#2026MediaThread
LightNews LightNews
plantybug.bsky.social
Big Walk (PC game, 2026)
An incredibly special experience and the most fun I've had playing a video game in a long, long time. I have a lot to say, but before you read it: please, PLEASE play Big Walk if you can. Reading about it, or even watching someone play it, is no substitute.
#2026MediaThread
September 16, 2026 at 11:28 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Magical Athlete (board game, 2025)
I played a Pokémon reskin of this, and it was fun! You just draft creatures with different busted abilities and roll dice to race them. You're definitely not supposed to take it seriously; it's kind of like if Mario Party were a real board game.
#2026MediaThread
The box art for Magical Athlete, showing a bunch of weird creatures in a race. The "box art" for @Peebr_Koifish's Alolan Athlete, showing a bunch of Pokémon in a race.
September 16, 2026 at 4:01 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Split Fiction (Switch 2 game, 2025)
Like It Takes Two, I played this with my sister and had a lot of fun with it! It's noticeably higher budget than ITT, and I actually liked the characters and story this time. The huge number of creative mechanics, each used for an hour or (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
Key art for Split Fiction, showing the game's two protagonists jumping between sci-fi and fantasy worlds
September 14, 2026 at 3:24 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Powered Investigations (fanfiction, 2024-ongoing)
A kinda-mystery, kinda-drama, kinda-slice-of-life story about Pokémon teen investigators. I highly recommend it if you enjoy having Big Feelings about Pokémon, which is to say, if you're a PMD fan. (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
The "cover" art for the first arc of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Powered Investigations, showing a Riolu and a timid-looking Archen looking around apprehensively in a forest.
September 9, 2026 at 4:44 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo (PC game, 2025)
A Zelda-ish, Metroidvania-ish game with a huge emphasis on movement (and the experience of playing a GBA game). You should definitely play it if that sounds good! I loved it enough to 100% it *and* get all the achievements. (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
Key art for Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, showing the blue anthropomorphic bat main character, his 3 family members, and the 4 major villains, two of whom are getting Mike Wazowskied by the game's logo A screenshot of a 100% completed save file, along with a screenshot of the Steam UI showing all 32 achievements unlocked
September 7, 2026 at 4:42 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
LISA: The Painful (PC game, 2014)
My 9th #12for12 game, recommended by a friend who I don't think has a Bluesky! I didn't love or hate this one, but it took so much effort to play that I started Moonlight Pulse to take breaks from it lol. Thoughts in the images/alt text, as usual
#2026MediaThread
Key art for LISA: The Painful: Definitive Edition, shading a bald, bearded man in a clock facing a bunch of weird looking flesh monsters. A "12 for 12 Challenge" graphic showing 9 games checked off and 3 left to go You can tell that LISA was heavily inspired by EarthBound, especially the parts where it inconveniences you on purpose. There are many, many "wait in front of a waterfall for 3 minutes" moments in this game. In fact, LISA is a game that seems to hate its player. Most rest sites have a chance of poisoning your party or getting a party member kidnapped when you use them, so you'll want to savescum them. If you're not careful, it's easy to fall off a cliff and immediately get a game over. Many enemies can instantly, permanently kill a party member. Multiple times in the game you're forced to sacrifice equipment, limbs, or party members. So here's an interesting question that came to my mind: why did In Stars and Time drive me up the wall with its bullshit, but I didn't hate it when LISA did arguably worse things? Well, for one, LISA is in many ways *not* as bad: you're constantly seeing new things instead of retreading the first hour or two of the game; if you're diligent with saving often (and rotating your saves), LISA's many gotchas will lose you no more than a couple minutes; I never had to wander around for an hour because I didn't know where to go; etc. But I think what's more important is that LISA is honest about fucking with you. For as heavy as it gets in the last few hours, ISaT is still a game where you have snacktime after every boss and the characters have their pronouns on their status screens, so it feels bad when it forces you to replay an hour of the game. LISA takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where death comes quickly and people transform into fleshy monsters, so it doesn't feel out of place when one of your party members dies instantly because a monster bit off his head. Also, LISA is often *funny* in how it fucks with you, in ways one might describe as "FromSoft" or even "kaizo." You feel like you're in on the joke, to some extent. As for the story, it's...a lot. You have to remember that in 2014, being a damaged man on a misguided quest to save your daughter was still a new and exciting thing for video games. But what really kept the story from affecting me emotionally was that it's all bitter, no sweet; there's nothing to really hold onto when it's bleak the whole time.
