【Game Log: Post-January 2025】


I didn't play too many games this due to a renewed enthusiasm for some creative projects, a couple of workmates decided they weren't coming back in 2025. And also Caves of Qud.

I've played even more Caves of Qud than I was previously. I've been trying to succesfully finish the game on classic (actual roguelike) mode, and got as far as being annihilated by the de facto final boss. After which I immediately started a new game. I still enjoy the game more than anything, and I still see new things every run.

Dwarf Fortress has (re)added the Adventure mode to the version of the game on Steam. Which is a roguelike open world mode where an individual can explore the state of the same world used in the more famous \"fortress mode\", which focuses on base-building. It's had a little bit of usability polish, with an improved character builder and graphical icons for all the important tasks. But mostly it's still the same incoherent gibberish, where you can ask any character about any other character or world event (via choosing from a menu). Fortunately that means that none of the exceedingly precise FUN has been lost for those who do enjoy it. I can still play the game as a legendary \"Biter\", who immediately wrestles their opponents with the intent of biting their eyeballs out.

Iron Roads is an early-acces railway themed builder game. One that tries to be a slightly less abstract version of something like Mini-Metro, with actual locations that create and accept resources. But only very slightly. The game comes highly recommended to me by people I trust, and it seems fine. I didn't play much because I found doing the tutorial to be a chore, and when it tried to link me to videos to \"learn more\" at the end I was drained of motivation. At some point I will try jumping in minus the tutorial to see if it makes more sense.

Proverbs is still the game I use when killing time waiting for something. I think I've mentally reverse-engineered the generation algorithm, because there are a lot of areas I couldn't solve safely based on the clues alone, but can safely solve based on assumptions about this specific game. It's still an ok giant minesweeper area, but I wish it was better.

I think Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity is a game. You are stuck in a Voodoo2 powered Winamp visualiser. And you roll around to collect things, and collide with things that turn you into other things that roll differently. Occasionally you pick up a collectible. I have nfi what's going on. Perfect, no notes.

I've started playing Dreams in the Witch House. A cosmic horror point-and-click adventure game, with an added mechanic of life management (earning money, passing exams, etc.) I haven't played that much so far, but I've really enjoyed the slow burn of tension in what I've played. The extra mechanics of the game beyond adventuring are a mixed bag. The act of studying/researching in library/earning money actually builds the character and world more than I thought. The actual mechanics of the game (the UI/etc.) are less good, the game normally has a constant passage of time (it shows an icon when time isn't progressing) which makes everything a tad rushed. And it has a lot of icons, but still requires memorising hotkeys, which are not mentioned in the voluminous in game \"Witchopedia\" help. Most annoying, the game loves to fade into screens, and just as you are about to start pointing and clicking, a \"HEYGUYSSORRYABOUTTHEDRAMATICPAUSE HERES A BUNCH OF NEW INFORMATION WE'LL ONLY SHOW ONCE AND WILL DISAPPEAR WITH ONE CLICK OF THE MOUSE!\" full screen wall of text will appear, and then disappear because you thought the game was running and clicked somewhere. I'm still enjoying the game, but I almost quit the game and uninstalled on the spot the third time that happened.

Deadlock decided the matchmaking was too good, and shoved me in four or five unpleasant games in a row. So I stopped playing for now.

The Roottrees are Dead was the main other game I played. It's an investigative mystery game similar to Return of the Obra Dinn or Her Story, where you are tasked with finding the family tree (name, picture, and occupation) of the famous \"Roottree\" dynasty to determine the inheritance of a recently deceased confectionery mogul. The main tools to do this are (the authors understanding of) the 90s internet, a corkboard and string, and a colour printer. You have to determine the position of different individuals in the family tree based on contextual clues from assorted news reports/correspondence/fan websites/etc. It starts with just a search engine, and later has library and periodical search tools.

The Roottrees are Dead starts off great. With seemingly smart design decisions, like writing a summary of the text discovered rather than a slab of text. The stories of the various family members are interesting and varied too. But somewhere just before halfway through the game became more of a slog, and the leaps of logic too absurd. Where something like Her Story could just rely on its text to provide any possible search term, this game requires those to be authored too. And as the game progresses it becomes much more of an absurd guessing game about exactly how the game wants you to phrase a query. And then as a reward you'll get ExplicitlyNamed Rootree talking about his time with his cousin the swimmer that isn't the swimmer who is 3 years older than his aunt's second oldest male child.

For me, the biggest sin of The Roottrees are Dead is that it starts out requiring you to be very exact the names you search for, where no assumption is safe to make. And by the end it's explicitly telling you to fill in gaps based on what names of random spouses are left in the list. Also it's quite unusual to have more than one family member \"eschew the family name and go by FIRSTNAME JR\"...

...And there's a section of the family tree where everybody has exactly one child, that just gives me the impression that they had confused cousins and siblings in some of the clues, and haphazardly fixed it like this.

January Game of the Month

Caves of Qud

It's still simply the greatest Roguelike ever made.

All Games Played


Caves of Qud: GREAT (Notable)


Deadlock: Good


Proverbs: Good


Dwarf Fortress: GREAT(Notable)


Iron Roads: OK


Proverbs: Good


Extreme Evolution - Drive to Divinity: Good


Dreams in the Witch House: Good


The Roottrees are dead: OK

Game Log: Post-January 2025

I didn't play too many games this due to a renewed enthusiasm for some creative projects, a couple of workmates decided they weren't coming back in 2025. And also Caves of Qud.

