Weekly Update 2026-01-04
Baba Is Uninstalled
Game Releases and Updates
Baba Is You content update – When was the last time anyone thought about this puzzle game? It’s been a while for me. These patch notes tell tales of new objects, new verbs, and a host of other changes and additions. That might be good for somebody, but personally, I was over Baba Is You before I ever finished what was already in it, and I doubt I’ll be revisiting it any time soon.
Underspace milestone update – on the cruise to release, this Freelancer-style space sim has gotten what is apparently its final major, major update, touching most of the game’s systems in some way, smoothing out earlier content, and maybe most importantly, streamlining the modding. Being able to tweak stats, add new gear, quests, and locations, maybe even just bumping the cruise speed up a bit… could give the game more legs post-release. But we’ve still got to get there first.
The State of Games Played
The Devil Spire has fallen… a couple of times, actually. Since finally being tempted to join the Devil Spire Falls Early Access, I made a standard character, wandered around a bit, and wound up getting so strong so fast I went ahead and conquered one of the titular Spires… leading to the next popping up. I cleared that one too.
The game is a mess of intertwined systems, bizarre spawning, the worst balance and most simple scaling system I’ve ever seen, and I love it. Some of your skills train so insanely fast that I went from zero aptitude to maximum godlike abilities in the span of a single [admittedly large] dungeon crawl, doing quests and crafting to gain new gear are somewhat pointless when you can kick most of the enemies into a wall at 30 mph, and besides clearing the Spires, there’s no real endgame goal of any kind, at least not that I found. But I also really loved walking up to a group of bandits, kicking them in the face so hard half of them crumpled into mangled heaps on the spot, and then walking up to the quivering survivors begging for mercy, forcing them to train me in whatever skills they had, shaking them down for food or coin, or just ordering them to join me on my never-ending killing spree.
I bought copies of Abiotic Factor for some friends, and then dragged them through the first few areas in co-op. We’ve set the difficulty to Apocalyptic, which… is certainly exciting. I’m not sure if the game feels better or worse like this, but I think it’s interesting enough to be worth another not-quite-casual playthrough.
Got Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon as a gift, and played enough to get through the tutorial and into the first real area. It’s certainly an off-brand Elder Scrolls game, though it has a few tidbits I found worthwhile. The main one is that the game has named minibosses as optional encounters, even within the tutorial area, which reminded me a bit of Souls games. They even reward you with some unique equipment, which is cool. Besides that, the game seems a bit extreme with the stat requirements [unless you level up very quickly] and the combat is very easily cheesed. I wish the actual gameplay was as weird and stylized as the opening cutscene.
Also got Assetto Corsa Rally, an early access spin-off from the Italian racing sim franchise. Like its track-based cousin, it claims laser-scanned tracks and cars… what does that even mean when it comes to muddy tracts and dirt roads?
So far the game’s got a decent variety of cars, albeit all trending a bit old, and two full-length courses, which you can do all at once or in segments. I haven’t really attempted any proper runs, but it’s still been pretty fun to screw around in, and if nothing else, is getting me more excited for the impending release of Super Woden: Rally Edge.
The last gift game I’ve actually started is UFO 50, the fake 8-bit compilation that feels like a game jam participant’s sad attempt to make a Gamecenter CX game. Well, maybe that’s a little mean, but I’ve still only played a few of the titles [I’m going in fake chronological order] and so far the only ones I’ve enjoyed were the auto-runner and a cross between Pac-man and Splatoon.
I also have been very occasionally dipping into ARC Raiders, which seems to have calmed down a bit since the resets – I’ve heard rumors that the game tracks ‘behavior’ and the matchmaking tries to take that into account, with the suspicion being that ‘shooting first’ lands you in PVP servers, while being a good little PVE mule mostly isolates you from the psychos. In which case, it feels like the ideal move is to quietly and defensively build back up your stockpile and crafting capabilities, then go on a fucking killing spree for a week or two to blow off some steam. Is that my plan? *steeples fingers as glare off glasses obscures my eyes* You’re about to find out, Raider.
Finally, I am nearing the end of Angeline Era… or, rather, I’m nearing the point at which I will declare myself done with Angeline Era, regardless of my actual completion percentage. Yeah, it’s that sort of game.
Writing
I did plenty of writing in the past month. Don’t get greedy.
Other
As the Steam Winter Sale ends, I suppose I should post my haul list.
Toward Dawn – Welsh Werewolf Romance RPG
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered – I shouldn’t have to explain what this is
Juufuutei Raden’s Guide for Pixel Museum – I will not explain what this is
Gimmick! Special Edition – classic platformer
Gimmick! 2 – modern sequel to above
Devil Spire Falls – the EA crap I’ve been gradually whispered to by dark forces until succumbing to
Devil Spire – the predecessor to above, which may provide context as I await the new game to be finished
Shattered God – Quest for the Divine Relic – even earlier predecessor to Devil Spire series, which looks experimental and insane
VOIN – First-person hack’n’slash by solo dev. Reminds me a bit of a non-VR Hellsweeper
Touhou: Fearless Frogslayer – don’t judge me
Steelrising – After the first Greedfall I made a solemn oath to never buy a Spiders game again for more than ten bucks. Well, this was five. Your move, Frenchies.
Shadows of Forbidden Gods – hex grid fantasy strategy putting you in the role of a dark, subversive force undermining the world’s peace. Entirely possible this is what I was born for
Warhammer 40k: Battle Sister – VR 40k game recommended to me by David Gretzschel. Well, joke’s on you David, I’m gonna smash your speedrun times as soon as I get my headset shipped to me.
Sword of Jade: Parallel Dreams – rerelease of an RPG made for MS-DOS in 2005
Dungeons of Blood and Dream – I usually dodge these intentionally ugly games because their style-over-substance is a little too obviously engineered for people to recommend them to me. But the little bit of gameplay I’ve seen looks just as thoroughly insane as the graphics, plus nobody has triggered my contrarianism by suggesting it to me yet.
The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante – recommended by Magnvs while discussing Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf adaptations and other gamebook-style videogames
Posessor(s) – bundled with Constance, glanced at it, wondered why I hadn’t heard anything about a game from the developers of Hyper Light Drifter coming out. I guess I’ll find out for myself
Constance – I’m going to play this before the Silksong DLC comes out so I can spend the entire time saying this was better [even if its not] [I bet it will be though]
The Talos Principle 2 Road to Elysium DLCs – I really enjoyed the base game, way more and for much different reasons than I expected to, and have been meaning to pick up this DLC season pass, even though I totally do not think I’m going to finish it. Reviews have been mixed, the heightened challenge will probably cause me to burn out, and there’s no guarantee that I’ll still be in the mood for reading robots tweeting about philosophy. But most of all, I’m staggered that the game wants A HUNDRED FUCKING GIGS TO DOWNLOAD. YOU THINK I’M MADE OF HARD DRIVE SPACE?
Have you tried Knights of the Chalice 2? I’m obsessed with this game. It’s my favorite adaptation of D&D since Pools of Radiance.