August 22, 2026 at 11:00 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Moonlight Pulse (PC game, 2024)
A Metroidvania that looks great, sounds great, and plays great; and the furries are cute as hell. Crucially, it also only takes about 5 hours to 100%. I loved it so much I played through it a second time to get the rest of the achievements, (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
Key art for Moonlight Pulse, showing the four playable characters (an anthro sheep, a mole, a quadrupedal blue wolf, and an anthro dog) sitting around a blue campfire. A screenshot of the Steam UI showing all 16 achievements earned in Moonlight Pulse, including "Speedy Victory: Beat the game in under 70 minutes."
August 21, 2026 at 5:14 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Potionomics (PC game, 2022)
The 8th game in my #12for12 challenge, recommended by @taloncreature.bsky.social! Also, the first game in the challenge I'm checking off without finishing. Hopefully the last time I'll do so, but I'm trying to keep in mind this is supposed to be fun lol.
#2026MediaThread
Key art for Potionomics, showing a girl with red hair pouring a glowing blue liquid into a big cauldron. There's also an owl with a wizard hat. A "12 for 12 Challenge" graphic showing 8 games checked off and 4 left to go. All of the check marks are green, except for the one on Potionomics, which is white. This challenge has gotten me to play games, and genres of games, that I ordinarily wouldn't have. Sometimes it's been fun, but sometimes it's reminded me why I don't play those genres. Potionomics is one of those games, and shop simulators are one of those genres. Let no one say I didn't give this a fair shake: I made it 4 hours in and won the first competition, which is 20% of the way through the game. Then I've spent nearly the last week going, "Damn, I don't think I do want to play 16 more hours of this, actually." There's just so much fiddly bullshit and the gameplay loop is exhausting to me; it feels like every day I have to go through my list of chores to make ice cubes, if you know what I mean. The 4 hours I spent playing this kinda felt like 40. This reminds me of my experience with the first Bound Destiny, where the meat of the game, the fundamental gameplay that gives the game its genre and makes people want to play it, is just not fun for me. But while Bound Destiny had characters and a story I was invested in, none of the other parts of Potionomics are particularly compelling to me. So it's like, what am I playing for? I felt somewhat similarly about SMT: Devil Survivor a couple months ago, and only really started having enough fun with that game to finish it after I cheated to pretty much trivialize the gameplay. I don't think Potionomics really has a way to do that, though; I could switch from "classic" to "cozy" mode, but all that does is make the game less demanding. You still have to actually play the game, which is what I don't want here. Despite all that, I feel bad about checking a 12 for 12 game off before finishing it. Technically the challenge is only to "play 12 games," not finish them, but it still feels like failing the challenge not to. After all, where's the "challenge" in only playing the first few hours of a game? It also feels unfair to drop a game recommended by a good friend when I toughed it out for In Stars and Time, an almost-as-long game recommended by an acquaintance I haven't talked to almost since they recommended it. Ultimately, though, the only person making me go through with this challenge is me, and presumably it's supposed to be fun? So I'm accepting that making myself miserable for 16 more hours is not worth my Gamer Pride or whatever. Going forward with this challenge, especially if I do it again next year, I think I'm going to be more willing to put a game down if it's not working for me.
August 18, 2026 at 5:22 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Bound Destiny 1.5: Interlude (GBA romhack, 2026)
Full disclosure, the authors are good friends of mine, but I loved this! The story and character writing are Bound Destiny's greatest strengths IMO, so it's amazing that Chuji and Akvo have written dialogue that captures each (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
The title screen of Bound Destiny [1.5]: Interlude, showing a Delphox on the left pondering a wood carving and a Zoroark leaning against a tree and thinking. At the bottom it says: Press START By Chuji & Akvo | New Sprites: ErrantSquam
August 17, 2026 at 7:53 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Linelith (PC game, 2022)
I got the bundle with this, Öoo, and Leap Year (quoted because I forgot its #2026MediaThread tag), and while Öoo was my favorite of the three, this was a close second. It only took me 45 minutes, but it felt like I was discovering new things the whole time.
