Rundown (8/24/2025) What Would My Dream TF Game Be?

This Week’s Topics:

• Rundown Preamble Ramble: What Would My Dream TF Game Be?
• Time Marches On, So Just Accept It! (“WHAT? How is Y Turning X Years Old?”)
• Kirby Air Riders Direct (Masahiro Snackurai Returns!)
• Tales of Xillia Remastered Announced (Natalie Complains About Inefficient Re-Release Schedules)
• Keighley’s 2025 Part 2 of 3: Gamescom Ver. (Another Wet Barrage of Announcements!)
• Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Announced (I Really Miss Gen 7 Gamindustri)
• Bubsy 4D Announced (Neither the Bubsy We Want nor the Bubsy We Deserve)
• Zero Parades Revealed (Natalie Talks About The Disco Elysium Situation)
• Black Myth 2: Zhong Kui Announced (Fine, I Guess Black Myth is the Series Name)
• Hollow Knight Silksong Is Finally Coming Out (Arriving September 4th)
• PlayStation 5 US Price Hike Enacted (PlayStation? More Like PayStation!)

Header image incorporates some fonts, menus, and visual assets from Final Fantasy V and its Pixel Remaster release. Not because it’s really related to my dream game. I just thought it would be fun to assemble for a header image. I was correct.

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Rundown Preamble Ramble:
What Would My Dream TF Game Be?

So, here’s a novel enough premise for a Rundown preamble, based on a prompt I saw from a place I cannot easily link, so I won’t. The prompt asked ‘what your dream TF game would be, what its plot, genre, mechanics, and things you would want to see in the game.’ It’s a premise that I think about on occasion, given how transformation is a major mechanic, component, and recurring theme throughout gaming history.

Transformation has been present in games for decades, and there are plenty of games built around the idea of one thing becoming several different things. One of the best-selling games in the past decade, Super Mario Odyssey (2017) touted possession as its core innovation. You can make a game work with a shapeshifting protagonist who is a flesh monster, see [Prototype] (2009) or a ghost who possesses monsters and turns them into flesh monsters, see Slitterhead (2024). You can make a game geared around defeating enemies and becoming them, see Mega Man ZX Advent (2007). A game where transformations are a key part of navigation if not combat— see Shantae, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (2018), even Banjo-Kazooie (1998).

The mechanics of transformation have been explored in video games, in a lot of good ones, and you do not need to look that hard to find various examples. In fact, I would argue that transformation is such a common element of video games that it often goes under the radar. Games that merely feature these concepts are not typically viewed as ‘TF games,’ as they are not born from the same culture, the same broader understanding of the genre. I am not saying that to indicate they are bad, or even bad ‘TF games,’ but they do not strike the same niche or appeal that TF enthusiasts would crave.

However, most of these examples do not really address the concept of a fantastical transformation from a narrative perspective. Or if they do, it is with some friction next to what you are doing mechanically. When Mario possesses a tank, he does not have an existential crisis on what it means to be a machine. He just starts firing balls of destruction, because the possession mechanic exists for gameplay purposes above all else. The transformations in Shantae are just something Shantae does— ‘cos she’s a genie— and she does not think much about becoming a monkey, elephant, or mermaid.

This less engaged, mechanically minded, attitude towards transformation is not what TF enjoyers really want to see. They want to see a game where the main character really acts like they are in a truly different form. A game where they are excited, horrified, filled with new strange urges they cannot explain, and given anatomy they do not know how to properly use. So, I think this is the angle we need to take when approaching the subject of a dream TF game. It needs to emphasize the TF elements both mechanically and narratively.

Now, narratively, these bases are also covered with a cluster of good examples in the form of expansive, sprawling, and transformation-riddled visual novels. Some of which I have covered on this site, and some of which I will probably never know about. However, these visual novels tend to be very mechanically lite affairs. It’s largely just menu choices and light variable balancing. They still use the medium of video games, mixing animations, music, sound effects, and a relatively low cost presentation to deliver something distinctly video gamey. But they are not really dream game material for most people.

Okay, so how do you merge these concepts? How do you take a TF narrative and make it work, make it better, through the incorporation of transformation mechanics? Well, that’s the million-dollar question, and the answer hedges on what type of transformation we want to capitalize upon. Do we want a game about possession? If so, you can probably make some wack-ass amalgam of Mario Odyssey, Slitterhead, Tchia, or any game where you play as a ghost possessing objects assign a greater narrative. But still, what type of story do you want to tell? Is the game about possessing monster, or people, or turning people into monsters by possessing them?

As for transformation, just in general, there are a lot more choices to come from— transform is a very common verb in gaming, albeit in a category below jump and shoot. But I keep going back to the question of how do you make a game where transformation feels necessary, and how does it differentiate from character switching? Because, in a lot of games, they are handled pretty much the same way. Does the protagonist of Genshin Impact (2020) transform into the various characters they acquire the essence of via the gacha? Are they switching between them? How do you know, and how would you be able to tell? How does character switching compare to weapon switching, or skillset switching, or style switching? What is the difference between playing as a different character, in having the protagonist transform into them, versus the same protagonist, with the same form, using a different skillset?

In response to the prompt, one user suggested making the game similar to The World Ends With You (2008), and have the protagonist swap between forms of various characters during battle using alien technology. That is a nifty concept… but there is far more to a body than just one attack or move, and to merely have one body do one thing like that… just seems cheap to me. You are taking a mechanic that was represented by a darn pin, the kind you put on a jacket or backpack, and are assigning it to a body, to a person.

What I am getting at is, in an ideal TF game, you would want the transformation from one character to another to feel substantial, not like a mere model swap, and for that to meaningfully change the gameplay. You can do this, by giving characters different weights, animations, species, or body types. However, the transformation would need to retain narrative relevance. It would need to remain a core element of the story from start to end.

For example, say this game is about a slime critter fighting, tricking, or manipulating various characters in order to copy their forms, and shapeshift into these forms to further their quest, unlock even more forms, and eventually achieve their overarching goal. You could make a game like that— there’s a decent chance such a game exists and either it escaped my mind or I’ve never heard of it. However, you would need more social elements to make it a dream TF game. You would need to have it be a game with more characters, and not just a mechanical focus. I suppose you could try to tell a story with only the central protagonist and obstacles, but what is the point of a TF if you aren’t interacting with other people?

Yes, yes, a TF on its own can be striking and does not need elaboration, but we are talking about something that would take several hours to enjoy. So we will need more characters, and they will need to play a role complementary to the transforming protagonist. Whether that be some more vague mission giver or helper, or people that the protagonist needs to interact with, perhaps even impersonate using their abilities. There is a lot that one could do with a shapeshifting or possessing protagonist in the world of video games. But to make it work as a true TF game, for TF enthusiasts, you would need a story that matches the mechanics you want to use, make them a singular cohesive entity. That way, even normies could pick up what you’re throwing down.

