gunnervi

I think the genre you are looking for is “immersive sims”. Notable historical examples are Thief, Deus Ex, and System Shock.

I’ve set my computer so that holding caps lock lets me type in Greek

That would be weird for Outer Wilds. It’s not really a game about figuring out a complex sequence of events that let you get the correct solution to the time loop, the way so many time loop stories are. There are a couple locations that can only be accessed early or late, but those locations only contain information; once you’ve reached them you have no need to go back on subsequent looks.

And since the game is about exploration, it doesn’t really feel repetitive (at least it didn’t to me), because you’re always looking for something new

Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast. For it is a human number. Its number is six hundred and sixty six

Ultimately, these sorts of crimes are incredibly common for occupying armies. Culture impacts the way these crimes are handled – are they punished, ignored, covered up, or tacitly (or even explicitly) encouraged? But the common element is soldiers, and the way that war leads to the dehumanization of the enemy, not that some cultures breed uniquely evil people.

I generally have a few “forever games” that I sink thousands of hours into. Right now that’s Stellaris but in might try to get back into Crusader Kings with the new patch and of course when Civ 7 comes out I’ll be all over that.

I generally prefer my other games to be fairly short, especially for story heavy games. I’ve left hundreds of Civ games unfinished, and it doesn’t really matter, but I do actually want to finish games with a strong narrative, and really long ones can be hard. I never finished either of the Divinity original sin games, for instance, despite enjoying then quite a lot. Same with Witcher 3, though in that case it has more to do with rapidly becoming fatigued with the open world and also starting grad school about 3/4 if the way through and not having much time to play. I’m general though, I’d say about 20-30 hours is ideal for a game that I can’t just replay forever.

Meta Gear Solid – a game about the metal gear series

Yes – America (original by Simon and Garfunkel)

Anthony Vincent – Chop Suey in the style of Ghost (original by System of a Down)

Dr Pez & Marc Papeghin – The soundtrack of Ocarina of Time, but its a prog rock concept album (not sure it technically counts as a cover)

Brass Against – The Pot (Original by Tool)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along the Watchtower (Original by Bob Dylan)

Also, not sure how widely known this is, but Arethra Franklin’s Respect is itself a cover (and certainly one of the best covers of all time, up there with All Along the Watchtower and Johnny Cash’s rendition of Hurt)

As I understand it he starts out just living with them but then kidnaps the girl after the mother dies

Ah established Reddit account with real comments and lots of karma is less likely to be identified as a bot or sockpuppet, which is useful for people who want to run those accounts

The album The Signal Heard Throughout Space by Parius

Its the same design but with 2020 aesthetics instead of 2005 aesthetics

MYST, and if you enjoyed that, Riven and Myst 3

I almost always prefer a quirky game that does its own thing to a bland game with mass market appeal. Most AAA studios, especially as game budgets have exploded, are afraid to experiment with their gameplay or do anything new. Nintendo is probably the largest exception to this rule, but it comes with the caveat that they generally don’t release new entries unless they come up with something new, which is sad for, like, Star Fox and F-Zero fans. But ultimately the more a game costs the less room there is for the sort of risk that makes for the truly special games

VVVVVV

ascii nethack is beautiful

I’ve found a few decent hits from random music blogs. actually while writing this i went to one of them and now i’m listening to a Japanaese prog rock band that sings in an invented language

i go about 50/50 between CD and bandcamp. I never got into vinyl, though i can appreciate the physicality of it. That being said, i do listen to a fair amount of stuff on youtube or spotify, especially when exploring new artists but also for stuff that i just haven’t bought

Some of them are. IMO the best are Way of Life, Holy Fury, Conclave, and Old Gods. If you want to play some who isn’t a Christian King, such as a Christian merchant or pagan/hindu/muslim king, you’ll need to get the expansion for that. Respectively, those are The Republic, The Old Gods or Holy Fury (either will unlock Pagans), Rajas of India, and Sword of Islam. That being said, if you like playing a Christian, Sons of Abraham is worth picking up. Finally, if you’re the type of person who really likes optimizing these sort of games, then you’ll probably want Legacy of Rome, which adds retinues, customizable standing armies that let a skilled player solve the combat system to punch way above their weight

honestly i think having been in on the ground floor makes things easier. its way easier to learn the changes to mechanics you already understand than it is to learn mechanics that were designed to be, in almost all cases for Stellaris, more complicated than the original, already complicated mechanics.