I've played even more Caves of Qud than I was previously. I've been trying to succesfully finish the game on classic (actual roguelike) mode, and got as far as being annihilated by the de facto final boss. After which I immediately started a new game. I still enjoy the game more than anything, and I still see new things every run.

Dwarf Fortress has (re)added the Adventure mode to the version of the game on Steam. Which is a roguelike open world mode where an individual can explore the state of the same world used in the more famous \"fortress mode\", which focuses on base-building. It's had a little bit of usability polish, with an improved character builder and graphical icons for all the important tasks. But mostly it's still the same incoherent gibberish, where you can ask any character about any other character or world event (via choosing from a menu). Fortunately that means that none of the exceedingly precise FUN has been lost for those who do enjoy it. I can still play the game as a legendary \"Biter\", who immediately wrestles their opponents with the intent of biting their eyeballs out.

Iron Roads is an early-acces railway themed builder game. One that tries to be a slightly less abstract version of something like Mini-Metro, with actual locations that create and accept resources. But only very slightly. The game comes highly recommended to me by people I trust, and it seems fine. I didn't play much because I found doing the tutorial to be a chore, and when it tried to link me to videos to \"learn more\" at the end I was drained of motivation. At some point I will try jumping in minus the tutorial to see if it makes more sense.

Proverbs is still the game I use when killing time waiting for something. I think I've mentally reverse-engineered the generation algorithm, because there are a lot of areas I couldn't solve safely based on the clues alone, but can safely solve based on assumptions about this specific game. It's still an ok giant minesweeper area, but I wish it was better.

I think Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity is a game. You are stuck in a Voodoo2 powered Winamp visualiser. And you roll around to collect things, and collide with things that turn you into other things that roll differently. Occasionally you pick up a collectible. I have nfi what's going on. Perfect, no notes.

I've started playing Dreams in the Witch House. A cosmic horror point-and-click adventure game, with an added mechanic of life management (earning money, passing exams, etc.) I haven't played that much so far, but I've really enjoyed the slow burn of tension in what I've played. The extra mechanics of the game beyond adventuring are a mixed bag. The act of studying/researching in library/earning money actually builds the character and world more than I thought. The actual mechanics of the game (the UI/etc.) are less good, the game normally has a constant passage of time (it shows an icon when time isn't progressing) which makes everything a tad rushed. And it has a lot of icons, but still requires memorising hotkeys, which are not mentioned in the voluminous in game \"Witchopedia\" help. Most annoying, the game loves to fade into screens, and just as you are about to start pointing and clicking, a \"HEYGUYSSORRYABOUTTHEDRAMATICPAUSE HERES A BUNCH OF NEW INFORMATION WE'LL ONLY SHOW ONCE AND WILL DISAPPEAR WITH ONE CLICK OF THE MOUSE!\" full screen wall of text will appear, and then disappear because you thought the game was running and clicked somewhere. I'm still enjoying the game, but I almost quit the game and uninstalled on the spot the third time that happened.

Deadlock decided the matchmaking was too good, and shoved me in four or five unpleasant games in a row. So I stopped playing for now.

The Roottrees are Dead was the main other game I played. It's an investigative mystery game similar to Return of the Obra Dinn or Her Story, where you are tasked with finding the family tree (name, picture, and occupation) of the famous \"Roottree\" dynasty to determine the inheritance of a recently deceased confectionery mogul. The main tools to do this are (the authors understanding of) the 90s internet, a corkboard and string, and a colour printer. You have to determine the position of different individuals in the family tree based on contextual clues from assorted news reports/correspondence/fan websites/etc. It starts with just a search engine, and later has library and periodical search tools.

The Roottrees are Dead starts off great. With seemingly smart design decisions, like writing a summary of the text discovered rather than a slab of text. The stories of the various family members are interesting and varied too. But somewhere just before halfway through the game became more of a slog, and the leaps of logic too absurd. Where something like Her Story could just rely on its text to provide any possible search term, this game requires those to be authored too. And as the game progresses it becomes much more of an absurd guessing game about exactly how the game wants you to phrase a query. And then as a reward you'll get ExplicitlyNamed Rootree talking about his time with his cousin the swimmer that isn't the swimmer who is 3 years older than his aunt's second oldest male child.

For me, the biggest sin of The Roottrees are Dead is that it starts out requiring you to be very exact the names you search for, where no assumption is safe to make. And by the end it's explicitly telling you to fill in gaps based on what names of random spouses are left in the list. Also it's quite unusual to have more than one family member \"eschew the family name and go by FIRSTNAME JR\"...

...And there's a section of the family tree where everybody has exactly one child, that just gives me the impression that they had confused cousins and siblings in some of the clues, and haphazardly fixed it like this.

January Game of the Month

Caves of Qud

It's still simply the greatest Roguelike ever made.

All Games Played

• Caves of Qud: GREAT (Notable)

• Deadlock: Good

• Proverbs: Good

• Dwarf Fortress: GREAT(Notable)

• Iron Roads: OK

• Proverbs: Good

• Extreme Evolution - Drive to Divinity: Good

• Dreams in the Witch House: Good

• The Roottrees are dead: OK