That all being said, you might be asking what game I would like to see that follows this premise? Well, I do have more vague ideas, like an open world action game that takes MANY cues from [Prototype], featuring a shapeshifting flesh monster protagonist who can drop-kick a helicopter. While also having sections where you need to hack into people’s brains à la Nier Automata (2017) and navigate conversation trees while playing as other characters, all with the goal of conquest, taking control of various industries, and governments, while turning the appointed leaders into puppets. But that’s a bit too much of a takeover power fantasy, and the protagonist would be elevated too far from regular people to feel like a person. I think I just want a [Prototype] for perverts, by perverts.

So, my actual answer is that my dream game would probably be a body swap RPG. A party-based RPG where a cast of four to eight characters exchange bodies amongst themselves to unlock ‘jobs’ and unique abilities required for progression. With these jobs largely being lifted from the bevy of RPGs with job systems, character minds gaining active skills they can use, and character bodies developing passive abilities that can be used by whoever is occupying them. Characters could be relatively weak in their usual forms, a freelancer equivalent, gain different outfits based on the mind/body pairing, and possibly undergo personality tweaks as they are using a different power sets.

By having a party of characters who swap bodies, there are bountiful opportunities for banter. There are plenty of unique social situations that characters can get into by having different mind/body combinations try to perform even routine social behaviors as part of side activities. The script could be written to modify scenes based on who is in which body at a given time, as frustrating as that level of flavor may be to implement. And I can easily imagine swapping bodies around to try to get through social situations as a form of puzzle solving. Like trying to get on someone’s good side by giving them a personality and body they seem receptive to. Intimidating someone with the right body and personality combination. Or using existing relationships to garner information, while trying to undermine, or perhaps inspire, suspicion. Basically, I am asking to gamify the act of conversation using body swapping. Sure, that might not be something common in a JRPG, but this type of stuff is emblematic of CRPGs, and a bit of cross-disciplinary pollination is a good thing.

As for the setting? I’d want it to be set in a modern day city where characters have some form of psychic/magic power that lets them do the things they do. There’s nothing wrong with a fantasy setting, but I think it’s easier for people to socially comprehend a modern setting, writers included. It’s something different, but not so different that there are no examples to grab. Though, maybe don’t have characters use Stands. That’s a bit played out. Also, spicy take, but modern clothes look better than whatever guff has become normalized in games with an anime fantasy aesthetic.

Gameplay? I think it is easier to make characters seem unique in a turn-based system, due to how you are not moving them around and not feeling how attack animations, dodging, and flourishes overlap between characters. A designer has a lot more control and leeway over what a character can do in a turn-based setting, and I think assigning unique commands can make every mind/body combination feel more distinct. Plus, you need to switch characters when playing something with active time combat. You do not need to switch characters when it’s turn-based. And I like the idea of playing as everybody for a fuller ‘whole group’ experience. Because you, the player, are not any one character. You are not TF-ing into them. You are the mastermind deciding who goes into each body.

The premise? …Uh, I forgot to think of that one— Wait, no, I got it! Some nefarious force is threatening the city by transforming people in various ways, pretty much whatever way someone could think of transforming people. Age regression or progression. Turning people into objects or animals, turning animals into people, or giving people animal features (anthro). Shrinking, growth, weight gain, muscle gain,, the classics. Sex swap, race swap, personality swap, life swap, trait swap, mind control, anything goes!

These are presented as problems for the cast of characters to solve, but they sometimes just decide not to, that things are better this way. That CHANGE IS GOOD! I’m unsure if the player should have some agency or control in what the characters think is best— you don’t get to decide how scumbags get punished in Persona games. But I don’t want players to let an otaku spend the rest of their life as an animate figurine.

The protagonists would be brought in by someone to stop these rapid transformations from happening, to fight whatever transformed entities— probably animate objects or brainwashed people. But in order to defeat a transformed entity, they need to harness the power of transforming by exchanging souls, or something of the sort to justify the premise.

Naturally, transformation would also be part of status effects, maybe even buffs or debuffs, but I’m just spitballing the vague generalities. I COULD write a game design document, but who has the time for that nowadays?

…Anyway, those are some of the struggles that come with making a truly great TF game, and my idea for a TF game that I will definitely never in my life have the opportunity to create.

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Time Marches On, So Just Accept It!
(“WHAT? How is Y Turning X Years Old?”)

Heeeeeey! It’s time for Natalie to complain about a teensy little thing that has been bothering her for months, but she recently got so annoyed by it that she’s just gotta blog about it! As the header of this section implies, and as I’m sure you all have seen before. This trend of people expressing shock, awe, and surprise whenever something clicks in their brain, and they realize that a piece of media, an event, or something has reached a significant time-based milestone, like turning 10, 15, 20, or 30 years old. “I can’t believe Y came out X years ago!” And it bloody annoys me.

Now, this is by no means a generational problem, I am not old lady Nat-Nat complaining about The Youths. And if I ever become like that, you have permission to dispose of me. I’ve seen people 15 years older than me spout like it’s a bold reveal and revelation. When it’s not. Time marches on. Years pass. And everything you experience, everything you do, is connected to a place and time. I frankly have no patience for people who are shocked that time keeps moving forward, that seasons change, that daylight hours change, or any of that sort. You people are adults, you have seen this happen over a dozen times. Use your brain, get with it, and don’t be surprised by your own shadow.

This is a particular bugbear of mine because I work in a profession where I am in a constant time loop between the past, present, and future. I do retroactive work for up to five years in the past regularly (amended tax returns), plan for the current year based on events that have not happened (tax planning) and do contemporaneous record-keeping for certain people, myself included. Also, I only leave my house like once a week and don’t do much stuff outside of writing, working, and engaging with media. I have MANY reasons to be confused as to when things happen, but… don’t most people see the current year, several times, every day? Whether it be on their computer, social media, their time card, or bloody anything? Or is that why so many services keep saying ‘this happened 19 hours ago’ instead of listing when it came out?

Is this more of a math deficiency, as I am a very math-oriented person, and some people just do not like doing the math that 2025 is 10 bigger than 2015? Everything moves forward, everything ages and the march of time never stops. …Or maybe this is a result of living in a world that simultaneously adores the concept of youth yet has loathes the concept of The Youths since at least the 1960s. Creating this pervasive disgust and displeasure upon learning that something had audaciously transformed from hip, happening, modern, and trendy into being a clump of decrepit trite.

Akumako: “Oi! Can it with the complaining! You have a big fat bunch of gaming news to get through! Mush, girl!”

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Kirby Air Riders Direct
(Masahiro Snackurai Returns!)

