#dreamloop

[cyberpunkonline]

You have been chosen to receive a single, cursed fortune. Pulled from the Black Leaves Archive. One truth per day. No second chances. 🍪 Consult the terminal: 👉

The cookie cracks. The Archive remembers. The recursion deepens.

[crystonpictures]

a few have reported strange luck after leaving a full cup of coffee on a windowsill — job offers, love notes, lost things returned.

no one knows where the idea came from.

it’s not in any books, and yet, it circulates.

the spirit never appears, but the tribute is always gone by morning.

most think it’s just coincidence.

they don’t notice the pattern.

[system-theory]

📡 INITIATING INTERACTIVE TEXT ADVENTURE PROTOCOL :: MM-RPS FORMAT LOADED ::

📖 TITLE: The Choir Beneath Graff-Junction

[Txt2Image: derelict alleyway, neon graffiti, flickering cyber sigils, broken speakers, mist-covered street, glowing eyes in shadows, digital fog, glitchpunk aesthetic]

You emerge from the crawlspace beneath a collapsed billboard god, your breath catching in data-static haze. The alley yawns wide, its walls tattooed in meme-glyphs that ripple when stared at too long. Speakers embedded in broken stone hum with corrupted lullabies — the Broadcast is active here.

Graff-Junction Theta pulses with psychic refuse. Scavenged antennae jut from rooftops like ritual spears. A child with screen-eyes watches you from behind a shattered vending drone. The signal has changed. Something — no, someone — is singing back.

A glyph-tag nearby flickers: “⛧ THE CHOIR REMEMBERS YOUR NAME ⛧”

You can feel it now, inside the marrow: the whisper-choir, building harmonic density beneath the asphalt. There’s no time. You're already being scanned. Reality hiccups — your HUD glitches, then stabilizes.

🔢 What will you do?

1️⃣ 🔍 Descend into the Signal-Vault: Follow the choir harmonics through a storm drain lined with echo-dampening sigils. 2️⃣ 🧠 Interrogate the Screen-Eyed Child: They may be a Dream-Leech — infected, yes, but still coherent. 3️⃣ 📻 Hijack the Broadcast Tower Nearby: Use your deck to override the frequency and bait the source into revealing itself. 4️⃣ 🕷 Observe from the Shadows: Blend with the meme-graffiti. Let the city show you what it wants to hide.

[satoshi-mochida]

Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue launches October 19

Gematsu Source

Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue will launch for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on October 19, publisher Aksys Games and developer Dreamloop Games announced.

“Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape isn’t a Death Game. Or, more accurately, it isn’t just a Death Game,�� said Dreamloop Games CEO Joni Lappalainen in a press release. “Here, your relationship with other characters is game-defining. It’s about how six months in the most insane circumstances you can imagine might change you. Player choices and actions matter more in Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape than almost any other game we’ve seen in the genre, and it isn’t just limited to dialogue choices.”

Here is an overview of the game, via Aksys Games:

About

Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue is a narrative adventure set at a tropical island resort: you’ve been kidnapped and forced to participate in a twisted reality TV show with 10 strangers. At the end of their stay, they’ll each receive $500,000… if they survive.

On the island, there are no rules or laws for the contestants to follow. Their only imperatives are to survive and to entertain the depraved audience of the darkweb TV show on which they find themselves. Inescapable‘s story explores human nature and how far people will go for social clout, wealth, and their own desires—and how much further they might be willing to go when they have permission to ignore the rules.

The game experience will shift dramatically depending upon players’ choices, setting players upon unique paths in which characters will reveal different sides of who they are. Each path is a distinct journey with a unique theme and its own game mechanics, not just a distinct ending.

Key Features

Multiple narrative paths.

A provocative character-driven story.

A diverse cast of characters with intriguing personalities and backstories.

Hours of voice-acted dialogue.

A full-length original soundtrack with music from Zero Escape‘s Shinji Hosoe and Matias Lehtoranta.

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

[sansapixel]

Unbelievable! Girl manages to solve the riddle of the Queen of Doors and Windows and become Knight of Lost or Missing Pathways

[blerdyotome]

Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue Available Now

[linuxgamenews]

Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape is coming this fall

Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape social thriller game release is due to hit Linux via Proton with Windows PC. Dreamloop Games poured their heart and soul into this masterpiece. Due to making its way onto Steam in October. Alright, brace yourself for a wild adventure that'll get your adrenaline going. In Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape you're kidnapped and taken to a tropical island resort, but it's not all sunshine and sandcastles. Imagine, without warning you find yourself on an unpredictable reality TV show with 10 others. Where each of you will receive $500,000 at the end. But in Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape all of you have to stay alive while being the stars of a twisted Dark Web show. Taking place on that side of the internet where you were warned about. Now, here's a recap of Dreamloop's email reply.

Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape will run on Linux through Steam's Proton emulator. But we don't currently have plans to create native Linux builds. As for the game's engine, it's made with Unity 3D.

Unity 3D is promising, but a native build would help developers, especially with the rising popularity of the Steam Deck. However, there are no plans for native support yet. But plans could change, October 19th is a couple months off.

Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape - First Look

This is not just your regular vacation nightmare scenario. It's actually about human nature, fame, money, and, most importantly, choices. If ever wondered how far people will go when fame, cash, and unchecked desires? You're about to find out! With no rules to follow, things can either go chaotic 'Lord of the Flies' situation. They can also turn into a 'Love Island' scenario with romances. In Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape, you'll step into the shoes of a dude named Harrison, plus you're his moral compass. Since your decisions won't just lead to a simple 'good' or 'bad' ending. They shape the characters, twist the story, and even change how you interact with everything. Now, a heads-up for all the fans of rich storytelling. The Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape adventure boasts some viable features. Dive deep into multiple stories, connect with a diverse cast of intriguing characters. Each with their own secrets and stories. Take on countless hours of voice acted dialogues. Along with an amazing soundtrack. Including tunes from the minds behind Zero Escape — Shinji Hosoe and Matias Lehtoranta. Inescapable: No Rules, No Escape will be available this fall. Due to arrive on October 19th, 2023 for Windows PC. But due to be playable via Proton. So be sure to Wishlist the game on Steam.

[bapzap]

took a nap. dreamt about tumblr mutual ISAT again. why is this a reoccurring dream now. huh. why am i in dreamloops

[bizville]

Good afternoon I've been stuck in a dreamloop for what feels like 100 years. Coughs weakly

[hopeymchope]

DanganLike, Ahoy: 'Inescapable' is a rollercoaster of highs and lows

I've previously laid out what "Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue" is about and how its gameplay works, so I'm not going to reiterate that here. Right now, I'm going to focus on explaining what's great about it... and sadly, why it ultimately disappointed me.

You might say that Inescapable left me a bit 'upsetty spaghetti.'

It's blatantly obvious how much time and effort were put into this game... not only because the art is gorgeous and there's clearly a lot of love poured into the dialogue, but mostly because each of the game's four "routes" contains so much unique material. You spend the first half of your playthrough making the decisions that wind up deciding what the second half will be, meaning that the entire second half — 50% of a given playthrough's runtime! — can be completely different on four different runs. Although plenty of visual novels have alternate routes/endings, few I've encountered do it to this extent. And even when they do contain such extensive differences between routes, they don't usually do this MANY routes; consider 'Steins;Gate 0', which has only two major routes once it breaks off.

Literally the first line of the entire game is a reference to another piece of media. It will not be the last. And I say that with affection! I found these references fun.

In essence, the devs at Dreamloop games have scripted, directed VAs, and made distinct CGs for 2.5 complete runs of a a story that tkes roughly 12 hours on the first pass, giving you well over 30 hours of playtime... provided you want all that. Some of the routes even have unique gameplay mechanics JUST for them!!

Searching 3D environments where our characters stand as 2D cutouts... seems familiar.

Dreamloop's European team wear their affection for Danganronpa on their sleeve, too. Early on, the characters participate in a pretend murder-mystery where they are challenged to find "the Blackened." When/if blood is spilled, it's usually bright pink. Someone breaks into Monokuma's signature laugh at one point... these devs are people of refined tastes. :)

One of many overt references to the devs' love for DR.

