myx-on-earth

[myx-on-earth]

Rain. (A Short Story)

The rain is coming down. Hard.

Sheets of darkness coursing out of the sky like the judgment of heaven. Dark. Wet. Angry. A little bit of liquid seeps into your mouth as you open it to speak, then think better of it. It tastes metallic. Blood, or water? Hard to tell anymore, with what the feeds are saying about the shit getting pumped into the air.

You grip your pistol tighter. The weather doesn’t matter. All that matters is ending this. You think you can hear her laughing, but it’s difficult to tell over the water slamming into the pavement. Her smile shines through the downpour as she lies prone on the road. Gleaming yellow under the flickering street lamps and still taunting you, despite her injuries. You grit your teeth, frustrated. She's been shot a half dozen times, and she’s still getting the better of you. 

She’s trying to say something you can’t quite make out. This fucking rain. You look around at the towering grey monoliths around you and- there. An overhang, barely sheltered from the storm. You weigh your options. Kill her now? Or let her say what she wants before the end? ... Damn it. You stow your firearm in your hip holster and loop your arms under hers, helping her to her feet. You can hear her protesting- but given the situation, you no longer care how much it hurts. Slowly, you back towards the shelter. Out of this liquid onslaught.

You drop her on the ground like a sack of bones. Instinctively, you wince when she cries out. It takes all your power to keep yourself from asking if you can help. Instead, you wordlessly remove your trench coat and drape it over her. That’s all she gets. You slouch beside her on the sidewalk and look out at the rain for a moment, ignoring the spent needles and debris nearby. It’s a sheer curtain- the worst storm of the year by far, at least by volume. Great fuckin’ timing. You look back at her. She’s shivering; maybe from the cold, maybe from the blood loss and impending embrace of death. Who could say? It’s... sad. But it had to be done. You turn her over, and she looks up. Still smiling. Despite the wounds you’d dealt. Despite everything. She mumbles something. With the rain, you still can’t hear her, so you lean a little bit closer. Four words. Four words as the knife slips between your ribs and you both bleed out into the gutter, hand in hers. “It was worth it.”

[myx-on-earth]

Splitgate 2’s Private Playtest- Better Than The Rest (AKA: The Best)

The term “gamefeel” is abstract, but 1047 Games seems to understand it more than anyone in the games industry.

Recently, I had the pleasure of participating in a private limited-time playtest for Splitgate 2- and while I was excited for the game already, I think somehow they’ve managed to knock this thing even MORE out of the park than before. I’ve said before that 1047 Games is a developer to keep an eye on, and my opinion has only been strengthened; I cannot WAIT for the full game to release. Below, I’ll detail some of my thoughts on what’s new, what’s changed, and ultimately my full unfiltered thoughts on the package presented here.

Before we get into the meat of this, a disclaimer- due to the terms presented by the playtest, I am not personally able to show footage or screenshots of the playtest. However, I am fully able to write about my thoughts- but if you’d like to avoid spoilers for the multiplayer sandbox, you’ve been warned. -RG

Firstly- new content. There isn’t a huge amount to discuss here, but what there IS presents a good slice of what may be coming in the future. 

In terms of weapons, one has been added- a bolt-action sniper called the Deadbolt. This thing handles and feels like a dream, bringing to mind the Kraber from Titanfall in more ways than one. It’s powerful, it’s well balanced, and hitting no-scopes with it is a huge boost to my ego.

No new classes in sight (yet), but all three received new and reworked perks. While all interesting, my favorite has to be the new Aeros “Sliiiiiide” perk- which extends and improves the speed AND maneuverability of the already buttery-smooth movement. Funnily, it reminded me of ANOTHER shooter’s more unique slide mechanic- Quake Champions. Feels fantastic.

One new map, an outside sunset arena called Bypass. Visually clean and modern (reminding me a bit of some areas of the Olympus map from Apex Legends), it had a more open feel than the other maps previously available, feeling to ME more like something from Splitgate 1. I’m not sure the open sightlines and extra area are necessarily a good thing- but I’m sure there’s still room for map tweaks.

Secondly- many weapons and abilities underwent a balance pass. While I don’t have a list of patch notes in front of me to confirm some of the changes, the main direction seems to be about leveling the playing field rather than outright nerfing things. The other two power weapons available in the previous playtest have been altered with new mechanics, like the Fubar rocket launcher firing all three barrels when not scoped and the Splitstream SMG smoothly transitioning between single gun and double gun modes when aiming. Additionally, the Aeros class had the overshield removed from the main ability, seemingly compensated with higher speed. If this kind of balance philosophy (offering trade offs rather than directly nerfing the items players find fun) continues, this might end up being one of the healthiest weapon sandboxes in any game ever. Time will tell, though. As a final note, some miscellaneous observations:

Minor UI changes have been implemented in good ways, and the overall game feel in menus couldn’t be smoother.

Art direction is still stellar and much more cohesive than the first game- none of the new additions clashed or felt out of place.

Connections felt decently stable for a playtest, and I didn’t have any experiences with poor matchmaking- every match felt reasonably balanced and fun.

My one major gripe overall is with the performance issues and graphical errors, which have notably increased in frequency since the first playtest. However, this shouldn’t be TOO much of a problem, as, again, this is a playtest- and there is also the ever-present issue of my personal hardware itself being outdated.