Kirby Air Riders was something of a curious choice when it was revealed as a year one title for the Switch 2 back in April. Not because it doesn’t hit the nostalgia nub with vigor, but because it was another racing game coming hot off the heels of the launch title Mario Kart World. A game that, per the free digital copy Walmart accidentally gave me, is quite good, fun, and far more expansive than prior games in terms of stuff to do. Even if the stuff involves a lot of faffing around a big open world, looking for doodads and trying challenges that range from trivial to ripe bastard annoying. (I get that I’m not good at racing games, as I fundamentally do not understand momentum. But the level of precision for some of these things, their low tolerance for error, makes me routinely feel like I’m playing the game wrong, even when I’m at least competent.)

With no footage to speak of, people were wondering what Kirby Air Riders has to offer, so Nintendo and director Masahiro “Snackurai” Sakurai decided to reveal the game with a comprehensive 47 minute Nintendo Direct. Naturally, a lot was revealed, but it’s easy to extrapolate into bullet points, so I’ll do just that.

• Kirby Air Riders is being developed by Bandai Namco Studios and it simply looks remarkably similar to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with its shaders, lighting, certain environments, and visual effects. Partially due to the strong aesthetic preferences held by Sakurai, but I’m guessing a good chunk of staff, and maybe some tech, passed over to this project. Which is smart.
• The project was requested within Nintendo, by Shinya Takahashi and Satoshi Mitsuhara, rather than something Sakurai specifically set his mind on doing.
• The game is still Kirby Air Ride (2003) at its core, featuring the same basic controls, auto acceleration, focus on drifting and boosting to turn corners boosting, and air control when jumping off ramps. But with the new feature of a character specific super move to get an edge over opponents.
• Rather than just controlling Kirby, and two extras, the game features a roster of characters from the Kirby series, all of whom ride from a shared group of ‘machines’ and the selection is pretty thorough. Meta Knight, Chef Kawasaki, Waddle Doo, Magolor, Gooey, Knuckle Joe, Susie, even Starman to name a few.
• Everybody has the ability to use Copy Abilities, as otherwise Kirby would be too versatile. And if anybody is allowed to change that part of Kirby deep lore, it’s the Kirby’s dad himself.
• Races only involve six riders for balance purposes, and races can be heavily customized to the players’ liking, as they should be.
• Pretty much every warp star, or machine, from the original game is returning, except for the Top and Steer stars from Top Ride, as Top Ride is seemingly not returning. And while the Dragoon and Hydra were not featured, Sakurai put both of those in Smash Bros. They are going to be in here.

City Trial is, once again, the premiere mode, a multiplayer online battle arena where the players must collect scattered power ups, swap from air ride machines, and battle each other within a time limit, while dealing with random events. The setting was swapped from some vaguely defined city to a floating island, creatively named Skyah, though I have to say I’m a bit disappointed by its design and size. Kirby Air Ride was the second game I got for my GameCube as a kid— first was Melee— and what I loved about it was how City Trial… felt like a city. Like an expansive world where there were secrets hidden everywhere, rendered at a scale that was massive to my small child mind. Nowadays, I can see how it was a fairly tiny playplace, a compact location meant to give players just enough stuff to keep them occupied for a few minutes. And I had expectations that, while not 10x-ing the size of the size of the map, that Air Riders would capture a similar feeling. Instead, I can tell it is bigger, but it also lacks the same distinct look of the original— early 3D Kirby looked weird.

Skyah looks like a fully functional playplace, features many similar visual landmarks as the original, and is a mostly faithful update, but something about it just does not capture the same feeling of a big expansive world of secrets to explore. Here, it looks more like a place that skilled players can route through to get as many power ups as possible, find their preferred machine, and arrive at events in a timely manner. From a functionality perspective, it looks better. From a vibes perspective? Eh, it doesn’t hit quite right. In the gameplay snippets showed, it is more akin to a modern multiplayer battle map. A place where players need to corral around certain locations for racing or combat events, avoid hazards falling from the sky, and take advantage of fluctuation in the world’s logic. Like rocks falling, or Dyna Blade and Kracko barging in to add some chaos to the fun times.

Though, I guess that is what it was always meant to be, and my desire to insist its function as an explorable truly 3D world, we don’t really need that in 2025. 3D worlds are old hat, and for as much as I enjoy the mysterious playplaces of the Sonic Adventure map, Kong Isle, and KAR ’03‘s City Trial, we just don’t need them anymore. Nowadays, kids are just thrown into Fortnite or Roblox worlds and told to churn through them, rather than move around a little 3D dude in what’s basically a big Lego, Hot Wheels, and plastic castle playset. (I used to have a bunch of playsets and I would mash them together to make a big world where all of my toys could play around. Tomy Pokémon figures and Dragon Ball Z guys chilling out in a big A Bug’s Life playset surrounded by a racetrack while a Lincoln log cabin and Lego pirate island are just off to the side.)

I think there is real value in letting small children play around in environments like this, in making video games that function as playplaces, as many kids lack the same luxury of toys I had as a kid. For as good as Minecraft and the like are at replicating that feeling, expanding upon it even, they are too sprawling. I think there is something distinct about a modestly sized 3D space that can be easily understood by a child. It’s how I learned to understand, how I learned to appreciate, video game worlds, and I would spend hours just wandering around them, mapping them out in my head, and trying to comprehend their design. Worlds like this did a lot to endear me to video games, and I want younger children to be able to learn to love video games in the same way I learned to love them. Early 3D worlds are iconic for a reason, and while they can be bigger, more customizable, more optimized, I… don’t like that. I think things that are smaller and more rigid are more memorable and easier to connect with.

…Basically, y’all remember how fun it was to just futz around Peach’s Castle and Isle Delfino? Yeah. What is the modern equivalent that the children of today have?

Akumako: “You sure you don’t have ADHD? Because that tangent was something else.”

If I do, I don’t care. I’m just having a prolonged 37% life crisis upon turning 30 and growing concerned for the children.

ANYWAY, City Trial itself looks good for what it is trying to do, and it similarly leads into one of a few Stadium minigames to conclude each run, where players compete in a variety of random challenges. Ranging from flying for a long time, flying precisely, battling enemies, battling other players, or moving really fast in a straight line. I’m a bit surprised they are not presented as a gauntlet of brief challenges, one after another, to determine who is the best of best, but I guess that would get repetitive after a while, and the randomness is fun.

Overall, the game looks like a marked upgrade over the GameCube game, featuring oodles of bite-sized multiplayer funsies to have with friends. But this is a $70 title, expectations are high nowadays, and the game lacks a meaty AAA open world to mess around in. Kirby Air Riders looks like a fun game, but one where players could eke out most of their fun in maybe 10 hours, picking it up for quick some fun with friends. Not because of anything the game is doing wrong, but because there is too much competition in the multiplayer games space, and the game has relatively little going for it as a single-player racer.

