Very sad to hear. That man was a legend.

https://archive.is/XzZ9S

I mean, that's a pretty big playlist you got there.

If you haven't played the original Thief games (Thief 1 and 2) I highly recommend them. If you like them, Thief 3 is subpar as a game, but completes the story, so also recommended. I'm feeling like you'll love them. They are definitely my favourite games of all time.

Definitely try out System Shock too.

Amnesia: The Bunker has been very fun horror

Outward might suit your quest for short open-world RPGs/Dungeon Crawlers. Very unique game as far as I'm concerned.

High Fleet and Crying Suns were both very decent decision-making games with really cool stories.

If you are into deck-building games, I suggest Slay The Spire and Hellcard. They scratch that dungeon-crawling itch.

I don't know if you'll like them, but since you want non-Western games: Dyson Sphere Program is a Chinese base-building resource-gathering management game (think Factorio, but actually pleasant). Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic is a Slovakian city-building game, where you design and built a communist city-state nestled between the borders of the Soviet block and the Western block. It's actually the best city-builder I've ever played (and it's one of my favourite genres). Unfortunately, it has a very steep learning curve, and you'll probably need to dedicate time on some let's plays on youtube to get your bearings.

I've recently finished Felvidek, which is a Slovak JRPG with minor eldritch horror elements, kick-ass music and pretty good writing. I think you'll like it. I certainly loved it.

If you haven't played Chronotrigger before, then prioritize it.

Currently I'm playing Cryptmaster. It's amazing. Highly recommended.

Paywalled

How a bunch of Nazis brainwash children in the woods of western New York state

The US national debt is 35 trillion dollars. The interest alone is around 1 trillion dollars, which is about how much the Federal Reserve is printing every year. If the dollar starts losing its backing, all that money printing, used to mitigate the debt, is going to cause such an inflation, that it will essentially make US debts unsustainable. US banks essentially operate with the assumption that that will never happen. So when it happens, and they start calling in the debts they hold to back their other endeavours, and then start declaring bankruptcy, the US economy will collapse. For most people, it will likely be sudden, as it was in 2007.

And this will likely pull the Euro (and the EU) down a similar death spiral.

The US and European governments have a vague understanding of this, which is why they are trying so desperately and dangerously (and unsuccessfully) to weaken China and Russia. The whole point of the Ukraine provocation and the sanctions on Russia were an attempt to break up BRICS before it would become a problem. And ofcourse it backfired spectacularly.

Western aims

It's clear that the primary goal of the summit was to get together a bunch of states that would agree to condemn Russia and pressure it to accept peace on Ukrainian terms. Yes, misguided, desperate and ignoring reality, but that's the only reason not to invite Russia to a summit for peace in a war, where Russia is the other party.

The recent escalations by the West can be explained as a prelude to this pressure campaign. France and Britain saying they will send soldiers. US and Europeans giving "permission" to Ukraine to strike Russian territory. F-16s. More funding and weapons. They were all meant to intimidate Russia. Russia's attempts at de-escalating a potential global conflict are seen as weakness by the West, and they were probably hoping that the threat of a WW3 would make Russia afraid and willing to accept less than it normally would.

Publicly, the US and Europeans are decrying Russia's proposal, but that's to be expected at this stage. We shouldn't forget that 90 countries are attending the summit, and that obviously includes non-Western states too, including India, which is a main buyer of Russian oil and part of BRICS.

The effect of Putin's proposal

So considering all that, how does Putin's proposal throw a wrench in Western plans?

1. We should consider that Putin announced this a few days after the European parliamentary elections, were the ruling parties of Europe were largely trounced by the far-right, which has been critical of anti-Russian sanctions and the participation in the war. Macron and Scholz lost ground partly because of their stance against Russia. Particularly Scholz, who has been recently elected, but has presided over the destruction of the German economy due to the Nordstream sabotage and sanctions. And we can see that the European regimes are considering this failure of policy, by their actions: France is now silent about sending troops. Germany has vetoed the latest rounds of sanctions against Russia by the EU (last Wednesday). Belgium has said there will be delays in sending the promised F-16s. So Putin's proposal actually reverses the pressure game. The Europeans now have to consider peace, or else risk losing their national elections to the far right.

2. Zelenski is constantly announcing that the only acceptable peace is a return to the 1991 borders. Putin's proposal outlines how far from reality Zelenski really is. It emphasizes that Zelenski's demands are unreasonable, and that Russia, contrary to the Western narrative, IS willing to talk for peace.

3. Which brings us to this: Russia's proposal is not only reasonable, it also gives a chance for the West to save a bit of face and for Ukraine to remain independent and viable. "Withdrawal of Ukrainian armed forces" does not automatically mean territorial concessions. It can also mean the formation of demilitarized zones that are still administered by Ukraine. The proposal, while it outright denies Ukraine induction into NATO, it does not reject EU membership for Ukraine. It allows Ukraine to keep access to the Black Sea (Odessa), and access to its richest region (Dnipro) It also demonstrates that Russia is consistent, in that the new proposal is still largely based on the Istanbul communique.

4. Non-western countries attending the summit, are not in such a big hurry to confront Russia. Putin's proposal gives them something to consider before they sign on to anything drastic. Putin's proposal targets them as much as the Ukrainian people.

5. Ukrainians coming out and saying they should consider this peace is already a big point in favour of Russia. It creates the conditions for the eventual fall of Zelenski and his Nazi handlers.

6. Putin's proposal surely hijacks the summit, as, for the above reasons, it will be a major talking point among the attendees.

You are welcome you ~~filthy traitor~~ filthy traitor

Indeed, but is Zelensky the Holy a single entity split in two, or two entities joined in one? I ascribe to Coptic Zelenskianity.

The budget is also a marketing ploy. The average person hears about a game costing hundreds of millions to make and they think "well then, it MUST be good". It's more or a pissing contest among publishers. Most of that budget does indeed go to marketing and executive wages/bonuses.

And from the publisher's perspectives, that's really a good investment of the budget, because it doesn't just drive up sales. It also cultivates customer loyalty and fanboyism (e.g. "we are spending all that money because we believe in the game, and we want to give our loyal fans the best experience possible" is a very common line in pre-release interviews).

For example, there's a false equivalency among gamers, propagated by this kind of propaganda: "I have to pay the high prices and engage in microtransactions/DLC, because that supports the game developers and their high budgets". In reality, the people who actually make the game see very little of that money. Their wages, in most instances, are shit and do not reflect the hours they put in. However, gamers rarely want to understand that, and instead extend the publisher pissing contest among themselves ("the game I'm playing now spent more money than the game you are playing, therefore it's the superior product").

I follow the SYRIZA elections, and I have to say that if Kasselakis is elected, then SYRIZA will completely abandon its left-wing character, aside from certain social issues like gender equality, gay rights, etc. For example, yesterday the Greek Parliament voted in favor of an anti-strike measure that also allows employers to expand the 8-hour day to 13-14 hours, as well as removing a lot of worker rights and protections. SYRIZA abstained from the vote, when it was prepared to vote against. Kasselakis had come out earlier making remarks in favor of this new law package, and his influence probably made SYRIZA to abstain instead of voting against.

Or you can use an ad-blocker. Also youtube is profitable just fine. If it wasn't Google would have shut it down a long time ago.