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Joined 23 days ago
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Cake day: August 5th, 2026

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  • I’m finding the progression to be very smart - earlier levels felt more difficult actually because I wasn’t accustomed to the way the developers set things up. I can’t describe it too well, but as you keep solving stuff, you kind of know what to expect and have the idea of the what the solution might look like sooner, and you sort of work backwards from there.

    If you want more puzzles, The Witness is also a great title. Although I found it to be downright maddening at times despite being able to beat it. I really like the variety of puzzles there, realy unique in that regard and its design. Hunting for secrets and extra stuff there takes lot, tol, though, but it’s all so beautiful and rewarding.




  • Is The Talos Principle old enough to end up here? If it is, then I’m recommending it with great ease. Feels like such a great puzzler with little to no action or reflexes required, a lovely magnitudes of secrets to hunt, both apparently tied to progression and just Easter eggs, and a lot of optional reading if you’re into lore-diving.

    It’s from Croteam, the people behind Serious Sam, although I can’t say how much of the original crew worked on The Talos Principle. Still, their own engine offers itself very well to puzzle-solving and exploration through walking (or sprinting).

    Such a gem.




  • Steam Deck.

    The Talos Principle. It’s actually my first time playing the game despite having learned about it near launch and having seen some footage and just wondering at this mysterious puzzle-solving adventure set in such beautiful locations… And it’s every bit wonderful, much more than I had expected. And there’s so much reading, too! I actually love that part and how it’s executed, because it allows me to choose whether to go lore-learning, puzzle-solving or secrets-hunting. The latter is especially amazing here: I love spending days on trying to get to something only to learn that the solution lies in a different direction and turns out to be much simpler. I wonder if that’s intended or it’s just me.

    Half-Life. A while ago I tried playing THE FINALS with gyro only and quickly found out that I gravitate towards the dual-trackpad control scheme, allowing me to achieve more and do less. However, a fast-paced online shooter that is also as demanding wasn’t the perfect choice for every time I grabbed the deck, so I tried finally beating Half-Life on Hard - and got humbled. I had thought I was kinda good with gyro, but apparently not. All the better, as it led to me mixing mouse input on the right trackpad combined with gyro as opposed to committing to gyro entirely, the latter doesn’t being that much comfortable or precise on a Steam Deck, essentially rotating your controller with your screen.

    I will probably pick up THE FINALS on the Steam Deck again, too, with S11 introducing bot matches. Could be a great and fun way to practice or warm up before joining someone’s team and contributing a fraction of a fraction of what I can with mouse and keyboard at least semi-predictably.





  • There actually might be no war at all, because some things make warfare between these two species that much more difficult.

    Behind the spoiler are details from Project Hail Mary, so if you’re planning on reading/watching it yourself, best not to look there.

    Spoilers
    • There is a massive difference between Earth’s and Erid’s atmosphere requiring so much preparation and war engineering from either party
    • That said, Rocky was able to make a sort of a spacesuit that worked extremely well, at least in the Hail Mary spaceship’s atmosphere (which wasn’t 1:1 earthlike, I believe)
    • That suit was made out of Xenonite, which is a substance Earth cannot compete with, probably making damn good armor
    • Earth has little to nothing to survive Eridian atmosphere in warfare circumstances: no material or tech that can be used for a spacesuit here, certainly not in the amounts for planetary combat, especially given the air supply that would be required

    Either side’s troops seem so fragile in the enemy condition and so unconquerable on their own turf.

    Honestly, Earth and Erid could make formidable allies more than anything, because a war between the two would be very stalemate-y attrition-type deal.




  • Hard disagree.

    There’s some debate to have here about neuroplasticity and whether cursive handwriting (or the process of learning something involving both the cognitive resources and some rather fine hand, wrist, fingers, a bit of an arm movement), but one thing is certain: it’s a faster way to write stuff down.

    I have tried journaling and other writing both in printed and cursive, and the former makes me not write at all, because there’s not enough time in this world for me to be my verbose self on paper when trying to write legible printed letters.

    Cursive is just that fast. Faster if you learn to write shorter forms of the same words. Even faster if you learn some special systems, but that’s a different rabbit hole.

    But I will admit that learning to be concise with one’s words without losing meaning and gravity is also beneficial, even if only for trying to push Alzheimer’s and others further into the future.