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adarkrainbow · 1 year

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Spooky season fairytales (1)

I have been covering it these past weeks, and it is a perfect fit for Halloween: Hansel and Gretel.

This is one of the creepiest "popular" fairytales, that has terrified many children. The witch in the gingerbread house not only exemplifies so many bogeymen that caused children's nightmares, but is also one of the two most famous examples of witches in fairytales - and we know Halloween is one of the witchy holidays. And the whole story revolves around a house made of sweets - in modern day interpretations, Hansel and Gretel is THE candy-fairytale. And Halloween is THE holiday for treats and sweets.

Despite being an obvious choice to make fairytale horror movies, and the fairytale having inspired several great horror classics (the scene I posted before in Stephen King's IT involving the witch of Hansel and Gretel), the tale doesn't actually have a lot of treatment in the world of horror... Yeah, it is surprising, but the first true "horror movie" about Hansel and Gretel would be the Korean 2007 movie of the same name, that was recognized as a great Korean horror piece and a very touching tragic story, but is not an actual retelling of "Hansel and Gretel" - or rather it is a twisted, reversed-retelling that mostly uses Hansel and Gretel as a motif and reference rather than actual plot material.

To have "Hansel and Gretel" REALLY enter the horror movie world, we would have to wait for the year 2013, and a dual release. The first one is a famous movie by fairytale enjoyers, that is still quite popular online: "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters". This movie is what the 2005's "Van Helsing" movie was to Dracula.

What to say about this movie? It is a dark fantasy, action-movie acting as a sequel to the original fairytale and depicting the two protagonists as gun-and-arbalet-wielding witch hunters. It is everything you except from a a big studio classic action gritty-fantasy movie. In fact, that's the main flaw of the movie: it is extremely generic, formulaic and "by-the-book". There's no real inventivity or uniqueness in terms of plot, setting or characters. If you played dark fantasy action video games, you watched this movie already. It didn't even invent the concept of Hansel and Gretel as witch hunters - Fables for example had done it already by making Hansel a fanatical Puritan witch hunter in the style of the Salem witch trials. As a result, what could have been a really good, inventive, interestng movie is just... a neutral, generic movie. The kind you can watch and enjoy but that won't transcend anything and isn't groundbreaking in any way.

Not that the movie is bad, it has some highlights and qualities to it that avoid making it bad. For example, several of the actors in this movie are really good and give their best despite playing bland or generic characters (and in fact it sames some flat characters, who are given depth by their actors' work) ; and there is a true visual work, with some fascinating designs. This all makes the movie enjoyable in several aspects - but just having good actors and good visuals won't make the movie good given how generic it is in plot and style, and how incoherent the worldbuilding and the tone feels, tiptoing around anachronisms for the sake of "let's make it cool and steampunk", and failing to find a balance between dark comedy and serious movie. (Oh yes and it also dreadfully suffer from the awful "3D movies" trend of the time)

And to this movie answered another movie: 2013's "Hansel and Gretel", aka The Asylum's Hansel and Gretel. A movie which is the perfect twin to "Witch Hunters" - in fact you could say they are the yin and yang to each other.

This movie is a full horror movie, not a dark fantasy/action piece. This movie is a retelling of the original story, not a sequel to it. This movie takes place in modern day, the 21st century, instead of a fantasized Germany of unclear era. And whereas "Witch Hunters" kind of fails at meeting the hype it built up, and is a neutral, average, not-good not-bad big budget movie, this movie is... surprisingly good for what it is, and ends up much better than what it should be.

If you do not know The Asylum, the group behind this movie, they are well-known producers of mockbusters, unofficial sequels and B-movies, and very proud of it. In fact it is their goal: make mockbusters to propose a cheaper alternative to big-studio movies, and turn the making of "second-rate" movies into a true art. They make their movies very fast, they release them against big studios movie they openly took inspiration from, they use cheap special effects, they select for actors either "no-names" or "has-beens"... I think I can sum it up enough by the fact they are the makers of the "Sharknado" movies. As a result, this movie was probably going to be an utter mess and ridiculous schlock...

... But it was surprisingly good. Better than what it should be. Of course The Asylum's marks are still there. The movie opens and closes on two very ridiculous scenes (the first victim's flight in the night ; the explosion of the house), there is some cheap "sexy-horror" audience-appeal (it is no mistake the only victims to be eaten are women that are forced in underwears before being pushed in the oven), and the plot is basically Hansel and Gretel X The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. BUT all that being said, this movie actually works! In its own, small-budget, no-real-ambition way. It doesn't try to be too snobby or arrogant - it knows it is a small, derivative, B-horror movie, and it stays in its lane. There are some interesting scenes and concepts (such as the drugged-colorfed nightmares). They do manage to create some disturbing elements - while also purposefully breaking several horror stereotypes and cliches. They try to keep a "maybe magic, maybe mundane" approach to the story in their own clumsy way but that is interesting. And more importantly - the character of the witch is SO GREAT!

I can't say enough how I enjoyed the witch (Lilith) on screen, and I do believe that this is due to the incredible work of her actress. Because she is played by none other than Dee Wallace (a horror movie regular who began her career with E.T.) - and she manages to make the character entertaining and disturbing. It really works, and I suspect that if a bad actress had been placed there, the role might have felt flat and generic. But she brings extremely well the disturbed state of mind, the humanity of the monster, and the true descent into horrible madness of the character. They are notably the first movie, to my knowledge, which actually acknowledges and reflects upon the special relationship between Gretel and the Witch, invoking elements that would later become common in "Hansel and Gretel" retellings, such as the witch wanting to make Gretel her "heir", or seeing her as a daughter substitute.

Beyond the year 2013, of course, now, you hit "Hansel and Gretel - horror" in any web research system, and you get the recent horror movie by Oz Perkins, the 2020's "Gretel and Hansel".

I do believe that this movie, and The Asylum's movie, truly reflect the two sides of horror movies and how one same story can be treated under these two lenses. The Asylum's is a gory, brutal, low-budget but decent and interesting horror movie, that still works in its limitations and intends to be just your random "fun little horror slasher movie" ; this movie is the artistic, big-budget, much more stylized and psychological disturbing horror movie that veers more into dark fantasy sometimes and tries more to be an actual nightmare, in the most abstract and eerie sense.

Personally, I did enjoy the movie as a whole and I think it is a good Hansel and Gretel movie. I do think they did a good job at mixing the fairytale with the entire Christian myth of the witch as built by the witch-hunts and other countryside superstitions (they weaved in the story for example the topics of the magical ointments and the idea of witches feasting on the dead) ; and I did love the dark twists and reveals at the end ; and I also liked very much the subtle references to other fairytales slid in the story (Little Red Riding Hood, and The Juniper Tree).

However it is not a movie without flaws - and I would never call it a perfect movie. It got the ideas, the visuals, the will, the inspirations, but... sometimes it does too much, there's unecessary things that could have been cut out and do ridiculize a bit the movie (the first third of the movie is filled with unecessary and random moments like the bizarre hostile man in the abandoned house, or the "mushroom" scenes, which clearly were not needed - there's also jumpscares that are just... there, for jumpscare sakes, when this movie clearly does NOT need jumpscares). There is also the fact that while often it manages to drive its themes, messages and topics in subtle or clever ways (the dialogues of Gretel and the witch, about things such as power, womanhood, the world, are all very well done), a few times it becomes suddenly very clumsy and awkward (one particular moment was the line of Gretel about "the system" in her very first scene, which felt definitively too political and modern to fit in the context).

I do remember the so-called "debate" there was when this movie was released, and the so-called "scandal" of putting Gretel's name first. But it makes full sense when you understand that Gretel here is the main character, that we are told the story through her, and that it doesn't try so much to be a Hansel and Gretel retelling, as rather a dark and morbid fantasy movie that uses the Hansel and Gretel tale as a driving plot to explore more things - the European witchcraft myth, the theme of "Faustian deals", etc, etc... And despite some clumsiness here and there that do flaw the movie (I haven't mentionned it, but the choice of the tattoos for the witch's "final" form seemed very random and ill-thought, which is one of the several little details that don't work ; balanced by details that do work, such as the idea of having a more modern architecture for the witch's house), it still works for most of its course.

To conclude this post, I need to talk about one last "Hansel and Gretel" movie. A movie which American audiences are not actually familiar with. Because it is a German movie, that got released around Europe (I saw it in French), but to my knowledge never crossed the Atlantic. Made by Anne Wild and written by Peter Schwindt, this movie is probably the eeriest Hansel and Gretel adaptation I have seen. It is not "disturbing", "shocking" or "horrifying" - it is just creepy and unsettling. It is not a rewrite or a "retelling" per se, because it stays faithful to the original tale and barely changes anything. Out of the five movies I present you, this is the most faithful movie when it comes to adapting the brothers Grimm fairytale.

EDIT: I originally wrote this part thinking the movie was very hard to find... TURNS OUT IT WAS POSTED ON YOUTUBE! The full movie is on Youtube - in its original German though

This movie made the fairytale eerie with two things. 1) Little unsettling and creepy details in terms of style and movie editing. This movie actually has several things in common with the 2020's Gretel and Hansel - such as the heavy use of the forested landscape to make one feel both lost and trapped at the same time (helped by the fact the protagonists are here played by actual children), and bizarre camera angles and movements (including disturbing close-ups and brutal cuts). The score also includes eerie songs and creepy children whispers, that add to the general spookyness. 2) A work on the realism on the tale. There's still magic and supernatural in there, definitively. But overall it is all... "realistic" in style, making it all more unsettling. Hansel and Gretel behave like actual children - and are in fact often unaware of the danger they are getting themselves into. The color palette is drab and lightless.

Don't get me wrong: this is not an adult-aimed movie, it is not a horror movie. It is still a kid-oriented, fairytale movie, with some moments of humor (though it is mostly dark humor, such as Hansel, blissfully unaware of the witch's plan, coming to enjoy his life in a cage eating good food all day long), a happy ending, and many beautiful visuals (the witch's bedroom is especially interesting - slight spoiler but there is the beautiful visual of the witch keeping petrified birds and butterflies in her room, that come back to life once she is dead). It has poetry to it - but it is definitively not a Disney movie and not what we usually think of as "fairytale movie for kids". It is a quite dark one.

One good illustration of this would be the family dynamic at the start of the tale, and how this movie slightly changes the whole abandonment episode. In this movie, the character of the mother is actually sick - and having her suffering from what will be a deadly disease puts her entire character into a very different light. Another major change they did is that the second time the children are abandoned - the parents do not hide the fact they are abandoning them. Hansel and Gretel know it, and the parents don't bother lying or even pretending, but there is still this sort of untold shame as they don't openly admit it and flee from their crying children... It hits hard.