A screenshot of Linelith from the steam page. Patches of tiles of different colors cover the screen.
August 16, 2026 at 9:07 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Goodboy Galaxy (Switch game, 2026*)
A level-based Metroidvania which constantly *takes away* one of your abilities (jumping, shooting, or shield) temporarily. This leads to twisting, mazelike level design that's almost as clever as it is confusing and frustrating.
*2023 on PC/GBA
#2026MediaThread
Key art for Goodboy Galaxy in the style of a movie poster, with an anthropomorphic dog in a space suit, holding a gun, standing in front of a bunch of friends and enemies.
August 16, 2026 at 7:28 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Dark Souls III (PC game, 2016)
I played through this with an experienced friend using the Seamless Co-op mod! It turned a brutally hard game into a somewhat easy one, though a few late-game bosses (especially the Nameless King and Gael) still had hands. We had a few hiccups (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
Key art for Dark Souls III, showing John Darksouls in front of a ruined cityscape, holding a sword in his left hand and what I believe to be the Dark Soul in the other
August 6, 2026 at 4:58 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
In Stars and Time (PC game, 2023)
My 7th #12for12 game, recommended by someone I'd rather not tag! My thoughts are complicated, to say the least. I liked some parts of it, but VERY much did not like other parts. More detailed thoughts, and vague spoilers, are in the images/alt text.
#2026MediaThread
Key art for In Stars and Time, showing the game's main character, a boy dressed like a wizard, in front of their 4 party members. A "12 for 12 Challenge" graphic showing 7 games checked off and 5 left to go If I'm being honest, the first 3-5 hours of this game did not make a good first impression. If I had to describe it in one word, it'd be "cloying": the characters are all queer and soft and Nice, any minor disagreements are resolved immediately, and nothing has any weight to it. The dialogue and writing in general also felt very Tumblr to me. In retrospect, the first hours were almost certainly written this way on purpose, to contrast with what comes later, but the "death exists as an extant form of life" of it all never entirely went away. The remaining 10-ish hours didn't make a very good impression, either, but for different reasons. More than anything, I can't remember the last time I played a game with this little respect for the player's time. It feels like a maybe 3-hour game artificially stretched to last 15-20 hours. There aren't really puzzles so much as a sequence of locks and keys that require you to go back and forth across a floor, and often to an earlier floor and back, and the game either tells you exactly where to go or offers very little help whatsoever. Maybe your character didn't notice something the first time around, so you have to go back and play through the floor again. Maybe you get a key you can only use in one of three places per loop, only one of which actually lets you progress. Maybe you need to read a book somewhere, or read multiple books but it needs to be in a specific order. I sure hope you've been making a map of where every single interactable item in the game is! And by the way, in order to jump ahead to a later floor, you need to grind battles, so I sure hope you didn't have anything better to do!!! I will give ISaT this: by the time the protagonist was losing their mind (and honestly well before that) I was also sick of this game's story, characters, and combat system; sick of doing the same things and skipping through the same dialogue and fighting the same enemies and searching the same nearly-identical rooms and walking the same nearly-identical hallways; and basically just wanted this whole thing to wrap up already so I could get on with my life. So in that case it's very immersive. If their goal was to make the player feel how much it would suck to actually be trapped in a time loop, they succeeded, but the end result is still a game that wastes your time and is, for the most part, deeply unpleasant to play. Do I have anything good to say about In Stars and Time? Well, the art is good. The music is very good. The characters are endearing after they open up but before you get sick of them. I think the last two hours or so of the game are good, but by that point I was so checked out that none of it really landed for me emotionally. I can see how this game could be life-changing for someone, even personality-defining. Maybe that someone even would've been me at one point! Unfortunately, I think it reached me about 18 years too late.
