#red string club

[olives-and-lilies]

Can I run something past the Malevolent Fandom that’s been bugging me?

I’m writing this post-Ep 27, for future reference.

I want to talk about Kayne/Kane/Cain, our resident terrifying murder man. To the point even John, fully aware of who he was as the King, is bordering on sheer fucking fight-or-flight terror at the results of Kayne’s boredom, a man who wiped out an entire city while waiting for Arthur then sat and played possibly the most painful tune he could to lure him in. A man John said looked like he had been playing, painting, with the bodies of the dead.

I haven’t seen anyone say anything about the old tales of Cain and Abel…

Kayne called The King in Yellow “Hastur”, a literal Duke of Hell. Kayne also references Lillith, both of which bring in the Abrahamic lore. Arthur has discussed his worlds take on Christianity to John, and describes it as a cult in and of its own. All of which means that Kayne might actually be Cain. The man who murdered his brother in jealousy and when God, a literal all-seeing all-knowing deity, asked where Abel was? “I do not know, I am not my brothers keeper.”

Now, Arthur has Kayne’s knife. His personal knife. If Kayne is Cain, and Arthur has the literal KNIFE OF CAIN, is no one considering that this might be worsening Arthur’s murderous desires? Don’t get me wrong, he absolutely would have murdered Mr. Larson regardless of who’s knife it was, but I don’t think he would have gone after Uncle. He would have made the actual man responsible pay, not just whoever he could get his hands on. His rage would have been the surgical focused intent we’ve been seeing, not this mindless caged animal behavior.

On the murder of Uncle, (who Arthur tells us is likely Jack, from the paperwork in the cabin where he first meets Yellow) I really don’t think he would have killed him if he didn’t have Cain’s Knife. I am seriously convinced that this is effecting him, because if he had John with him when he found out Jack is Uncle, the conversation would have looked differently. John would have reminded him of the man’s letters apologizing to his mother, of the childish scrawl. John is doing much better about being a detective and an astute observer for and with Arthur. It is only with great work and great details he has been able to work Arthur out of these fits and rages, yeah? When in the past Arthur hadn’t been near as vicious and been willing to compromise. (Yes, I do think a large part of the loss of that is due more to stress and trauma and his own constant hyper-vigilance that hasn’t been allowed to turn off for literal months, but a legit Cursed Artifact cannot be helping matters.)

Am I the only one thinking this…?

[rpgchoices]

Useless rpgs recs. Rpgs with romance... but I actually tell you my opinion on the romance. PART 6/6

️‍🌈 = you can romance a same sex character

Faery - Legends of Avalon: Not played yet

Always Sometimes Monsters️‍🌈 (and sequel): In this game you have to basically reach your ex who is about to marry someone else. The game is not focused on the romance, but the romance is a big plot point. Amount of content: 2.5/5

Solstice️‍🌈: This is a visual novel but not a dating sim as it is more of a "uncover the mystery", so I can add it here in the rpgs. There are two protagonists and each get a romance (if you choose), one is a gay man, the other a bi or straight woman. The romance is some flirty options and a kiss/romantic scene. Amount of content: 3/5

Divinity Original Sin 1 ️‍🌈: You create two characters and based on your dialogue choices during the game you can end up with them in a romantic relationship, this is minimal, mainly in the ending slides you find out they fell in love. Amount of content: 1/5

Fable️‍🌈: You can flirt and romance with NPCs, and marry/flirt one NPC who is actually a character (a woman). In general the content is minimal. Amount of content: 0.5/5

Eternal Home Floristry️‍🌈: You play as a gay man hiding with an elderly florist. You can rekindle the relationship with your ex boyfriend. Very cute, very touching. Loved it. Amount of content: 2.5/5

Hades️‍🌈: You play as Zagreus and you can romance a female character and a male character, also at the same time and end up together with both of them. Amount of content: 1.5/5

Also, rpg games where there is romance but does not really depend on your choises:

Ash of Gods: Technically there is no full romance, but you can see that two characters are in love with Gleda and you can choose to interpret the relationship between Reet and Lo Pheng as romance, if you want. Amount of content: 0.5/5

Overboard!: Not really a romance but you can unravel the relationship with a character and exchange a kiss/romantic encounter. Amount of content: 1/5

Drowning Cross️‍🌈: This is a small free game about a gay man and his husband, where you can try to fix the problems of their relationship. Amount of content: 1/5

Red Strings Club️‍🌈: The story is not based on romance but you will play two married men so there is a small romance element. Amount of content: 1/5

Tower of Time: You control a party of six, and two characters can have a developing romance through the game. It is out of your control tho. Amount of content: 0.5/5

[kociamieta]

play the red strings club !!!!! it is now on sale for less than 4 USD….. . go alter your brain chemistry and meet my robot girl thing

[simcardiac-arrested]

hey guys if u like cyberpunk settings, dystopias where you can tackle philosophical dilemmas, replayable choice-based games, fun gameplay mechanics (like tuning in with people’s emotions with Bartending) and funky robots: the red strings club is currently 75% on steam!!! it has all these things and more (gorgeous pixel art and amazing soundtrack for instance)!! it’s dirt cheap and it’ll only take you a few hours of your time to complete, but it’s sooo worth a try. so please consider checking it out :)

[cookiekurimu]

The trinity of bartending game complete!!!

art by cookie

[gatoraid]

"Doesn't sound unprofessional to me."

