Paul Arendt

Mandrake – the rural life sim that lets you befriend a river and eavesdrop on the dead Failbetter’s beguiling take on country life has its comforting routines but slowly reveals a richer and stranger life than you expect

I previewed Mandrake for The Guardian. Everything I heard about the game sounds delightful, a narrative-focused, folkloric take on the rural life sim with weirdness to burn.

www.theguardian.com/games/2025/a...

A screenshot from the trailer for Mandrake, the just-announced game from Failbetter Games. It shows an enormous chonky hairy cat-like creature with wide staring eyes sitting in a tree. A dialogue window is shown underneath, which identifies it only as “Horrifying Creature”. It is saying “Yolf.”

Yolf.

YouTube video by Failbetter Games Mandrake || PC Gaming Show 2025 Announcement Trailer

Announcing: Mandrake!

You play the last of the Mandrakes, a sorcerous line of gardeners.

Horticulture is a cursed practice... except to you. Your family line is steeped in the green and growing arts, so you’re able to grow such marvels as: runner beans! Cherry trees! The humble turnip! 🌳

per some remarks in fallen london player survey responses, i'd like to make it clear that we never use generative AI and anything in our games which has too many fingers has too many fingers on purpose

medical tricorder privacy policy

UK all through Christmas

@gralefrit.bsky.social & @damianbarr.bsky.social point out how needlessly complicated the government's consultation on #AI & #copyright is. There is a way of short-circuiting this. An email address for responses is provided. copyrightconsultation@ipo.gov.uk You can send a response to this, such as:

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met nearly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

Today, on Shirley Jackson’s birthday, let’s all marvel at one of the greatest opening paragraphs ever written (from THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE)

One thing you will never think after reading a great book or listening to a great album or seeing a great piece of art is, “I’m really glad this person remained cautious while they were making this and guarded against being perceived as weird.”

No need to get personal, you fuckers.

Oh look! You can follow the Kickstarter page now, and you'll get a nudge when the campaign starts! Wahey: www.kickstarter.com/projects/mag...

A small herd of roe deer stand on a road before a tall radio mast shrouded in mist and surrounded by trees. The middle deer of the five has stopped on the road and its head is turned towards the viewer. Its mouth is unnaturally extended with large thin teeth, and its eyes glow with bright yellow light.

There's something wrong with the deer

Sunless Skies (2019)

Loving @gralefrit.bsky.social talking about Withnail and I and parallels with Spinal Tap: "They're both films about the pain and stupidity of trying to make art when you're a bit of an idiot."

Popped back over to Twitter to see how they were getting on, and my God, what an absolute shithole.

Monday chimp. "Monday monkey" sounds better but chimps aren't monkeys. Which is inconsiderate of them.

Copy of the Signet Books edition of 1984 by George Orwell

Today in pulp: can you judge a book by its cover?

Let's look at some unusual covers for popular novels and see...

Paid a visit to this delightful chap yesterday. Rembrandt's sketch of actor Willem Ruyter in his dressing room.

A little Monday morning abomination for y'all. Cover illustration for @marygoodden.bsky.social 's Fallen London story A Nest in the Eaves.

Gladiator 2: a disappointing trudge through the story beats of the first movie. Denzel is fun (and his outfits are to die for), but we missed Olly Reed's charisma and Russell Crowe's sense of humour. Date remarked that the movie seemed to last for longer than the actual Roman empire.

i love Yasmeen's work! Ambiguous, creepy and uniquely atmospheric.

My method for not burning myself out while drawing is to have multiple pieces at the same time. When I'm stuck on one artwork I can switch to the other and still make progress. Even if its just one little brush stroke. This way drawing became more casual.

Morning! Here's an illustration for this month's Fallen London subcriber story, Aces High:

Hello pals, bit nicer here isn't it? Have a rat in a hat, to celebrate: