I was distracted watching TV. Both my sinus nasal spray and vape were on the table.
I realized I was congested and needed the spray. As a heavy smoker, I am used to grabbing my device mindlessly all day.
So I picked up the vape and proceeded to stick it up my nose because my brain mixed up what I was doing.
I laughed really hard.
It seems like indie horror is in a golden age. I think the genre has the advantage of being able to be highly effective with much less complexity and time required.
A few I recently enjoyed:
--Summer of '58 was great. It might have the most intense and frequent jumpscares of any short game. Maybe a few too many. I prefer psychological / creepy and Emika Games did a great job of ALSO weaving it into the story. I had genuine feelings towards the characters.
-At Dead of Night. When I saw it was a FMV game, I thought it would be "Night Trap" for Gen Z. I was wrong. The game is amazing because of the script and execution. The characters make choices that make sense, as do the consequences. Also, major kudos to the kid who voiced Amy.
-Amanda the Adventurer. Great visual style and more stellar voice acting.
-XXXCYBERRATXXX Its mechanics aren't directly focused on horror, but the 2 ways you can die will make you jump. A clever short game.
-Faith. Who knew Atari style graphics could result in such an unsettling experience? Chapter 1 is free. Top notch retro style audio too.
What are some games you'd recommend?
The 1st one was so insanely well crafted. It's the only horror movie that has ever genuinely scared me to the core. The body bag scene is so haunting. And the mom putting the bars on the windows is one of the most well crafted twist to increase the plot tension in all of horror.
My babysitter showed me Critters (in secret) when I was 5. Rather than be scarred, she turned me into a avid horror fan. I saw all the 80's classics when I was way too young for them thanks to HBO and Cinemax.
None phased me.
Laughably, what finally got me was so mild. In Poltergeist 2 or 3, there's a scene where the kid's reflection no longer mimics his own movements. It's not even the scare, but rather the set-up.
I started staring at mirrors when I was alone, just waiting for my reflection to break into a sinister smile. My fear was, when it did, what would I do? No adult would believe me. Mirrors are unavoidable. Something supernatural would be after me. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull off some "final girl" shit IRL.
They literally look sloppy unless they feel too tight. I aim for about a 15% reduction in blood flow to my brain; then I know I'm looking sharp.
It's turned into the car stereo thing. In 2002, I wanted a rainbow vomit colored faceplate, CD-R and MP3 support, CD carousel in the trunk, a USB port, steering wheel remote
Now I just want bluetooth, an aux in and a volume button.
Until phones merge with a steamdeck or something, there isn't much to look forwards to anymore.
My phone from 2014 pretty much did everything my current phone can. Certainly nothing worth spending hundreds of dollars on if you have a working cell.
I've been vegetarian since 2009 and in the past 2-3 years I keep getting all kinds of bow hunting videos.
It's particularly amusing when my plan was to watch an old episode of "The Golden Girls."
They REALLY misread my demographic.
Ok, I'm old and this wasn't a computer prank but it's along the same lines.
I used to have a digital watch that functioned as a small universal remote. (It looked like an 80's calculator watch with tiny numbers.)
You did have to program it with the universal code for that brand, but my middle school had bought their TVs in bulk, so the ones permanently mounted in the rooms were all identical models.
I simply programmed my watch to that model, and I'd occasionally keep turning the TV on during a lesson. I did it fairly infrequently, and always in different classes so as not to give myself away.
I never got caught. Back then Tvs only went to channel 100-120ish without special equipment for satellites. If they went higher I would have LOVED to keep changing it to channel 666.
I honestly wasn't even mad. Though Spez is a dick.
But there's just no way I am using that app. The UI somehow manages to be worse than Retroarch or Tumblr's desktop site.
And I pretty much only browsed at work on my phone.
I am enjoying lemm.ee / lemmy greatly
I honestly kind of miss when sega made consoles. I never had a Saturn but it got a lot of great titles for a short lived system.
And DC we all know was a phenomenal system from that era that died due to business issues, sadly.
I feel like they would do something quirky and unexpected in the modern era. I mean, they did make the 32x after all.
I read a lot of / am highly into cypherpunk ideology. I work hard to protect my privacy.
But I also have shitty bottom rung / entry level jobs. ALL of them use apps with atrocious privacy policies for group messaging and posting schedules.
A) I am a cashier. Why do you need to be able to reach me 24/7?
B) It makes all my effort trying to keep a minimal digital footprint moot when I am forced to share tons of personal info to register. And I am also required to get the app.
C) No corporate manager who also hates their job is trying to listen to my diatribe about why "WhatsApp" is evil.
I am seriously considering buying a prepaid flip phone and pretending that's my "real" phone for my next job. That's the only solution I can think of. But I just hate that it's a problem at every $10/ hour job.