#dreamsaflame

[dragonomatopoeia]

Hello, would it be okay to ask what kind of horror games you've enjoyed? Please feel free to disregard! I saw from Stella's post/tags that you enjoy tragedy in horror and I find that concept very compelling.

I can definitely throw a few game recs out there! I will say, Stella might have been overselling it a bit by saying I like tragedy-- it's more that i tend to have more tolerance for when characters die and horror that makes me feel Very Sad than Stella and Alicia do.

Accordingly, some of these are going to skew more meditative/sad than horror, and some will skew more towards horror than sad, but I'll be sure to make note of each

Oxenfree was already recc'd by Stella, but I'm seconding it here. I'm a big fan of horror that plays with the resentment and wistfulness and 'tu fui ego eris' of ghosts. I also love the use of radios in horror. Something about attempting to establish contact or mutual intelligibility and it going horribly wrong (that's also a feature I really enjoy in the Silent Hill games, but i imagine that those need no introduction)

Stella also recc'd Anatomy (which I made her play for me because I was too scared) and if a game about a house that is so resentful of being abandoned that it begins to lash out sounded interesting to you, Kitty Horrorshow has made a lot more games where that one came from. Jacob Geller has made a video about one of the collections if you'd like to preview the offerings on display

I'd also like to second the rec for Devotion. It's a beautifully told and terrifying game that explores the tragedy of a family that is pushed to their breaking point and exploited by a religious movement

Lobotomy Corporation is a game I haven't completely finished yet because I've only been playing it whenever i stream for my friends, but it draws on a lot of creepypasta and SCP influences. Mostly, however, it draws on "Capitalism is Evil and Soulsucking" influences. it's a management sim where you are in charge of a facility and have to extract energy from Abnormalities. it has extremely punishing gameplay, compelling characters, and every mechanic (and i do mean every mechanic) is diegetic.

Because I haven't finished it, I haven't played the sequel, Library of Ruina, which my friends assure me will absolutely decimate me with themes and agonies and emotions and time prison

What Remains of Edith Finch isn't really a horror game so much as it is a story of a family's experiences and relationship with death, as well as how they experience and process it. Playing as Edith, you explore the Finch family home, learning more about the curse that has followed each generation of the Finches through the mechanism of the stories they tell about themselves and each other. Most of the game-play is a hybrid of Walking Simulator and interactive segments where you have to pilot each Finch to their inevitable death

Likewise, Outer Wilds isn't so much a horror game as a game that has scary aspects, scenes, and sequences. The primary mechanic of the game is reliant on you being stuck in a timeloop and attempting to determine why and how, as well as attempting to discover how to save everyone from the sun exploding

I've only played a bit of Everybody's Gone to The Rapture , but it has a very Twilight Zone tone and feel to it. Whether or not this is a horror game could be contested, but I've had enough recurring nightmares of everyone I love vanishing overnight for this to be Terrifying. The gameplay is pretty firmly on the walking simulator side

I haven't played The Mortuary Assistant yet because it freaks stella and alicia out and I'm too scared to play it alone. However, the idea of fighting against demonic possession while embalming bodies and confronting your own past is compelling to me.

Also there are quite a few visual novels I've read that grapple with horror and tragedy, like the When They Cry series (content warnings for everything you can possibly imagine in there) or Zero Escape. I've been meaning to play The House in Fata Morgana for a while but I know i'll need to shake my friends down for content warnings on that one before I can even begin to approach it

I might update or add to this later because I recently downloaded a bunch of itchio games, including Hypnagogia and the 2022 Haunted PS1 Demo Disc, and I def want to check those out before I start scattering recs willy-nilly

I hope at least a few of these will pique your interest! You're also welcome to hop in with more specific requests for direction or places to look, as there are a few horror or horror-leaning games I've left out because I was pretty lukewarm about them and their endings, but might still fit the bill of what you're looking for (ie The Vanishing of Ethan Carter). Likewise, there are some games I know of but haven't played for myself if you'd like some direction re: games with mechanics, style, and tone that you might be interested in checking out

[notbeyondbirthday]

I hope it's okay to bother you about A/B stuff but I found the quote about dogs and guilt that your post reminded me (it's a post by tumblr user ojibwa: "The dog that weeps after it kills is no better than the dog that doesn't. My guilt will not purify me.").

