Malazan Empire: polishgenius - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

QuickTidal, on 21 October 2025 - 12:20 PM, said:

Nine Sols has a hell of a story too. I didn't ultimately enjoy it that much because even with excellent difficulty options it just focuses on a type of combat that I don't find as fun. But if you dig the combat it's a good purchase.


Definitely on the more linear side of the Metroidvania scale but then so is Iconoclasts. It's definitely aiming for that Cave Story tradition.

Finished The Raven Scholar, by Antonia Hodgson. Not a debut novel, since Hodgson has a very successful series of crime novels under her belt (which I actually read the first one of years back, The Devil in the Marshalsea), but her first foray into fantasy.


It's terrific. Basically a story of contenders for an Empire's throne in competition for it, with all the skullduggery, twists and turns, and devious plotting you might imagine, but also some great, memorable characters and a real sense of wit. And it's just really well written. Absolutely delightful, and in a lot of the ways y'all on this forum tend to enjoy, so I highly recommend it.

polishgenius, on 29 September 2025 - 06:01 PM, said:

Got to a certain point and no. Eww. Can't be dealing with this right now. I got through the first ew, no bit, then I reached the flashback QT mentioned and the hints at where the story might be going... well, yeah, I might come back at some stage to find out of I'm right, and to find out what happened in general, because the story overall is engaging and well written. The premise of the lost rebellion and of necromancy's use as an authoritarian tool, that's all very interesting, and I'm not usually a fan of necromancy as a main story premise. But what I'm assuming is the fanfictiony element QT referred to... no.





Started Raven Scholar instead, as well as the second Emily Wilde book. The second is obviously much lighter in tone and while the first I'm yet to find out, I'm sure it's less... well, less rapey.

 QuickTidal, on 02 October 2025 - 04:07 PM, said:

Oh yeah, just on the subject of dollar value for indies, because I got it in summer and have been digging into it since: have you played UFO 50? Absolutely absurd achievement in game design, and because there's so many games in it, and pretty much all of them are good, unless one has an aversion to retro/pretend-retro gaming in general, there's bound to be at least a few of interest.


The skinny for those not familiar: UFO 50 is a 'retrospective' collection of games from a fictional console developed by a fictional game company in the 80s. It tracks game development in that period in the most brillantly nerdy possible way, by both iterating on actual trends and developments of the time but also by taking ideas that were really later or more modern and stripping them back to the parameters of 80s development, essentially inventing fictional precursors for modern gaming trends. It also shows developing trends and running series within the company itself. Both directly in sequels to earlier games and in things like how Vainger is a metroidvania that iterates on a gravity-flip mechanic the 'earlier' game Warptank, or how Porgy and Divers are both '1986' releases focusing on diving and heading back to the surface as a gameplay loop, but with very different tones and styles.

There's several games in it that could genuinely have released as individual titles. Runs the gamut too, from strategy (quite a strong focus actually) and puzzles and more full, structured action games through to pure arcady type experiences of various sorts.






Here's a trailer, though it really doesn't get across quite what a nonsensical achievement UFO 50 is.

https://store.steamp...20/Iconoclasts/

Iconoclasts is on sale, for anyone who hasn't played it. That's a much-underappreciated all-time classic, genuinely one of my favourite stories ever in gaming. It's also a metroidvania, but a much more story-driven one- Cave Story is a clear influence and Metroid Fusion a cited one for the creator, though it's a bit more puzzle-platformy than either and nowhere near as hard as Cave Story. Though it's no cakewalk. Anyway, highly recommended, it's incredible.