Weekly Update 2025-10-12
Man plans, God spams laugh emote while teabagging
Some bad news right off the bat – I’ve had to travel on short notice due to a family emergency and will not be returning home within the week. Among other things, this means I will be holding off on posting any long-form pieces at least until I get back, and will probably not be able to cover this week’s Steam Next Fest in nearly the depth I had committed to earlier this year. I am still going to be trying some demos when I get the time, and I’ll even try to make short posts about them, but probably not daily, probably not very extensively, and probably not with good footage. On the PLUS side, I will be very thoroughly testing the Steam Deck compatibility of almost every title I try! And at the end of the week, come Hell or high water, I will do a roundup post about anything that impressed me, as I wasn’t planning on doing a standard update anyway. I know nobody was really looking forward to this more than I was myself, but I’m still sorry.
Game Releases and Updates
House of Necrosis release – A shambling horror rounds the corner. Speaking of Next Fest, this was one of my favorite demos the last time around, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting its full release. Once it came out, I got stuck in pretty hard, and ended up completing my first run just before shit really hit the fan in my personal life. From what little I’ve gleaned from rumors online, there might be a sort of post-game to discover, so although I’m a little disappointed at its very short length, I’m still happy with what I got to play and hope for more to come.
Daimon Blades early access – the E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy sequel we didn’t know we needed, and indeed, may not have needed at all. This… looter shooter? – is that right? – is out in early access and, you know what, for as much as I’ve yearned for a return to form for Streum On Studio ever since E.Y.E, I’m not sure I’m glad the monkey’s paw curled this time.
Blade and Sorcery Rakta update – the VR game that most looks like something that would be mentioned by name in a Law and Order episode finally had its big full release last year after many years of slow accretion, and now it looks like they’re planning on gluing some more odds and ends onto the final product. This update adds a whole bunch of ‘Eastern’ styled weapons and an armor set – so far I’ve used throwing stars, huge studded clubs, and a kama that’s so rusty it can barely cause a bad scratch. But any excuse to jump back into a game where you are allowed to grab a woman and hold her head in a brazier until she burns alive and turns into an overdone turkey is enough for me, and I spent way too long… WAY too long this week living out my sickest power fantasies.
Battlefield 6 release – the beta for this shooter was important enough to me that I felt like addressing it here, and now that it’s out… well, shit, I have no fucking idea, do I? Ain’t gonna be playing BF6 on a Steam Deck, am I? The impressions I’ve seen have been generally positive, the clips I’ve seen have been some of the most hilariously ‘Battlefield’ moments in years, and I’m excited to get back and get on the grind.
Approaching Infinity planet smells – is this the most important news of the week? My favorite roguelike just keeps getting new content, and one of the juicy new tidbits this time is the ability to take your helmet off, take a deep whiff, and discover exactly what your captain thinks the prevailing odor of each planet is. Assuming there’s a breathable atmosphere. And his first inhalation doesn’t include a pathogen that makes him start slurring.
The State of Games Played
I reached the credits of Tokyo Xtreme Racer, after some of the most brutal boss races in the game as I struggled to tweak my WRX into the ultimate cornering machine, and then was able to buy an LFA and kind of just grind most of the rest of the game under my heel. And after all that, I was about 300 horsepower shy of even keeping up with the post-game bosses, and 30 hours of grinding away from unlocking the engine swap ability in NG, so I advanced to NG+ so I could start humiliating most of the racers in the game with an AE86 that somehow has a V10 in it.
The last few areas of Abiotic Factor have really ramped up the difficulty, and their size is utterly staggering as well, so my progress slowed down even before I had to hop on the Tram back to the east coast. I’m still really enjoying the progression, but some of the new enemies seem to drain me of ‘away mission’ resources so quickly I feel like I’m only able to get into one or two actual fights before teleporting back to restock.
As I said before, I finished House of Necrosis, or at least, got the normal ending, and although it’s much shorter and a bit easier than I would have liked, it’s got such amazing potential that I’m perfectly happy to have jumped in early, and really hope there’s more content down the road.
And, while on a plane, I embarrassed myself by glaring at a stewardess [oh, I’m sorry, stewardsperson?] who tried to hand me a little bag of graham crackers in the middle of my refight with Grand Mother Silk in Silksong. Well, come on, they’d given me like two bags already. I finished the fight, and carried on into the Act 3 I’d heard of in hushed whispers. Uh huh. Oh, they do that now, huh? I’ve seen worse.
Writing
I’m sure you’ll be surprised now to read that I have not finished any writeups, essays, top 10 lists, retrospectives, or compilations of tips to improve your sex life this week. Well, not to worry, because I’ve been taking copious notes on all those topics, so when this fire drops, it’ll make your knees weak, arms heavy.
Other
As I still do intend to try out as many Next Fest demos as I can in my limited time, more than ever I need to curate, so if anyone has any that they think I’d like or would like to get my take on or are too busy to try yourself, please let me know and I’ll find a really diplomatic way to get out of it and play something nobody has any interest in instead. See you in a week!