Not anymore no, the initial reaction was justified. But yeah after nearly 8 years of free content updates they have certainly redeemed themselves

That does indeed make sense, thank you (and many others) for the answers!

In other news, Olympic swimming champion outraged when they found out that water is wet

Yup, I have. I liked it, but it did not make the top 10 for me, purely because two of the storylines were amazing imo (Connor & Kara) and one was centered around a trope that I absolutely despise (Markus). It didn’t ruin the game for me, I still loved it and will play it again at some point, but because of that I cannot put it in my top 10.

Enjoy the new games!

Ranking is tough but I’ll give it a go. The ranking is based on the impact and enjoyment I got out of them regardless of playtime.

1. What Remains of Edith Finch & Kentucky Route Zero (shared 1st place)

2. Life is Strange

3. Stray

4. GRIS

5. Cyberpunk 2077

6. SOMA

7. Heaven’s Vault

8. The Town of Light

9. FAR: Lone Sails

10. Portal 2

That last one is a bit of an outlier but I have laughed so much while playing it, it deserves a place at the table.

As a non-native English speaker I fully understand what it means and will happily correct it to football for you :P

I bet you make images of stuff too then?

Same here. Needed an image of Uncle Sam as an Air Genasi. Can’t get stuff that specific without a comission (which is expensive and not worth it for a joke sidequest) or AI, so AI it is.

Yeah those are worms! Very cool things. They manipulate the mantis to go into the water where they can crawl out and complete their growth. To the detriment of the mantis, of course.

Be gentle…

I’d recommend looking out for rabies in general ;) even without zombiefying, it’s a horrible way to go.

And, of course, get your shots!

Let me put your mind at ease. The zombie ant phenomenon is nothing to be scared of as a human.

In nature, there are many pathogens/parasites. Some of them are able to manipulate their hosts to their own benefit. The zombie ants are not actual zombies, rather they are still alive ants that are manipulated before their death. This disease is caused by fungi of the Ophiocordyceps family. These fungi infect the ants and change their behaviour over the course of roughly one month. First, the ants social behaviour is surpressed and their biological clock disrupted. Then they start wildly walking around in nonsensical patterns. Eventually, when the infection has reached its peak, the ant climbs up some vegetation (grass, reeds, bushes, etc.). Here, it bites and clamps onto this vegetation, and that is that for the ant. It dies in this position. After a few days, a fruiting body (somewhat akin to a mushroom) sprouts from the body to release spores. If the spores manage to infect an ant, the cycle repeats.

Ophiocordyceps is not the only manipulator in nature. The Massospora fungi hijack cicadas and replace their genitals. Then, they induce mating behaviour. When another cicada tries to mate, they get infected instead. And there are many others like them. The way they manipulate their host is different between all of them, but they do have one thing in common: they are all highly specialized. For example, the Ophiocordyceps fungi species generally are only able to infect one ant species. They have co-evolved in an arms race over millions of years, where the ant develops mechanisms to defend themselves from pathogens and the pathogen develops ways around it. The chance of these highly specialized fungi to suddenly work on humans is zero. The same goes for Massospora. So, no need to worry about being forced to climb a tree or grow a fungal penis or vagina (or fungussy, if you will).

While these pathogens are no harm to us, there are, of course, pathogens that do manipulate humans. The most infamous example is the rabies virus. Luckily, there is a vaccine against it.

So, in short, no need to panic. Not about this, at least.

Live fast - die young - leave a good-looking corpse

Deathgasm. It’s about a bunch of metalheads that find some sort of old hymn. When played, it summons hoards of demons/zombies. So then they start fucking up the zombies. I vaguely remember one of them being impaled with a dildo? Either way, it was an entertaining “turning your brain off” watch that’s pretty unknown afaik.

Don’t forget the coconut!

The ending of How I Met Your Mother. Like, it was certainly no cinematic masterpiece, but I felt like it was a very logical build-up and delivery. I don’t get the impression that they really stretched the story for more seasons either (yes I know they did add more things to stretch it, I just mean I think it doesn’t show story-wise). But even a few days ago I saw people complaining about how bad the ending was, and it’s a rhetoric I see almost every time the show is mentioned. And, again, it is not a cinematic masterpiece by any stretch, but I wouldn’t expect that from a sitcom anyway.

There’s Oorlogswinter (Winter in Wartime) by Jan Terlouw. It tells the story of a teenager’s time during the German occupation. Specifically, how he survives the winter of 44/45, which is commonly known as the “Hunger Winter.” It was written for young teens, so it’s not super challenging, but it’s still an interesting story written by someone who’s lived through it himself.

For movies, there’s the Resistance Banker. It’s loosely based on true events (as it’s somewhat dramatized for the screen). It’s about the brothers Van Hall, who played a major role in financing the Dutch resistance.

Then, for something not WW2 related, there’s a bizarre comedy series called Rundfunk. I think it can be found with subtitles on youtube, but I’m not sure about the quality. It’s about two guys in high school who are, well, kinda losers tbh, and the other bizarre characters in and around the school. If you do end up watching it, I want to say two things: 1) It was broadcasted on national television, and it was less censored there than on youtube, and 2) it was partially made using taxpayer money.

Mostly fucking right for sure.

With some rare exceptions of course (e.g. Oskar Schindler), every single Nazi member either contributed to or wilfully ignored the industrial deathmachines in the concentration camps. Let those who profiteered work in the same conditions as a slave for a few years and let those that were actively involved (e.g. the camp guards, developers, and all high level party members) be gassed.

Hmmmmm 🤔🤔🤔