The creepiest part of the whole movie is however, without a doubt, the witch. By gosh, this is one of the creepiest incarnations of the character I saw. She is a perfect embodiment of the uncanny valley: she is not some cartoonish monster, she is just this pale middle-aged woman that never blinks. She does perform magic, but her magic keeps with the "realism" style of the movie - no flash, no music, no smoke. When she teleports, she is just here one moment, another the next. She prevents Gretel from leaving by casting a spell that makes it so that each time she walks away, she ends up finding herself in front of the house - despite it being impossible. Her rhyming "Who's nibbling on my house?" is actually a disembodied whisper in the ears of the children as they see nobody, making their answer "It's just the wind" an actual comforting sentence they say to themselves thinking they imagined it all. Her bedroom cannot actually exist because it is located in an impossible part of the house that does not appear from the outside. And there are those little details that do hint at her maybe not being actually human but just looking like a human - when she moves sometimes her bones crack, and other times her voice seems to double itself in a strange echo... And when she is pushed into the oven (light spoilers too) - she doesn't scream. She doesn't make a sound. Once she is pushed and the door is closed, it is dead silence, and that makes it even more disturbing than if she actually screamed in agony.

And there are other little morbid details in the movie - too many for me too count. But one thing that does stick with me was the way Gretel pieced up together the witch's real intentions for Hansel (because of course she didn't tell them she was going to eat them), by noticing little details straight out of Pan's Labyrinth - such as Gretel noticing the witch's wind-chimes is made of bones and hair ; and the witch keeping in her house a closet filled with an ungodly amount of toys in various states of aging. This latter detail was notably taken back by "Gretel and Hansel", where the first hint of the witch's previous victims are toys scattered in the wilderness around the house. In fact, I do wonder if Perkins didn't take some inspiration from this 2005 movie, because there is definitively something similar between the two.

And with this, you have to my knowledge the perfect Hansel and Gretel movies for the spooky season.

The supernatural tragedy inspired by, and a famed piece of Korean horror. The surprisingly good B-horror movie that turns the story into a new "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". The dark fantasy action-packed blockbuster that is just halfway there. The recent, heavily stylized, witch-hunt inspired artsy/socio-political horror movie. And the eerie, unsettling, faithful retelling as a dark German children movie.

#spooky season fairytales #spooky season #fairytale movies #hansel and gretel #dark fairytales #fairytale horror #horror fairytales #gretel and hansel #witch hunters

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theres-whump-in-that-nebula · 2 months

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I hate researching occult and spiritual stuff in general because everywhere you look for information is rife with people into it as a gimmick who use fancy words but do not explain what the fancy words mean, or how anyone arrived at the conclusions they seem to be jumping to; and it’s also rife with people trying to scam the very soul out of their viewers.

“There is a book banned by the church which says there are three types of humans………” and then he never says the name of the book in the short. When you scroll in the comments, the first one pinned is his own comment: a promotional code to buy a book HE WROTE. Like wow you’re not even trying to be convincing at this point. Shut the fuck up and get a real job💀💀

I don’t want your pseudoscientific, pseudospiritual, phrenological, appropriated nonsense; I want diagrams and manuals. I want source material. I want to talk to a ghost. I want to behold the other side and see if it’s even there.

Okay so one thing I have consistently seen in videos of people documenting paranormal activity is the use of an EMF detector, because whatever it is we perceive as ghosts or spirits causes spikes in electromagnetic activity. I am inclined to believe this more than most things I see on the internet because it is so consistent; so now I have an EMF detector. Groovy. Now onto protection…

“Black tourmaline absorbs EMF radiation; so wearing this bracelet will protect you from harmful electromagnetic frequencies which some people find helpful during ghost hunting.” Ooookayyy so by that logic, if I wear a lead bracelet to a dental X-ray, the lead bracelet will draw the harmful rays away from my chest and into my wrist? That’s not how physics works. Radiation is a field, which is the reason why you wear a whole lead bib when you get your teeth X-rayed. Lead absorbs radiation, but it does not draw it away; it is a shield. Furthermore, dentists do not make bibs out of black tourmaline for people to wear while they look at their teeth.

Ergo: If you want to protect yourself from the ghostly hand of influence in the form of EMF radiation — assuming EMF radiation spikes aren’t a pop culture gimmick common to alleged haunted houses, created by cooking ramen noodles in a microwave in a hidden room — the best course of action would be to wear a lead vest to your seances; because

1.) lead is PROVEN to block radiation, and 2.) a vest of lead would block this radiation from meddling with your vital organs.

Why isn’t anyone advocating for those looking to the occult to wear lead vests during seances for protection? Because they’re ugly and don’t match the Witchy Aesthetick™ companies appropriated and are now profiting off of far and wide. A lead vest is not as marketable or “natural” as black tourmaline. And let’s be honest, many many people who get into the occult nowadays are doing it to look cool or be cool because they feel as if they are boring, with gigantic holes in their self-esteem, and don’t know how else to fill them in any other way than playing into trends deemed “edgy” and “in-style” and making it their whole personality. (If you are not one of these people; then I am not talking about you. I am talking about other people. For the love of god I’m not pissing on the poor. Please.)

Also, the majority of the online witch space is filled with white people messing with other people’s cultural practices as a sort of game; which obviously impacts the credibility of the information these witches present, as well as other, worse things which I don’t even need to mention… New Age spirituality is to the cultures its practices were taken from as Taco Bell is to genuine Mexican cuisine. It can be nice and may very well work as intended but it lacks the depth and reasoning of the original.

Not to say new-age is all bad; it isn’t. There are just so many people who don’t care what something is, where it came from, or why they’re using it because “witchy” and “hippie” are hot on the market these days. It’s frustrating. That’s all.

#occult #discourse tw #metaphysics #Sorry if I sound like a pretentious bitch; I promise I’m not. I should just read more old books…#Pre-1990s books. I don’t trust any made after that date unless there is some degree of scientific testing involved #Preferably I’d like to read some that are like 5000 years old

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divinity-infinity · 1 year

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Abt the social media headcannons I just gotta say,, beel 100% has a Snapchat (devil chat?) same with asmo and Levi(prob secret acct)

I also think Levi forced everyone to make a discord account for when they play games online together though no one really uses them but him (and possibly anti-luci leauge)

Dia for SURE has nearly everything (prob managed by barb) but only uses devilgram

Barb has one devilgram acc that is “his” then he has millions of secret accounts cross platform for blackmail purposes 💀

Simeon also only uses devilgram (publicly) but I think he has a snap for close friends/contact with others, and a secret devilblr acct. -idk why just gives off that vibe

Solomon for sure has devilblr, he’s a walking shitpost ffs and would keep up with all of mc’s posts and reblogs (side note don’t look at any fics and reboot them onto the acct by accident, he will know and tease you for the rest of time💀)

Luke has a devilgram but it is managed by Simeon mainly, just cute little slice of life updates like if he went to the zoo or found a cool bug. I think Luke would for sure have a tik tok acct and make everyone join in on the silly trends and dances, he would still be heavily monitored by Simeon and even Solomon bc he knows tik tok b crazy.

Putting myself in mc’s shoes I’d have all the main Accts, but also secret ones for them too. Hell we’d have an ao3 acct and have seen Levi’s secret account on there (satan too but he is harder to realize that it’s him bc he hides it v well)

You prob found Levi’s secret acct by accident ngl, like going to look something up on his computer while he is a bit distracted and oops that bookmark is fanfic! Lmao now you have to be nosy

The only way you would prob discover satan is if he mentions something abt your writing, like “hey I read this story called—- last night and…” and you’d just be there like 😳

Anyway I had to get this ramble out, hope you enjoyed it!!! (I didn’t check if you did a pt2 to this with the datables so sorry if you have lol I just had ideas)

LMAO THERE ARE GREAT WHAJHHSJA IT ACTUALLY MAKES ME HAPPY TO SEE SOMEONE BUILD OFF OF MY POST

BUILDING OFF OF THE SOLOMON DEVILBLR THING TOO HE'S PROBABLY A SUBJECT OF MANY HERITAGE POSTS. hes like the bone stealing witch of devilblr. he has over a hundred callout posts (barbatos-boosted). hes a wizardposter.

ALSO YES ANTI LUCIFER LEAGUE DISCORD GROUP WHJJHDA i didnt write down hcs for raph, 13, and mephisto but i feel like mephisto's in that anti lucifer discord server

#obey me #obey me crack #obye me shitpost

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incarnateirony · 8 months

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awwww bitch thinks she can meme things away by pretending she's now a hellenist instead of "eclectic", a word also stolen from me at the time about fifteen years ago before I had a word. One of us grew. Guess which one.

The meme won't save you any more than the other memes saved you. In fact each one's more of like, a way to tally off how unseriously you've been taking him. When you goddamn know better. And this in not a situation he appreciates the humor.

Really, girl, I know you want to win. I know you have all of your pride sunken in your false alias, to your plagiarized god, and copied channeling, and stolen words, and jokes you've used again and again because you lack the mind that generated them to make new ones. I know you put money into registering an EIN of a name that did not belong to you, which could actually get you sued, and will if you aren't dead by September. If you're wondering why it's such a very specific date, Iunno, figure it out.

You've put months, years even, into lying to your current cult. I can only imagine the depths to which you're abridging history going "nonono, not this, it's uh," for your newest pile of lies. So no, you don't want to let go your game. You want to "look up" "your" deity, years late, too late, after charging, after stealing, because he still can't tell you what the fuck hermeticism is. Because he's a lie in your head, stolen as a copy of me. Lies, and lies, and lies. Fake. Fake, scamming, con artist witch playing copycat pretend and "belief". Specifically thinking "I'll be funny for my four people who haven't run for the hills yet" and making a joke about googling... EXPLICITLY AFTER I TOLD YOU HANDS OFF THE KEYBOARD, NO GOOGLING, THAT'S NOT FUCKING CHANNELING YOU CHEAP WHORE. WHAT IS HERMETICISM.

I'M CONFUSED, ARE YOU A WELL TRAVELED SAGE THAT CAN TEACH SOMETHING IN A GOD'S NAME FOR A PRICE OR A RETARD WHO GETS CONFUSED AT GAMES ONLINE STILL AND HAS TO GOOGLE WHAT THE FUCK A HERMES IS? YOU REALIZE THAT MEME IS FOR 16 YEAR OLD WITCHES THAT WANT TO TURN INTO CATS RIGHT. MAYBE IF YOU WEREN'T 20 YEARS BEHIND ON ACTUALLY PUTTING IN SOME FUCKING EFFORT TO YOUR FAKERY YOU'D KNOW THERE ARE SITES THAT HAVE LITERALLY AN ENTIRE COMPENDIUM OF GREEK MYTH ON IT, THERE, I FIXED IT FOR YOU, YOU BLIND CUNT.

