Sam(hain) Tolbert 🐺👻

You're a cool person and a great writer, to the point I get actively excited whenever I find out you've worked on something.

Your recent decent into Warhammer 40K depravity is a nice bonus.

(love you too @morbidlycurious.bsky.social )

a hand reaches for a glass of whiskey on a piece of paper ALT: a hand reaches for a glass of whiskey on a piece of paper

Whenever I hear you say "okay am I wrong or-"

In the novel Avenging Son, several scribes on Terra have a group dinner that actually seems half-decent, and it's noted to be a special occurrence since they're being served instead of serving others.

So mote it be.

It's been deeply enjoyable to watch. I hope you're still enjoying sinking further and further in.

The more you learn, the more *there is* to learn.

Every games publishing/planning/PR person I have talked to this year is worried about three free-to-play games. I can't emphasize enough how much of a problem it is.

No idea how you tackle it. For Xbox, leeching that crowd into other titles via Game Pass makes sense. But not at this price, imo

I understand what Xbox's goal is by shaking up Game Pass Ultimate, but it's not going to work Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's price hike and new additions are trying to solve a valid problem, but it won't work.

Amid all the (deserved) takes around Game Pass Ultimate prices going up, there's one facet that particularly interests me.

I think Xbox is trying to solve a very valid problem by pulling in the Fortnite crowd. This just isn't the way to do it.

www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/...

Unironically, painting 40K figurines has done more for my mental health the past couple of years than basically anything else. It's extremely therapeutic and fun.

Karl Franz from Warhammer Fantasy in Total War: Warhammer 3, wielding Ghal Maraz.

Man, do I have great news.

Hades 2 is a fantastic experience I'm thrilled Supergiant Games proved itself yet again with another masterpiece, blending roguelike action with a compelling story and characters.

My Hades 2 review is up. In short, it's phenomenal. Supergiant Games has dialed up everything that made the first game excellent, resulting in a far bigger game and more compelling narrative while not diluting all the small details.

www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-ga...

An orange cat named Puddin' sleeps again his crate bars. He must not be freed.

A big striped grayish cat named Blue sleeps in a blanket that was meant to be washed.

Finally going on that second route is such a good moment.

I don't have the answer haha.

I will say, Hades 2 being built around loops makes it pretty easy to play alongside something else. Put it down after you fail/win a particular run, etc.

If any podcasts are somehow lacking a guest to talk about Hades 2 please reach out to me. I'm gonna be continuing to play this (and continuing to think about it) for a long time.

In that case I would just start over. However, for anyone reading this that *has* poured a lot of time into the early access, I actually recommend just sticking with it. You're not shortchanging yourself, there's a lot to get through still.

Rabbit fursona in front of a map charting a course from New York to Oklahoma with speech bubbles that read "I'm Moving!" "Lend me a hand?"

Help a trans woman start her new life!!!
Next week I'll be making my way down to Oklahoma to be with my boyfriend of 10 years! However- it's going to cost upwards of $2k. If anyone could help out I'd appreciate it! Info below!

I'm honestly not a huge roguelike fan, and I find it a testament to Supergiant's game design chops that the team is able to weave the story into every aspect of the gameplay so seamlessly. Some really clever stuff here that actually uses Melinoë's witchcraft instead of having it as a coat of paint.

Icarus in Hades 2. He's cute.

Chaos in Hades 2. They're hot.

Hecate in Hades 2. She's hot.

Ares in Hades 2. He's hot.

There's a truly absurd amount of dialogue and character interactions here. I've spent almost 100 hours in different runs and it still feels like there are relationships where I'm just scratching the surface.

www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-ga...

Hades 2 is a fantastic experience I'm thrilled Supergiant Games proved itself yet again with another masterpiece, blending roguelike action with a compelling story and characters.

My Hades 2 review is up. In short, it's phenomenal. Supergiant Games has dialed up everything that made the first game excellent, resulting in a far bigger game and more compelling narrative while not diluting all the small details.

www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-ga...

...alright I'll take the birthday gift, but still.

Anna this is a Very Good Post.

Shanah Tovah, y'all.

Understandable.

YouTube video by DJDoena Star Trek II - You have to learn why things work on a starship

In the words of James Tiberius Kirk, you have to learn why things work on a starship.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg1m...

Basic mistakes arising out of that are frustrating, but they are ultimately symptoms, not the underlying fault.

It's how we arrive at a point where someone taking on a game review (or more egregiously, *assigning it as an editor*) wouldn't even think to ask "Hey, so what's the embargo?"

Without institutional knowledge any profession or team falls apart. People who are experienced are replaced by people with less experience, who are in turn replaced by people under them with even less experience, and round and round we go.

Games reporting is a victim of this.

Boot up Hades.

Hades 2 is a narrative sequel (with an admittedly large time jump) so it'll definitely hit harder if you've gone through the first game.

Also, the first Hades rules.

I *was* going to this, but it got canceled.

Glad you had a fantastic time!