Perhaps there is something that has yet to be revealed, and that implication is made obvious with the end of the direct, where we are introduced to a rider of shadows with a single burning blue eye. A visual motif that modern generations will erroneously assume to be a Sans Undertale reference. When, no, it’s an anime reference. I dunno which one. My first guess would be Black Rock Shooter, but The Youths prolly don’t know what that is because the world is too algorithmically fragmented by generations to prevent the distribution of knowledge from The Olds to The Youths.

GARF! Enough getting lost in my own mental brambles. Kirby Air Riders is launching November 20, 2025, as Nintendo’s big pre-Black Friday game. Assuming there even is a Black Friday this year, because martial law could be declared any day in America, and the nation is heading into a big wet recession.

…I’m not even trying to do this. My brain’s just been fried by looking at feeds that mixed news about genocide and funny comics back-to-back, while working at home on my work PC slash writing box slash game system. Everything is jumbled into one box, and that affects the hamburger bopping around in my head. Er’ry thang ist er’ry thang!

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Tales of Xillia Remastered Announced
(Natalie Complains About Inefficient Re-Release Schedules)

You know what really fries my bacon, grinds my gears, and boggles my brain? When what should be routine re-releases are just not followed through in an orderly schedule. In the world of video games, I think it has been established that a safe, reliable, way to make money is to take an older game. Just gussy it up slightly and then re-release it on modern platforms to make a good, safe, reliable return on one’s investment. Especially if someone has an IP with a semi-devoted following. However, for whatever reason, there still is not a widely accepted or recognized way to do this, necessitating research to categorize and catalog what every supposed re-whatever of a game changes or alters.

It makes me think that emulation might actually be the ideal for remastering games— doing it yourself with open source tools and user created mods from some truly incredible people (and a few pieces of sentient feces). Because otherwise, there’s just too much of a risk of trust being violated by teams that lack the time to fix substantial issues, or shithead managers with quantifiably bad ideas. However, despite emulation being incalculably large, it is locked to PCs and mobile, not the Real Game Consoles, and can feel cheap, synthetic, or wrong by those who believe in supporting the rights of those who profit off of genocide. Remasters are official, sanctioned, and no matter how many times I see a bad one, see someone fuck up a remaster, I always want to believe it has merits and is the right thing to do. Even if my cold, logical brain says it doesn’t work. Just like democracy…

ANYWAY! The Tales of series is something that has been having a production problem for a while. They were a powerful alternative during the PS2 era. Tales of Vesperia was a go-to example that they can still make HD JRPGs like they used to. And the series trailed along nicely from its inception to the late PS3 era, even if it stayed there for at least one game too long, arguably two. 2016’s PS3 swansong, Tales of Berseria, was a divisive title in its day, became appreciated in retrospect, now that its PS3-ness is cool and not senile. Then the series went on the backburner as the team adapted to the bold and new PS4 generation with the UE4 powered Tales of Arise (2021), which had a largely positive reception. It was critically acclaimed, commercially successful— the best-selling game in the series— yet it’s one of those games I semi-regularly see people poo-poo on for a nebulous reason. I don’t know what, and this could just be three guys with a particular hate boner for the game. Like the people who led the Dexit fiasco and used social engineering to make it a bigger deal. Really, the hate campaign was being led by, like, a hundred or couple hundred people, but they were committed, and shaped culture.

An expansion to Arise was announced in 2023, but because it takes a minimum of five years to make, because Reasons™, publisher Bandai Namco was looking into remastering older titles. They already ported Vesperia to modern systems in 2019, and that version was the best one. They did a gobshite port of Symphonia, as they used the PC version as a base, which used the PS3 version as a base, which used the PS2 version as a base, which used the GameCube original as a base. Then in 2024, they began their attempts to release remastered versions of the Tales games regularly with the Remastered Project. This is a fantastic idea.

The Tales series is dummy thick with games. Some of them never left Japan, and many lack a true definitive version due to the additions and alterations created when ported to various systems, and there are 17 main entries. There is no shortage of games to bring to modern systems, yet Bandai Namco has only been bringing over the most recent, and easiest to port, games, staggering them out as standalone releases, even as PS1 and PS2 nostalgia is reaching a peak. It’s frustratingly short-sighted in my mind, encourages people to look at the series’ history backwards, and just buries the older games further. They literally acknowledge all these games in the announcement trailer!

Tales of Destiny (1997) was a beloved RPG of its era, same with Tales of Eternia (2000), and both would have slotted perfectly in an era where series like Suikoden and Lunar are making an HD comeback. But nope! Instead they are still on that PS3 ish with Tales of Graces Fun (2009) earlier this year and now with a remaster of Tales of Xillia (2011). Not the Xillia and Xillia 2 (2012), bundled together, as a small ‘collection,’ just the first game. When you know they are going to put out the second game in about a year!

Now, it is good that this game is no longer locked behind the PS3 and PS3 emulation, and it is getting minor quality of life features. But this situation just annoys me. I’d say just do it linearly, don’t make people guess things, and let people experience the series with releases coming once a year, maybe ever few months if you can manage it, but nooooo! They just gotta jump up, down, and aaallll around!

Tales of Xillia Remastered will be released for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC on October 31st. Because I guess it’s a spooky game.

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Keighley’s 2025 Part 2 of 3: Gamescom Ver.
(Another Wet Barrage of Announcements!)

Right, I always forget about this, but Geoff Keighley has wiggled his way into opening Gamescom with an E3-like general console gaming showcase event with his Gamescom opening Night Live event. Thus marking the second time in a year when be implants himself as the face of gaming, right between Summer Games Fest and the Game Awards. I was busy working and making like $800 for my firm (it was a short day) so I’m just going over the highlights that I wanna talk about. Starting with, of course, the riff-raff!

Nightdive is remastering the 1997 LucasArts cowboy shooter, Outlaws, which I only vaguely remember from a Civvie video I watched three years ago, probably while doing tax prep. This, much like their recently released remaster of Hexen and Heretic, is a lovely thing to see. Outlaws is an older game only kept around thanks to source conversions and fan alterations, but now it is now more accessible, available on consoles, and presumably better. I would say more about the game, but I lack the same reverence for 90s FPS as I do other genres. I respect them, but I’m not a big shooter gal, and what I do like tends to be slow.

Denshattack! is a game about playing as a high speed train that does sick tricks going through a dilapidated nonsense city while smacking back attacks from giant robots and monsters all as a bomb-ass score plays. It looks sick, though any fixation on tricks, score, and style typically results in a game I’d rather look at than actually play. Because these hands were made for spreadsheets, not delicate instruments. Oh, and the same goes for Unbeatable. Love everything about its presentation, but I simply cannot play rhythm games. If you put me in a prison and would not let me out until I could beat an expert level rhythm game… you may as well save yourself the trouble and shoot me in the face. People forget about how economical handgun bullets are…

Continuing the modern trend of retro flavored beat ’em ups belt scrollers based on classic IPs that appeal to dudes in their 40s who failed their self-imposed duty to procreate Limited Run decided to license one of those, but for He-Man. Dubbed He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl, and being a 16-bit-ish looking standard brawling action game, it looks like it would slot nicely with its contemporaries. Namely, games like Shredder’s Revenge, Rita’s Rewind, Cosmic Invasion, and whatever other examples I am forgetting. I could pessimistically shrug it off as a quick cash grab, but if it fills a niche, then by all means, pay game devs to make games based on old IPs.

Sonic Racing Crossworlds is going to get Pac-Man DLC, which fits. Sonic and Pac-Man would probably be friends if the Japanese government would allow them to be. But the recently revealed Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac is also getting Sonic DLC, which is… strange, but why not? We just had a dark Pac-Man Metroidvania earlier this year, so nothing is off limits as far as I’m concerned, and Pac-Man fits anywhere. Even in goldarn Green Hill Zone, with assets that look like they were ripped outta Sonic Generations (2011). It was frustrating at first, but now? I think this is just funny.

Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War IV was announced, but someone who has never so much as attempted a real RTS, I have nothing to add there. The same goes for Europa Universalis V, which is a presumably long-awaited return to a grand strategy game that I know is popular amongst a certain breed of PC game liker. Especially Europeans. I’d hazard a guess that these announcements are exciting for fans, but also dread inducing. Because whenever a new entry appears in a series like this, purporting a five year plan, there is always a fear that the game will come out a bit crap, not unlike City: Skylines II or Civilization VII. Strategy game enjoyers might seem hard to please, but I think it’s more the problem inherent to trying to make a game that feels new with all the features from an old game, pretty graphics, and new innovations. …Game development is hard, and sequels just raise the bar of expectations sometimes.

Monster Hunter Wilds and Final Fantasy XIV are both getting crossover events in a move that seems right, if a few years out of date. FFXIV was getting oodles of crossovers in the late 2010s, but not so much during the development of XVI. As for why FFXIV is chosen, well that’s because it is the most Final Fantasy game to bear a number in a very, very long time. It has more fans and more lovers than any other FF game the series released since Square became Square Enix, and what else is MonHun gonna crossover with?

Indiana Jones: The Great Circle (2024) is getting DLC this September and coming to Switch 2 in 2026, and I’m glad to see that. The DLC is just a nice way to expand the game, and indication that the game did do as well as people assumed. But I am more glad to see the game coming to Switch 2, as Microsoft should support the Switch 2, as it gives them fewer reasons to touch an Xbox. Now, I don’t want people to buy this game on the Switch 2, or buy it in general, because Microsoft is a pro-genocide company who helped in the systematic execution of Palestinians. But what would I rather see on the Switch 2 eShop? Forza or Hogwash Legarthy? Both go to big-time genocide supporters, but one wants to kill people like me in particular, so sorry for not viewing all genociders as equal.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is a highly promising game in theory, as it is a highly influential and acclaimed filmmaker putting his name on a major AAA game, after establishing himself as a game enjoyer. …But everything about this Saber Entertainment joint looks like the type of game that would have my piss-a-boiling if I were subjected to a trailer for it at E3 2012. Just a first-person shooter where you fight vague hordes of monsters, use occasional vehicles, and play with friends as characters spout one-liners. Literally nothing makes this game stand out to me… except for the name slapped onto it, and maybe that’s the point.

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Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Announced
(I Really Miss Gen 7 Gamindustri)

There are a lot of little things that I consider to be worse in the modern gaming landscape, and this game is somehow a confluence of three of them.

A loss in the quantity of non-Nintendo console games for kids, as publishers, IP holders, and the ilk all frolicked over to mobile. Meaning kids games became rarities on most consoles, thus disincentivizing children to branch out of a mobile live service ecosystems. Say what you will about the deluge of mid-as-hell licensed games on PS2s, but it helped kids get into gaming. Nowadays, they just load the keywords they like into Roblox and learn to stay dependent on Roblox, as they never learned how to explore beyond platforms.

A decline in regular sequels as publishers force developers to pivot to expansive live services, rather than just make iterative entries in the same series every three or so years. I personally think most big games should just get quick and dirty sequels to keep things relevant. Instead, they just get DLC that makes the whole package feel a bit bloated.

And a loss of IP based titles, particularly when it comes to major and culturally relevant entities. Video games had a prime opportunity to maintain a degree of parity between the rise, and somewhat continued domination, of superhero movies, but they just could not keep up. IPs were tangled up, the de facto best superhero game on the market was the Batman Arkham series, but that fizzled out and was largely replaced by Marvel’s The Insomniac Spider-Man. Even after they were bloody annualized!

Akumako: “What about Got Ham Night and Kill Squad Suicides the Justice League?”

I’m talking about real games. Not… Nisege (偽ゲー), meaning fake game, à la kusoge (クソゲー; shitty game) and kamige ((神ゲー; god game).

Akumako: “This bitch is gonna start writing medium-based fanfics at some point, isn’t she?”

Traveller’s Tales, or TT games, whatever you wanna call ’em, spent years upon years trying to make their studio and development pipeline work under a new engine that didn’t do its job and made everything harder for the studio. The end result, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, was far from a bad game, and did quite well for them. However, the game was a huge loss in terms of time, resources, and development skills. After building up an engine for this game, they scrapped it and switched everything over to Unreal, building their toolsets around another new game based on a major IP. But which one? Well, TT are owned by WB Games, and made four Lego Batman games before. So… time for a new Lego Batman! Yes, this subseries is back with Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and… it draws heavy inspiration from the Christophe Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy. …Huh. I guess those are retro movies at this time— having come out in 2006, 2009, and 2012.

What do I mean by that? Well, the game has the training in exotic Asian locales from Batman Begins. The Heath Ledger Joker analog from The Dark Knight. The Bane in the Bane pit from Dark Knight Zwei: Rising. There’s even the Bat Tumble Tank thing from the trilogy at large. The combat looks to be an adaptation of the systems seen in Arkham, with the auto-lock and counter button, even the gargoyle takedowns.

I would say this just looks like the imagined Dark Knight trilogy adaptation that WB Montreal should have worked on instead of Arkham Origins, but it still has some Lego friendly elements. Using bricks to comedic effect, the zingers, the sound effects that linger in the air à la the Adam West Batman show, and a loosely lighter, more child appropriate, tone. It’s a mishmash of ideas that lead me to wonder what the vision of the game is and how it will all come together. Though, I have to say I’m a bit worried. This is a WB Games published title, and if there’s one publisher I trust to destroy a game with terrible management, it’s da dubbya bee. I mean, we saw what happened with their big Suicide game, and they just canceled Wonder Woman a few months ago.

…Also, come to think of it, Lego Batman 5 does not seem to be much of an ensemble game. It’s not a Batman and Robin affair like the first Lego Batman game, it’s just Batman and seemingly whatever character he’s paired up with on a certain adventure. For a series that has such a strong co-op focus, that is a strange choice. …And, the more I think about the game, the more footage I see, the more I think that Telltale just wanted to make a Batman Arkham game, rather than Lego Batman 5. Is that good? Is that bad? …You know what, it’s not my place to say. I only ever played Lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones for Xbox 360 (at age 14) and while I think they were good games, this is not my nostalgic happy place to obsess over. I’ll save the Lego gushing for the Zoomies in my life.

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight will be released for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC in 2026.

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Bubsy 4D Announced
(Neither the Bubsy We Want nor the Bubsy We Deserve)

So… let’s talk about Bubsy. If you are reading this, you’re probably aware of the gist of Bubsy. An attempted mascot platformer in the 1990s, had some decent platformers, and would be utterly forgettable if not for the 1996 banger that was Bubsy 3D. An important trailblazer in the world of 3D platformers, if only for how misdirected, bizarre, and antithetical its principles were. Development was a mess, the team was trying their best, but bad decisions are made, and it’s a small miracle that the game exists at all. It was aged right out of the gate, and as the internet rose in prominence, the game was enshrined in infamy in gaming circles. An infamy that then spread to the original 2D titles, earning the series the legacy as a kusoge, a meme game, and regular punching bag for a decade plus.

The fact the first two games were re-released on Steam via Steam Greenlight, where it used Snes9x was hilarious. People began to latch onto Bubsy as a deconstructive plaything, reimagining and reworking the character in their own ways. From that dope-ass fan game by Arcane Kids, who I will always remember for that ill Mercy VR mixtape, but most will remember for the brilliant Sonic Dreams Collection. To the unfinished Super Space Funeral IV: Deluxe Blood Red Version & Bubsy, which reimagined Bubsy as a trans woman and sex worker, which I recall having weird feelings about in 2016 and 2017. I even talked about it back when NigmaBox Rundowns were barely comprehensible crap filled with nonsense anime screenshots.

Then, in 2017, Bubsy came back with a new 2.5D platformer developed by the folks behind Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. Which was at least somewhat appropriate, as The Great Giana Sisters were a rip-off of Super Mario Bros. (1985) that only came back through eldritch magic, so why not keep it in the family? Why not keep it eldritch? This new game, The Woolies Strike Back, was mid as hell and not really worth talking about, same with the 2019 runner game, Paws on Fire! and I think that is appropriate. Bubsy games are not meant to be good. If they exist, they should be weird freak experiences made by artists given an IP, half a budget, and a truck full of expired energy drinks.

The appeal in Bubsy is that it is a nostalgic relic that had a push, had passion behind it, but was never great, got really bloody weird, and was abandoned as a piece of nostalgia defined by its great unmet aspirations, left to rot in the annals of history. So, trying to play it straight with a sequel, any sequel is missing the point. It’d be like making a Gex game that isn’t about the despair of lingering to the past, escaping into media, and letting the world around one pass them by as they become old, fat, and can only find pleasure in things they liked at the cusp of puberty!

This brings me to the actual topic here, Bubsy 4D, developed by Fabraz of Demon Turf (2021) acclaim. A 3D platformer set in a large world with a lighter, floatier approach to platforming, precision challenges, and a fixation on character transformation. …So I’m not surprised to see that Bubsy 4D is also a lighter platformer with a fixation on character transformation, and… it seems fine, if not missing the point in order to deliver something lacking the edge that has been applied to the series by fans and people.

I can tell that the developers want this to be a good game, but I don’t think they really care about making a Bubsy game in particular. Case in point, Bubsy’s redesign is strange, trading in his white T-shirt with a red exclamation mark with a dress shirt and red tie, meant to make him look older, but if you changed his fur color, he would not be recognizable as Bubsy. The world is weirdly dark and moody, with harsh lighting and bizarre enemies, but not in a way that has previously defined the series. And I genuinely cannot tell what the intention is with this game other than to keep a ‘valuable’ IP around on an Atari budget.

Bubsy 4D is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, Switch 2, and PC.

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Zero Parades Revealed
(Natalie Talks About The Disco Elysium Situation)

Disco Elysium is a game I should probably add to my to play list, even though I was apprehensive of the game for a while— I really do not jive with its art. However, as time goes on, it has grown into one of the most lauded, and probably important games, in recent memory. If only because it is full of excellent writing, political insight, and turns whoever plays it into a leftist. It should have been a crowning achievement, meant wonderful things for developer ZA/UM, but the company has been falling apart over the past few years, splintering off, and steeped in all sorts of legal matters. Why? Because of a lot of things. Capitalist greed, corporate fuckery, big egos, gripping contracts, the abuse of international employment law, and many a falling out. Watch the People Make Games documentaries for some deets if you have 4.5 hours to burn.

In short, the original lead creatives have splintered. The IP is basically filtered away. There are like half a dozen successor studios all pushing their own successor at some nebulous point in development, while some people have just stayed at ZA/UM. Because the people in charge are giving them checks that clear, and they get to make a video game. In Gamindustri, you take whatever job you can get, especially if you have a job like concept artist or narrative designer. Plus, for as much as some Disco-heads can stan certain creators, or insist that Disco Elysium was the vision of a Few Great Men, that’s a load of capitalist bullshit. And y’all are supposed to be communists!

The game was made by dozens of people who did something to make that game better, make it more loveable, and some of those people remained at ZA/UM to work on this game. Others loved Disco Elysium and wanted to work for the company, so they got jobs doing that. And if anyone has the audacity to go after these people for making this game… you are a fake Disco Elysium fan. You are a class traitor and should redirect your anger to the systems that allowed this fallout to happen. Alternatively, find out where Ilmar Kompus lives and treat him like a capitalist.

Zero Parades was revealed with a vague announcement trailer, full seconds of characters walking around, and a bunch of concept art. However, a text-heavy CRPG is not a good thing to showcase with a trailer like this in the best of times, and it certainly doesn’t work here. The Steam page description indicates the general vibe they are going for, very much in-line with what Disco was doing, but you play as a spy instead of a cop. Huge upgrade. The cop angle was the biggest turn off. But I am holding out my judgment on anything this game is doing, as I would not be surprised if it gets canceled. I hope it doesn’t. I hope whatever it winds up being, that it’s a good, insightful, and a meaningful title. I hope the same is true for all the would be Disco Twolysiums out there. Because I know the power of class solidarity, and that if a village (of Whites) kills someone, it’s NOT A CRIME!

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Black Myth 2: Zhong Kui Announced
(Fine, I Guess Black Myth is the Series Name)

Well, that was a fast turnaround. 2024’s Black Myth: Wukong was an enormous success that really woke the Anglosphere up to the developmental prowess Chinese game developers have accumulated over the past decade. A full, polished, AAA action game that sold oodles, became the second most concurrently played game on Steam, ever, and I respect it for what it was, even though I’ll probably never play it. In part because the game just had to be part of a stupid culture war bullshit. God, do you remember when we only had to worry about culture wars and not governments just openly threatening, if not stealing, people’s rights? Take me back, and let that Pennsylvanian kid’s finger hit the trigger a second earlier. That would’ve been my highlight of the decade if that plan for justice actually worked!