[patricktsao]

Brandeis - fan art for the Red Strings Club.  Never heard of it? I’d check it out. Cyberpunk, revolution, AI, empathy, all across glorious pixel art and a beautiful soundtrack.

[pollomuerto]

[prototypelq]

Here's an ask for you, dear mutual! What are your 3 most favorite games? Would you recommend them?

MUTUAL MY BELOVED THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION THANK YOU

I just, whoa, RESPECT for separating 'favourite' games and If I would 'recommend' them. Respect, man, cause yup, favourite game doesn't always have to be a good game xD

From the top o my head, the top 3 would be: Outer Wilds, Pyre and Horizon ZD. These are also games that kind of I could separate my life by - before (title) and after it.

Outer Wilds is a masterpiece, Please. Everyone. Try. This. Game. Out.

If I had to choose ONE game that I could reccomend, it would be this. Outer Wilds is an incredible experience, this is so freakin hard to put into words properly. I'm sure any gamer saw at least one of the actual dozens of essays about this game, and it still deserves more in my opinon. This is the most beautiful game I have ever played, this is the most frightening game I have ever played, this is the most adrenaline out of everything I have ever played, this is, okay it is the Second most musical game I have played, this is the most joyous game I have ever played, this is the most hopeful game I've ever played. Outer Wilds is amazing and it is the everything game I've ever played. If you love exploration - you gotta play it, if you love space - you gotta play it, if you love space westerns my beloved best genre ever - you gotta play it, if you love existential joy and dread in one package - you gotta play it.

Thankfully, everyone single person is different, which is great, because otherwise the world would be terribly boring. However, this also means this game won't really grab you if you like more linear or handholding experiences, cause this game is ALL about exploration, and well, it won't really entertain you if you're not actively trying to do that yourself. Oh, I am also unsure how it controls on keyboard, but this game feels very much controller-centric experience, you'll need the ability to press those buttons gently, trust me. Except the autopilot, it will guaranteed entertain you xD.

Now, Pyre is the aforementioned Most Musical Game I have ever played.

I've been a long-time Supergiant Games fan, as Darren Korb has stole my soul away in 2013 with the Transistor OST, and I don't really want it back. If the name rings a bell, but you can't place it - these are the authors of HADES. While Transistor is very near and dear to my heart, Pyre is just a very unique blend of exact concentrations of everything I love in a game.

IT'S NOT A SPORTS GAME.

Pyre is much more of a visual novel really, the arcade battles in-between are kind of rare tbh, most of your time you will be reading in this game. I love party-RPGs, but my favourite game in the genre is Dragon Age 2, which is, while an okay game, it's my favourite because of the companions and their dynamics, not only with the player, but with each other as well, and watching them grow, progress and interact is a pure joy. Pyre scratches that exact itch - you're really playing for the story and the characters inside of it, it's great fun. Visually, the game is a Grade-Supergiant Masterpiece, and musically, well, let's just say Darren Korb and Ashley Barrett have their own minstrel characters.

Pyre is also, in my opinion, the most freakin DIVERSE Supergiants game. The player character basically leads the Triumvirate of their traveling companions (yeah, it's also a roadmovie!) to compete with other Triumvirates, each one consisting of a rival team, and each, Each, of the Seven teams have their own music track and bring their own genre to the OST pallete. These genres will range from folk with different instruments, to chivalric tunes, to metal, ....existential rock? remember the threat track from the Spiderverse with the siren? basically, this game has something like that. And it's not just one 'battle' track that works like this either! There is a special Rite (arcade ritual where you play against a rival team), which has the two minstrels sing the g o r g e o u s key title song Never to Return, which was Seven variations of music and lyrics for this song, depending on which team you're up against. The way Darren made the initial song bend to all those different genres and instruments is fascinating to me. Pyre and Outer Wilds OSTs both fall into the very exclusive category 'I will bawl my goddamn eyes out if I hear even a single note', Outer Wilds OST is a powerful beast for sure, but you can't really compete with a title that has music ingrained so deeply into it, so Pyre is first place for me.

