate tasks, such as fixing radios, filling holes, changing lightbulbs, and so on.

Catch whatever’s in the ocean!

  • I’m not so sure that these waters produce edible fish, especially with everything spooky happening, but who are you to judge what the locals want? While you’re cleaning away ships to earn a profit, you can cast your fishing rod to collect fish, then sell them in your market. Just be sure to pay attention to your fishing rod.

Diversify through your shop!

  • Those clams and starfish you find cleaning the ship are yours to keep and to sell! Better yet, you’re able to crack open those clams—once you upgrade your kitchen—for a chance to get a pearl, which sells for a good amount in your shop.

But your shipyard isn’t the only place with things to do. You’re able to venture through the town of Blackreef, allowing you to go to a fisherman to upgrade your fishing area, head to the market to buy supplies, or talk to a doctor who knew your late father. But there are two other spots of note:

The Bar

  • There are many ways to not lose your mind. You can try meditating, going on a walk, playing video games, or, in this case, going into the bar to cleanse your madness through your vices. You’re able to gamble by either playing “Dice to 31” or spending your money on alcohol or massages. (Note: they plan on implementing a deckbuilding game)

The Mayor’s Office

  • If you want to make more money and progress the story, you’re gonna need to get into bigger ships. You need to spend money to earn more money, sometimes. In this case, you can either upgrade your equipment or go to the mayor’s office to get better licenses and permits. By meeting a certain level requirement and spending a specific amount of money, you’re able to work on bigger ships and get permits to work on different tasks, such as allowing you to operate the welding gun to cut through rust, break intricate locks around the boat, or repair damaged electrical cables. (Note: they plan on implementing diving and steering on future updates)

But after all of this is explored, which can be done fairly easily and quickly, there’s not much else to it. I’d say that this is where the cozy aspect comes along, because as the game progresses, you’ll improve your tools to make your tasks easier, upgrade your area to allow bigger ships to dock, but not much else after that. Which I, frankly, enjoyed.

You pick a boat from the fax machine, you do whatever needs to be done to it, while you catch fish and sell stuff in your store. It’s a simple loop that gets more tasks added as you get more permits. But let’s not forget the game’s theme:

Lovecraftian horror

The Lovecraftian aspect attached to Sunken Engine comes through its story, and the random occurrences as you work your job. Sometimes, you’ll hear some knocking where no one’s at the door—hopefully; other times, you’ll hear footsteps. Maybe you’ll hear laughter, and sometimes, you’ll hear hard breathing, and when you go look, the dark figure that haunts your dreams is staring at you. Keep that pipe in your inventory close to you, because these events affect your sanity. Other things happen that were a fun surprise that I do not want to spoil—hint or odd riddle: boats at night.

Conclusion

Sunken Engine is a game that, while it describes itself as a ship repair simulator, feels more like a shipyard simulator. You clean boats, repair them, customize your area, and run a store. It truly does feel like a cozy horror, even if it has a fail-state, because it’s really hard to lose, and the repetitive formula allows anyone to easily complete tasks. Also, if the developers read this, please make clam cracking faster.

As someone who was searching for a cozy horror-themed game, I’m glad this exists, but I feel like it could work more on that aspect. It’s very difficult to lose sanity, especially with how short your pipe’s cooldown, and how infrequently spooky moments happen.

Story-wise, it is the tale of the crazy man who died mysteriously, and you’re the kid who inherits whatever they left, creating curiosity in you as to what happened to him. But as you move into Blackreef, the locals aren’t that scary or eccentric. This part is very subjective, but not one you meet is particularly memorable or different. No one really gives off that feeling of danger or odd, at least not for me.

However, the odd occurrences that happen at night—which I will not spoil, and the final moments of the chapter, give me hope in the horror aspect of the game. Because it’s an early access title with only one chapter available, there is a lot of space to make up for the shortcomings. Sunken Engine has a fantastic foundation, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a simple simulator with some horror sprinkled into it, as long as you’re not looking for anything too horrific.

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]]><![CDATA[Final Part of My Not Belated Steam Next Fest Oct. 2025 Post]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/steam-next-fest-demos-part-2-cozy-simshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/steam-next-fest-demos-part-2-cozy-simsMon, 03 Nov 2025 19:29:56 GMTAlright, I thought I was going to make more than two parts, but I was wrong. Collectively, it is less than the thirty I previously said, but it happens.

I did try to cover a wider range of demos, some horror and some not, because in Exploring the Games, we like to explore the games.

(Note: all pictures were sourced from their respective Steam store)

Vending Machine Co.

From the people who made Lost and Found in airports fun (Lost But Found) and shipping fun (Ship, Inc.) comes the game that makes loading up vending machines relaxing. And I have to tell you, Lost But Found is not a cozy game.

Vending Machine Co. is a cozy vending machine management game, where you are in charge of a vending machine company in Japan. And because it’s cozy, expect the guaranteed cozy colors, chill and soothing music, and simple gameplay. You start off by buying your vending machine, then going to the market to get the items, then stock up the vending machine, rinse and repeat.

The appeal comes from how simple, pretty, and soothing it is. I expected to play this demo for only thirty minutes, but time flies by when you’re relaxed. The vending machines are upgradable, increasing the chances of certain item types being sold or increasing space. You also have to clean them or fix them, and be very aware of the prices you set. I used the auto-set function, and it was tripling the average price! No wonder people got mad at my prices!

Where the forest ends

The zombie genre has always had a grasp on my heart. Ever since I played L4D, everything with zombies, horror, or not, gets a good ol’ try from me. While it is a demo, it felt very undesirable. I don’t want to hate on anything or anyone’s effort to create something, but it was jank, but not in a good or fun way.

Where the forest ends is a story-driven top-down horror shooter, where… Well, I’m actually not sure what happens in this demo, not entirely, to be honest. You play as German, a man who’s helping Phil find a stash of something in a post-apocalyptic zombie-filled world.

For a game that describes itself as “story-driven” and “realistic,” I can’t say that it backs both, especially when you are roundhouse spam kicking zombies, and there’s no context for anything. The game looked pretty, for sure, but I just wish it had more substance. The enemies looked cool when they ran at you; that’s a plus.

Winnie’s Hole

Growing up, I played a lot of Tetris. I remember spending many, many hours on Tetris Friends, playing marathons and 1v1’ing people. I think that’s why anything that has those blocks—I just gravitate towards them. So, imagine how I felt when someone mixed horror and Tetris?

Winnie’s Hole is a rogue-lite deckbuilding turn-based game with horror elements, where you play as everyone’s favorite honey-eating bear. Sadly for us, they’ve been infected by some sort of virus, turning them into a fun exhibition of body horror, and creating a thirst for their close friends. In here, combat is fairly simple in that, wherever you place your blocks, that’s what’s activated. Your deck is composed of actions, such as the basic ones being physical damage, generating a shield, and pulling closer to you, but you’re able to find better abilities the further you go down your path.

There are a ton of games out there that are taking childhood characters and turning them into cheap horror thrills, but from what I saw here, this is not one of them. I thoroughly enjoyed chaining my combos and deciding what route to take by placing Tetris blocks. If anything, I am hopeful that people start integrating Tetris blocks into horror games.

Side Effects

Ah, Buckshot Roulette introduced me to a type of genre I never knew existed, at least in video games: Russian Roulette. If you enjoy the anxiety it brings to not know if your choice will be the last, you’re in luck!

Side Effects is a turn-based medical roulette game; in other words, replace the bullets in the chamber with medicine pills being thrown on the table. What’s very messed up, but also pretty cool, is that as the game progresses, your guy gets pretty messed up. I’m talking about very gnarly blemishes.

As you take those meds, so does your opponent, and you get to see how they grow these gross-looking warts, how their skin discolors, or how their eyes darken, or I swear that at one point, they were secreting something. It’s a game that creates anxiety, disgust, and a fun one-versus-one night with a pal. Can’t wait to convince a friend of mine to play it with me.

Truckful

How does someone get stuck in the cab? What’s happening here? That’s the only thing that confused me about this game.

Truckful is a package delivery game. It’s all about running errands and missions for the locals, and maybe finding out what’s up with all those wrecked vehicles and the giant evil truck that chases you at night. It’s a very pretty game that’s obviously hiding something wicked underneath its cute color tones.

As soon as I placed stuff on the back of my truck, I was nervous about how hard it was going to be. Going up and down the hill on a truck, I didn’t know if things would go flying on the first bump I hit. Luckily, it was very forgiving, and it gave me a good taste of what to expect. What I’m truly wondering is if anyone is driving the evil truck, or if it’s one of those evil spirits type of things.

Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road

I’ve been playing tower defense games for half of my life, I think. I’ve been a fan of survivors-likes ever since I played Vampire Survivors. And I have thoroughly enjoyed rogue-lites because of their high replayability and opportunity to create broken combinations. And you know what? This game is all three of these.

Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road is a tower defense survivor-like rogue-lite game, where you protect a moving city from hordes of monsters. You do this by protecting it using your trusty weapons, chopping down wood to buff your towers, and placing said towers to protect it while you gather resources. Each time you level up, which is done after you have gathered enough exp from killing monsters, you get towers that either defend, generate resources, or buff towers. And because it’s a rogue-lite, not a rogue-like, there’s meta progression!

It is such a simple game, such as a simple loop, and such a dope game. Because it’s a demo, there’s only one city, but there are more cities to unlock. I am excited to see what other cities are unlockable.

The Berlin Apartment

Video games are a great medium to explore different themes and important events. They allow people, and in this case the player, to experience things that would be otherwise impossible, potentially creating the empathy we might be lacking nowadays.

The Berlin Apartment is a first-person narrative-driven game, where you will use characters at different points in time that all have one thing in common: they all lived at the apartment. From the year 1933, all the way to the present time, and maybe more. Of course, this is because it’s all through the perspective of a father telling his daughter who lived in that apartment. It’s a very interesting way to explore different themes.

It’s such an interesting idea to tell the story of one apartment through the key events of human history, or a person’s life. Even if it may be diluted because it’s a story being told to a child, there is a scene I saw with a bunch of Nazi flags, so maybe it won’t be diluted. And while the focus is on the narrative, I have to say that I adore how this game looks.

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]]><![CDATA[First Part of My Not Belated Steam Next Fest Oct. 2025 Post]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/steam-next-fest-demos-part-1-horrorhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/steam-next-fest-demos-part-1-horrorFri, 31 Oct 2025 01:16:11 GMTI downloaded over 30 demos because of the Steam Next Fest, mostly indie games. If you’re surprised that I was able to play all of them before the fest ended, well, I didn’t. Thankfully, none of them were removed after the fest, so I was—and still am—able to play many of these demos. So, I will be letting you know what I thought about dope upcoming games in the following posts.

From Esports management simulator, to unspeakable horrors, this list will cover a variety of genres.

(Note: all pictures were sourced from their respective Steam store page).

Teamfight Manager 2

The world of MOBA Esports, through spreadsheets.

I sunk ten years of my life into League of Legends, and throughout those ten years, I also played numerous Multiplayer Online Battel Arena (MOBAs). So, I thought that my hard-stuck platinum experience meant that I could manage a team. And I was able to manage a team, just not to success.

Teamfight Manager 2 puts you in the role of a manager in charge of an Esports MOBA team. I originally thought that I would simply scout for players and call it a day, but there was a lot to do. Management simulator fans, this could be for you. You start by picked your team by region, each with their own budget, public perception, skilled—or unskilled—players, and so on. Those unskilled players will need to go through training to get better, but you also need allot time to some players to become the face of the team by streaming, or as we in the business like to call, “influencers.” Money doesn’t only come from winning matches.

What I truly enjoyed was the pick/ban phase of the simulator. Each player had their preference on what champion they use, and you can the enemy’s, too. Pick the best for you team, ban the best for enemy. Depending of your difficulty, every so often a patch will be released nerfing, or buffing, champions. After picking and banning, you select what strategy the team will follow, such as telling players to stick to the backline, or to ambush lane when possible.

It was a cool and different experience. I never understood the hype over Football Manager, regardless of how many times a friend of mine streamed it to me, but I think I get it now. Assembling your team and watching them win is fun, and rewarding. But man, when I told them to ambush, and they didn’t, I would lose it. However, it was eye-opening that maybe reaching platinum in LoL wasn’t much, so maybe my coaching wasn’t the best.

BRNO TRANSIT

I love the mundane in media, especially when it’s scary.

I’m a big fan of narrative-driven games, and horror games. This game puts those two things together in the form of turning the lame or mundane into something uncomfortable and unnerving. You minds sort of drifts when you’re just waiting in a dark, subterranean subway.

BRNO TRANSIT is a narrative-driven psychological horror about a trainee metro driver working their first few days in a very sketchy place. The game is a bit absurd in its tone, as it has you clean you shit off the train, and you find two dude in gimp outfits (I think) playing table tennis. Not to mention your boss that records you while you change or the guy flailing their hands behind the desk.

But, even with these odd events, it does carry an earie feeling throughout your venture. There’s uncertainty in everything you do, how to do it, and if it’s even real, as there’s a scene that in the last minute, you wake up. I could see this being a game talking about the consequences of burnout and creepy bosses, but also having very absurd and outlandish ways of conveying that.

UMIGARI

I know it’s a metaphor for something, but I can’t put my finger as to what it is.

Plenty of horror fishing or fishing games featuring horror elements have been popping out. Seeing Chilla’s Art that taking a stab at it, if you’re aware of their work, you know it’s going to be something different.

UMIGARI is a first-person harpoon fishing game set in Japan, and in the middle of the ocean. With your trusty harpoon, you fish whatever’s swimming in the ocean, and sell it to a guy on isolated islands. But it wouldn’t be a Chilla’s Art game if it didn’t have its odd and gloomy atmosphere.

While the gameplay is pretty standard (fish, sell, upgrade, explore), it’s during the exploration where you encounter weird stuff. The first encounter that I’ll spoil right now happens when you pick up a scared schoolgirl in an island, only for her to jump out randomly. Keep an eye out if you play the demo, unless you don’t want to get creeped out. That old man in that school is a freak and a creep, I swear.

SWAPMEAT

Swap meat for your boss, boss.

I’m not entirely sure why, and many people could and will disagree with me, but there’s something about this game’s humor that reminds me of Ratchet and Clank. I don’t know if it’s how the characters move and speak, how non-chalantnly hectic things are normalized, or how poorly I remember those games. Either way, as a person who worked in McDonald’s before, the food industry really is rough.

SWAPMEAT is an outrageous roguelike third-person shooter where your purpose is to get meat for the food company you work for. As described in the game’s store, it really does feel like Risk of Rain 2 with its quickness and combinations you can make through upgrades, and like Helldivers 2 with how open the map it, with side objectives available to score more points. As it is a rogue-like, expect to die a lot, maybe not get what you want each run, but the satisfaction of becoming broken when everything lands.

What’s very cool is the swap mechanic, where each enemy killed has a chance to drop a limb which you can swap with. Swap everything from your head, torso, and legs. Each limbs has their own abilities, like the ninja legs allow you to walk on air after dashing, and the turkey head attracts enemies and blows up afterwards. So, grab a friend and swap your meats!

Don’t Stop, Girlypop!

Don’t. Stop. Moving. Forward.

A little bit of MySpace. A little bit of the early 2000s. A little bit of sass. And a whole lot of shoot bangs.

Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is a movement shooter where you become a faerie fighting off the evil and boring corporates syphoning the love and joy out of people, literally to death. During, from what it seems, the last push, you fail and are shot down, only to be woken up again after much time has passed, and you’re potentially the only one left from the rebellion. Fight in the name of love!

While the game started slow, it picked up the pace once you unlock—or figure out—the main movement technique: jump, dash, and slam. The faster you go, the more you heal and the stronger you become. Not only that, but each weapon is pretty sick, like how the shotgun shoots a ball that, once shot, will spray those bullets everywhere. Also, you’re able to customize your arms and weapons with cute sharks and bows, and also listen to some popping music while you liberate the world.

Final Sentence

I just got the reference on the game’s name and the game itself.

As cool as typing is, specifically writing, there aren’t that many typing games out there. Sure, bangers like Typing of the Dead, Glyphica, Blood Typers and many others exist, but what about more competitive horror typing battle royale games?

Enter Final Sentence, a battle royale typing game with a horror theme, where too many mistakes get a bullet to the brain. You and other players are locked in a large room and are forced to type out a couple of sentences. Three mistakes starts a Russian roulette, and three mistakes after the first one just keeps adding more bullets to the chamber. First one to write out all the sentences win/survives.

I really enjoyed the horror aspect thrown into this, but what’s the funniest part is that there’s voice chat in the game. Imagine typing out a sentence while having random people yell out random words, or hearing people cuss at every mistake they make. It was a very funny and intense game.

The Walking Trade

If you think about it, the trade isn’t walking because you’re stationary.

I had an enjoyable time with Schedule 1, and what I learned the most from that game is that having a simple, solid formula is enough. You don’t need AAA graphics, you don’t need overly complex systems, just a solid loop. And this game could be heading down the same path.

The Walking Trade is a post-apocalyptic store management game, where you provide goods to traveling survivors, and kill the zombies that follow them. You stumble on an abandoned shop, make it your own, and set your own shop. Place the shelves, stock them up with food or weapons you’ll collect from your surroundings, killing the zombies that chase your clients, or sending your employees off to get you your stuff.

It’s a simple management game that doesn’t overcomplicate any mechanics, at least in the demo. You stock up supplies, set your prices, sell your stuff, and done. What I’m hoping is that there will be more customization when the full game is released, as I know you can paint your walls and set defenses outside. Also, here’s hoping the replace all A.I. generated content.

Mr. Sleepy Man

Can someone tell me if Mr. Sleepy Man is a 60 year old man?

Mario 64 has had its very noticeable influence on the indie scene. While I never played A Hat in Time, I know about it because of the internet and that one friend who would mention it once a minute. This is just to say that great games inspire other great games. Also, because I can’t talk about Banjo-Kazooie because I never got through the first level.

Mr. Sleepy Man is a 3D platformer that puts you behind the wheels of the most active sleepy man in existence. I have never seen such a sleepy dude be able to run, dive, glide, and drive the same way this protagonist does. While your main mission in the demo is to get you blanket and pillow to go to sleep, if you’ve ever played Untitled Goose Game, then this section might sound familiar. You are given one line tasks, which will involve you most likely messing with someone or thinking a little bit outside the box.

There’s more to Bedtime Town than Mr. Sleepy Man, the odd characters, and the purple water—the moon with the face is normal. There’s also dope music, and musical numbers! In the demo, there’s a musical section you can play, where you platform in 2D and there’s a guitar hero section. I’m hoping they implement a musical 3D platform level.

The Last Caretaker

What happened to our humanity?

When I saw this game’s name, I knew I had to at least see the trailer. After seeing the trailer, I knew I had to try the game. And so my unending taste testing of survival crafting games continues.

The Last Caretaker is a first-person survival-crafting adventure game where you are a robot reactivating after being left alone in the middle of the ocean to maintain humanity’s remains. Or who knows, maybe there’s a bit more, to that, too. But you’re in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by scraps of stuff, some aggressive robots, and some dead robots. As grim as that may sound, you’re able to drive a boat and into the open sea, and other bases.

From what I gathered from the demo, you have to stay charged up with electricity to keep on with your ventures. This is easily done by finding batteries or connecting yourself to charge up. Because it’s a crafting game, you need to build generators, recycle scraps to build cables to pass electricity into different equipment, and everything else a person who likes adventure and crafting games is familiar with. There’s also a leveling system, allowing to carry more thing, have more juice, and so on. I really enjoy the game’s atmosphere, and the narrative has me super intrigued.

GORE

Content warning: gore ahead.

I love me some horror. I love me some Lovecraftian horror. I love me some found footage horror. This game promises all three of those.

Gore is a first-person narrative-driven horror game that takes place in the United States mountains. The demo did not offer much, and honestly, I’m hoping the next trailer or demo doesn’t pull punches like the demo did.

Because, from what I saw on the demo, you’re some sort of park or wilderness ranger, and you have to go to a lookout tower. On your way to the tower, you see some clearly outrageous crazy stuff and your character just says that it’s weird or cause by an animal. Eventually, you see the truly whacked out stuff, and the demo is over. Still, hoping it turns out well.

More heading your way soon! Also, lightning round!

  • I’m working on content for Godbreakers, RV THERE YET?, Sunken Engine, and Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion.

  • Post have been slow because I now have a job as an adjunct, and I need to write more fiction stories. Sorry, but I’m trying!

  • I’m also working on something for the other 10 demos I played!

  • Outlast Trials imposter mode is hype. Wanted to put that out there.

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]]><![CDATA[Go For Coal, Shape Your Dreams, and Having Silent Hill Fun]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/mining-dreams-and-horrors-september-2025-game-rounduphttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/mining-dreams-and-horrors-september-2025-game-roundupSat, 11 Oct 2025 21:15:23 GMTI’m still alive!

Life has been pretty busy, and after getting a job, it has become a tad harder to keep up with this. But, here I am, trying to get back to it. Here’s a quick little look at what I’ve been playing.

Coal LLC

A mining simulator that allows you to shoot ores down.

Coal LLC gameplay screenshot showing a minigun and worker NPCs getting ore

Developer/publisher: Bye Bye Ocean

Socials: Bluesky | Discord | Website

Coal LLC: $14.99 USD

For those of us who love mining in the caves of Minecraft, but also wish there was a quota to meet, or a rifle to mine with, Coal LLC is a great silly mining game to pick up.

In this mining game developed by Bye Bye Ocean, you play as a person who needs to meet a quota or they’ll die. The quota they have to meet? Coal. Gather tons and tons of coal.

You go down a hole, mine to your hearts content—and the company’s wants, and use different ways to mine. You could use your average pick axe if you want, or you could spin a flaming axe around you, shoot a weapon, get a mortar, throw bombs down, and more. And you’re not only in here, too. You can hire employees that can help you mine or bring the resources to the surface.

This game has been great for when I just want to turn my brain off and watch all those ores fall down. I only have to remind myself to bring whatever gems the mermaid wants to get more help the next day. That vacuum was a game changer. A real way to shape your dreams into reality.

Shape of Dreams

Add this to your list of action roguelikes to try

Shape of Dreams combat sequence with procedurally generated map

Developer: Lizard Smoothie

Publisher: NEOWIZ

Socials: Discord | Twitter

Price: $24.99 USD

Indie rogue-likes and rogue-lites, there’s many of them, and many slap, too. Shape of Dreams by Lizard Smoothie is another one that I’ve been enjoying recently. It’s a fast-paced action roguelike that fuses hack-and-slash combat, and does NOT have MOBA-style teamplay with up to four friends. I had to get that out of the way, because the description says that, and I greatly disagree.

But it is a very fast paced, and intense game that you cannot play with your brain off. You’re always one mistake away from getting one-shot, or at least very close to. You go through a Slay the Spire map, where your goal is to reach the boss, and each node can have their own little events besides the usual encounter. Take too long, and they hunters will get you, making your encounters harder.

Every run is procedurally generated, and you get different memories (skills) and essences (adds to your skills) each run, so you can either get an easy run, or a messed up run.

I’m a big fan of the visuals, and honestly very surprised how long each run takes. On average, it takes me over 40 minutes to finish each run. I’m unsure if that’s a skills issue or not, but I will say that the whole time I’m having a blast. But you know what’s a horrifying blast?

Silent Hill F

A fun action horror game that may be different from its predecessors

Silent Hill F foggy town covered in red mysterious stuff

Developer: NeoBards Entertainment Ltd.

Publisher: KONAMI

Price: $69.99 USD

I still don’t know what the F stand for, but someone on Twitter said that it stood for failure. With the way the protagonist dodges those attacks, probably stands for Fast. So far, I’ve been enjoying the game, although it’s a lot less scary than I thought it would me. Of course, I will have to mention it that I am playing it with a friend, so who knows if it’s scary or not, you know? Although, this Silent Hill is an action horror game.

I will say, so far, all the monster designs have been great. From how they look, to how they interact with you, amazing. The atmosphere is just a cool, too. The light mist filling the air, the decrypt and empty town. This might be the first Silent Hill game I beat.

What has really surprised me is that it feels like an action game. As soon as a grabbed that pipe and pressed the dodge button, I felt the action. And the way it’s looking, I will need more than one playthrough to get the full story. If the game is enjoyable enough, I see no problem with it.

Wrap It Up!

Lightning round

  • 2XKO has shown me that I like fighting games, but that I am bad at them.

  • I currently need to edit around 4 videos for my YouTube channel. I can see why people pay editors.

  • Megabonk is hype. A survivors game with momentum is cooler than I thought it would be. More on that on another post.

  • Eclipsium came out some time ago, and I’ve yet to jump on that bad boy.

  • Consume Me (which is not a horror game, but a coming-of-age story), is out! check that bad boy out, too!

  • But I did accidentally buy a bad (allegedly) horror game. More of that another time.

  • Be sure to join ’s monthly game club! A bunch of dope people are there.

    Exploring The Games is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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]]><![CDATA[A Psychological Horror Game About Grief with Unreliable Narration | Luto Review]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/luto-review-psychological-horror-walking-simulatorhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/luto-review-psychological-horror-walking-simulatorFri, 22 Aug 2025 19:18:35 GMTUnreliable Narration and Grief

I really enjoyed Stanley’s Parable, and if you’re confused as to why I’d mention that game here, it’s not only because Luto is a walking simulator, but also because it has an unreliable narrator.

Luto is a first-person psychological horror game developed by Broken Birds Games. You play Samuel, a person dealing with grief, hence the game’s name Luto, which means “to mourn.” But when you start, you don’t know that.

The Loop: What To Expect In The Story

It’s happening again,

You start in the bathroom, the mirror is shattered but has a sticky note with a happy face in the center, and there’s supportive messages written on two other sticky notes. As you walk out, a voice narrates what you do. You walk down the hall, you walk past boxes, upon boxes, although it’s not clear if you’re moving in, or moving out. You grab your keys, and you leave your house.

It’s happening again,

You start in the same bathroom; the same mirror is shattered and has the same sticky note with a happy face in the center. As you walk out, a voice narrates what you do, again. You walk down the hall, you walk past many boxes that are still there. You grab your keys, and you leave your house.

It’s happening again—

No, wait. It’s night this time. The days have passed, even if they look and feel the same. The voice reminds you that all the boxes are still here. A box falls over, placing your old sketchbook in the middle of your route, which the voice tells you that you used to express yourself with it. Inside you see a card reading “In Loving memory of Joel.” You grab your keys, and you leave your house.

It’s happening again,

Only this time, the phone by the door is ringing. You pick up the phone to listen to a scary voice telling you not to let him get to you again. The voice tells you to ignore him, as there are many things that need to be done. But curiosity leads you to the basement and finding a hatch. You climb down the trapdoor, digging deeper into the unknown,

Walking Through The House, But Never Leaving

:)

If you’ve ever played a walking simulator, you know what to expect. You walk around, minimal gameplay mechanics, but hopefully good storytelling and good atmosphere.

The game looks great, with tons of nice details to make the house feel real, and menacing. There are notes scattered around that motivate you, your sketchbook gives you hints to your character’s mind, the white noise or music in the game prevented me from calming down and dozing off, and overall, they nailed the feel of isolation, anxiety, and uncertainty.

And because there’s so much uncertainty about when someone is going to finally pop up, solving puzzles can become an anxious task, until it’s not. Now, I’m not the best at puzzle games, and I’m honestly not even decent at them.

I was stuck in every single puzzle, to the point that, after a while, after roaming around, scared for what felt like half an hour, I looked up an answer, only to be surprised at how simple it was. I’m not sure if it was the tension I was feeling, but I just could not solve any of them, except the first one, by myself.

It’s one of those horror games that build tension, keeps building tension, and leaves you wondering, “when’s it going to happen?” For some, I could see how the fear may stop if it goes on for too long, or you’re too lost to progress. Although, to be fair, I’m not good at puzzles.

Now, I won’t go too into details about the story, but the similarities with Stanley’s Parable don’t just stop at the narrator narrating what you’re doing. Which is someone that was hard to get used to. Because of the game’s atmosphere, and theme, at first, it was hard to adjust myself to the voice. Thankfully, there’s a lot of unreliable narrating going on.

I thought it was a cool way to explore this theme, regardless of if it’s something that has been explored many times. One of the few things inevitable in life, is death, and so one has to come to terms with that. But that’ easier said than done. There are a couple of metaphors that I found fun and interesting, at least how I interpret them, which I think people who enjoy some subtle storytelling might enjoy.

Is It Worth Playing Luto?

People in horror are always going down the secret trapdoor in the basement. Crazy.

It was an enjoyable time, although I was stuck in puzzle for most of my playtime (a slight exaggeration. What could’ve been another P.T. rip-off/clone, which many games that look like this and start like this end up being, concludes to be an enjoyable and thoughtful experience.

Admittedly, it’s not for everyone. For a horror game, there’s no big bad chasing you, awful creatures, or even jumps cares. In retrospect, everything you go through, all the scenes, are all very human. Well, kind of. It’s not an intense game; it’s a slow-paced game filled with symbolism.

I could see this being enjoyed by someone who likes a slow-paced horror game that’s not in your face that explores a human and common theme in horror, while also sprinkling a meta twist. Just be sure not to expect anything intense.

Pros:

  • Explores grief in a unique and fun way.

  • Slow-paced, not intense.

  • No jump scares.

  • Storytelling favors people that likes to figure out the meaning of symbolisms or metaphors.

  • It’s a walking sim, meaning you only have to focus on the story, and immerse yourself.

Cons:

  • Narrator’s voice can take you away from the horror, until you get why he’s voiced as such.

  • It’s a slow burn.

  • Confusing puzzles for some.

  • To get a bit more depth of the story, you may need to figure out the meaning of certain things.

  • It’s a walking sim, meaning that if the story and atmosphere doesn’t get you within the first five minutes, don’t expect to enjoy the ride, as there aren’t any developing gameplay mechanics.

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]]><![CDATA[AAA vs Indie Games: Why $20 Can Beat a $70 Blockbusters]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/aaa-vs-indie-gameshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/aaa-vs-indie-gamesThu, 07 Aug 2025 23:04:04 GMTTriple-A Games Are Expensive, But Are They Worth It?