The really funny thing is, I was looking for the quote for ages, and then I had a sneaking suspicion. Lo and behold, guess whose blog first introduced me to that post? I've come full circle. (It took maybe 2min of scrolling before I found it on your BB mood sideblog.)

It is ALWAYS okay to talk to me about B stuff!!! It's never EVER a bother, thank you for the ask!!! 💕

AAAAA you get me. You get me! I'm always thinking about that post.

B as a rabid dog for whom intimacy manifests through the violent transformative power of the bite. To touch is to change, to change is to destroy, to destroy is to possess, to possess is to consume. He dies with his jaw locked shut, long after the flesh has rotted from the bone. B as a monster that imitates and replaces its prey. B as a hunting dog that has been trained to kill. B was never good enough while A was alive. A dies and B becomes the best. Can you expect guilt from a dog that has been rewarded?

[k2week2024]

Hello, I was wondering if it'd be okay to create a work for collection if I'm also intending for it to be a gift (as in gifting on AO3), or an addition to an existing series?

Hello!

I believe there's an option for you to do both (under the associations tab) in the settings of a work while posting, so Yes it is okay if it's also gift and an addition to a series :D

[socialshakespeare]

Reading 1: Saturday, March 9th

The first read-through of Hamlet!

(Most of you are double or triple cast, so double check which lines you have to read.) You can look up the lines of the characters here. The names listed below all go with the Folger Edition. 

Please submit your confirmation or any request to understudy here. If you’re in any doubt, please ask.

Times and time zones:

EST (US): 8:00 PM CST (US): 7:00 PM MST (US): 6:00 PM PST (US):  5:00 PM GMT (UK): 1:00 AM, Sunday March 10 AEDT (AU): 12:00 PM, Sunday March 10

Leader: @dreamsaflame

Cast:

Hamlet: @astrangergivingthestrangewelcome Claudius: @purplemuskrat Polonius, Ambassador: @adoraborous Horatio, Captain: @dreamsaflame Guildenstern, Marcellus, Gravedigger, Messenger: @quinn-sins Laertes, Prologue/Lucianus, Sailor: @alltheverses Ophelia, Voltemand, Doctor, Lord, Francisco: @hollishasatumblr Ghost, Player King, First Player, Fortinbras, Cornelius: @karis-nemik Gertrude, Player Queen, Reynaldo, Gentleman: @amysterywrappedinanenigma Rosencrantz, Barnardo, Other Gravedigger, Osric: @paperchamomiles

Please submit your confirmation here - liking/reblogging this post does not count!

Read the Guidelines. To avoid the differences between editions that make for confusion and missed cues, please use the Folger edition of Hamlet during the read-through.

Be on time, be prepared, and make sure you know which lines to read. Good luck!

[orionali]

I'm getting ahead of myself here (seeing that I'm not finished), but would it okay if I dedicate a LoS/MoF fic to you? I don't know if you're still into the series, but a while back I saw you make a post about it, and quite honestly, my "fandom" experience w LoS (& the small community it had garnered) was completely shaped by you.

omg?

omg, omg, OMG (●'◡'●)

I absolutely didn’t expect such a marvelous message in my inbox! I shaped someone’s experience??? And of course, you can and I shall read the fuck out of it. I might not be blogging about LoS all that much lately, but I can never truly move on since I’ve spent oh how many full years with the fandom? Four? And fours years is a long-ass time. 

Plus, that F4F figurine of Gabe still decorates my table!

That being said, sadly, I don’t think I’ll be continuing my two longfics...I write too slow to upkeep them both (RIP my OCs and the mysterious, actually-competent fourth Acolyte).

