Theme Hospital (thumbnail) was dope. I used to rent the PS1 port from my local video store, but never came across it for PC. Used to love Bullfrog Entertainment back in the day and played the absolute hell out of Dungeon Keeper. Theme Hospital wasn’t nearly as good, but there was something super chill about designing waiting rooms and deciding where to put the vending machines. For whatever reason, the waiting rooms were always my favorite part.

Shame we never got a proper Dungeon Keeper 3. War For the Overworld is a worthy successor, and getting Richard Ridings ('ELLO, PEPPA!) back to narrate was a boss move, but I don’t care for the new creature designs that almost (but don’t quite) emulate Bullfrog’s creatures. Just doesn’t feel right without a few fat bile demons dragging themselves around your corridors.

Sad excuse for a robin then, huh?

“In the United States, human feces has been regulated as an experimental drug since 2013.”

Best sentence in the entire article.

In John’s defense, that guy looks pissed. Pocahontas was like:

It means everyone is probably getting sick around here and having bad days because Mercury is in retrograde. At least, that’s what my co-worker once said in front of like fifteen people.

I’m surprised Duncan still hangs with Joe after Joe’s shift to being an absolute right-wing cunt. I guess it’s hard to bail on old friendships, especially when getting on the wrong side of Joe can fuck your comedy career.

https://youtu.be/f6tnj7IEI0E?si=Nirda4ZBGOfvuRR5

Grass Metal!

Mowing my lawn must be a fucking nightmare for everything involved. ☹️

What is this service, exactly? Do they host games on powerful PCs for you to play remotely or something?

Very pretty spot.

It’s the warm blend of its cozy art style, ambient audio, and the unparalleled soundtrack. You go through the grandpa intro and observe his strangely thin bed all over again. Then the Jojamart corporate hell scene. You open the letter and reading it even for the fifteenth time gives you an immediate sense of peace and relief, because you know you’re going back to the valley. It’s all good vibes from here.

The music fades away and you’re greeted with a quiet scene in the mountains, watching a grumbly coach bus speed past the sign, and you’re left with a moment between you and the countryside. There are a few trilling birds and one lands in the sign. You arrive at your stop and immediately that uplifting little song starts playing and Robin’s cute-ass face appears, probably with wood shavings in her bangs, and she still has that voice you crafted for her in your head after all these years. The mayor will too. She’s an old friend.

She ushers you away to your first long view of the farm. Now, you’ve already been here several times in the last decade, but that music. That warm, orangish pallete. That overgrown little cabin on that rugged patch of land. The music grooves on and right away you get butterflies in your stomach over the prospect of getting to be here everyday, cleaning it up and carving your own little life and operation. There is a sense of joy and freedom, and a million possibilities laying under that brush-strewn mess that used to be a field. It never fails to bring you right back and feel that magic again.

It’s like the developer perfectly captured our most innocent human desires in a tiny bottle.

Stardew Valley is a beautiful love letter from Eric Barone’s soul. I don’t want to see it fizzle out either. I’m a straight male but I would marry that man based purely on the gift he gave us.

Fallout is excellent.

They’re not looking at you, black hole… They’re looking with you!

It was likely a permanent Sharpee marker. Hopefully it holds up. Fingers crossed that I’m able to return there as a ghost one day to watch someone unearth what they believed was a map to the family treasure.

It’s been a few years but I don’t remember that at all, but I’d be interested to see if I’m bothered by it on a re-watch.

There’s a phenomenal French horror series on Netflix called Marianne that my wife and I enjoyed immensely. I don’t usually shoot for that particular brand of horror (demon/ghost), but Marianne is fucking excellent. Can’t recommend it enough.