…Gosh, maybe this is what happens when the hamburger in your head starts growing mushrooms. I gotta check one of these days…

While I might be whatever towards the game itself, I am glad that it showed Chinese developers that there is a market in making single-player action games. A genre that I would rather Chinese devs pursue over another damn live service. Though, I do not particularly care for the trend it perpetuated. The setting of an ancient Asian world full of lush natural vistas, traditional Asian architecture, and realistic monsters. All while needing to be respectful of the history, and to, in some way, retell a story that much of the intended audience is already familiar with. From Romance of the Three Kingdoms to Journey to the West to the damn Sengoku era.

I understand that these periods and works have a lot of sway, influence, and respect in their respective countries. I do not comprehend why they have reverence for an old story or era so divorced from the modern day, but that’s not surprising. I was born in America, lived there my whole life, and the nation’s history is just colonialism oppression to empower the most powerful. It’s not a history to be proud of, there’s no substantial mythology, and I don’t think it becomes all that interesting until the aftermath of the Civil War. That’s when shit got crazy, and we have better historical records, with pictures and some of that good propaganda. Though, I do have a fascination with the OG American waifu, Columbia!

Akumako: “Natalie, stop, we are not here to talk about the mythological giantess of genocide!”

That all being said, I personally find most ancient Asian settings to be pretty humdrum and boring. I would much rather see Chinese game devs push the envelope with worlds in a more modern era. I said it before, China is fucking up by not encouraging game developers to make games set in modern China. It would be such an effective tool of soft power, such a good way to wake people up to the immense progress China has continued making, and how impressive it is in a lot of ways. …When they are not doing dumb fascist shit like arresting women for writing yaoi. Is there truly no good country in this world?

As for the actual story, Black Myth: Zhong Kui was announced with a CG trailer that meant nothing to me, as I do not know who Zhong Kui is. But good on developer Game Science for keeping the fires going with a prompt announcement. Maybe China Time will figure out how to deliver a AAA game in under 3 years…

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Hollow Knight Silksong Is Finally Coming Out
(Arriving September 4th)

Hollow Knight (2017) is a game that just… kind of annoys me. I played it back in 2019, had a few bugbears with it and what it did, got about 40 hours in, didn’t beat it because I couldn’t complete the gauntlet challenge. I thought it was still a jolly good Metroidvania, well worth a fair bit of praise, but then it became subject to a level of sycophancy from a growing fandom that was devoted to projecting their thing as the greatest thing since sliced bread they watched their papa get double-penetrated by Marduk’s twin cocks back in Cali, Colombia during the summer of ’79.

Akumako: “What Natalie is saying is that she thinks Hollow Knight is a good game, but she gets annoyed when people insist that it is the BEST Metroidvania, that all other games are LESSER to it. Especially when they poo-poo Metroid and Castlevania. She does not like how it has developed its own devote fandom devoted to itself, insisting that it is so deep, so brilliant, that it warrants constant media and theorycrafting. When Hollow Knight is just a game made by a small enough group of people to fit in a sensibly sized car. She hates when people get this into one indie game, when they could play a lot of others, expand their horizons, rather than try to understand this one game, this singular entity, really fucking well.”

I call it the Undertale effect because, while Undertale is a brilliant game, the diehard fandom is, or was, full of unbearable fuckheads. This effect later applied to other games like Doki Doki Literature Club, Rain World, and of course Hollow Knight. I’m not anti-fandom, I’m a fan of a lot of things, but the level of obsession, of blind praise, really rubs me the wrong way. I can understand people being invested in a bigger IP. A live service designed to foster a fandom with a constant trickle of content. A decade-spanning TV show. A game series with a substantial history. Or larger multimedia ventures. But when people are into things like that, into larger entertainment ventures like Pokémon or Star Wars, they will typically openly admit that this or that is a bit shit, or how this one little thing drives them nuts.

Akumako: “It is a flavor of fandom filled with people who have very low media experience, found one thing they really like, and are convinced that it is a rare entity meant to be coveted and praise, while avoiding new experiences. Because, in their minds, they think they found PEAK, and that means everything else is lesser by comparison. They are scared of liking something that’s mid, that’s flawed, that’s problematic, and lacks the importance they placed on this one thing they do like. These are people who view the media they enjoy as extensions of themselves, and are scared of worsening themselves by trying new things. If you watch cringe, you are cringe should kill yourself NOW!“

Meanwhile, I’m PISSED that I can’t try more weird nonsense like I used to, shit nobody’s ever heard of like Four Horsemen or Remember, Remember, or fucking Memory’s Dogma. Memory’s Dogma was one of the worst visual novels I’ve ever played, but I’m glad I played it! Experiencing weird shit is vital to developing not only your mind, but your temperament, literacy, and personality. And if you have a bad personality… then you might actually have nothing good to say or to contribute to the world beyond labor.

Akumako: “Damn, she’s fiery tonight… So, Hollow Knight—”

Hollow Knight Silksong was originally meant to be a piece of DLC for the original Hollow Knight, but expanded into a standalone expansion and full-blown de facto sequel, where it has been in development for a solid seven years. This would not be a problem, but the development team has been bad at conveying the true scope of the project, their progress, and left fans in the dark, where they started all manner of harebrained theories. I would criticize the developers, Team Cherry, for this, if not for the fact that they were fucking geniuses for recognizing that they had a fandom of sycophants who would obsess over this game, for half a decade.

By sitting back, maintaining secrecy, they have propelled their game into further publicity while they sit back and wait for the free marketing offers to come on in. …But in doing so, they have wasted literal lifetimes by having people talk and theorize about Silksong. So, from a capitalistic perspective, they are brilliant, from a more utilitarian perspective, they could have been way more transparent. Not say it took so long because we were having fun and experimenting right before the game comes out. They could have literally just done quarterly updates saying ‘we’re still working on it’ and most a single screenshot of their dev environment. Especially when people PAID for this as part of the Kickstarter campaign.

But now, the game is done, it’s coming out September 4, 2025, for every relevant system. PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch, Switch 2, and PC. Great news for fans, and bad news for anything releasing within two weeks of this game, as it looks to be a big one, featuring over 40 bosses and oodles of environments to explore This is great news, and I hope Silksong achieves the coveted trifecta of critical, commercial, and communal praise, becoming one of the most celebrated games of the year.

