I’m glad I’m not the only one! Though if I play something for a second time I do tend to up the difficulty a bit.

Yup, I have. I liked it, but it did not make the top 10 for me, purely because two of the storylines were amazing imo (Connor & Kara) and one was centered around a trope that I absolutely despise (Markus). It didn’t ruin the game for me, I still loved it and will play it again at some point, but because of that I cannot put it in my top 10.

Enjoy the new games!

Ranking is tough but I’ll give it a go. The ranking is based on the impact and enjoyment I got out of them regardless of playtime.

1. What Remains of Edith Finch & Kentucky Route Zero (shared 1st place)

2. Life is Strange

3. Stray

4. GRIS

5. Cyberpunk 2077

6. SOMA

7. Heaven’s Vault

8. The Town of Light

9. FAR: Lone Sails

10. Portal 2

That last one is a bit of an outlier but I have laughed so much while playing it, it deserves a place at the table.

While it does indeed kind of smell like an ad, keep in mind this is not some triple-A bullshit. It’s made by a single dev and has a heavily involved community on reddit and discord where competitions are hosted and suggestions are made. Regardless of tankies reputation, that kind of behaviour is not tolerated in either of those communities. I’ve been playing it on and off and have over 500 hours into it by now. It is a very niche game, but for those that like tanks and military games in general, it is a real gem.

The infuriating part here is that there are still people the think climate change is a hoax, even though we see the first effects right here, right now. Last year was similar. I remember it being like 16 degrees on New Year’s Eve. Fucking madness…

As a non-native English speaker I fully understand what it means and will happily correct it to football for you :P

I bet you make images of stuff too then?

Same here. Needed an image of Uncle Sam as an Air Genasi. Can’t get stuff that specific without a comission (which is expensive and not worth it for a joke sidequest) or AI, so AI it is.

Sadly, it’s not just the US. A whole generation of students here in The Netherlands were made to take loans. They did change it back, but it was in place for 7/8 years. And, as a cherry on top, there was no interest initially. Then a small (~0.5%) interest was added, and now a few days ago they announced that the interest would be five-folded. It sounds too American to be happening here, but sadly it is the truth.

Yeah those are worms! Very cool things. They manipulate the mantis to go into the water where they can crawl out and complete their growth. To the detriment of the mantis, of course.

Be gentle…

I’d recommend looking out for rabies in general ;) even without zombiefying, it’s a horrible way to go.

And, of course, get your shots!

Let me put your mind at ease. The zombie ant phenomenon is nothing to be scared of as a human.

In nature, there are many pathogens/parasites. Some of them are able to manipulate their hosts to their own benefit. The zombie ants are not actual zombies, rather they are still alive ants that are manipulated before their death. This disease is caused by fungi of the Ophiocordyceps family. These fungi infect the ants and change their behaviour over the course of roughly one month. First, the ants social behaviour is surpressed and their biological clock disrupted. Then they start wildly walking around in nonsensical patterns. Eventually, when the infection has reached its peak, the ant climbs up some vegetation (grass, reeds, bushes, etc.). Here, it bites and clamps onto this vegetation, and that is that for the ant. It dies in this position. After a few days, a fruiting body (somewhat akin to a mushroom) sprouts from the body to release spores. If the spores manage to infect an ant, the cycle repeats.

Ophiocordyceps is not the only manipulator in nature. The Massospora fungi hijack cicadas and replace their genitals. Then, they induce mating behaviour. When another cicada tries to mate, they get infected instead. And there are many others like them. The way they manipulate their host is different between all of them, but they do have one thing in common: they are all highly specialized. For example, the Ophiocordyceps fungi species generally are only able to infect one ant species. They have co-evolved in an arms race over millions of years, where the ant develops mechanisms to defend themselves from pathogens and the pathogen develops ways around it. The chance of these highly specialized fungi to suddenly work on humans is zero. The same goes for Massospora. So, no need to worry about being forced to climb a tree or grow a fungal penis or vagina (or fungussy, if you will).

While these pathogens are no harm to us, there are, of course, pathogens that do manipulate humans. The most infamous example is the rabies virus. Luckily, there is a vaccine against it.

So, in short, no need to panic. Not about this, at least.

Live fast - die young - leave a good-looking corpse

It really is

I’m Dutch myself so nope, not assuming so XD

Nevertheless, as a European, it is my continental duty to shit on Americans, which is (partially) why I made the meme :P

Those people are often where most of the money comes from in f2p games. They are referred to as “whales” by the gaming industry.

No problem, ElPussyKangaroo

Yeah that was my reaction too earlier this morning XD. I believe this post sparked it all: https://sh.itjust.works/post/5513795