July 24, 2026 at 3:08 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Cobalt Core (PC game, 2023)
The 6th game in my #12for12 challenge, recommended by @bananarray.bsky.social! It turns out all you had to do to get me into a roguelike deckbuilder was make it about furries in space and give it an amazing soundtrack. The combinations of characters (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
Key art for Cobalt Core, showing an anthropomorphic blue lizard, a purple lizard, and an opossum in a spaceship, about to get hit by missiles. A "12 for 12 Challenge" graphic showing 6 games checked off and 6 left to go A screenshot from Steam showing 12/15 achievements unlocked in Cobalt Core, including "Penchant for Punishment: Win a run on the hardest difficulty." (The last 3 achievements are all for playing daily runs.)
July 15, 2026 at 10:31 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
SGDQ 2026 (event)
I say it every time, but I mean it: GDQ is something beautiful. There's nothing in the world like it. I was especially glad to see them finally, explicitly address the genocide in Gaza this time, something that's felt conspicuously absent from a fundraiser for MSF.
#2026MediaThread
A T-shirt design from theyetee.com for SGDQ, showing the event's mascots and some video game characters racing on jet-skis
July 12, 2026 at 3:50 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Mario in the Dreamscape (N64 romhack, 2024)
This was both my first time playing this hack and my first time playing SM64 co-op (with like 10 people at that), which is probably not the best introduction to either. More thoughts in the image, but I think the romhack itself was alright
#2026MediaThread
Fake N64 box art for Mario in the Dreamscape: "A Super Mario 64 ROMHack / By: Angry" Running and jumping around as a Cinderace was fun, but the co-op was more frustrating than anything. I'd do everything needed to get a star to spawn, only to find out someone else had collected it first without the game telling me. I'd get to a new world and skip it entirely because it'd already been cleared out. The most fun I had was when I was in a world by myself, which is probably not the goal of a co-op mod! I might play SM64 co-op again, but if I did I think I'd want it to be with just a couple of people, or be in voice chat, or with a romhack that was more geared toward multiplayer.
July 6, 2026 at 1:07 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Pseudoregalia [Archipelago] (PC game, 2023)
My second Archipelago game this go around, because they were both fairly short games. I would play this in another Archipelago! If you're in its target audience you've probably already played it, but I can't recommend it highly enough.
#2026MediaThread
Promotional art for Pseudoregalia, showing the game's protagonist, an anthropomorphic grey goat bunny woman creature in a vest and boots. She has her eyes closed and is holding a white and gold, cross-shaped tonfa kind of weapon. If I had to choose a game to speedrun, Pseudoregalia would be a contender just because of how good it feels to move around in. I can't think of a game that better embodies Schmovement; Celeste comes close but I find it more tactile and exhilarating in 3D. Like Celeste, it makes an excellent randomizer game, because the movement system already practically dares you to push it to its limits. Like, you could come back to this room after you get a new movement ability, but maybe you can make just barely make it across if you're clever about chaining the abilities you currently have together. The thousand little spatial reasoning puzzles of "can I get to there from here with my abilities, and if so, how" are one of my favorite things in video games, and Pseudoregalia is one of the best for it.
June 28, 2026 at 4:31 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Gato Roboto [Archipelago] (PC game, 2019)
This is an adorable little Metroidvania I played on Switch, and makes a great multiworld game. Or, at least, it probably does if the generator doesn't put your missiles (needed to progress past the small starting area) late in someone (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
Promotional art for Gato Roboto, showing a cat in a robot suit and a bunch of enemies walking together.
June 26, 2026 at 11:16 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Deltarune Chapter 5 (PC game, 2026)
I heard some people didn't like this, and I'm not sure why? Probably anything would've felt like a bit of a letdown after the delirious heights of Chapter 4 and a year's wait, but it was still very good overall.
#2026MediaThread
The intro screen to Deltarune Chapter 5, in black and white. Apparently you can't see the prettier blue version anymore after you beat the chapter.