That being said, am I interested in it? Well, I was, but then I watched the trailer and realized that this is a Natalie No-No game. Silksong features a bevy of slick acrobatic movements and a wide variety of versatility in how the protagonist can dodge and maneuver throughout the world. With the protagonist’s repertoire featuring air dashes, double jumps, bouncing slashes, gliding, and wall jumps. When inputs and outputs on screen are similar, when so many things achieve the verb of move, it becomes harder for me to determine the right type of movement that a situation calls for. Do I double jump or do I dash jump? In this fragment of a second, can I even process the difference between the two, because they both move my character?

This is something I became fully aware of when playing the Plague Knight DLC for Shovel Knight (2014) eight years ago. During this campaign, you are in control of a plague doctor character with a variety of unique movement options, allowing for greater air control. But I just could not agree with the controls or comfortably clear certain sections in the second stage. I had to fail the challenge, repeatedly, pause, map out the controls in my head, practice them on a controller, verbally say the commands in sequence, and only then could I get past a section.

Why am I like this? I dunno. I’m autistic. Got a lot of quirks. And one of these quirks is that I tend to rely on one determined response to a problem, and do not understand when to switch it out for another response. It’s similar to how I struggle between recognizing the distinction to dodge, block, or parry in a game that features all three mechanics, as they all have the same core function. Damage negation. With dodging being the easiest to input and parrying being a routine gambit of risk and reward depending on the synchronicity between the player’s actions and what the designer wants the player to do. I have seen so many games take so many different approaches to parrying, across so many enemies, that I do not understand the love of this mechanic, as it is so inconsistent.

Akumako: “For the record, Natalie got tripped the fuck up by the controls and movement in Celeste (2017).:

I really did. I am bad at games that require precise movements. And don’t even get me started on momentum. After trying to replay the original Sonic games a decade ago, I have decided that I do not understand it.

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PlayStation 5 US Price Hike Enacted
(PlayStation? More Like PayStation!)

Welp, I saw this coming. After the Switch 1 got a price hike eight years after it came out, and after the Xbox got a price hike five years into its generation, it is finally Sony’s turn to raise the US prices on the PS5. The standard PS5 is up from $500 to $550, the PS5 Digital Only went from $450 to $500, and the PS5 Pro increased from the record-breaking $700 to a recorder breakinger $750. All because the Trump administration wants to rob the working class of additional funds through import taxation that, by design, passes down to the end customer in order to discourage them to buy foreign goods. Which makes no sense when you lack a domestic industry, and are unwilling to invest in a domestic industry.

It is just a covert form of taxation and a way to piss off everybody. This is a pain in the ass for all international businesses in the US. A VAT tax on foreign goods for American citizens. And it is going to reduce the power of the US dollar on the word stage, burning away the immense soft power that America has harnessed over the past 70 years. All because a coalition of, like, five thousand guys, give or take, want to rule the world, control how people are allowed to live, how they are allowed to think, and who gets to exist.

I only hope that these ham fisted and transparent price increases, combined with all the other dumb shit going on, leads to things breaking. I want economic stagnation, immense poverty, another 2008-style recession, and widespread disdain and dissatisfaction with the American political/economic system. Because they are really just two heads of the same hydra. I do not want these things to happen because they are good, but because I know suffering wakes people up, and sparks discontent.

Also, yes, yes, there were similar price hikes for PS5 that happened across the globe due to mass currency devaluation around the world— they call it inflation, I call it devaluation— following the COVID-19 pandemic. And those are something worth criticizing. But, for better or for worse— increasingly for worse— the US is still the cultural forebearer in the Anglosphere— the world I fuck with.

God, I can’t wait until the recession hits and I feel vindicated as fuck.

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Progress Report 2025-08-24

I have said before that if I got a time machine, I would tell my younger self a few things. That I’m trans and provide tips ‘n’ tricks to speedrun a transition. To buy Bitcoin ASAP, as I have seen how much it has grown over time. To start writing more fiction more frequently, as I high-key regret not writing more in high school. I would put them in contact with my current boss, as I have a good thing going. And I would also help my past self rebalance my IRA, as I have made some mistakes with my retirement account over the years.

Then, after helping my past self, I would then go on a mission to make a better future by disposing of the most dangerous person I could. Which would only affect me, because different timelines are just different dimensions.

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2025-08-17: Finished reading the story for TSF Showcase 2025-11, but I was so annoyed at reading and writing back to back for the past few days. Writing 7k+ words in a day, back-to-back, then editing 11.5k words and grabbing images, then reading 100k words while taking notes, it just… I was SICK OF IT! Also, had like three hours of work, because it’s tax season, bitch. Wrote 2,100 word Preamble based on a prompt from the Dark Web IRC I’m a part of, for some reason!

2025-08-18: Had to do a work for much of the day, but I somehow managed to snag 4,600 words for TSF Showcase 2025-11. Naisu hotto milku! (When I die, I wanna be a milk.)

2025-08-19: Wrote 6,600 words on gaming new stuff because of Carlos’s Star Riders and Gamescomputer. Started work on the header image, a mockup using Final Fantasy V assets, but decided it was too late to copy outfit designs. …Then I decided to stay up late to finish this header image. Woo~!

2025-08-20: Did some work for dochy, then got another three hours of work in the evening, so this no work day wound up being a full work day. Wrote 2,500 words preamble for next week’s Rundown. Complained about the PS5 price hike for 400 words. Wanted to tackle TSF Showcase 2025-11 again, but I had to fill out some dumb medical survey on my phone and Stripe called me for the payment processing thing, at 1 AM! Do they NOT have the ability to check area codes and where I probably live? I do not start things after 1 AM, as a general rule, so I just watched an episode of Severance, as assigned by Missy Scrumptious.

2025-08-21: Wrote 1,300 word scree on Silksong, called a bunch of places to see if I could move $6,000. Retirement account, bank that I signed up with to get a free Switch 2, IRS for not processing my damn refund. Edited the Fundown for this week, because it is Thursday. Wrote 2,100 words for TSF Showcase 2025-11.

2025-08-22: Surprise 10 hour day! (With a 30 minute break and 30 minute dishes break, so really more like an 11 hour day.) Yeah, it’s hard for me to muster up the passion to want to type away at something after spending 10+ hours in meetings, making spreadsheets, writing emails, and editing tax returns. So I just played some demos and watched Severance, as assigned by Missy Scrumptious. Show is good, but not as deranged and chaotic as I would have liked, but that’s true for most things. I AM a degenerate after all! Also, decided to play the demo fro Daemon X Machina 2: Titanic Scion. And it is really bloody good. It’s basically like if the developers of the first game decided that they wanted to make Bioware’s Beyond Dylan: The Anthem (2019) but good. Biggest gripe is the inability to change the FOV, as it is a bit narrow for a game with so many HUD elements, and the art director has a WEIRD sense for color schemes. It’s bloody cool! It also smells like God Eater. And I like God Eater.

2025-08-23: Did chores in the morning, work in the afternoon, work after dinner, and then managed to get in 2,600 words for TSF Showcase 2025-11, reaching the less fun part of the write-up.

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