I've capped off another week with more Binding of Isaac

I've played a lot of Binding of Isaac: Rebirth this week. I was surprised that I remembered what most of the items do and which trinkets are bad. But my muscle memory has faded completely at this point and I die a lot.

I also dabbled a little bit with Stronghold: Crusader. Always a classic

I'm gonna start a weekly Sunday evening thread where we all talk about what we've been playing the past week.

I have been doing a replay of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice this week. It's one of my favorite games and I was surprised how much muscle memory Ive retained for most of the major boss fights.

A boss you died to 1000 times, an enemy that still strikes fear into your heart every time you replay your favorite game, etc.

For me it's the Blood Starved Beast from Bloodborne. I died to it probably over 100 times my first playthrough no matter how many times I replay the game I still get torn to shreds repeatedly. Honorable mention cazadors from New Vegas

I'm tired of living in fear

I've always found the Uncharted 4/The Last Of Us/God of War 2018 to all be decent, but all those games are kinda lacking in imteresting gameplay and are basically the video game equivalents of "Oscar bait"

Ever since I was burned by Fallout 4 I've been incredibly skeptical of Bethesda games and so watching the Starfield showcase and it really just looks like Fallout 4 in space. Yet I'm seeing praise being heaped on it. I'm not crazy am I?

I don't know if Westwood intended it or not, but the writing and world building of C&C:TS lays out almost to a tee looming ecological disaster we are facing and the total unwillingness to deal with it in a meaningful way. This is despite the fact it was released at the height of the "End Of History, All The Problems Are Solved" 90s

Tiberium, the strange crystalline substance that serves as the in-game resource you use to fund the construction of your base and army, is sweeping across the planet. Tiberium gathers valuable minerals from the soil, but also emits radiation and gases that are toxic to all life. Vast swaths of the Earth lie covered in tiberium, leaving nothing but total ecological devastation in its wake. Millions of ~~climate~~ refugees flee North, the colder climate slows the rate of Tiberium spread. Much of the earth's surface is almost alien, foot infantry needing to wear basically spacesuits to survive. Scientists warn the governing powers that without interference tiberium could push humanity towards extinction

So what do the two superpowers, the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod do, facing this cascading catastrophe? Nothing. Instead, they harvest tiberium for the valuable minerals it contains (thus ensuring its spread). High exposure areas are openly abandoned by them, the residents of such zones literally calling themselves The Forgotten. All of their resources are not put towards saving the biosphere, ensuring humanity's survival, are instead put towards the globalized, permanent war economy. GDI and Nod fight to the death while the world burns so they can be kings of the ashes. It was hard to miss as I replayed the game for the first time in over a decade how starkly reflected our current civilizational dilemma with accelerating climate change, and the total apathy of the people who hold power in our society. Dark stuff indeed