But are they gonna save you? Are your memes and jokes gonna help? Or is this you admitting you know you've never had anything so you're just gonna polka dance in profanity to prove it to yourself? If you can't have it, it must not be true?

Who keeps your mother's heart beating, Shealyn. Keep. Fucking. Around.

I'm half wondering if this is intentional Suicide By God. Like Suicide By Cop, but way more eternal. She never really did like her mom that much deep down. I'm guessing she just flat doesn't care and knows who will go before she does.

Fucking obsessed ass fake ass crazy bitch doing some goddamn skinwalker horse shit and charging people for it knowing full goddamn well she doesn't know a thing, she knows it and she doesn't care, she will do it anyway and use his name and other people's stories for it. She doesn't care. That's the wildest thing. She does not care. When people start dying, she'll blame the god too, and he'll be a demon. We've seen this circus before with Czar when he did similar shit, and she laughed at him then, but I guess that fell into her brain damage memory hole. The same one she's been putting the current week long divine experience in pretending she can't see it. Because she ain't seen one in a LONG fuckin time and she's fucking confused. The roleplay is supposed to stop when she taps out. Why Past Lives starts trending the day I'm posting Vesuvius? Oh, nothing. That's. That's fine. You're perfectly fine Shea. Everything is going to be fine. :)

Meanwhile I have literal randos crawling into my DMs asking vaguely if they understand what is going on correctly, and they have the shape of it, so how in the fuck are you charging if you can't figure it out? maybe my randos should be charging.

Go on, yeah, it's a game. You can keep doing this. You're even more important to him than his brother, even if you've hurt his brother on every plane before and were only held back by that brother from being annihilated before, and that brother has told him to stop holding back, because you won't. Yeah, you're perfectly fine inviting him into your house. You are the Pickest Me girl, and he will definitely Pick You. It's totally fine. Here's that motherfucking ATTENTION YOU ORDERED. OH, YOU DON'T LIKE IT NOW? FUCKING WEIRD. CONTINUE ON BEING VERY BALANCED WITH YOUR APPARENTLY FRESHLY DEVELOPED HABIT OF RIPPING HAIR OUT OF YOUR HEAD, LET'S SEE WHAT YOU SHAVE NEXT.

We, the three of us--myself, [redacted name], and the god you're blaspheming--none of us consent to your plagiarization of that joke, which you've also done incorrectly. Because you're fake, and so fucking retarded you can't see the origin of Rumpocky in the videos I'm posting before it became an available flow word for *ME*--MY story, MY life. NOT YOURS TO TAKE AND PICK THROUGH FOR INSPIRATION TO SOUND VAGUELY INTERESTING ON YOUR BLOG, FIND A WAY TO BE INTERESTING BY YOURSELF THEN MAYBE A GOD WILL ACTUALLY PAY ATTENTION TO YOU. None of us consent. Do you know what happens when you start crossing consent? Well apparently you start pulling your hair out and shaving things but that's a weird start, but it always ends the same. But sure post another infographic showing you how bad you'll get or whatever and just keep pulling, just keep pulling /dory

Kinda like some threads that were sewn back together about five years ago.

Pick pick pick.

youtube

#Youtube

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linkljdf · 2 years

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Ohio Harry Potter shirt

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kvindeonline · 2 years

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#online shoppping #baby witch #gaming #fashion #cosplay girls #girls #shoes for women #trendyoutfits #youtube #trending

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samwisethewitch · 4 years

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Keeping Consumerism out of Your Craft

Consumerism is a set of socioeconomic conditions and attitudes that encourage the continual acquisitions of goods and services. There is no “enough” in a consumerist society — members of the society are constantly pushed to buy new things, pay for new services, and keep up with the latest trends.

There are a few reasons consumerism is bad news. For one thing, it’s terrible for the environment — consumerist cultures usually have linear economies, where resources are extracted, consumed, then discarded, with no effort to replenish them. This is highly unsustainable, because at some point those limited resources are going to run out. Consumerism also has a human cost, as it often leads to the use of sweatshops, which violate basic labor laws. In many sweatshops, workers are not paid a livable wage, children are employed as workers, and working conditions are unsafe. Companies in countries like the United States get around labor laws by outsourcing labor to other (poorer) places. Consumerism also contributes to classism, as the acquisition of expensive items is often treated as a status symbol.

Consumerism is present in nearly every aspect of Western culture, and this includes spirituality and witchcraft. There are multiple “Beginner Witch Kits” for sale from Amazon and other online retailers which include candles, crystals, and incense — which is great, as long as that’s all stuff you’ll actually use in your practice. (I mean, do you really need twelve different varieties of incense?) Witchy authors and bloggers often treat magic like a matching game, where every problem requires a very specific herb or crystal. YouTube is full of “witch hauls,” videos solely dedicated to showing off new purchases. All of this contributes to a commercialized witchy aesthetic, which can only be achieved by buying the tools of the trade.

I get it. Shopping is fun, especially when you’re still learning about magic and magical items. It’s exciting to search for the perfect crystal or incense blend, especially if you have a local metaphysical store where you can shop in person. But owning the right stuff doesn’t make you a witch. All you need to practice magic is your will — everything else is optional.

I’m not saying every witch should be a hardcore minimalist, or that you can never buy new things. What I am saying is that all of us, witches or not, need to be more mindful of how we spend our money and the impact of our purchases on the world around us.

How to Avoid Consumerism

If you’re considering buying something, ask yourself if you’ll really get use out of it. For example, I don’t use a lot of tools in my practice because I prefer to work with my hands, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to buy an expensive wand or ritual knife. Don’t feel like you have to buy something just because another witch uses it — if you don’t think you’ll use it, don’t buy it.

Don’t buy multiples of the same tool. Instead of buying multiple different colored altar cloths for different times of year, buy one white altar cloth you can use year-round. Instead of buying multiple tarot decks, find one or two you really enjoy working with. You get the idea. (Obviously, there will be some items you need more than one of, like spell candles. This rule applies more to tools that can be reused.)

Replace things as they run out instead of buying them before you need them. Buying things in bulk can lead to unnecessary waste and drawers full of unused magical supplies. Buy things you know you’ll really use, and only buy one or two at a time. Use up the items you have before you buy more.

Invest in items that have multiple uses. For example, most kitchen spices can also be used in spells — search your spice cabinet before ordering special ingredients online. There are some items that have multiple magical uses, like rosemary and salt. Buy a couple of these multitaskers instead of a large collection of herbs with very specific uses.

Use the “two week” rule. This is something I do to keep myself from making impulse purchases. If I think I want to buy something online, I wait two weeks before I order it. If I still want it after two weeks, I take that as a sign that I’ll actually get some use from it.

Go “shopping” in your backyard. Familiarize yourself with the plants, animals, and minerals that are native to your area and go foraging for spell supplies instead of buying them. Items you can probably find near your home that could be used in ritual include leaves and flowers, pine cones, seed pods, tree branches, rocks, and naturally shed feathers. Just make sure you never harvest enough of a plant to hurt it, and make sure you properly disinfect any animal products you pick up.

If you can, make it yourself. Not only does making your own magic items save money, it also creates a much stronger personal link between you and that item. You can grow your own magical herbs in a garden or in indoor pots. Many common magical tools, like brooms and wands, are easy to make at home with some basic craft skills. Making your own items also means you can customize them, tailoring them to your own craft.

If you can’t make it yourself, but it used. There are some items you can’t reasonably make yourself, like incense burners, cauldrons, and books on the craft. But you can find most of these items used, either in thrift stores or online on websites like Ebay and Depop. Buying used almost always ends up being cheaper than buying new, and because you’re buying items already in circulation you aren’t contributing to a linear economy. Thrifting is also a great way to find unique items that won’t be like what anyone else has on their altar.

If you can’t find it used, support a small business. Sometimes, you can’t make what you need or find it in a thrift store. In that case, buying from a small business is preferable to buying from a big retailer like Amazon. When you support a small business, you’re supporting an individual rather than contributing to some CEO’s massive yearly bonus. A lot of small business owners make their items themselves, which avoids sweatshop labor. Pretty much everything I buy new for my craft comes from Etsy sellers — there are a LOT of witches on Etsy, so with a little digging you can easily find exactly what you’re looking for!

Don’t buy crystals. I know, I know. Thanks to social media, large crystal collections have become synonymous with witchcraft. But the crystal trade is highly unethical, with unsustainable mining techniques, dangerous working conditions, and child labor. Because of a lack of regulations, it’s virtually impossible to find crystals that are truly ethically sourced. Most sellers don’t know where their crystals come from and can’t guarantee that no workers were harmed in their extraction. No stone is worth the health and safety of other human beings, no matter how pretty.

Avoiding consumerism in your witchcraft means being less reliant on tools and set dressing. This will allow you to rely on your own energy and will, which will lead to a deeper and more meaningful spiritual practice.

Resources:

Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons

Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins

“11 Facts About Sweatshops” on dosomething.org

“Child labour in the fashion supply chain” from The Guardian

“Bangladesh factory collapse toll passes 1,000” from BBC News

“Are crystals the new blood diamonds?” from The Guardian

“Dark crystals: the brutal reality behind a booming wellness craze” from The Guardian

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sailorkamino · 4 years

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modern avengers headcannons

warnings: fluff, light nsfw (avengers x thirst tweets🥵), a lot of bucky tbh

• bucky loves star wars

• parker got him into the franchise and he's obsessed

• steve got him a baby yoda plushie that he definitely doesn't sleep w/ so don't ask

• tony stark on snl

• just... think about it for a minute

• also: natasha on snl

• her deadpan humor and acting abilities make her a fan favorite (she never breaks)

• the avengers on social media!

• steve loves photography and posts his pictures on instagram

• sam even got him a professional camera for his birthday

• he doesn't post much of himself but likes to take pictures of places he travels, the team, and sometimes his art

• while steve likes instagram bucky is very popular on twitter

• he's a big advocate for equal rights, abuse awareness, and mental health awareness

• 'i was raised in the fucking 1930s and i'm still more tolerable than you'

• also gets in twitter wars with sam

• bucky learning tik tok dances with nat, wanda, and peter

• (nat is very educated on young person trends and can peter much blend in with any generation)

• wanda and vision posting cute couple videos and challenges 🥺

• fun fact: bucky is really good at video games because of his perfect hand-eye coordination

• mario kart is his favorite

• bucky wants one of those handheld games like peter but steve says he has to stop crushing video game controllers first

• the avngers doing a brooklyn 99 style heist and tony posting the video online

• (if you don't watch b99 then here's some context: every season the precinct does a heist, which is basically capture the flag but there's only one flag. whoever has 'the flag' at the end of the day is crowned king/queen of the heist)

• you might think the team leaders would be tony and steve

• but it's actually nat and bucky because they're the most likely to pull off the perfect heist

• steve being on bucky's team but double crossing everyone and screwing bucky over

• which shook everyone but fans love it because who knew captain america was so savage?