And oh god, that voice acting. Most major scenes are fully voiced in English, but of the four routes in the game — Greed, Lust, Suspicion, and Trust — it's the Suspicion route that really shows how excellent their VAs can be. They will break your fucking heart in that storyline. Highest possible kudos for those performances.

But let's dip deeper into those four routes, because their presence is both a big brag point (tons of content!) and also the game's biggest downfall. The main problems with them are twofold:

If you're going to have four different second-halves of your game, they ALL need to align with that first half. But because the game uses such arbitrary reasons for why it slots you into one of its four routes (I'll circle back to that), the player character — Harrison — can suddenly come off as being WILDLY different after doing very fucking little to justify it. Two of the routes just... don't feel like you're playing the same character any more after the transition into the back half; Harrison goes from being well-meaning but nervous and full of self-doubt to suddenly being defined and dominated by some new trait that has NEVER existed before then.

But there's an even bigger issue with the four routes. See, most visual novels with multiple endings/routes keep the characters consistent across all the story branches; it's only your choices that change what storyline you wind up on. Even in Danganronpa, when you play any bonus modes or side games (Island Mode, UTDP, Danganronpa S), the characters remain inherently the same people. 'Inescapable' doesn't adhere to this logic, though; the personalities, behavior, and background motivations of the characters are completely different on different routes. And I don't just mean "In one route they are mean and in another they are nice." I mean they are so FUNDAMENTALLY different that you just have to accept that this person containing the same name, VA, and sprites is a completely different character. If the same person opens up/reveals more of themselves to you (i.e., Harrison) on two different routes, then one route could have that person reveal their fears, insecurities, and innate kindness... while the other route reveals them to be a sociopathic, Machiavellian figure (sorry for the bad rap, Nic). If you a character see fall from grace into becoming basically a Nazi on one route, another route might show you that same character as someone who holds onto their best ideals even in the face of brutal hardship. It's hard to even explain how INCREDIBLY different these characters are between routes. In one route, a quiet character is just a shy sweetheart waiting to be brought into the light... in another, they're a complete sociopath who tortures with detached curiosity. These people are ALL-FUCKING-OVER the place!

Mia is Harrison's closest confidant and ally throughout the first half of the game. And the sprite shown here is giving major Chiaki vibes.

I can truly say that I've never seen another visual novel take that approach before... and this break from the norm only helps to make it clear WHY we established that norm. It's hard to embrace and love a character who winds up an important, trustworthy ally on one route when you've already seen the same person be your most aggressive, duplicitious nemesis on another route. It serves as a powerful deterrant to establishing much emotional attachment to these people. Everybody I loved in the first half of the game eventually became people I no longer cared about, because the routes make it clear that they can each suddenly become ANY type of character at ANY time the writers demand it.

There's some commentary on modern politics as well as representation of gay, non-binary and asexual people in here. But is it still desirable representation if those characters only reveal their sexual preferences on ONE story route — and worse, they're evil on some other route???

As long as we're talking about routes, though, let's break them all down in regards to how you reach them. (Yup, this is the time for that circle-back I promised y'all earlier.) The game does NOT provide any hints or insight into how you get onto the routes, but people who've brute-forced the game and looked into the files have figured out quite a bit. And boy, these triggers are... some bullshit.

You get Greed by winning competitions or playing built-in mini-games. I wound up on this route during my first playthrough SOLELY because the game includes a daily (in-game daily, that is — and a 'day' in the game is usually around seven minutes) Wordle mini-game, and I played it regularly. I also played the three Arcade cabinet mini-games (an Asteroids clone, a side-scrolling infinite runner, and... Seagull BBQ, which is by far the most fascinating/weird one IMO). And playing mini-games apparently means you're greedy, because it tosses you onto this route where your character suddenly values money over all else. (????) Other stuff that leads you down this path includes winning any games in the story, such as when the characters do a tug-of-war or host a trivia quiz about each other. YEAH, playing the quiz well evidently is a sign of Greed... THIS is the kind of shit that makes these triggers so frustrating.