June 26, 2026 at 1:33 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
To the Moon (PC game, 2011)
This definitely dates itself in a lot of ways, but it's still a good story well told. The central concept (traveling backwards through someone's memories) is such a good one that I guess they made two more games about it?
#2026MediaThread
A promotional image for To the Moon, showing a starry sky with a full moon, and a lighthouse with the silhouettes of two people dancing inside it
June 22, 2026 at 1:08 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Just realized I forgot the #2026MediaThread as usual 💀
plantybug.bsky.social Chicory 🔞🦖🐇 @plantybug.bsky.social · Jun 19
Bound Destiny 2: Destiny's Requiem (GBA romhack, 2023)
More thoughts in the last image/alt text, but this was really good! I have less to say about this than I did BD1, but only because I've already explained my feelings about FE gameplay lol. Thankfully that was not an issue this time
Renders of a Delphox, a Blaziken, and a Samurott holding swords. The title says "Fire Emblem: Destiny's Requiem", although the title is given as "Bound Destiny 2" elsewhere. A screenshot of a Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones romhack with a Blaziken asking a Chesnaught, "NASCAR. Ever heard of it?" I played Chuji's Extra-Easy Version for Literal Babies, because one game's worth of FE gameplay is more than enough for me, and holy shit am I glad I did. Some of these maps probably would've been miserable for me; it would've taken 3 times as long to play through this and I would've enjoyed it 1/3 as much. You can see the Xeno series influence more in this game than the first, as a more straightforward war narrative gives way to one with mind control, cursed swords, and other things which I won't spoil. I feel like you can also see Cobalt's growth as a writer, with character writing that's more naunced and political intrigue that's more complex. At the same time, I can see why one might prefer the first game's smaller cast and somewhat more grounded story (with more time spent with gay foxes). I'm not sure which one I prefer myself, because both approaches work well and BD2 feels like a natural evolution of BD1. I like BD2's story and the new characters it introduces, and its side stories and inn conversations are a great way of giving its more minor characters screen time. I will say that while the original Bound Destiny absolutely stands on its own, BD2 makes it feel incomplete in retrospect, which is maybe the best thing a sequel can do.
June 20, 2026 at 3:49 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Blobun (PC game, 2025)
I've played more inventive or satisfying puzzle games, but to give you an idea of how much I enjoyed this overall: I meant to play a little of it while waiting for the Archipelago servers to come back online, but ended up 100%ing it in one 3.3-hour session.
#2026MediaThread
Promotional art for Blobun, featuring a bun who is a blob A screenshot of the Steam UI showing all 31 achievements collected in Blobun
June 20, 2026 at 2:52 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Mega Man Zero (GBA game, 2002)
My 5th #12for12 game, recommended by @lori-after-dark.bsky.social! I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, gamers: I did not enjoy this one. Maybe I'm not Gamer enough for it, but I'm too old to care about that, and used save states near the end. I'm kind of (1/2)
#2026MediaThread
The box art of Mega Man Zero, with the titular Mega Man Zero standing and looking cool with his laser sword. Only for Game Boy Advance A "12 for 12 Challenge" graphic showing 5 games checked off and 7 left to go
June 14, 2026 at 3:39 AM
plantybug.bsky.social
Öoo (PC game, 2025)
An ingenious little puzzle platformer(?) that has two buttons (lay and detonate bombs) and teaches you the incredible depths to this one mechanic through level design alone. Very short, but there's absolutely nothing here that doesn't need to be. It's perfect.
#2026MediaThread
Promotional art for Öoo, showing a little pink caterpillar made out of bombs, with an explosion in the background.
June 7, 2026 at 10:11 PM
plantybug.bsky.social
Mina the Hollower (PC game, 2026)
This is really good!! It's fairly long as indie games go, but doesn't overstay its welcome; and it's challenging but rarely feels unfair. There are great ideas old and new, and it's surprising and funny, for the whole playthrough. #2026MediaThread (1/2)
Promotional art for Mina the Hollower, showing an anthropomorphic mouse with a whip, a bat, and a lion. A screenshot of the file select screen in Mina the Hollower showing 100% completion.
June 6, 2026 at 10:06 PM