• mukbangs and domestic videos

• a lot of ppl don't realize that the avengers are normal ppl too so they try to show that side of themselves

• sam and bucky do a baking/cooking series which is basically just them arguing in a kitchen

• it's an extremely popular series

• bucky accidentally setting the microwave or toaster on fire and then shooting it in panic

• wanda loves anything diy (especially sewing, she customizes a lot of her own clothes)

• when someone tears their uniform she'll stitch it up for them

• teaching the others how to knit/sew 🥺

• nat and wanda braiding bucky's hair and posting tutorials

• can you imagine being killed by the worlds best assassin w/ a french braid?? iconic

• the avengers on late night talk shows

• i can see them playing games like "most likely to" and exposing each other left and right

• ok but imagine... car pool karaoke

• READING THIRST TWEETS!!!!!

• steve and bruce are dying of embarrassment

• tony and nat are loving it, probably smirking the whole time and winking

• wanda and thor are very flattered and happily flirt back

• (wanda makes a few suggestive comments about her powers... we all want scarlet witch to get us off telepathically, lets be honest)

• sam and clint won't stop making jokes

• bucky and vision are just confused

• bucky is concerned with the amount of ppl thirsting over his arm

• "why do they want me to choke them?"

• bucky learning about memes/gifs and just using those to communicate from then on

• using memes of each other in the group chat

• bucky likes to sends random pictures of himself/things around him instead of texting w/ words

• and now all the avengers do it

• imagine seeing captain america discretely taking a selfie on the subway

• steve and bucky watching popular movies/tv shows in secret and then breaking out the references in front of the avengers

• everyone looks at them in confusion and they just smirk at each other, sharing a subtle fist bump

• when one of them casually makes a 'thats what she said' joke, tony spit tanks hot coffee

• avengers being interviewed by kids!!!!

• have you seen that one comic con panel where that little girl asked seb how bucky survived falling off the train?

• yeah i need more of bucky trying to explain his metal arm to children pls

• i feel like children w/ health issues would like cap a lot

• imagine steve visiting childrens hospitals i-

• all the avengers would but i feel like it's really personal for steve

• children with prosthetics looking up to bucky bc they've never seen a superhero like them before

• peter using the avengers for clout on tiktok

• bruce posting experiments/educational content bc he wants ppl to realize he's more than just the hulk

• he's basically bill nye

• tony, peter, and wanda becoming tiktok influencers

• nat and bucky barely post tiktoks but when they do they go viral

____

at the end this just turned into soft avengers headcannons but oh well

also heres the link for that seb panel i talked abt (little girl asks questions at 16:30) https://youtu.be/98q-aYvcaOs

#avengers #avengers headcanon #bucky barnes #steve rogers #tony stark #thor #natasha romanoff #clint barton #bruce banner #wanda maximoff #vision #marvel #mcu #marvel headcannons

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niniane17 · 3 years

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This was inspired by @aegontheconquerorwithteats 's amazing piece refuting the idea that Daenerys is a tragic fallen hero in the Shakespearean tradition. I initially wanted to post it in a reblog about Daenerys and Stannis but the post was getting too long.

I've long noticed the trend of projecting Stannis' characteristics onto Daenerys and vice-versa. I find it especially weird because Stannis is clearly set up as the "fake Daenerys" of the story. As I said long ago, when I first watched the early season in Game of Thrones (all the way back in 2012), I wasn't too invested in Daenerys precisely because her part of the story seemed very obvious to me; she was the foretold hero patienly trying to come back and save the promised land. It's classic dramatic irony: Stannis is the false messiah whereas Daenerys is the real deal, but the characters don't know it yet. What will happen when the truth inevitably comes out?

For a long time, I had no idea somebody else could ever reach a different conclusion. When I saw people online talking badly about Daenerys and elevating Stannis, I assumed it was because they preferred the brooding anti-hero Macbeth figure to the virtous Malcom figure. I didn't fully agree with them -that's why I was ignorant for such a long time- but I could understand it. It was only when I had the brilliant idea of looking up prophecies theories on reddit that a whole new world was opened up to me. Sometimes it really seemed that some fans had watched a totally different show.

Then I read the books, and, if anything, they made Daenerys' role even more obvious, since they have a greater focus on magic and symbolism than the show. I did spend my childhood and teen years reading fantasy books of varying quality, after all. I can recognize a pattern when I see one.

(For example: both Azor Ahai and Daenerys are associated with fire multiple times. Stannis is...not. No matter how hard he and Melisandre try, fire is not and never will be his friend, as evidenced by the Battle of Blackwater)

I think this is why, despite the great amount of meta again Dark!Dany as the ultimate tragic villain, I feel that my strongest argument will alway be a stammering: "but...but...Stannis!", because it's just so...DUH.

Stannis is clearly this story's Macbeth. There's the witch, a treacherous prophecy, an insane wife, a terrible murder...The difference is that, unlike Macbeth, Stannis is not an evil man. He strives to be fair and always tries to do what he thinks is right, and I'm sure he wouldn't be a bad king. But all his good qualities just emphasize his tragedy even more; as much as he wants to be, he is not his world's savior, and the story needs to hold him accoutable for that, sooner or later.

I'm quite sure Stannis' path will take a darker turn very soon, and he'll be forced to go along with it, lest he loses everything he fought for ("For mine own good, all causes shall give way. I am in blood stepped in so far..."). In my opinion, which is popular or not depending on the circles, the show did get Shireen's death right. Most probably the circumstances were all wrong and too rushed, but, upon reflection, it certainly didn't come out of absolutely nowhere. At the very least, the creators weren't forced to resort to outlandish explanations for it.

Thematically, it's fitting in both ways: not only would it be the final evidence that fire is most definitely not Stannis' ally, but it would also reinforce his tragic role, since it would be inspired directly from Greek tragedies.

His death will probably be completely different, but in the show it did make some sort of sense, emotionally if not logistically.

Besides, plot-wise, House Baratheon needs to be taken out as a possible contender if we want to make space to others. We can't reasonably expect the story to deal with Baratheon heirs for much longer, since the next big conflict seems to be about which Targ is the legitimate one.

If all this sounds familiar, it's because it is: I've just described Daenerys' journey into villainy. Only it doesn't belong to her.

I think this is yet another example of people just refusing to accept Daenerys' role in the story, so they constantly need to saddle her somebody else's arc, while simultaneously giving her arc to other characters. In this case, however, it's particularly egregious because it's a complete reversal of the books' whole narrative and I'm utterly blaffed at that. If Stannis was the character some of his fans want him to be, I wouldn't like him at all. I do love Shakespearean tragic heroes, after all. Daenerys, however, isn't one of them.

#asoiaf #daenerys targaryen #stannis baratheon #look at me writing metas about stannis #stannis is both macbeth and agamemnon #i don't think he'll get a happy ending just saying

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cenobiters · 2 years

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CAEL LOVELACE ➤ 22. make-up artist. online way too much. vibes with the trends. would lose her head if it wasn't attached. cat person. miniature craft maker. keep that trauma repressed, babey. obsessed with horror and video games. basic dungeons & dragons player.

#heartshakerrp #c: cael lovelace

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doodleybugg · 2 years

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get to know your followers

Hair care routine + brief description of your hair uh, i shaved it in november so really i just need to wash it

Skincare routine wash in the morning, cover with makeup, fall asleep without washing it again

Full set pajamas, random mismatched comfy clothes, underwear or nothing? sweats and a sports bra are my go to’s

Morning routine (wake up time, breakfast, ya know that shit) wake up, stay in bed for another two hours because it’s literally 4am, fix my makeup and get dressed, take meds

Favorite and least favorite drink fav: milk tea or vanilla coke, least fav: uhhjm beer definitely, it tastes bAD

Favorite and least favorite dish fav: spaghetti (but only the bow-tie noodles, or i refuse to eat it. idk why, either, i just cannot stand the way it feels unless it’s that), least fav: brussel sprouts

Favorite and least favorite dessert fav: french vanilla ice cream or possibly ice cream cake from dairy queen, least fav: pie

Comfort food takis, i have a whole thing with them even though i can’t eat spicy foods :((

Top 3 childhood shows/cartoons icarly, clifford the big red dog, spongebob

Top 3 teen shows/cartoons uh same as current

Top 3 current shows/cartoons umbrella academy, one day at a time, brooklyn 99

Top 3 favorite movies harry potter and the prizoner of azkaban, brave, encanto

Comfort book/books, comics, manga, ya know the lie tree, facelift game, kakegurui (midari’s version though lolz)

Favorite snack of all time ramen

Pets one tabby cat named steve (her real name is evie but :/) and one ragdoll-persian mix named addi

Comfort character of all time remus mf lupin

Most recent achievement (I’m proud of ya!) i ate today!!! had some mcd french fries and a vanilla milkshake after i went to the dentist but both sides of my mouth were frozen so i didn’t really get to eat too much ://

Fashion/clothing trend style uh idk i just wear what i find first

Hobbies writing

Pick a martial art and a sport (you find interesting, would love to learn, already practice, whatever just pick) jshfsdjfk no

Pick a music instrument (you find interesting, would love to learn, already practice, whatever just pick) i used to play the euphonium in band

Perfume/cologne (doesn’t matter if you don’t wear it, just pick one you like) vanilla cherry (which is my bodywash but it works)

What do you do on your leisure days? eh mostly sleep or cry

Tell me a bit about your all time hero/heroine hmmmmmmm

Earphones, headphones or wireless ones? headphones

Top 5 current songs perfect doesn’t last by beth crowley, gambling addiction / eleven elevens by leanna firestone, diet coke by leanna firestone, disenchanted by my chemical romance, bruises and bitemarks by good with grenades

Pick a hero/heroine from Marvel and DC (BECAUSE I WANT YA TO OK???!!?) scarlet witch, liv moore

Where would you like to live? a pretty lil cottage

Favorite food from your culture? i’m the whitest piece of shit ever so uh wonder bread?