It’s no surprise that, in our society, expensive things are usually praised as “luxury” or being of good value, just because of their cost. Have you heard anyone say, “If it’s this expensive, it must be good.” But as a person who eats off-brand Frosted Flakes, I can tell you they taste the same.

As time passes, and games become more and more expensive—although 2K’s latest game, Mafia: The Old Country, costs $49.99—it’s because companies are spending more on games, games are getting bigger, the endless chase for infinite wealth, inflation, and many other factors.

But if you’re buying a triple-A game, expect it to cost $70, not to mention the extra “Ultimate Super Duper Mega Deluxe Bundle” that lets you play it two minutes before launch and comes with digital clothing for $100.

But does price equal quality? Of course not, we’ve seen plenty of examples of that throughout the years. Do all big companies make excellent games? No, and it will never be guaranteed as long as making money is the top priority.

Games like Metal Gear Survive, XDefiant, Watch Dogs, Marvel’s Avengers, and Suicide Squad, have many reasons why they failed.

Publisher Interference Is Why Big Games Fail

Good direction is needed for a game to flourish, as it’s a team effort of many small moving pieces. I’ve spent a good amount of time watching videos on what messed up a game’s development, and let me tell you, many, many, many of the times, it wasn’t on the developers.

Rocksteady, of Arkham Knight fame, was forced by Warner Bros. Games to make the live-service looter shooter Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Although it’s very complicated and highly recommend this video here.

Crystal Dynamics was pushed by publisher Square Enix with Marvel’s Avengers to follow a live-service model, with all the good grinding and monetization, and let us not forget the console-exclusive Spider-Man.

Visceral Games had to add co-op to Dead Space 3, as recommended by EA, and it was $10 dollars to play co-op (when launched if you were buying a used copy).

Battlefront II (2017) had heroes locked behind a loot box system, EA again, with the craziest monetization I’ve seen on a triple-A game.

Metal Gear Solid, known for its espionage narrative, stealth, and eccentric characters, was turned by Konami into a zombie survival game with Metal Gear Survive.

Rare, the company behind my favorite game, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, was pushed by Microsoft to focus on Kinect games. How do you buy the studio behind Golden Eye, Banjo-Kazooie, and many other icons and make them do motion-control games? Not to mention what they did to Conker with Project Spark. On the brightside, Sea of Thieves is nice.

These weren’t just bad games; but they were compromised by the publishers. Whether it’s the publishers pushing to add something last second, something that doesn’t fit into the narrative, crunch so it can be announced with their numbers, or to follow trends and appease the investors.

Many times, triple-A games fail, I believe, because of the people funding the project, not necessarily the developers, who love money. Which is why when you go into the indie pit, you get plenty of oddballs, for either good or bad.

The best part is that games of this scope are very varied. They aren’t mostly third-person shooters, first-person shooters, open-world action adventures, or live-service games.

So, at a time where the economy is at an imbalance—I live in the U.S., mind you—why spend 70+ dollars on a hyper-realistic game, when I can spend less than $20 on a goofy game that I can sink hundreds of hours in?

But the Indie Market Is Overflowing

Are indie games great? Of course! Are they super varied and satisfy many different tastes? Yes! Are they super risky, stressful, and not many make it out alive or become a success? Oh… Uh… Yeah?

A quick look at SteamDB release chart, which tracks how many games are published through Steam, shows that in June alone, 1,635 games were published on Steam. It’s an insane amount.

While we all know our indie darlings, and the rise of friend-slop means that small teams have another route into success, a lot of games are published monthly.

And as a person who likes to explore games and talk to people about said games, I get lost easily. Imagine a person who isn’t actively looking for a game, and imagine a small team that doesn’t have marketing money, which is why Critical Reflex, 2 Left Thumbs, and DreadXP, among others, are pretty dope.

Indie games are great because, most of the time, they’re a passion project. Many times, it’s something a team believes in, driven by the joy of gaming, not money. Just something fun that people can enjoy, and best of all, it’s much cheaper than triple-A games! So, let me take a minute to recommend some.

PAGER

Developer/publisher: bilge

A first-person Kafkaesque psychological horror, where you have to obey a pager. I recently got this game because it looks very pretty, and as a fan of horror, I have to support horror projects. Also, Kafka was a dope writer.

Dice A Million

Rolling dice always feels nice, so imagine if you rolled them and they flashed numbers? Well in this roguelike deckbuilder, you need to get to a million points rolling different dice with different combinations.

GONE Fishing

Developer/publisher: GONE Studios

You know what’s dope in video games? Fishing. You know what’s also dope? Horror and playing with friends. Put them together, and you get this game.

A Few Quick Matches

Developer/publisher: Studio Bidou

If you love Smash, or platform fighters, there’s literally no reason why you shouldn’t check this. It has sauce, although a little bit floaty, but hopefully the developers can fix it.

MINDWAVE

Developer/publisher: HoloHammer

I played tons of WarioWare growing up, and I’m surprised many developers don’t go for the minigame type of games. Which is why I happily gave this game my cash. A stylistic microgame frenzy like WarioWare!

Support Vision, Not Just Hype

As gaming is the biggest form of entertainment, it doesn’t surprise me that the bigwigs want a piece of it, no matter what. But I don’t think it’s the developer's fault, at least not always.

Next time you’re tempted to buy an expensive game, look at the publisher to know what to expect, as some are known for their practices. And while not every indie game is amazing, you never really know what you’re going to get. You can find your next addictive gem, or a pile of garbage, both for the price of a fast-food meal.

Also, can someone add a Jigglypuff character to their platform fighters?! Please?!

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]]><![CDATA[Why NSFW games were removed from Steam and Itch.io]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/why-steam-removed-nsfw-lgbtq-gameshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/why-steam-removed-nsfw-lgbtq-gamesSat, 02 Aug 2025 17:17:17 GMTContent Warning: I will be discussing rape, LGBTQ+ censorship, religious influence, and other sensitive topics.

What’s the controversy?

You may not care about adult games, but this could snowball into something bigger. Who should dictate what gets banned?

Recently, several NSFW and adult-only games were removed from Steam and Itch.io, not because Valve or Itch.io wanted to, but because payment processing companies, such as Visa and Mastercard told them to do so.

What started as an effort to remove something truly horrible ended up as censorship hurting innocent creators. While the intention may have been to pull illegal, immoral, or exploitive games, games that were removed were also just NSFW or adult only games. One of these games was VILE, and the first time I heard about this situation.

Tweet from the creator of Vile saying why it Vile got removed and banned from Steam
Sourced from Cara Cadaver’s Twitter. Although, as it’s stated in the picture, it was banned because of sexual content with depictions of real people.

It was odd. Yes, it’s graphic, but with clear purpose, intention, and honestly not as graphic as many other games and movies. It’s a game about, as it says, “misogynistic entitlement.” It’s not pretty, it’s raw, and it has a clear message. Horror is never meant to be pretty, after all.

But then came the plethora of articles covering this, such as PCGamer talking to indie devs, which introduced me to the potential group behind this named Collective Shout, and some LGBTQ+ history.

What is Collective Shout, and Why Are Gamers Concerned?

Collective shout logo, one of the advocacy groups behind the NSFW takedowns
Logo from their website.

Collective Shout is a grassroots movement that challenges the objectification of women and sexualization of girls in media, advertising, and popular culture. A not-for-profit company that focuses on the exploitation of women. This is the direct excerpt from their website:

Collective Shout is a grassroots movement challenging the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture. We target corporations, advertisers, marketers and media which exploit the bodies of women and girls to sell products and services and campaign to change their behaviour. More broadly, we engage with issues relating to other forms of sexploitation including the inter-connected industries of pornography, prostitution and trafficking and the growing market in the sale of children for Live Distant Child Abuse and the trade in child sex abuse dolls and replica body parts.

Collective Shout is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and governed by a Board of Directors. A registered charity, we are non party political, non partisan and non sectarian. Any individual who finds common cause with our goals is welcome to join.

They constantly run campaigns and have many listed as wins, such as:

And they’ve also supported the movie Cuties, although they’ve said that people are misinterpreting it accidentally or ignoring it.

But they are also partnered, or have partnered, with organizations that have extreme religious beliefs, to name a few are Exodus Cry and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE).

Exodus Cry’s founder has said that it’s immoral for same-sex couples to be married, and has many, many ties to extreme religious groups who are anti-LBGTQ, anti-sex work, and many other views tied to extreme religious groups.

While the NCOSE has advised government leaders in Uganda and African countries who are very anti-LBGTQ, as in Ugandan ministers endorsing castration of gay people.

Many Collective Shout partners are against sex work, LGBTQ+ rights, pornography, abortion, and similar topics. However, it should be noted that these groups have also campaigned against objectively wrong things, such as A.I. deepfakes of minors.

The slippery slope: what was banned, and what shouldn’t have been banned?

Now I do understand this is a lot to take in, but this all leads to this PC Gamer's article, and the whole thing that’s happening now.

In which the list of “will not be published” was updated to this:

A screenshot of a computer AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Number 15 is the one that worries people, as games that follow 1 to 14 were removed, so what does number 15 imply here?

Which led to the removal of too many games, as seen from GameFile:

Game File
Crackdown on sex video games goes wide, alarming developers
Thousands of games labeled “not safe for work” no longer show up in the search results for two of the biggest online marketplaces for PC games, following a crackdown that ostensibly involved hundreds of games featuring rape, incest, and child sex abuse on Steam. But the mass de-indexing of thousands of games and other pieces of media has had a broader, if potentially temporary, impact, censoring any games flagged as having sensitive content. Some of those games are indie award-winners…
Read more
9 months ago · 30 likes · 4 comments · Nicole Carpenter

The Quick Summary

Was it a knee-jerk reaction? Why does this matter?

Since these are big companies that allow people to purchase games on these platforms, it most likely forced Itch.io and Steam to remove everything NSFW. While everything vile is gone, so is everything legal, educational, steamy, or just enjoyable.

I understand that games like No Mercy—the catalyst for this—exist, which is some type of rape/incest fantasy. I understand that everything can be made, but not everything should be made. There are many cases of games being created with the purpose of bashing a group or to recruit people into extremist groups.