The difficulty and lore in this title are no slouches either. Supergiants have this cool lore habbit of unlocking it through gameplay experimentation, and this principle also works in Pyre without a hitch. Some character might get seasick, and won't be able to participate in a Rite (arcade game part), or a rival team will have a familiar of theirs and the character will ask to not be pitied against their friend or family. The games does a supreme job of blending together gameplay and story decisions like that, this should be like studied in gamedev. Also, the story around some particular rivals might make you actually want to lose to them, and I haven't seen much games that accomplish this.

Difficulty is also a fun aspect of the game to play with, Supergiant have a habit of locking additional world lore behind challenges, and let's just say this game has Challenge if you ask for it. The AI in this game can play better than any player, cause you need all the reaction speed, enemy team knowledge, skill ad party composition of your own team and strategy to win, it's extremely fun to play around, at least it is for me. Let's just say on my high difficulty with modifiers playthrough, the final battle lasted for about 11 minutes for me (in a game that has Rites finish in maybe 3 min), and my bloodstream has never seen such high percentage of adrenaline as it did for those 11 minutes, probably never will either. I keep the whole footage for myself, and oh boy how many jumpscares are there xD Literal fight for the ages, it was amazing. Best feature yet?

You can lose every single Rite and still finish the game. There is no 'joke' ending either, it's entirely possible to never score a single win if you wish to and the story will adapt to it. The same way 'winning' is not always 'best' for the character but that's for you to choose really.

Basically, this game has everything - roadmovie, fun gameplay, a Holy-Grade OST, amazing characters and a great story. The only real reason you might not get into it is if you don't like reading, cause this game has a lot of reading. As all good rpgs and visual novels do and should.

For my third fave I choose Horizon ZD.

The robodino-infested post-post-apocalypse got to me, alright. I love the world of this series, for me it's like a personification of hope really. It's also the first game I played when I got my ps4 and that was a huge deal for me) The bio-ecological focus of the game is also very very much my jam. I love just booting up the game and wondering around and just vibing in there. The design of all the tribal cultures, their traditions, myths and clothing is also a joy for me, it's really fascinating for some reason. Love this game very much. The gameplay is great fun, and also this game got me into my first photomode frenzy, I got very hard into game-photography because of this title) Got a habbit of using my screens for wallpapers and icons everywhere, and I've been doing that ever since.

Honourable mentions:

Darksiders series (1,2,3 and Genesis)

I love these games, they are very fun, the OSTs are amazing, especially Jasper Kyd's for the second game and Astarte theme from the Genesis. I have lost count of how much times I replayed Darksiders 2, it's been way too many that's for sure, and how could you even resist a Riders of the Apocalypse game with their actual steeds?! These are great fun. Also there's an extremely good novel Abomination Vault about Death and War, and I have reread this one waaaaaay too many times too (it's so good!). Obligatory reminder for everyone to play Genesis btw, it's a truly great darksiders title, everyone's really sleeping on it.

Rain World

I. Do not know. What to say about this game. It's amazing, it's horrible, it's frustrating, it's occasionally fun? All of these. Most of all, Rain World is truly unique. The game has amazing creature AI and procedual animation, and these two factors result in a very very Very unique experience, I suggest anyone tries it. This is too, a very bio-ecology themed game, and the art is honestly gorgeous.

I've fallen into literal toxic relationship with this title - I love it, I hate it, I can't get enough of it, I'm so goddamn fed up with it I can't play this anymore, I'll surely close the game after another death.

Red Strings Club

Another visual novel! This one is only a 3 or so hours one, but with a twist. My friend suggested we play it when we were hanging out together, and, lemme tell you, the dialogue, the plot, the themes, the questions that this game asks of you had us spend three times the 'standard' playtime. This game is literally pool-wide and marianna-trench-deep, it's amazing.

DMC5 & CONTROL

I grouped these two together, cause these games are FUELED by fun. These games were made For fun, To have fun, and By People Who Were having Fun Making Them. DMC5 will also train you harder than any Guitar Hero, while CONTROL will stealthily make you architecture and Sam Lake - obsessed. CONTROL is also the source of all of my current wallpapers, cause photography in this game is On Point. Both are great and a real joy, also I have played them the same year)

this is where I would have mentioned DRG if I had put more hours into it

Thank you for reading all of this, and game on my friends)

[wr3tchedthing]

*falls to my knees* hi disco elysium community im begging you to play the red strings club i need this game to have a fanbase I promise you will like it its so good

[maxitrash]

Just wanted to share some of the games I like enjoy(ed) playing !

[kociamieta]

replayed this game today and wanted to draw some characters. everyone should at least check out the red strings club ost i think

[simcardiac-arrested]

day 12 - niche interest

decided to draw for two games that i have enjoyed very much but hadn’t gotten around to making fanart for Somehow. red strings club had it coming for like 5 years

[deadsparr0w]

Ahhh

[igordumbra]

kinda of a parallel to guapoduo's last dialogue.

[gatoraid]