Favorite tradition from your culture? hkdjhskjf

Language you would like to learn? french

Where would you travel for vacation? hm idk

What’s your safety place like? nonexistant

Are you working, studying, both, time traveling while fighting demons? studying

Lucky charm a safety pin my ex gf gave me a couple years ago

Latest thing you purchased online? hufflepuff tie

Guilty pleasure? fanfic

Are you physically active? What do you do? i run around the block a couple times ig

Dream job author

Favorite videogame minecraft or sims 4

Perfect hang out with friends *inhales* WHAT ARE THOSSEEEE

Tell me something about yourself (it can be anything lol) i make HEAVNLY grilled cheese

Would you date someone you met online after getting to know them for long enough to genuinely start something serious? uhm depends

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mediabasedlife · 4 years

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A Look Back At...The Last Generation (2013-2020)

I’d like to start this off by thanking those who encouraged me to write this article, my friends and family who encouraged me to rekindle this project despite my own trepidation. I hope its quality lives up to those lofty expectations.

Say what you will about the hobby, gaming is in many ways the gift that keeps on giving. Every year there are hundreds, if not thousands of new offerings for every brand of player out there. And wouldn't you know it, there's a fairly significant portion of that library that are actually pretty good. Now, people will argue ad infinitum about what games are the best, or what consoles, or even which generation trumps the rest. This diversity of opinion is what has allowed gaming discussion to thrive just as potently as the medium which it encapsulates. Like any opinion, all of this is especially subjective; great games have been coming out pretty much every year since gaming began, a trend that seems like it will continue as long as gaming itself continues to thrive. While some may argue, I would say the latest generation thrived especially well. Ignoring the Wii-U, since I never owned one, and skirting around handhelds, the latest generation spanned the life of the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4, and technically, the Nintendo Switch. And through their seven-year life [switch notwithstanding], we saw the release of some truly excellent games - from top budget AAA titles to humble indie offerings. Now, in 2020, while we as a community are taking our first steps into the new generation of gaming, I think it fair to take pause, gaze back, and remember some of the games that made the latest generation so memorable for so many.

2013

2013 marked the start of the last-gen, with the release of both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. Both consoles were built to shepherd out their predecessors, marking leaps in visual fidelity and infrastructure that would empower them to become the monoliths of gaming that they hoped to be. I won't say that both consoles had an equally vibrant launch, but they both tried to put their best foot forward. While the Xbox was busy desperately trying to become the multimedia center for your living room, Sony kicked off the next generation in style, releasing a whole seven days earlier than its competitor. With the Xbox not far behind, both consoles brought a suite of new, shiny games to play. Well, in theory, anyway. I'm not here to speak of the quality of the launch lineups of either console, but what I can do is list off the game that stood out, and why it made it onto my list.

-Assassin's Creed Black Flag Black Flag actually saw its initial release on the PS3 and Xbox 360 almost a month prior to the soon to be current generation, but with both new consoles came a second release, one that came equipped with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from what was then a next-gen game. It doesn't look good for my list to start things off on a technicality, but this game is worth it. Black Flag remains one of my top three Assassin's Creed Games, which is saying a lot considering the sheer scale of the franchise. Fresh off the love it or hate it Assassin's Creed III, Black Flag looked to take a revitalized approach to the franchise formula, playing off of fan feedback, expanding upon what fans loved from AC3, and adding in new activities and a broader, fresher open world to explore. In it, you play as Edward Kenway, a charming rogue of a pirate who kicks the game off by stealing the identity of a defected Assassin. Expecting nothing more than riches and glory, his masquerade instead goes quickly sour, thrusting Edward into the conspiracy filled, secretive world of the Assassin and Templar conflict. What makes this story stand out is how different Edward was as a protagonist, seeing him acting largely indifferent to the traditional formula the assassin's creed games had followed thus far. The game's setting also helped it immensely; the game plays more like a pirate simulator, seeing players sail the Caribbean searching out treasures and fame, gathering a sturdy ship and a hearty crew, engaging in thrilling naval battles, and basking in the warm glow of the sun-drenched sands that define the game's many islands. Along the way, you interact with a bevy of historical or mythical figures, such as Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Calico Jack, and many more. All of this came together to create an immensely satisfying game, a standout amidst its peers and predecessors, and an experience that still stands the test of time despite the numerous sequels it has received.

2014

2014 was the year the new generation really started to pick up. The consoles had begun to get their footing, truly ushering in the next wave of quality games and proving their value to the players. Several critically acclaimed games got their start here or saw revitalized releases on the current generation of consoles. However, there were a few strays, games that elected to release on the prior consoles first and foremost, games that wouldn't see new-gen ports for some time, and others that never did, but still merited recognition and praise. But how many will make it onto my list? Well, you'll just have to read on.

-Titanfall Titanfall was, for me, the first game on the Xbox One that truly cemented it as a worthy purchase. It was a melting pot of ideas and innovation that I immediately fell in love with. Built with an always-online principle, Titanfall sees players engaging in a pseudo-campaign of multiple, looping competitive matches. On the surface, you could easily glance Titanfall's way and see nothing remarkable. Another first-person shooter in a sea of competitors, all of whom had far more clout at the time. But what set Titanfall apart from the start was its dedication to movement, satisfying and fast-paced gunplay, and especially, robots. See, Titanfall's whole gimmick is this; players take on the role of Pilots, better than average soldiers of the far future who are deployed in times of conflict as superior ground troops, but more importantly, heavy artillery. As pilots perform well on the battlefield, they can call in the titular Titanfall, summoning their respective Titan to the fray. Titans are large, deadly mechs that can be piloted by the player to give them a distinct advantage in battle. What this translates to in gameplay is simple; as players make their way through matches, they build up a meter which when filled allows them to call down a massive robot to wreak havoc. Every player can do this, usually multiple times a match if they're good enough. Titans are fast, tough, and lethal, and fun as hell to control. But what kept the game balanced was the fact that titans weren't invincible. All players came equipped with anti-titan weaponry, alongside their usual loadout of rifles or handguns. This meant that anyone could take a titan down if they were savvy. The titans, coupled with the frantic movement and satisfying shooting, made Titanfall a one of a kind game. It's fitting, then, that the inevitable sequel would go on to improve on it in virtually every way, but that'll have to wait for later.

-Diablo 3 I will admit to not having played this in its initial release window, in fact, some years would pass before I finally picked it up on console during a sale. And though my time with it was quite belated, I would still consider it to be a genuinely fun game, one worthy of being on this list. In Diablo 3, players choose between seven classes; Wizard, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor, Demon Hunter, Barbarian, or Crusader. From there, they are thrust into the demon-plagued land of Sanctuary, beginning their adventure in the town of New Tristram. Each class has a different backstory and a slightly different narrative throughout, but the core throughline is thus; you are sent to the village to investigate reports of a falling star, only to be swept up in a fight against hell and heaven itself for the fate of the world. In terms of game difficulty, the game sports an impressive twenty difficulty tiers; easy, normal, hard, master, and then sixteen levels of torment. Should players want an even greater challenge, there's also hardcore mode, which starts you off with permadeath: you get one life, no exceptions. Die, and the character is gone for good. Overall, I would say that Diablo's biggest strength is in its gameplay loop; Diablo plays like a top-down, hack and slash role-playing game, with players exploring the various levels in search of loot all the while battling hordes of enemies and leveling up, earning new abilities and skills that players can swap out to create their ideal builds. The core gameplay loop, while simple, is wildly addictive, with a massive loot pool to chase in an effort to grow ever stronger. Each class plays differently, but all of them are easy to learn. Diablo also supports local and online multiplayer, making it a great game to play with friends or family.

-Sunset Overdrive Sunset Overdrive is a game I've previously covered on this blog before. In fact, I'd say I did such a good job that if you want to read about it, go read that article. But if you'd rather not click away, let me give you the TL;DR. Sunset overdrive is a satirical open world game made by Insomniac in which you play as a cocky and comedic hero out to save their city from a bogus energy drink that caused a pseudo-zombie outbreak. It's built around movement, with the player grinding on rails and running on walls and doing everything they can to stay mobile while gunning down the mutated enemies and exploring the environment. It's funny and feels great to play while being hampered by an underwhelming character creator and suite of customization options, but still manages to come out on top as an immensely satisfying game.

-Destiny Destiny is the brainchild of one Bungie studios, the original creators of Halo, the next game on this list. Fresh off their amicable split from Microsoft, Bungie did what they did best; develop a truly great FPS. But this time, they added a twist; Destiny is equal parts Shooter, Looter, and MMO. It took these three core ingredients and mixed them together with gusto, delivering an immensely entertaining game that felt incredible to play both alone or with your friends. The story of destiny is a long one, but can be summarized simply; Some years in the future, Humanity met and allied with an alien being known as the Traveller, an alliance that heralded massive technological and social leaps, ushering in the new Golden Age of humanity. Unfortunately, the Traveller's natural enemies, The Darkness, attacked the solar system, destroying much, and whittling down the last survivors to a single safe city. In response, the Traveller created Guardians, reanimated protectors infused with the Traveller's power, tasked with defending the earth and all its colonies from the encroaching forces of evil that threaten this dwindling peace. Resurrected by a ghost, an emissary of the Traveller, you play as one of these Guardians; taking on the role of either the agile Hunter, the cosmically magical Warlock, or the strong and stalwart Titan. From there, you could either progress alone or join up with friends to take on the challenges of the solar system, pushing back the forces of darkness. Although lacking in longevity in its first outing, destiny was quickly expanded and iterated upon, turning it from an already impressive game to a true powerhouse and pillar of its genre.

-Halo: The Master Chief Collection I won't pretend this started off as a flawless, perfect compilation of prior Halo games. But I love Halo, and I loved playing these games again, so it makes the list. Especially after all of the improvements and subsequent additions 343 made to the collection post-launch. On release, it featured Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4, but has since gone on to include Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach as well. If you're unfamiliar, Halo is a staple franchise in the Xbox lineup, and the master chief collection sought to unify all of the prior releases under one umbrella for the newest console. Halo is a sci-fi FPS franchise, largely following the saga of the titular Master Chief Petty Officer, John-117. John, or Master Chief as he is more commonly called, is a Spartan; a supersoldier of the future, who fights to protect humanity from an alien collective dubbed The Covenant. In the first game, Master Chief crash lands on an alien ringworld known as Halo, which later turns out to be an ancient superweapon created to exterminate all sentient life in the galaxy. Subsequent games only build the stakes from there, seeing John stave off one intergalactic threat after another in a franchise that continues to satisfy time and again. What the Master Chief Collection does is bundle everything up in one convenient package, while simultaneously offering tweaks and improvements to complement the technological advancements of the new consoles. It offers local and online multiplayer, both for its story and its competitive modes. Overall, even with the flawed beginnings, I would consider The master chief collection a must-have for Xbox players.