Many games can and have been hit as collateral, which is why itch.io is trying to figure this out as we speak. NSFW games can range from porn games to narrative driven titles with sex scenes, and both cases shouldn’t be censored. Whether someone wants to play steamy romances or fictitious porn, it’s up to them. Tons of romance books have steamy sex scenes, and readers are open to enjoying what they enjoy, and gamers are, too.

These groups may think they’re doing good, but their actions are often shaped by specific religious ideologies, many with a history of restricting LGBTQ+, sexuality and sexual health education, and creative freedom.

While I haven’t bought an adult game, or plan to, I also don’t see a reason to remove them. Video games are created to spark joy in different ways, and sometimes that joy is steamy. But what would be next on the chopping block?

Because if they’re taking down games that are tagged NSFW—which maybe it’s a temporary damage control from the platforms to keep payment processors happy—would it be safe to create games that touch on heavy or sensitive topics? It’s no wonder the LGBTQ+ community is worried. Exploring identity can also mean exploring intimacy and desire, and with the groups behind this push, this censorship could lead to much worse.

With Vile being a potential example of what comes next, it worries me that people may be prevented or silenced from exploring serious topics in gaming. Or if anything, just making whatever they want, whether it has a message or just for a steamy session. As I’ve said before, gaming creates a unique and intimate experience I believe no other media can imitate, which is good and bad.

Hopefully, this will all blow over, and people can go back to enjoying whatever it is they enjoy. Whether you’re a developer or a gamer, we all have stake in what’s allowed to exist in games, not just the rich.

Side note: As I was editing this post, I saw that GoG made a post regarding this. They are calling this censorship.

August 1st, 2025 – Some games vanish. Not because they broke the law, but because someone decided they shouldn’t exist.

As an archival platform dedicated to protecting gaming history, we believe that if a game is legal and responsibly made, players should be able to enjoy it today – and decades from now. With the launch of FreedomToBuy.games, we’re taking a stand against the quiet erasure of creative works from digital shelves.

We launched FreedomToBuy.games to make a statement: when games are delisted today because of discomfort, reviving them tomorrow becomes exponentially harder.

To mark this initiative, for 48 hours only, a selection of 13 titles will be available for free, thanks to the support of their developers and publishers:

Leap of Love

Being a DIK – Season 1

Leap of Faith

POSTAL 2

House Party

HuniePop

Lust Theory

Agony + Agony Unrated

Treasure of Nadia

Summer’s Gone – Season 1

Fetish Locator Week One

Helping the Hotties

Sapphire Safari

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]]><![CDATA[Narrative Games, Comfort Games, and Why We Need Both]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/comfort-vs-narrative-gameshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/comfort-vs-narrative-gamesWed, 30 Jul 2025 19:50:22 GMTThe Power of Narratives In Games

Not every game needs to have a story, at least, not a developed story.

We all love thought-provoking narratives in games. They power cinematic moments that will remain in your consciousness for ages. For me, moments like Halo 3 ending with the warthog or the ending of Halo: Reach; my many failed attempts throughout Dark Souls 1 at the hands of Ornstein and Smough and the Four Kings; Conker’s Bad Furr Day’s barn boys level; the “would you kindly” twist from Bioshock 1; Fatman from MGS2, and Revolver Ocelot from MGS3, and many more that will probably be another article by itself one day.

But you know what else is great about gaming? That feeling that the original games gave you, and I’m talking about the Pac-Mans, the Metal Slugs, 3D Space Pinball.

When, at the end of the day, it was all about completing the level, maybe beating the big bad because they’re bad, scoring the highest score, then the bells and whistles sound off in unison.

Gaming can be great, even when your head’s empty, except for the serotonin blip-blops.

Love for the game, for me, is just a game

We can’t pretend that we’re always playing narrative epics, games with heartbreaking stories, or nightmarish situations. While I greatly enjoy a good story, and I’m aware that it can amplify a game’s feel, purpose, and more, sometimes I want to mow down people or get my score as high as possible. You are reading this from a guy who played Roblox Tycoon, in which you just stare at gray blocks going into a net to get money; before it was cool, of course.

We all enjoy Mario, and all we know is that he’s a plumber (I guess? Never seen his license or do plumbing), and he saves the princess. Minecraft, well, you are Steve—or just you—and you mine, and craft. The majority of the bullet heavens don’t have a story at all. And I don’t want to make this list as long as I can, but you get the point.

Video games are a great medium to explore many themes, including sensitive topics, that allow people to be in touch with a part they never understood or see a perspective they never thought of, and there are many examples out there.

Noteworthy Games Exploring Sensitive Topics

For when you want to think a little.

Spiritfarer

Sourced from Spiritfarer’s Steam page

It feels like I’ve mentioned this game by Thunder Lotus, but what a game. I watched my wife play this game, and it’s hard not to tear up, especially with the mushroom person. It’s a game exploring death, grief, and closure.

This War Of Mine

Sourced from This War of Mine’s Steam page

Another one I’ve mentioned, but especially considering what’s happening in the world, we need to remember that soldiers aren’t the only people who suffer during wartime. Developed by 11 bit studios, you manage a team of civilians in the middle of a conflict. Try to keep children alive in a situation like that. This game made me too anxious.

If Found…

Sourced from If Found… Steam page

Perspective and compassion seem to be lacking in this world. When I was attending college in person, I befriended a trans person—well, not befriended, but I spoke to her from time to time, and it’s pretty crazy what she would go through. Developed by DREAMFEEL, this game tells the story of a trans person accepting themselves and the challenges that come from that.

Venba

Sourced from Venba’s Steam page

This one is on discount, so I might pick it up before that discount ends. Developed by Visai Games, you play as an Indian mom who immigrates to Canada in the 1980s. If you have ever left your home, you realize that food is a blessing. Ingredients, holiday foods, celebrations, there are many things you lose when you move. And this game seems to tackle things that many immigrants face. Touching.

What Game Spoke To You The Most?

The Joy of Comfort Gaming

But not every game has to be this thought-provoking. I like to think about it as comfort food—so, comfort food gaming… Comfort gaming. Just like how reading the news and keeping up with what your emperor is doing, you need to wind down and watch some comedies until you get your sanity back.

Usually, these games don’t have any complicated mechanics. They’re very simple, straightforward, and instantly rewarding, although sometimes requiring some build-up.

My personal favorite, Nubby’s Number Factory, is a simple game of Peggle. You shoot the ball to the numbered pegs, preferably the highest numbered one, and watch the little guy go, and the numbers with it, too. Get the right items, and get those numbers flying faster.

Do these types of games have some introspective or offer mind-altering perspectives? No, and that’s what makes them good. Instead of reading the news, you’re watching comedies.

Comfort Gaming/Cozy gaming

Get those scores up.

Balatro

Sourced from Balatro’s Steam page

I was a bit intimidated by this game, primarily because it’s poker, and I’ve never played poker in my life. I’m more of a brisca type of guy. But after it came out on PSN+, I had to give it a go. This indie hit, developed by LocalThunk, is a satisfying game that gets all the bells and whistles going well. And the best part? It’s very accessible, and with its roguelike deckbuilding aspect of the game, you can play poker however you want.

Nubby’s Number Factory

I’m so good at Nubby

When I don’t want to think about meta-progression, when I just want to shoot some balls and watch them bounce around and get billions of points. That’s all. Developed by MogDogBlog Productions, it’s a plinko-style roguelike, where you just shoot your buddy, the ball named Nubby, and watch it bounce around, and accumulate points. Phenomenal game. 10/10.

Vampire Hunters

Sourced from Vampire Hunter’s Steam page

The more you play Bullet Heaven, the pickier you kind of get. Well, at least to me, but then I noticed that I just needed a different perspective. Developed by Gamecraft Studios, this is a first-person bullet heaven. Tons of things to unlock and grind for, your character can hold 12 weapons, you fight Dracula and giant monsters, and if you like bullet heavens and haven’t played this, what are you doing?

Fun fact: I once played this game without internet for over 20 hours, unlocked a bunch of stuff, then lost the Steam Deck I did it with.

Mycopunk

Sourced from Mycopunk’s Steam page

I recently picked up this game, but I honestly didn’t look into it before doing so. All I knew was that I liked its art style, maybe co-op, and you zoom around a bit. Pigeons at Play developed a very hectic mission-based co-op shooter that I’ve been playing solo, and still enjoying. You jump into an infested planet, do whatever it is the company wants you to do, while mowing down enemies. What I’ve loved so far are the very cool and dynamic missions. There was a mission where I had to assemble a railgun to blow up a ship, and after I blew it up, debris started crashing into the area. The game’s so hype.

What’s Your Comfort Game?

Final Note

I think everyone needs to have a balanced diet. You can’t just play brainless games all the time, the same way you can’t just play narrative-heavy games all the time. Of course, this implies you’re playing more grounded narrative games, not those big epics that feel like the newer Fast and Furious Movies.

Just as reading a book can open your eyes to different perspectives, some people have put in the work to do the same with video games.

I think I know what next week’s article will be about.

Can’t Think. Must Blip Blop.

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]]><![CDATA[BLACKSHARD Review – A Liminal Space Walking Sim with Cosmic Horror Vibes]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/blackshard-review-liminal-cosmic-horrorhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/blackshard-review-liminal-cosmic-horrorSat, 19 Jul 2025 00:13:57 GMT

BLACKSHARD is a first-person liminal space exploration game where you wander through the megastructure, the Labyrinth, releasing trapped deities, as they have promised you paradise. They promised you Carcosa.

The Signs Promise Carcosa

You wander through The Labyrinth, aimlessly yet guided. As each turn you take, each corridor your walk down through, always leads to a door. And that door, leads to different passages, stairs, and halls. In this vast and empty ever changing structure, everything is familiar and foreign. Static and fluid. That is when you find a pile of bones with a letter that says,

"I waited for a time that cannot be told.

The Labyrinth is a dull, sterile and ordered space. It is the embodiment
of time and causality. The harbinger of the Tyranny of Fate.

I played my part. I watched over the Labyrinth. I resisted the whispers.
I did not intervene. I did not count the unclean numbers.

But the Sign promises. It offers."

Right across them it watches you. The Sign. It beckons you to venture through the forgotten halls, free the others, in exchange for freedom. They will give you paradise. They will give you Carcosa.