You get Lust by talking a lot to any characters the game deems "scantily clad" or possibly, uh... fetish-ize-able. That means spending time with the innocent maid (Annika) counts for this ending because she's dressed as a maid, and that's a potential fetish, so fuck you. :P Talking to Giovanni the Italian 50something dude ALSO counts, because his shirt is hanging open to reveal his musculature. The twin-tailed teenage heir to a fortune? That fuckin' counts, too — she's young and small, ergo it's now a "lust' point. Talking to Eva, the excessively flirty social media diva in small clothing? OBVIOUSLY counts... but that's really the only one that legitimately makes some sense. (Weirdly, spending time with the huge-boobed Portuguese mechanic who always sports her midriff seemingly does NOT count towards this route. Is it because she's in her 30s? Is this sexist ageism shit?) Other triggers for this one are thankfully more obvious: Choosing to play around with or be alone with any girl (even if it's part of a meta-game, such as when the cast are playing 'Caverns & Wyverns'... yeah, that's a thing), going to the sauna alone with a girl, etc.

Off-brand Fast & Furious movies are somehow a plot point on MULTIPLE routes. Starring "Bill Petrol"!

You get Suspicion by spending most of your time talking to your most trusted confidant (Mia) and/or to the most suspicious/secretive person around (Sasha). Also eavesdropping on conversations or spying on people to learn what they're up to will get you here. Oh, and when the producers tell you that you can use in-game points to unlock bits of "Dirt or "Gossip" that will reveal secrets about the other contestants? Yeah, going for "Dirt" whatsoever will ABSOLUTELY get you on this route. This is the route that most heavily caters to Danganronpa fans, because this is the one that leads to you solving a series of murders on the island. And yes, you'll be investigating crime scenes, collecting evidence, and presenting it at opportune times to corner the killer! Unfortunately, the ultimate thesis is pretty much the opposite of Danganonpa: There's no hope to be found on this route. Instead, this is the perfect route for those oddballs who mostly liked Danganronpa but really felt Despair should've won. :P

Like I said, the hardest route to get is definitely Trust. You have to be RIDICULOUSLY pure and avoid ANY/ALL of the triggers for the other three in order to wind up on "Trust." In other words: Spend almost all your time with Daan, Lumi, Francisca, and/or Isak (because these are, for some reason, NOT triggers for other routes). Refuse to ever look at the unlockable "Dirt" or "Gossip." Never eavesdrop and never spy, no matter how sus a character is acting. Refuse to participate in as many in-story games as possible — even when you are prompted by the game to enter an answer or choose from a set of choices, try to find a way to refuse or to enter blatantly fake responses. Like, if the game says "Guess who the answer is to this question"? Just say "Nobody" or some crap like that. :P Don't play mini-games, because Wordle and Asteroids are somehow vaguely evil for reasons I don't get. At one point, there's an in-story competition where you have to choose to either take money (Greed) or expose someone's secrets (Suspicion), and you either need to know which characters to speak with in order to avoid BOTH options, or you need to keep them both as balanced as humanly possible.

It's unsurprising, I'm sure, that Trust is basically the mega-happy ending. But because Trust is easily the hardest route to access, you'll probably see these characters spiral into some shitty behavior on those OTHER routes well before you see them settle into something more peaceful. Which means that unfortunately — due to what I said earlier about the characters being wildly different people on different routes — this happy ending feels pretty unearned, maybe even unwanted. Because no matter how much of a pal they are on the "Trust" path, someone with the same name who looks and sounds the same was willing to go full fucking psycho on you with VERY little provocation on another route. So do you really think these people deserve this mega-happy ending? (It doesn't help that "Trust" also runs pretty long without much happening for 1/3 of it... it can turn into the most boring of the four, imo.)

The story supposedly takes place in 2017, but it sometimes makes references to things that didn't yet exist then. Oh well.