-Grand Theft Auto V Ah yes, GTAV, the game that refuses to die. Technically, this game released on the Xbox 360 and ps3, but it's been put on the PS4/XBO and now even the PS5 and the latest Xboxes too. I won't be surprised if this game gets ported to the consoles that come after that, too, in seven or so years. This game just won't quit. But that's also a testament to the dedication of its player base and the overall quality of the game itself. GTAV is an irreverent, biting joy of a game, replete with humor and charisma. It was, and remains, the latest in Rockstar's open-world crime franchise, in which players take on the role of not one, but three separate characters trying to make their way through life in Los Santos California; Michael, a retired crook stuck in the witness protection system, Michael's former, quite deranged partner Trevor, and rounding out the cast is Franklin, a street-savvy up and comer. Together they go about committing numerous heists, shady deals, and more than a few moments of mayhem in their quest for glory. Its secondary selling point was a robust and open-ended online mode, where players could create their own character and participate in myriad activities with and against their friends and strangers for fame, money, and clout. This is the mode that has kept GTA going in the years since its release, and it is the mode that has seen the most improvements and updates as well. I spent a not inconsiderable amount of time in it myself, but it was always the story of Michael, Trevor, and Franklin that drew me in overall.

-Tales from the Borderlands Tales from the Borderlands is the only Telltale game I'm putting in this whole list. Not for lack of quality on the other games' parts, but simply because this one has to be my favorite. For those unfamiliar, Borderlands is a series of FPS games that take place far in the future on the fringes of space; the titular Borderlands. It follows a revolving door of ragtag Vault Hunters, people who go in search of mythical, alien "vaults" that are rumored to contain vast amounts of treasure. They are incredibly popular, addicting looter shooters that match satisfying gunplay with beautiful cell-shaded graphics, topped off with charming and funny characters and not too shabby storytelling. Telltale games, on the other hand, are traditional point and click adventure games, released in episodic formats and usually broken down into seasons. They focus on storytelling first and foremost, showcasing incredibly compelling narratives influenced by player choice. You'd think, then, that these two dichotomous formats wouldn't pair well together at all, but Tales from the Borderlands proves that sentiment is wildly false. Tales from the borderlands took what was great about previous telltale games, and matched it perfectly to an original tale set in the Borderlands universe. It weaves an incredibly compelling narrative, filled with equal parts humor and feeling, and manages to tell one of the best Borderlands stories to date.

2015

I don't have a lot to say about 2015. The new generation was still going strong and saw some truly excellent games grace its shelves, many of whom are going to appear below.

-Bloodborne 2015 kicked off incredibly strong with Bloodborne, the latest instant classic from the studio behind the equally popular Dark Souls franchise. Bloodborne melds the skill-oriented, punishing combat and exploration heavy maps of the Souls games with an eldritch, psychological atmosphere, a match so perfect it went together like peanut butter and chocolate. To espouse the story of Bloodborne would be an effort in itself, but I shall do my best to summarize it; Shirking the more medieval settings of the Souls games before it, Bloodborne sees players navigating the victorian gothic town of Yarnham, a city plagued by beasts and monsters. It is these monsters you are tasked with dispatching, taking on the role of a Hunter of Beasts, sent to cleanse the town of that which ails it. But not is all as it seems, and the beasts may not be the only monsters Yarnham has to offer. Outside of its interpretive yet incredibly strong narrative, Bloodborne offered equally polished gameplay, iterating on the previously mentioned combat from prior dark souls games to create a punishing yet wildly satisfying gameplay loop that was easy to learn yet hard to master. Bloodborne forced players to always be on their guard but gave them no shield or barrier with which to do so, believing that offense was the greatest defense, making success hinge on your willingness to fight and your skill in surviving the nightmares that Yarnham had to offer. A melding of horror, action, and exploration, Bloodborne was a true success, cementing itself for years to come as a top tier action-RPG, and saw countless fans that remain dedicated to it to this day.

-The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt I'm going to be blunt; This is one of my favorite games of the last generation. It is a top tier RPG, made up of an incredibly charming cast of characters, a beautiful open world, and a thrilling, fantastical narrative that all come together to make one of the best games to release in the last seven years. Though a sequel to not only two prior games, but also a long line of books, The Witcher 3 was surprisingly friendly to newcomers, of which I was one at the time. Despite its pedigree, I felt right at home in the world of the Witcher, quickly picking up on what I had missed in its long and storied life. The Witcher 3 puts players in the role of Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher, a magically enhanced human tasked with routing out monsters that threaten the world of man. This time around, Geralt is searching for his ward, Ciri, as he navigates a world fraught with monsters and men in equal measure. what starts as a simple search for a missing friend quickly blossoms into an adventure for the fate of the world itself. Though a fantasy RPG at its heart, the witcher manages to tell some particularly grounded and human stories, and this game is no exception. One moment will see you stalking a beast out in the wild, the next will see you navigating political intrigue in the courts of royalty. But it all flows together to create one of the best RPGs I've ever played, and one that earned a not inconsiderable amount of well-deserved praise when it first debuted back in 2015.

-Assassin's Creed Syndicate Hot off the heels of the muddied AC Unity, Syndicate was the last proper Assassin's Creed game before the franchise would experience a massive genre and gameplay shift in its next entry. Where Unity saw too much focus on graphics and not enough care anywhere else, Syndicate finely balances all of its parts to create an impressive experience overall. This time around, players get to visit London, at the tail end of its industrial revolution. Out goes flintlocks and swords, in came steam and steel. This entry sees players in the role of both Evie and Jacob Frye, siblings fresh off their induction into the Assassin Brotherhood, tasked with dispatching justice on their Templar foes across London. The setting isn't the only big change for this game, as Syndicate saw an overhaul in both visual quality, scale, and gameplay. London feels lived large and lived in, with plenty of ground to explore and streets filled with people going about their day-to-day. Missions are split between Jacob and Evie both, with some allowing you to pick and choose and others forcing you into the shoes of one or the other as they work together to clean up the city. It innovated on the traditional gameplay loop, with this game having you going from borough to borough, toppling its templar leaders and expanding your sphere of influence with the aid of historical figures like Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Nikola Tesla. These famous faces are not the only people lending the Fryes their helping hand, as Syndicate also put the Fryes in charge of their own street gang, a ragtag group of brawlers and scouts that would come to their aid at the press of a button. Most times, conquering a borough involved you and your gang scrapping it out with those of the templar order, dusting knuckles to see who got the final say in the control of the area. This may seem at odds with the traditionally stealth-oriented approach prior games focused on, but that side of the game was not neglected either. Assassination missions saw fine-tuning and innovation as well, with players able to plan out and partake in uniquely tailored kills that matched the locale and personality of their target, from disguising yourself as a scientific cadaver to kill a corrupt doctor to allying with a guard and feigning capture to infiltrate and kill a target in the Tower of London. The game saw improvements out of combat as well, with Syndicate receiving a large overhaul in its parkour movement and general navigation. The Frye twins come equipped with a grappling hook that allows for speedy travel across London's many rooftops, while ground travel was made all the more expedient with the inclusion of horse-drawn carriages. The general parkour itself was also tuned, allowing for freer player movement and tighter directional control. All of this to say, Syndicate saw some truly welcomed improvements, iterating on the legacy and creating a lasting impression that stands up as one of the better games of the franchise.

-Star Wars Battlefront While I've spoken of a Battlefront on this blog before, this is not that same game. Rather, this is Battlefront 2015, a soft reboot to the previous Battlefront line of games for the new generation of consoles. This Star Wars Battlefront was helmed and developed by Dice, famed for the Battlefield franchise, a line of competent and entertaining military-focused first-person shooters. They were known for solid campaigns, but more importantly, massive scale competitive multiplayer modes. This pedigree is shown heavily in Battlefront, with the game sporting 64 players competitive multiplayer, with teams taking on the roles of either the empire or the rebellion as they fight their way through maps taken straight from the star wars universe, from the snowy plains of Hoth to the immense forests of Endor and everywhere in between. The game was replete with game modes and had the ability to be played in either first or third person. Players were given access to a modest selection of in-universe weaponry, and could even take the role of recognizable star wars heroes on occasion. Visually, the game was stunning, with incredibly faithful and detailed recreations from everything to weapons to the maps themselves. It felt like a genuine passion project, built from the ground up by competent developers and made for fans and first-timers alike. Battlefront, much like many games on this list, has since been usurped by a sequel but remains an incredibly competent shooter and a genuinely fun game to play.

2016

While 2015 saw the release of some truly impressive games, 2016 was a genuine powerhouse of a year. It saw the rise to prominence of Virtual Reality, through the oculus rift and the PlayStation VR. 2016 also saw the first re-released console of the current generation, in the form of the Playstation 4 Pro, a trend that Xbox would follow as well, seeing the release of 2016's Xbox One S, and in 2017, the Xbox One X. These were touted as faster, better performing, better-looking consoles than their base model predecessors, offering several enhancements to graphical fidelity and console performance, running games even better than they already did. And with these new consoles came an all-star suite of excellent games, a multitude of instant classics from big-name studios and fresh indie developers alike. Many of the games that released this year are ones I've individually covered before, but they still deserve their spot in this article. So without further ado, here are some of the most noteworthy games of 2016.

-Oxenfree Where Bloodborne was the standout hit that kicked off 2015, Oxenfree did the exact same thing for 2016. Developed by the California based indie team at Night School Studios, Oxenfree is a supernaturally infused, slice of life adventure game that follows Alex, a witty, rebellious, soon to be high school graduate as she makes her way to the fictional Edwards Island, accompanied by her best friend Ren and new stepbrother Jonah. This small group of friends is meeting up with what they assume will be a large group to have a weekend bash, But what was supposed to be a boisterous weekend party turns out to just be two extra guests; Clarissa, a fellow student who has ties to Alex, and Nona, a mild-mannered girl who just so happens to be Ren's current crush. Their modest get together quickly goes south when Alex uses a small handheld radio to tune into a weird signal emanating from the island, unleashing the spirits of a sunken military submarine, long since lost at sea. These wayward souls possess one of the kids and scatter the rest across the island, forcing Alex to uncover the mystery of their death and find a way to save her friends and escape the island. The game wears its inspirations on its sleeve, taking queues from classic ghost stories as much as it does retro coming of age stories, but it adapts these ideas masterfully. As for how it plays, Oxenfree is a side scrolling point and click adventure game, built around exploration and dialogue rather than complex game mechanics. It explores the interpersonal relationships between all the characters as much as it explores the haunted nature of the island itself. It easily shifts between these disparate tones, with a story filled with as many supernatural spooks as sarcastic teenage banter, seamlessly integrating player choice into the mix to create a truly excellent narrative. Oxenfree also features a high amount of replayability, with player choice going on to influence which of the game's many endings, as well as touting a new game plus mode that adds an extra smattering of content for your subsequent playthroughs. Oxenfree was a gift that kept on giving, more than earning its spot on this list.