Walking Through The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth isn’t called a megastructure for nothing. The place is huge, it’s empty, it’s quiet. Above all, it’s a beautiful place for a walking simulator.

If you ever wanted a game that had you constantly going, “Woah, that’s pretty,” while feeling uneasy at how much nothing is around you, you’re in luck. It took me around three minutes to figure out it’s a cosmic horror game.

BLACKSHARD’s gameplay consist of looking for these Signs, which are entities locked behind a sort-of cube cage, preventing them from unleashing their powers over the megastructure and universe. But there are no power-ups, no grapple hooks, no yellow paint, just you, your eyes, your fast feet and jumpy jumps.

As said in its description, it’s a,

visual and narrative experience, a dreamlike journey
into uncharted liminal spaces.

And I have never been this amazed at a liminal space game. There were many times where I just stopped and thought, “I want this in Wallpaper Engine.”

Each turn you take, each stair you climb, and with each Sign you discover and free reveals amazing sights.

Is it bad that you’re freeing them? Who are you to free them? People have been watching The Labyrinth and the Sign, so they may be evil, right? Everything is out of your comprehension, and with each Sign you free, each forgotten soul you speak to, it only creates more questions.

After you free each Sign you’re sent back to the hub, which is where you released the first Sign, and something changes. A tree grows, and more giant figures appear. And for a place called The Labrinth, I never had a hard time finding out where to go, which was odd considering the lack of yellow paint.

Cosmic Horror Background

There are some things that jumped out at me, but I’m not referring to jump-scares, spooky monsters, or anything like that. This Labrinth is like an omnipotent deity that has existed since before time, has outlived Gods, and it’s able to hold unspeakable deities that may or may not drive people into freeing them through whispers.

It all felt very.. Cosmic.

I’m not much of a reader, although I am working on that, but every loading screen has excerpts that sound like otherworldly scriptures,

Its is a primordial non-matter wounded by a Black Shard of Onyx, the lightless shore on which the Ark of the Covenant ran aground. Its is the dead and calcified body of another cosmos or of God himself.”

The Maze Chronicles

Hypnos 10-3

If that’s confusing for you, but a tone setter, then we’re on the same page. But I found out that there are some stories I need to read, such as,:

Hypnos by Lovecraft

Book of Eibon by Clark Ashton Smith and Lin Carter

The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

And probably many more that seemed to have inspired this game.

Verdict

BLACKSHARD is a gallery of empty beauty with a cosmic horror/existentialism backdrop. It’s a relaxing game, with no fail-state, no direction—besides the goal—and a encrypted story to tell.

If you are a person that can appreciate its liminal space megastructure art, and non-existent game mechanics, with a somewhat hard to decipher story, then this could be an enjoyable treat.

It was personally in awe because of how pretty everything was, and how everything was written. It’s like a visual novel that’s very nice on the eye, and, from what I could tell, loyal to its genre’s tone. Just don’t expect anything high paced or any game mechanics. This is a visual novel type of game.

Together, We Shall Reach Carcosa!

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What Would The Whisper Need To Tell You To Free Them?

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]]><![CDATA[4 Upcoming Bullet Heavens With Tons Of Potential ]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/4-upcoming-bullet-heavens-with-tonshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/4-upcoming-bullet-heavens-with-tonsWed, 16 Jul 2025 22:23:01 GMTIf there’s something I will never get tired of, it’s video games, and somewhere in the vast list of things I greatly enjoy—are bullet heavens. I still don’t understand why people can’t just call them bullet heavens instead of survivors-like.

I need another bullet heaven fest.

When I want to play something that’s low-effort, and I’m not playing Nubby’s Number Factory or Clash Royale, I turn to this genre. While Vampire Hunters is my top pick right now, I’ve recently been trying out Wildkeepers Rising, Nautical Survival, and Entropy Survivors.

But there’s more to come! So, if you like this genre, even if just a little, or at all, I think you should keep an eye out for these potential gems.

Megabonk

Sourced from the game's Steam page.

Developer/publisher: vedinad

Socials: Twitter | Discord | Youtube | TikTok | Bluesky

I originally thought it was just a silly game; the first thing I saw was Gigachad flexing. But man, is this game rad. I came in expecting a somewhat competent bullet heaven with some humor, and I left wanting more, still shredding in my dreams.

What sets this one apart is its verticality and momentum. It also felt like Risk of Rain 2 with all the chests scattered around with upgrades, and requiring you to find the teleporter for the boss.

Kill The Music

Sourced from the game's Steam page.

Developer/publisher: Nikko Nikko

Socials: TikTok | Twitter | Bluesky

This game has style! The game centers around music, and playing music for Death, so how could it not have so much style? The game sounds great in every way, it looks amazing, and the gameplay has a unique twist to the genre.

It’s a rhythm game hybrid, and so hitting the button on beat will increase your weapons’ damage. I did have one concern: it was too easy. The presentation is on point, so I’m hoping that while this game is still in the oven, it will get more substance. It just needs to play as good as it sounds and looks.

Relic Abyss

Sourced from the game’s Steam page.

Developer/publisher: Reverse Loop

Socials: Twitter | Discord | Threads | Youtube | Bluesky

My bullet heaven can’t be this cute!? I’ve been following Reverse Loop on Twitter for some time now, and when they posted the demo was out, I was hyped. It took me some time, but I finally got around to it, and it did not disappoint.

I mean this respectfully, but this is a quirky game. The characters’ personalities and the monsters are all very cute and charming. The equipment system was neat, which is standard for RPGs, but uncommon on bullet heavens. Leveling up lets you tweak your character stats, giving you more control over your little chibi character. Also, I was able to turn my archer into a machine gun. This game has potential.

Hordes of Fate: A Hand Of Fate Adventure

Sourced from the game’s Steam page.

Developer: Spitfire Interactive

Publisher: Defiant Development

Socials: Website | Twitter | Discord

Many devs are trying to get a slice of the bullet heaven cake by giving their games a bullet heaven spin-off, and I’m all for it. Based on the Hands of Fate universe, this spin-off tries to mimic its deckbuilding predecessor. And while the demo doesn’t successfully showcase the deckbuilding, it nails everything else.

What I really enjoyed was the storytelling that happens in each run. Everything is an encounter with text to give it some flair. It’s not just a wave of enemies spawning, but an ambush! You don’t just pick up the scroll, you crack the seal, unfurl it, then decide how the incantation ends to buff your character. It helped get me into this world I’m so new to.

You Friendly Neighborhood Bullet Heaven Fan!

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]]><![CDATA[What Happens When Live Service Games Shut Down?]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/what-happens-when-live-service-gameshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/what-happens-when-live-service-gamesThu, 10 Jul 2025 14:07:26 GMT
Stop Killing Games logo — initiative for video game preservation and player rights.
Sourced from Stop Killing Games’ Wikipedia.

Live Service Shutdowns: Why It Hurts More Than You Think

The Stop Killing Games initiative was started by Ross Scott, and while it faced controversy thanks to a fraud (an egotistical person), it has—thankfully—managed to get enough signatures that the E.U. government might debate on it. It’s a good initiative with good intentions that no one with their right mind would be against. After all, these companies have enough money and personnel to do what’s right. I mean, if they care about the consumers, that is.

Or maybe we’re headed toward a digital graveyard of dead multiplayer games.

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What Are Live Service Games Taking Away?

You know, if there’s something I’ve thought about after spending hundreds of dollars on League of Legends, and even more on Steam—which is another story—it’s that one day, it will all be gone.

Sure, private servers are a thing, and I did venture into that area as a child who couldn’t afford World of Warcraft’s subscription, but now that I’m grown and can spend money on games, it sucks that many games I enjoy are live service.

Outlast Trials | My Game of The Year May Be Gone In The Future

Sourced from Outlast Trials’ Steam page.

Developer/publisher: Red Barrels

Outlast Trials is, for now, my game of the year. I don’t care that it came out last year. It is a fast-paced first-person horror game, where you become a victim of horrible experiments alongside three other poor souls, and it has:

  • Monetization After Purchase: After you buy the game, there’s DLC you can purchase that is thankfully only cosmetics.

  • Always Online: If you don’t have an online connection, even if you play alone, this game will not function.

  • Constant Patches/Updates: They have a roadmap teasing upcoming features, and with the weekly change of levels, there’s always something new, in a way, to look forward to.

  • Evolving Game World/Mechanics: New big villains, new maps, new characters, and the story progresses, sometimes changing key mechanics of the game (such as the reborn system).

  • Retention Strategies: You have to do your dailies, weeklies, complete the battle pass, and timed events, which do have F.O.M.O.

But I can’t help it, this game is a blast and deserves my continued support.

That’s a live-service game, and I’ve been enjoying the twists and turns the game’s taking in its narrative, the cool levels, and jarring cosmetics. I’ve bought all the DLC they’ve released purely because they look cool, and I’ve enjoyed everything they’ve pushed out.

But one day, whether I’m still playing it or not, it might be gone. I won’t be able to run any trials, customize my room or character, arm wrestle people, or get upset that someone is crouching everywhere. Because, usually, after official support ends, that’s it. They haven’t said there’s a planned offline mode or preservation plan.

I may be a lurker on the Discord server, but I do watch people talk about the lore, read their excitement, and it's bittersweet to know it will all reach its end. But what makes it bitter is that it’ll end one day, with no possible way to relive any of it (besides YouTube).

Red Barrels hasn’t said anything regarding offline support, but I’m pretty sure that it’s possible and feasible. But it’s that uncertainty that I think many of us are used to, or don’t care for. I mean, until it happens to you.

The first time something like this happened to me was with a little game called Rumbleverse.

Games You Can’t Play Anymore

Live service game shutdowns that hurt me

Rumbleverse | A Loss That Hit Close

Rumbleverse logo — cartoon-style wrestling battle royale game by Iron Galaxy.
Sourced from the news section for Rumbleverse.

Developer: Iron Galaxy

Publisher: Epic Games

Link to the shutdown

Rumbleverse was a pretty hype battle royale (don’t roll your eyes at me!) where everyone was a wrestler. Instead of running around a realistic or sci-fi world, grabbing guns and armor, you were running around getting grapple moves to suplex people off buildings. I loved the cartoony aesthetic, the unique gameplay in the battle royale scene, and it was just a blast. I also played the game with my young nephew, which is a factor in how I feel about its shutdown.