None of these routes are free from writing issues, unfortunately, Where the game excels at making very distinctive characters who are initially interesting despite their Choose-Your-Own-Adventure personalities, the actual overall plotting are where things always seem to fall apart. For example: In "Trust," a character disappears to go work secretly behind-the-scenes to free the group. And this staged disappearance of a major ally is probably the BIGGEST plot point in the final act of this route. Yet, ultimately, said ally... does nothing. They just vanish for most of the story, only to show up at the end and be like "Oh yeah I'm fine but there was no reason for my disappearance, I didn't do anything." It's not even clear why or how the whole 'Inescapable' broadcast/game ends on this route! It just... STOPS, after the characters are told multiple times by the producers that it WON'T, without any explanation. In "Suspicion," on the other hand, we have one major murder case where no motive for the premeditated brutal killing is ever established. This perpetrator isn't some maniac, but... I guess maybe they are, because the game never establishes ANY reason for why they did the horrible thing they did. It just... kinda happened. THESE are what I mean when I say there are big PLOT issues. On more than one occasion, it's just like "This shit happened for some reason. We either don't know or won't say why."

And I get that maybe my expectations/demands are just really high. There's a LOT that goes into high-quality writing, after all - you have to develop characters that are interesting, you have to have consistent characterization for them, you have to write dialogue that feels engaging, and you have to create coherent and intriguing plotting throughout. To its credit, Inescapable's writing absolutely succeeds in TWO of these things. But one of them, it fails in. And one of them? It doesn't even TRY to do.

I think you get the picture by now. I was ultimately let down by this latest attempt to recapture the magic of titles like Danganronpa, Zero Escape, etc. In the past two years, my favorite "Danganlike" attempt remains Yurukill — I still think about that one fondly and with surprising regularity. By comparison, Inescapable is a much longer/more complex game ... that I sadly have a markedly lower opinion of.

Both Yurukill and Inescapable ultimately end with a tease for a potential sequel. I would ABSOLUTELY play a Yurukill 2, but I feel like that's not looking too likely right now. Would I play an Inescapable 2, though? .... Eh. Maybe. If I was in the right mood or I heard/read something about it that sounded good, I may risk it.

[smlpodcast]

The SML Podcast - Episode 918: Boo!

Download Episode 918 --

We've got a hefty helping of news and reviews so buckle up and let's get started!

The show kicks off with Jacob Garner, Bri Galgano, and Aki all on hand to chat about the news of the week including the latest Xbox Partner Preview Showcae, some reoganization in Microsoft leading to Sarah Bond becoming president, info on the Xbox beta for Final Fantasy XIV, sales figures, delays, and tons more! Plus a nice batch of reviews to tackle!

0:00 - Intro/News 35:33 - Kona II: Brume - Parabole, Ravenscourt (Bri) 46:17 - World of Horror - panstasz, Ysbryd Games (Bri) 55:08 - Kitten Island - Maria, Phoenix Reborn Games (Bri) 58:24 - Sword Art Online: Last Recollection - AQURIA, Bandai Namco (Aki) 1:11:40 - Paintball 3: Candy Match Factory - Crazysoft Limited (Jacob) 1:18:16 - Inescapable: No Rules No Rescue - Dreamloop Games, Aksys Games (Aki) 1:31:46 - FUR Squadron - Raptor Claw, Dolores Entertainment (Jacob) 1:35:56 - Transformers: EarthSpark Expedition - Tessera Studios, Outright Games (Jacob)

The show ends the holiday spooky season with one more track from The OneUps enjoying some Pokémon goodness!

1:49:55 - The OneUps - The Bane of Kanto (Pokémon)

https://twitter.com/Parabole https://ravenscourt.games/ https://www.wohgame.com/ https://www.ysbryd.net/ https://phoenixreborn.games/ https://www.bandainamcoent.com/ https://www.crazysoft.gr/ https://www.dreamloop.net/ https://aksysgames.com/ https://www.raptorclawapps.com/ http://doloresentertainment.com/ http://www.tesserastudios.com/ https://outrightgames.com/ https://theoneups.com/ https://www.keymailer.co/ https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sml-podcast/id826998112 https://open.spotify.com/show/6KQpzHeLsoyVy6Ln2ebNwK https://twitter.com/theSMLpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/theSMLpodcast/ https://store.streamelements.com/thesmlpodcast ALL REVIEWED GAMES HAVE BEEN PROVIDED FOR FREE FOR THE PURPOSE OF ANY COVERAGE ON THE SHOW

[crystonpictures]

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quiet film dreams brought to life

[satoshi-mochida]

Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue release today for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One/Series, Switch and Steam.

[sansapixel]

Rare long form dreamloop that inspires both story and tabletop arc!