-Firewatch Firewatch is the first of several 2016 games I've previously written about, and while my opinion of it may have not been the highest initially, ruminating on it since has led me to a new appreciation of the time I spent with it. I would recommend reading my original review, but the short summary is thus; you play as Henry, a man on the run from his troubles who takes a job in the Shoshone national forest, keeping an eye on the wildlife and ensuring nothing is amiss. Your companion through the game is Delilah, a voice through your walkie talkie, somebody else who has taken the same job as you over in one of the adjacent watchtowers. Throughout the game you explore the forest, keeping the area safe while exploring the mysteries of the area you now inhabit, all the while developing a friendly relationship with Delilah as you go. It's a simple, but satisfying first-person adventure game, with an emotionally charged but comedic narrative about one man's journey to get lost and find himself.

-Stardew Valley Stardew Valley is a retro-inspired simulator game about a down and out office worker who inherits their grandfather's farm in the titular Stardew Valley. They leave their mundane life behind and embark on a new journey in rural life, building up the farm from a rundown, untamed field into a bustling agricultural powerhouse, all the while making friends and forming bonds with the locals that you meet along the way. Stardew plays like a dream and features a stunning pixellated art style that complements its easygoing nature. Stardew is a game you can get lost in with ease, featuring an incredibly satisfying gameplay loop; It's a charmingly simple sim, one that encourages players to make their own way and their own choices, with a multitude of different ways to spend each in-game day. You're encouraged to play the game at your own pace, experiencing its range of content as it comes, rather than being railroaded into any one path for progression. It's a game that encourages exploration, diversity, and freedom, one that never really ends. Stardew made waves when it first came out for being such an open-ended, friendly experience, and it has since gone on to be heavily expanded upon by its developer, seeing releases on even more platforms and accruing even more fans along the way. It's a game that's easy to love and hard to put down, a comfort food game that makes you want to revisit it time and again.

-Titanfall 2 Where the original Titanfall was an excellent Xbox exclusive, Titanfall 2 bloomed the franchise into a multiplatform powerhouse. While it kept the excellent multiplayer modes, Titanfall 2's biggest change was the inclusion of a proper single-player story, and it's this inclusion that sees Titanfall 2 earn a place on my list. Titanfall 2's campaign is short, but sweet, seeing players take on the role of Jack Cooper, a pilot in training under the mentorship of an experienced soldier named Lastimosa. Unfortunately, on their first field mission, Lastimosa is killed, forcing Jack to embrace his future role as Pilot in an effort to survive and keep Lastimosa's experimental Titan out of enemy hands. This Titan, given the codename BT, is unique among Titans in that it can freely equip the various titan weapons and abilities, while simultaneously having an expanded AI that allows it to perform better in combat than its contemporaries. Together, Jack and BT make their way through the Frontier, coming into conflict with the varied enemy forces that they were originally sent in to stop. The campaign is brief, but what it lacks in lengths it makes up for in entertainment; the banter between Jack and BT makes for some great dialogue, and the campaign is perfectly built around the shooting and movement tech that made the first Titanfall so distinct, creating a series of levels that are just as built around gunfights as they are around precise first-person platforming. The game's environments are also beautiful to look at, varying from gritty industrial complexes to lush jungle environments that are as nice to look at as they are to maneuver through. Accompanying the stellar story mode is the recurring suite of multiplayer offerings, all of which have been upgraded and improved upon to complement the innovations of the sequel. Where Titanfall was good, Titanfall 2 is great, and it's a continual shame the series hasn't been given more time to shine.

-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition This is another game that I've previously covered on my blog, and it's also another technicality. See, Skyrim technically released back in 2011 but saw so many re-releases in the years afterward that at this point the only device that doesn't natively play it are phones. With this particular re-release, Bethesda sought to give console players the same quality of life changes that PC players had been seeing for years, namely graphical improvements, stability patches, and most importantly, player-created content. Skyrim had developed a bustling and dedicated community of creators in its years since release, all of whom had made countless mods for the game that ranged anywhere from simple tweaks to full-on expansion sized stories, and the special edition release marked the first time Xbox and Playstation fans could get their hands on this library of unique content. It created a situation where the already hefty game could be made all the more robust with fan contributions. Don't like the music? Download one of the unique music packs somebody put together. Want any number of pop culture-inspired items? Looking for some new quests to spice up this five-year-old game? It's all there and more.

-Watch Dogs 2 You might be wondering why I've put Watch Dogs 2 on this list while its predecessor is nowhere to be found. While the first Watch Dogs was a middling revenge story that happened to incorporate some neat hacking based features, Watch Dogs 2 is where the franchise really found itself. It follows the story of one Marcus Holloway, a bright and witty young man who's been framed for a crime he didn't commit by a faulty surveillance network that monitors the city of Los Angeles in a pseudo-dystopic future not so removed from our own. So Marcus does what he does best, hacks into the network and removes himself from it entirely, embarking on a campaign to take the whole system down with the help of white hat hacker collective Deadsec. What sets this game apart from its predecessor is the charisma of its cast and the far more varied ways in which you can use the game's technology to your advantage. Hijack cameras, remote control vehicles, manipulate streetlights, the world of Watch Dogs 2 is yours to manipulate all at the press of a button. And if hacking doesn't get you where you need to be, Marcus has some skills of his own; he's particularly skilled at parkour and quite handy at non-lethally dispatching foes with a weapon of his own design, a billiard ball attached to a bungee cord. And if playing non-lethally isn't your thing, you can also accumulate quite the arsenal of homemade weaponry, all 3D printed from the base of your hacker collective. Watch Dogs 2 is a game about a group of people trying to take down a corrupt system using whatever means they can. It's a witty, satirical, but surprisingly grounded story told across a beautiful open-world recreation of Los Angeles, one that drew me in far more than its predecessor ever managed to do.

2017

2017 might not have had the same pedigree of games as its predecessor, but it did see the belated release of the latest current-gen console; The Nintendo Switch. A revolutionary step up from the Wii and Wii U, The Switch took the gaming world by storm thanks to its ability to seamlessly transition from a home console playing on your TV to a handheld console able to go with you anywhere. The Switch remains a staple of the console market to this day, easily standing tall next to the Playstation and Xbox consoles both new and old. Aside from the Switch, there was still a healthy collection of games for people to enjoy, some of which will be highlighted below.

-Night in the Woods Night in the Woods marks yet another game I've personally reviewed, and also stands proud as one of my absolute favorites of this generation. A humble offering from indie studio Infinite Fall, it was a gorgeously animated sidescroller of an adventure game that followed college dropout Mae Borowski as she returns to her small home town of Possum Springs to rekindle old friendships and reconnect with her family. Despite its anthropomorphic cast, it tells a genuinely human story, one that perfectly reflected what it feels like to revisit old haunts; how things can be so familiar yet change so much, seamlessly blending an emotionally charged narrative with a dark, suspenseful hometown mystery. Night in the Woods remains an absolutely incredible game to experience, showcasing themes like mental illness, sexuality, and identity through the lens of youthful wit and clever, dry sarcasm. I haven't played many truly perfect games, but Night in the Woods came damned close to being one.

-Kingdom Hearts 1.5/2.5 Ah yes, another collection of re-releases. Kingdom Hearts technically started back on the PS2, with the release of Kingdom Hearts 1. From there it blossomed into an incredibly diverse and lengthy franchise that saw releases on consoles and handhelds alike, from the PS2 to the Gameboy Advance. What these re-releases did was bundle all of the Kingdom Hearts games into one complete package, and tossed them all onto the PlayStation 4. It created a cohesive collection for this storied saga and presented it all in an easy to follow order that anyone could pick up and work through. Both games also offered the previously exclusive Final Mix content to the west for the first time, expanding on the already hefty games with more difficulty options, more enemies, more story content, and more challenges to keep the fun going and going. But what is Kingdom Hearts, I hear some people ask. Kingdom hearts is a series of action RPGs that follow the adventures of heroes known as Keyblade Wielders as they fight against the forces of darkness that threaten the worlds beyond. They play great, feature an especially enjoyable cast of characters, and tells a heartwarming story of good and evil. A joint project between Square Enix and Disney, Kingdom Hearts features an abundance of Disney characters and worlds, crossing over with various Square Enix properties in this epic struggle against light and dark. That's the easiest summary of the story by far, as delving any deeper would almost certainly confuse the casual reader, but let me say this; The Kingdom Hearts games are fantastic, well worth the time, and with these remastered collections, more approachable than ever.

-Nier Automata Nier Automata is a tough game to talk about in-depth, on account of just how easy it is to spoil for people who haven't experienced it. But it was also one of my favorite games of 2017, so I'll do my best to give it its due. Nier Automata is somewhat of a hybrid game; it blends so many genres together but somehow manages to do each one of them justice. Equal parts open world, action RPG, Bullet Hell, and more, Nier Automata takes place in the far, far future, in the ruins of earth. Humanity has long since abandoned the planet and sought shelter on the moon, entrusting a group of humanoid androids to defend the planet from an encroaching alien threat. The story follows several of these androids; 2B, 9S, and A2, as they wander the ruins of humanity and fight back against the robot foes that the aliens use as soldiers. It tells an amazing story that all but demands subsequent replays to get the full breadth of its narrative weight across, with each subsequent playthrough seen through the eyes of one of the other characters. Equal parts sci-fi story and humanist breakdown, Nier Automata is a deconstructive, philosophical pondering wrapped in the guise of an anime action game. That's not to say it doesn't wear the disguise well; Nier Automata plays like a dream, with stylish combat and an accompanying score that makes for easy listening both in and out of the game. It's another must-play, especially with the remake/remaster of its predecessor soon to release in 2021.

-Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal Persona 5 is an absolute joy of an RPG. It's slick, stylish, has a superb soundtrack, and tells a top tier story to boot. You take the role of a down-and-out high school kid who's been forced to transfer from his hometown in the countryside to Tokyo, thanks to a bogus police incident. Labeled a criminal and looked down on by the adults of his new school, the protagonist goes about bettering himself, raising his grades, and making the most of his new life in a new city. He forms bonds and relationships with the people around him, making fast friends with many of his classmates and even some chill adults along the way. Oh, he can also use a supernatural phone app to dive into the corrupted hearts of society, utilizing a special power to battle the evils that lie within and force them to change their ways and confess their deeds. Herein lies the dichotomy of the Persona 5; Much like the other Persona games that preceded it, the story it tells is a hybrid of supernatural mystery and coming of age drama, blending mundane highschool life with a fantasy adventure. It is equal parts life simulator and stylish role-playing game, as you and your friends do their best to repair a broken system using the fantastical powers they've been imbued with. These powers are the titular Persona, powerful creatures that embody the sides of ourselves we keep hidden behind the masks of society. These personas allow one to do battle with the shadows that lurk within these corrupted hearts, creatures that take on myriad forms inspired by religion and myth. Wielding this power, they embark on a journey of social reform, fighting a revolving door of less than scrupulous individuals that all culminating in a battle to change society itself. In spite of its overtly fantastical elements, the story it tells is decidedly grounded and surprisingly relatable; at its core, Persona 5 is about a collective of disenfranchised individuals trying their best to make it through life and change things for the better, a story that was and remains especially poignant and a welcomed escapist fantasy to fall into time and again.