[obstinaterixatrix]

Well I was complaining about overwatch but one robot narrative game I've played that doesn't completely center around humanity is Read Only Memories, that's a good game. I also really like Feet of Clay with how it addressed nonhuman personhood. The problem is a lot of folks who try this narrative don't seem to have that much experience being othered by a majority because the real problem isn't solved by realizing you yourself are human, it's realizing that other people are assholes who refuse to see anyone the slightest bit different from them as worthy of respect.

[threephasebird]

ohh wait i just saw that there are contradicting opinions now. things are heating up! :D so i thought in “manquer à”, the thing that is lacking/missing is the indirect object connected with à. so it’d be “words are lacking to the emotions” in a literal translation and therefore “emotions lack words”. but i was confused whether it’s this way around or the other? in any case thank you for your replies @dreamsaflame @papercrane-wish @frenchy-stuff !

[fandomsandfeminism]

aella-a replied to your post “If anyone has been wondering whether watching Spirit Pact is worth it:...”

@dreamsaflame China does imprison people for spreading immorality. They arrest women for writing gay erotica so I don't begrudge this Chinese writer for dancing around the issue, do you?

Yeah, agreed, like, I know that it’s not going to go full Yuri on Ice/No 6 canon. It’s Chinese origin is a pretty huge indication of that.

But like, as I’ve said, I don’t have super high standards for anime, and I’m weak as shit when it comes to queerbaiting/queer coding. Especially in cases like this when I know there’s outside factors causing the censorship. 

But if its the kind of queer coding with thinly veiled wedding scenes and kisses, I’m basically sold for 20 minutes a week.

[ferdinandofaragon]

dreamsaflame replied to your photoset “wow. we have spent the past month learning about ww2 in class and not...”

And there are still people saying we're exaggerating our claims, or fabricating them >:||

ugh really!?! i guess there are always gonna be ppl like that around; it’s a bit disturbing trying to imagine how they could’ve come to such conclusions

[jalopeura]

Hello I don't know if you'll like the genre but Camille has a song called Équations although it's quite short

Thank you, it’s beautiful! (link here if someone else would like to listen ot it too) I think I’ll put the whole Le Petit Prince soundtrack on my to-listen, actually!

[enjolrati]

dreamsaflame replied to your post: either i intimidate you guys or i don’t have...

I’m just in awe of you and don’t know what to say. (Sorry.)

either you're being sickeningly sarcastic or you have very low standards of someone to be in awe of.

orestesfasting replied to your post: either i intimidate you guys or i don’t have...

but you’re a big softie

shh the enemy can't perceive me as weak (i'm mostly a softie for you) 

[orionali]

dreamsaflame replied to your post: 2016 might’ve been a shitty year but even you...

Aliya I haven’t been on tumblr much what are these fics??? @__@

@dreamsaflame​ Some are not on Tumblr, but here we go, my LoS fanfic recs!

Pretty much what @bernhard-castle-dracula​ wrote this year. Honorable mention goes to her small AU series called Becoming. 

@somemagician​‘s writing and that horrible, horrible one-shot called So Falls Dawn. Like fuuuuu, I cried. 

Xiaojian’s fluffy and lighthearted one-shots called Happy Dracula Families.

eiahmon’s Blood Is was finished this year, and this is one loooooong fanfic. 

This is just for 2016, but I have more that are not in English or were posted earlier than 2016. 

[obstinaterixatrix]

Mayoiga! At this point I just want to see what's going on. I'm glad other people don't like main dude, he's just. So obviously getting special treatment from the writing??? Which just makes that nice creep vibe even more grating.

[obstinaterixatrix]

Don't know if you're still continuing with the data collecting, but I'm ace and dislike coffee too. (It's a very interesting thought!!)

well shit, I don't think I've met a single ace person who generally likes coffee

of course, I'd really need to take a bigger and more random sample because this design is pretty shit in terms of research stuff, but this is definitely sounding like A Thing