When I heard about the Rumbleverse shutdown because of the lack of players, it was heartbreaking. I understand that someone has to keep the servers up, but the game was genuinely fun. It’s hard to compete against the giants, but it didn’t mean it was a bad game, just that it didn’t get people’s attention. And after six months, the game was closed down; though everyone was eligible for refunds, and they made the battle pass free and a couple of cosmetics.

Wildstar | Ratchet And Clank Look-Alike MMORPG

WildStar screenshot showing player housing in the sci-fi MMORPG with colorful, cartoon-style graphics
Sourced from Wildstar’s Steam page.

Developer:

Publisher: NCSoft. The people behind City of Heroes

Link to the shutdown

Wildstar was a sci-fi MMORPG that looked like Ratchet & Clank. The movement system was fluid, the housing was cool, and I love that you had to aim everything. Nothing was lock-on in that game, making PVP and PVE dynamic. Well, of course, I say this from the perspective that I was a kid at that time, so I couldn’t afford it, and when it went free-to-play, which was for 3 years, I didn’t have a good enough computer, or I was in the Army doing what every young private does.

As a big MMO fan, who is also a fan of cartoony art-styles, this sucks. The short amount of time I was able to play it, even below 20 fps, it felt fun, and it looked cool. I still wish I were able to play this game, just a little bit.

Battlefield Heroes | We All Tried It, Right?

Battlefield Heroes logo — cartoon-style free-to-play shooter from the Battlefield franchise.
Image sourced from Battlefield Heroes’ IMDB.

Developer: DICE, Easy Studios

Publisher: Electronic Arts, EU: Aeria Games

Link to the shutdown

I’m not sure how many people knew that the was a F2P third-person shooter cartoony battlefield game, but here it is! It had a class system, a vibrant cartoony art style, and let you get that shoot bang fix.

I was able to play this game, though it didn’t matter because I couldn’t afford anything from the cash shop. The game wasn’t able to generate enough money, although it lasted 6 years. On the bright side, you’re able to hop on this game through here.

What’s the takeaway?

Or, what are they taking away?

It’s pretty hard to imagine Fortnite, Roblox, or Call of Duty dying. They have millions of players, generate millions per month, and have figured out the formula, with the help of tons of personnel and money, to pursue indefinite growth. But not every game is lucky enough, or has enough resources, to be like them.

But with this initiative, it creates a pathway into the conversation of video game preservation and ownership. We spend money on these games, whether it’s the full product or the DLC, we should be able to play, even after it stops receiving support.

As a person who holds onto books and video games they want to pass down to their future children, it’s pretty rough that there are some games I wouldn’t be able to share. And it’s not that I won’t be able to purchase it, but because it’s just not possible.

The wildest situation with preservation and ownership is with The Sims 2, because before they remade it, you just couldn’t get it. And that wasn’t even a live service game. But again, that’s another story.

Is This Newsletter Worth Preserving?

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]]><![CDATA[Necesse Review: Terraria Meets Rimworld In A Survival Sim Hybrid]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/necesse-survival-colony-sim-review-fair-games-apshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/necesse-survival-colony-sim-review-fair-games-apsSat, 05 Jul 2025 21:04:17 GMT
Necesse gameplay showing a busy player-built settlement with NPCs farming, crafting, and moving resources across a fully developed colony.
Gif sourced from Necesse’s Steam page

Developer/publisher: Fair Games ApS

Conquer the lands, dungeons, and other biomes in the procedurally generated survival game Necesse. While I came in expecting a survival game similar to Terraria, I ended up discovering a colony sim like Rimworld.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co

What Necesse Borrows From Terraria and Rimworld

And how it makes it its Own

Necesse gameplay showing a player outside a settlement with multiple bedrooms, settlers inside, and a quest to kill the Queen Spider. UI alerts a raider attack on the Forest settlement.
Sleep with one eye open.

If you read a certain prior work of mine, you probably know my thoughts on survival games and my complicated relationship with them. That being said, this doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in the genre, as I always dive into the genre every so often to see if one hooks me. So, when I saw Necesse, ironically around the time I was playing Rimworld, the focus on settlements and combat piqued me.

At first glance, it’s easy to say that you get some Terraria feeling from its aesthetics. I thought about it as a top-down Terraria, especially with how the combat and gameplay play out. I was mashing left-click to swing my sword quicker, getting close so my boomerang comes back quicker, and I was mining, chopping wood, and crafting.

Necesse game boss fight Evil’s Protector player NPC assistance gameplay
I’ve only manage to beat it once. I lost this fight.

You get some help from Jared, the tutorial fellow, and his place is pretty nice and cozy enough that I settled there and expanded on it.

It felt like I was enjoying a competent survival game; it checked every block, it was accessible with quests that guide you, the cave’s entrance is a ladder nearby, and both building and crafting were very simple

Venturing around the cave, slaying vampires and goblins, getting my minecart going. Everything was seamless and simple.

On the surface, it felt like a quick-paced survival game, but after the combat, it gets pretty different.

Terraria But As A City Planner

I’ll put the rooms here, food over there… Wait, where do I put the roads?!

Necesse gameplay showing a player standing outside a wooden base with multiple rooms, settler beds, workstations, and UI elements for managing zones and tasks.
Big Blue Square. Let’s you know what needs to be protected.

As you place down your flag and name your settlement, then go on adventures, people will visit your settlement, marking an opportunity to recruit helping hands. Depending on who it is, they will ask for a variety of things, from only money to a specific amount of resources. After you give them what they want, they’ll become part of your community.

And they become helping hands by being able to do some:

  • Hauling: Moving and picking up items.

  • Crafting: Crafting recipes at workshops.

  • Forestry: Chopping down and planting trees in forestry zones.

  • Farming: Harvesting and plating crops, berry bushes and fruit trees.

  • Fertilize: Fertilize crops and fertilize zones.

  • Husbandry: Milking, sheering, and slaughtering animals in husbandry zone and harvesting apiaries.

  • Fishing: Someone has to get some food.

  • Hunting: Someone has to get some food. (Land edition)

From what I gathered (HA!), each settler can perform basic tasks—from hauling to farming, with some being able to do more specialized work, such as those listed after fertilize. Be sure to set the zones for crafting, harvesting, forestry, and all that good resource gathering.

You’re also able to set defense zones, tell them where to go, restrict areas, equip them with gear, set their diets, and probably more stuff I’ve yet to discover. What I found super useful was setting chests for specific items, such as materials, food, equipment—and having settlers automatically haul whatever it is they got into a specific chest.

Necesse gameplay player interacting with NPC Animal Keeper showing happiness feature in game
It’s not just about you! It’s about them, too!

That’s especially useful considering that your settlers can get upset for different reasons, such as the room being too small or being too hungry, so have that food chest stocked up every time.

Keep your people fed, equipped, let them know what they should prioritize, and if you’re having difficulties with bosses or whatnot, tell them to join you on the adventure. But remember to have people around, raids will happen, so be on guard.

Is The Settlement Bustling?

Oh. It’s Bustling.

Necesse multiplayer boss fight showing players dodging projectiles, casting spells, and battling a powerful enemy in a chaotic bullet-hell-style dungeon.
Gif sourced from Necesse’s Steam page.

From the game’s trailer, and other gameplay I’ve seen, this game gets kind of intricate with its management, and hectic like Terraria’s combat, the further down you go—or up? Or different dimensions?

Expanding your settlement means getting more workers, having to feed them, producing resources, and ultimately forming a party of strong people willing to venture into the depths of… Anywhere, really.

And you’ll need them, because these bosses have tons of health, deal a good amount of damage, summon minions, and fill the screen with bullets, spells, and chaos. It’s basically a dungeon/raid.

Necesse game UI displaying settlement construction with villager task and work priority system
Everyone has their strengths! Every hand is valuable.

While the more common aspect of the genre was easy to stomach—the exploring, crafting, and gathering—for me, the settlement management was a little intimidating. Recruiting visitors was simple, but it was getting everything organized and functioning required my brain power.

Organizing the chests and designating them for specific items, getting workers to start gathering and hauling things, setting priorities and my zones, and overall, just managing the settlement. It wasn’t hard, it’s just the depth that I didn’t expect, but warmly welcomed.

And while I didn’t dive into the multiplayer, you’re able to play this with numerous people. The description of the game says that you’re able to establish colonies with your friends, or even compete with them. And with the roadmap promising a seamless infinite worlds, and more features for settlements—among other things, those servers must be a blast, especially for role-players.

I could see this being a great pick for someone who would like to organize their town, not through the perspective of a God, but through the eyes of a working hand.

Micromanaging fans could get a kick out of this, but those looking for a more casual experience can enjoy it, but it could lose the cozy aspect down the line.

Should You Play Necesse if You Like Survival Game or Colony Sims?

In short:

  • Necesse is an interesting mashup of Terraria’s combat with Rimworld’s colony management.

  • The gameplay is what you’d expect from a survival game with its gathering, and building, but has fast-paced combat and big boss fights.

  • I’d recommend it for players who enjoy survival games but want to be able to build a functioning and breathing city.

  • Necesse is currently available in Early Access on Steam, wheree it’s receiving regular updates, and I posted the roadmap below.

    Necesse 2025 roadmap featuring developer plans like economy overhaul, new settler personalities and romance, infinite seamless worlds, expanded endgame content, new biomes, enemies, QoL improvements, and settlement features.

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]]><![CDATA[Why Most Mobile Games Are Trash | Bones That Rattle]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/mobile-games-worth-playing-vs-cash-grabshttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/mobile-games-worth-playing-vs-cash-grabsWed, 02 Jul 2025 21:20:29 GMTMy Past With Mobile Gaming

We go way back!

It’s really easy to say that all mobile games are bad. If you’re like me, you’ve at some point asked yourself, “why are mobile games bad?”

Actually, I’m confident in saying that most non-casual gamers believe that most mobile games are cash grabs. Whether they have gacha mechanics, time barriers (energy), or constantly push you to spend that well-earned dosh, you can actually spend less buying a mobile game than committing to free ones.