Overall, I can’t wait to see what 1047 is creating here. It’s very exciting for me that there is, seemingly, a fresh new shooter on the market that is actually adapting and creating a great experience rather than the 15th iteration of the same puppeted corpse of a game in a row. Keep up the good work, gents- I can’t wait to get back into the arena.

Splitgate 2 is a team-based multiplayer shooter releasing in 2025. You can find more info about the game on 1047’s website (www.splitgate.com) or on social media under 1047 Games.

Article written by Rose "Myxolydian" Gilbert (November 11th, 2024)

[myx-on-earth]

So so happy that people liked my initial piece!! I’m cooking up some ideas for my next one, playing around with Buckshot Roulette and Frogmonster atm, though I’d also like to do something for Wanted:Dead or maybe even Prototype? Idk I’m still up in the air about it. Maybe I should just finish my piece on PAX East lmao

We will see- but stay tuned!!

[myx-on-earth]

Content Warning: Landfall Game's April Fools Triumph

For the Content!

It would seem that an April Fools joke of a game has resulted in overnight indie success. Landfall Games, a beloved indie game studio, has a yearly April Fools tradition they call “Landfall Day”, where their devs put together essentially a parody of whatever game is popular at the time. They’ve parodied everything from DayZ to battle royales (Twice, with Totally Accurate Battlegrounds and Knightfall), and this year it would seem it’s Lethal Company’s turn.

Lethal Company is a game known for silly co-op shenanigans that seem to instantly translate into YouTube content- and Content Warning takes that idea and turns it up to 11, making being an influencer a part of the game mechanics. You and a group of friends take a diving bell to “The Old World”, a spooky map filled with monsters and traps entirely for the sake of internet entertainment value. With a single camera and 90 seconds of film, your group has to make the spookiest, funniest video possible- because your only source of income is Spooktube, and that revenue doesn’t come easily.

It's such a brilliant parody of both the horror genre Lethal Company tapped into and the loop of content creation in the internet age that it, somehow, wraps around to being an excellent game in of itself, though Landfall is no stranger to finding gold through satire. Previously, their first battle royale parody (Totally Accurate Battlegrounds, a riff on PUBG) found some success, enough that Landfall turned it into a full venture. It’s not as popular nowadays, but it IS legitimately good- and Content Warning seems to be turning out the same way with its initial popularity and engaging premise.

Typical Content Warning video result, featuring myself, @thatpocketninja, @squiddskipp, and a third friend who requested to remain anonymous

In the space of video game development, April Fools seems to be not so much a “joke” day, but a day that allows ideas to be thrown around that might not otherwise have been considered, which can lead to majorly creative leaps of faith. With examples like the Yakuza series’ pivot to turn-based combat, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon’s continued success in the midst of a floundering Ubisoft, and even Lilith Walther’s upcoming definitely-not-Bloodborne Kart (now known as Nightmare Kart), the idea of “joke turned legitimate gamedev venture” isn’t exactly new.

I actually had the pleasure of exchanging emails with Hanna Fogelberg (@thebirdmountain on Twitter), Landfall's Head of Community, who provided some insight into Content Warning’s development and the overwhelming response in the interview below.

1. What's it like to go to bed seeing some success, then waking up to find your joke game is a viral hit? Did you expect this at all, given the surprising amount of polish it has?

"We couldn't sleep to tell you the truth! Even if the team said good night at about 2am we kept texting the player numbers to each other throughout the night, we were very wired! We always knew there was the potential of the game going really well, there's something about the design and shareability of the videos you make that we knew could hit it big but it's still surprising it went THIS well."

2. How long did it take to develop Content Warning?

"Content Warning was made in about six weeks of active game development, but the idea came to us back in December!"

3. What were your main inspirations for the game? (Beyond Lethal Company, of course)

“Lethal Company and similar games were an obvious reference for the gameplay loop, we love that game! That said, what was most interesting to us was the core of the game - the filming and video creation. We were inspired by YouTubers and influencer culture, there's something interesting in people risking life and limb for content that we wanted to play off of. 

Other than that, the vibes of The Older World were inspired by Junji Ito and a specific H.R Giger painting while The Over World references the Swedish children's book Pettson och Findus.”

4. How experienced was the dev team?

“We're pretty experienced, the Landfall team has been making games for over 10 years with previous releases being Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, Stick Fight: The Game, Clustertruck and Rounds to mention a few.”

5. How does this experience compare to the last semi-viral success Landfall had with a Landfall Day game? (TABG)

“This game outdid TABG in player numbers several times over! So it's hard to compare, this is by far our most viral hit to date.” 6. Any plans for the future of the game? Or just basic bug fixes and some more content? 

“We will see! Currently, we're focusing on fixing bigger bugs and other issues but we already have some new content planned. We're kind of playing it by ear at this point, it all depends on how things go in the coming weeks.”

Some may attribute Content Warning’s success to multiple factors- the 24 hour free period, how it riffs on Lethal Company and the tropes it already employs, or even that it was “designed to go viral”- but you can’t deny that, even as an iterative piece, it still manages to find its own identity and already seems to have captured the content creation hearts of everyone who gives it a chance. Games like this, that aren’t reliant on micro transactions and are buoyed by the PEOPLE you play with, rather than the money that one must spend on it, are the hope- and, hopefully, the future- of the video games industry. You can find Content Warning (No longer free, but still very cheap!) at the link below: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2881650/Content_Warning/