Of course, tons of purchasable phone games are ports, but there’s still validity because—I’m assuming—porting a game to a phone isn’t just dragging and dropping the game.

What Ruined (My) Mobile Gaming: Monetization

And maybe, gacha. Maybe.

When I was much younger than I already am, I went through many free-to-play games on my laptop, and I went through my many downloads—and getting my email hacked, I realized that they all had a problem: problematic monetization tactics. Well, looking back now, at least.

People were able to buy their way to victory, whether it was literal gear, a magical stone for upgrades, or to increase their chances. The purpose was to make progression slow to a snail’s pace, to just nudge every so often into buying that “obsidian stone +7.”

If we fast-forward to today, mobile games are the same, aren’t they? I don’t know how long they’ve been like this, but it feels like most mobiles follow these monetization tactics:

  • Gacha Mechanics (Loot Boxes): Usually a box, but not always. It contains items, each with its drop rate.

    • This could be the least harmful one, such as tying that super cute or cool skin for your character to a 0.0050% drop rate, or tying it to your best in slot (BiS) weapons.

  • Time skips/speed-ups: Seen a lot in games like Clash of Clans, where you have to wait for buildings to finish, you can spend money to skip the wait, and have your building now. Or in the case of my wife, who plays Baker’s Story, finishes baking her cake.

    • Kind of sucks that you have to wait for your barracks/school/soldiers/hospital or any other structure to finish building in twelve hours. But, if you spend the cheap price of five dollars, you skip through it!

  • Video ads: Ads will run either somewhere on the screen, after finishing a level, or as an opportunity.

    • We all hate watching ads. They just want to sell us something, and they’re getting paid to show us that. Oh, but what if you get an extra life if you watch an ad? Or duplicate your reward? Now we’re talking!

  • Energy System: Your actions are tied to a limited resource, which needs time to recover after being depleted. In some games, it can be actions like talking, going through dungeons, or playing a level. After it’s depleted, you can’t do anything, unless you’re willing to spend money.

    • We don’t want you to finish the game too quickly or get your gear too quickly, so let’s throttle (slow) your playtime.

Way back when, when I used to play phone games like Blood Brothers, Brave Frontier, and others that I forgot—I never gave a try to Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, or any of those rising stars at the time—it never clicked on my brain that if I spent five dollars, I’d become a champ.

During some downtime, I remember I saw one of my soldiers playing Monopoly Go, and playing is a term used loosely here. The man was just slamming the Go button, prompting him to go around the board, and for bells and whistles to go off, and god knows how many effects popped. But I really can’t blame him.

My favorite rising super star genre is Bullet Heavens/Survivors-like, and those are all about the bells and whistles; presentation is everything in those games.

But I can’t say all mobile games, of course—but it’s daunting how many of them have sketchy practices. To me, battle passes aren’t necessarily sketchy, although most of them bank on F.O.M.O. (Fear Of Missing Out), and some don’t—Outlast Trials being an example.

It’s also surprising how many of the top-grossing games in the Google Play’s charts are those building games, I’m sure you know the one. Those games where you have to wait four hours to upgrade your barracks, invade people, and they all play more or less the same way. I think what sets them apart is the aggressive monetization and visual art style.

Also, I discovered a new genre, Casino-Adventure.

There’s Still Hope!

Some games I still like

Entertaining phone games still exist—and you know I can’t leave you without suggestions, so here are some mobile games that deserve your attention, at least to me:

Loop Hero

Loop Hero mobile gameplay showing the hero walking around a pixel-art loop with terrain cards placed nearby and an inventory/status bar on the right.
Image sourced from Loop Hero’s Google Play page.

The world has been thrown on a loop, a never-ending time loop, to be exact. Become the hero who must regain his memory, bring back inhabitants, and defeat the evil Lich in this deckbuilding roguelike RPG.

Deckbuilding games aren’t usually my thing, but I’m a sucker for minions, the looks, and the concept, and not just narratively. As the title says, you go on a loop, over and over again, and place cards that will buff you, and also spawn enemies, and in a way, rebuild the world. After that, you expand your camp with rewards you gain, build up your character, and continue the loop.

Dicey Dungeons

Battle screen from Dicey Dungeons showing the Witch character casting spells using dice against a rabbit enemy called Gardener.
Image sourced from Dicey Dungeons’ Google Play page.

You’re gonna have to test your luck to beat Lady Luck’s dungeon and gain your wish in this deckbuilding roguelike game.

The art style is very charming, your characters are dice and have their own playstyle. The replayability lies in unlocking the characters, unfolding their stories—which isn’t much but humorous—and simply doing your runs.

Magic Survival

Magic Survival gameplay scene featuring a wizard character surrounded by glowing magic projectiles and demonic enemies on a dark, stylized battlefield.
Sourced and zoomed in picture from Magic Survival’s Google Play page.

  • Developer/publisher: Leme

  • Price: $0/Free

The one who started the Bullet Heaven / Survivors-like genre, all for free and on your phone.

It’s a very simple game, and you can expect everything common with the genre. The meta-progression, the spell evolutions, the timed level, all that good stuff.

Cytus 2

Cytus 2 gameplay interface showing a futuristic rhythm track with neon visuals and note bars synced to electronic music, and beautifully drawn art.
Sourced from Cytus II’s Google Play page.

A rhythm game with great art style, great music, and a mysterious legendary DJ.

I’ve been playing this game on and off, and it has been a fun and satisfying experience, especially thanks to its bumping music. I will say, you can buy other characters, which will come with their music, but you don’t need to.

Unless you really want Miku, which I get… I get it.

Bloons TD 6

Colorful battle scene from Bloons TD 6 showing monkey towers popping balloons on a winding candy path.
Sourced from Bloons TD 6’s Google Play Page.

Pop those dreaded balloons! They’re after your bananas in this tower defense classic.

I’ve been playing these games since the second entry, so I am a bit nostalgic. But it is a solid tower defense with its unique art style, theme, neat music, and features. The heroes are also cool, and you can purchase skins without spending real money, unless you don’t want to play the game.

Why You Gotta Make Things Complicated?

It gets me frustrated

As one of—if not the most popular and accessible gaming device, there are bound to be many bad actors. Kind of rough that anyone can have a casino that is accessible—even if they disguise it as something else.

But as a person who can afford a couple of bucks here and there, I won’t lie—I’ve fallen for these practices, and I’ve thrived because of them. It takes a while for someone to realize that if you have to spend money to enjoy or be good at a free-to-play game, you might as well buy a game.

The mobile gaming space is flooded with predatory practices, but if you practice discipline or purchase some instead, you can get tons of value and protect your wallet.

Pokémon Go To The Comment Section

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]]><![CDATA[Sumo Wrestle To Victory In This Cozy Creature Collector - Kabuto Park Review]]>https://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/kabuto-park-review-cozy-creature-collectorhttps://whatsinkedinmymind.substack.com/p/kabuto-park-review-cozy-creature-collectorFri, 27 Jun 2025 22:59:41 GMT

Disclaimer: I was provided the product to make this review.

Developer/publisher: Doot Tiny Games

Price: $4.99

Socials: Discord | Bluesky | Twitter | Threads | Instagram | Tik Tok | Twitch

Kabuto Park is an adorable creature collecting game—I mean, a tiny bug collecting game! Compete in a tiny tournament run by tiny people where you pit tiny bugs against each other in a sumo-like tournament. It’s a game that, while it lacks in depth, makes up for it in vibes.

School’s Out! You Know What That Means?

Bug catching time!

School’s out for the summer, but the heat is building up with the ongoing Summer Beatles Battle Championship! But as a novice, where do you start? Well, how about:

  • Visit different areas

  • Capture bugs/free the ones you don’t want

  • Improve your equipment

  • Reach the top!

Pretty straightforward, right? That’s because the minds behind this game—Doot Tiny Games, promised a 2 to 4 hours of gameplay. With the cute visuals, cozy premise, simple creature collection mechanic, and easy tournaments—they do just that!

Is It Too Hot Outside?!

But the bugs are there!

The gameplay loop is very simple and centers around you just being a kid in the summer who has a fascination for bugs!

  • Gotta catch ‘em all!: Each area you visit will have a number of common, uncommon, and rare bugs for you to capture. Each bug has its own stats and abilities.

  • Get the right spot!: After you click an area to survey, you get a quick time event, in a way. Clicking the blue spots gets you closer, while clicking the green spots nets you the bug.

  • Assemble!: How are you going to reach the top if you don’t form your team! With the bugs you collect, make the best comp that you can, and then it’s time to wrestle. Sumo wrestle!

  • Push them out of bounds!: The way combat works here is simple. You both generate energy over time, and you both take turns pushing each other. Energy generated can be used to activate cards, which can range from buffing your defense, strength, or energy, to pushing the enemy and falling immunity.

And that’s the game! The core loop is simple, and with its aesthetics, it gives off those cozy summer vibes you lived—or wish you did live—as a child.

Before The Summer’s Over

I will become beetle champion!

When it comes to the substance of Kabuto Park’s mechanics, there’s barely any. And that’s okay! This isn’t about min-maxing or finding the exact breed or moods. Why else would there be a terrarium that doesn’t provide any bonuses?

I kept the same team for more than half of the game, and farming for candy to level up your bugs is very easy. I didn’t have to figure out a really good comp, just get decent stats, level up the bugs, then call it a day.

If you get one good rare or uncommon bug, and you get a good bug for each stat, you’re set for the tournament.

The areas don’t offer much bug diversity, only in scenery. Only on the last level was there something different with the catching, as the green and blue spots can disappear.

While this may sound like a negative, it’s a positive. Well, it depends on your perspective. This is a cozy game focusing on its vibe and charm—and it nailed that.

Each bug has a cute childlike description; each kid you go against has a quick quip, or just says kid things—like that one girl that talks about her cow and how you should meet her, or the boy that makes tiny hats for his bugs.

Bug Off!

Or bug in?

The visuals convey exactly what the game is: a cozy and simple creature-collecting game with barely any pushback. They weren’t trying to make anything complex or in-depth.

Where Kabuto Park lacks in depth, it makes up in its charm. This is a low-stress, cozy experience that can be beaten in one sitting—and can’t and shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

I Don’t Want To Go Back To School!

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