-Slime Rancher Slime Rancher is an adorable simulator game and one I've praised before on my blog. It blends first-person shooter elements with the farming simulator genre, tasking players to manage and explore a planet on the fringes of space that's almost entirely populated by a race of creatures known as Slime. Slimes come in a varied selection of types and sizes, but all of them have one universal similarity; they all produce a resource known as a Plort that you can trade to an intergalactic trade center for currency, which in turn allows you to upgrade your slime farm and expand into new territories. The gameplay loop is nothing but fun, with each new expansion bringing in new species of slime that you can wrangle and combine to make hybrids that in turn create more valuable plorts. As you make your way through the planet, you start uncovering logs left behind by your farm's prior owner, that weave a narrative of love and loss, a story that drives you forward in your quest if only to see how it concludes. You're not alone in this quest, though, as you have your slimes for company as well as several long-distance conversations via the computer in your home between friends and fellow farmers alike. Subsequent game updates have only expanded upon the experience, seeing new opportunities for trade, daily activities, and more, making an already invigorating and enjoyable game all the more so.

-Destiny 2 It's no secret that Destiny 2 had a complicated launch window. Many fans felt that Destiny 2 left too much of what made its predecessor great on the cutting room floor, electing instead to reset the player base back to zero and tell a brand new story. While I missed some of what Destiny 2 left behind, I was still somebody who found a lot of joy in Destiny 2, as evidenced by the thousand-plus hour count it tells me I've poured into it since its 2017 release. The game has also seen countless improvements and additions in the years since its release, adopting a new seasonal model and even going free to play after a point. Most recently, Destiny 2 saw the release of Beyond Light, the first in a new trilogy of expansions that hopes to continue the game forward over the next few years. So, while it might have had a rough start, it still remains destiny at its core, making it one of the best shooters on the market, coupled with a satisfying loot hunt and a rewarding structure that continues to keep its fans coming back for more. That alone lands it in my list of games for 2017, and the generation as a whole.

-The Sims 4 Though this game technically saw the light of day back in 2014, I didn't end up playing it until its console release here in 2017. Thus, I place it here. There isn't a lot of complication with Sims 4. If you're at all familiar with its predecessors, you know exactly what to expect. An engaging simulator game, in which you craft an individual or family and set them on the path of life, influencing them as they go or leaving them to their own fates so as to see what happens. You tailor their looks, personality, aesthetic...it's a premier example of micromanagement as entertainment. This installment shirked some of the advancements made by its predecessor but still manages to be a robust and enjoyable game all on its own, made all the better by continued additional content releases in the years since its premiere. It's a game that keeps on giving and seems primed to continue doing so for some time yet.

2018

2018 saw the release of some genuinely top-shelf games, with the Switch continuing to establish itself against its contemporaries, while the Playstation continued to add excellent exclusives to its lineup.

-Far Cry 5 The Far Cry games have always been known for being competent shooters with large open worlds, and this one is no exception. Shirking the usual foreign locales, Far Cry 5 takes place a lot closer to home, seeing players cleaning up the rural backwoods of Montana, taking place in the fictional Hope County. In it, you play as a rookie cop sent in to apprehend an evangelical doomsday cultist; John Seed, The Father. This arrest quickly goes south, leaving you as the last lawman willing to stand up to the Seed family and free Hope County from their grasp. To do so, you systematically break the hold of his lieutenants, dismantling their bases of operations and taking down his associates in a slow climb to face him once more. Along the way you make friends and allies out of the locals, people with a similar drive to rise up and clean up their county. As far as the gameplay, Far Cry 5 is a mix of FPS and RPG elements, with a rudimentary character customization system and plenty of powerful guns to acquire. You level up and earn skills that augment your preferred style of play, be it stealthy or over the top, all in your pursuit of justice. Augmenting this quest is the world it takes place in, with players exploring lush forests, vibrant fields, and the general detritus of rural America. Hope county feels real, with looks to match, despite its farcical tone and over the top gameplay. All of this came together to make a Far Cry that felt fresh and fun, a genuine step forward for the franchise.

-God of War Prior games in the God of War series were not known for subtlety, nuance, or humanity. Rather, they were violent hack and slash games that featured the titular God of War, Kratos, seeking and exacting bloody revenge on the greek pantheon for their slights against him and his family. They were by no means bad games, but they weren't what I would consider masterpieces either. Then, we were given God of War (2017). This soft reboot/Sequel for the franchise saw Kratos embarking on a distinctly more grounded story than its predecessors, navigating the perils of fatherhood while on a journey to deliver his late wife's ashes in the world of the Norse Pantheon. He is joined by his son, Atreus, a bright but rebellious young boy who seeks only to prove his worth to the gruff and distant Kratos. This more human story is accompanied by a more grounded approach to combat and gameplay; while it retains the emphasis on action, it feels more deliberate than prior entries, shifting the combat style from the hack and slash nature to a more measured approach, with players needing to conserve stamina and plan their attacks lest they get easily overwhelmed. The game also incorporates a more open world structure than its predecessors, seeing Kratos and his son freely traversing their environment, unlocking shortcuts, and finding means to double back on past areas in a level progression that feels more like a Souls game than the God of Wars of old. All of this came together to make a game that felt genuinely innovative, a fresh new direction for a pre-established franchise that was as welcoming to newcomers as it was to prior fans.

-Donut County Donut County is a silly, short indie puzzle game in which you play as a mischievous raccoon delivering "donuts" to the unsuspecting populous around him. These donuts are, in fact, large sinkholes that expand as they eat different objects, eventually growing to swallow the entirety of the lot they were sent to. The core gameplay lies in this concept, with you controlling the various sinkholes from level to level, figuring out the order in which to consume the various objects on each map in order to grow in size. As the game progresses you unlock various upgrades to these sinkholes, like the ability to spit things out of them, adding new layers to the simple puzzles the game encapsulates. It isn't a terribly long game, as already said, only taking an hour or two to finish, but it cemented itself as a charming indie game amidst a sea of big-name titles.

-Marvel's Spider-Man Developed by Insomniac, previously mentioned in the Sunset Overdrive excerpt, Marvel's Spider-Man is a rare example of a genuinely amazing superhero game. In it, players take on the role of Peter Parker, a Spider-Man who has already established himself as the hero we know and love, but one that still has room to grow and learn. What starts off as a triumphant takedown of one Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, soon blossoms into a complicated web that involves a shady group known as the Demons that Spider-Man must stop from wreaking havoc on the city. But the game isn't just about the Heroics of Spider-Man; The Game showcases the best aspects of Peter's character, splitting the game equally between his time as Spider-Man and his normal life as Peter Parker, a scientist working under the apprenticeship of one Otto Octavius, while simultaneously working with his Aunt May at the local Homeless Shelter and trying to rekindle his forlorn relationship with Mary Jane. All of this unfurls simultaneously, weaving a web that melds incredible movement with fast and stylish combat, stellar characters, and a heartwarming tale, cementing itself not only as a great game but also as one of the best Spider-Man stories out there.

-The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories The Missing is a heartfelt, down to earth story told through the lens of a grisly but goofy premise. In it, you play as the titular JJ Macfield, a young girl who goes on a trip with her close friend Emily to a remote island off the coast of Maine. What is supposed to be a fun excursion takes a turn for the worse, as Emily goes missing, leaving JJ to track her down. Unfortunately, this quest quickly leads JJ to her death...but not for long. Resurrected by a bolt of lightning, JJ gains the ability to remove various parts of her body, as the island quickly goes from an idyllic wonderland to a psychedelic nightmare. Undeterred, JJ uses her newfound ability to traverse the island, ever searching for her lost friend. The Missing might sound like a horror game on paper, but it uses these macabre themes to tell a distinctly grounded story about dealing with personal identity and navigating a hostile and unfamiliar world, culminating in a heartbreakingly bittersweet twist that I won't spoil here. This is all to say; the Missing is an excellent game. It's a joy to play, despite its harrowing content, and it manages to convey its themes in a way that feels genuine and meaningful, telling a story that's still relevant to this day.

-Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Smash games have always been good, and Ultimate more than earns its moniker. This is the Ultimate Smash game; iterating on its predecessors without changing anything for the worst, Ultimate is an unabashed love letter to the series as a whole, incorporating every character and every map from every prior game all in one upgraded package. If you don't know what Smash is, let me explain; Nintendo is known for a lot of fantastic first-party titles, from Mario to Kirby to Metroid, and countless others. Smash takes all of these well-loved characters, throws them in an arena, and has them fight for supremacy. Debuting on the Nintendo 64, Smash has seen one major game release for every Nintendo console since, culminating in Smash Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch. As earlier stated, it features an absolutely enormous roster of playable characters, featuring every fighter from the previous games and several new additions for good measure. This roster was only further expanded with the release of the fighter passes, seeing an additional eleven fighters across the two that have thus far been released, ranging from surprise hits like Persona 5's Joker to fan favorites like Banjo and Kazooie. While not featuring a traditional story mode, Ultimate makes good use of its characters in a suite of different game modes that can be played both alone or with friends, online or locally. It's a fantastic party game and an equally praiseworthy fighter, rewarding skilled play but catering to casual players and newcomers alike.

2019

2019 marked the slowdown for the current generation, shadowed by the whispers of a new age of consoles. This made for a simple year for games, but one no less stacked with noteworthy games and worthwhile experiences.

-Kingdom Hearts 3 After years of waiting, 2019 finally saw the release of Kingdom Hearts 3. The wait might have been long, but the game delivered on the hype, simultaneously closing out the narrative arc that had begun so long ago with Kingdom Hearts 1 and beginning a new chapter for fans to look forward to. In service of this goal, Kingdom Hearts 3 wrapped up the majority of dangling storylines from all the previous games, while still leaving a handful of mysteries to chase into the future of the franchise. It featured a new suite of Disney worlds to explore, and incorporated Pixar properties for the first time in franchise history. The new content accompanied refined and polished gameplay mechanics and a complete visual overhaul, while still retaining the heart and soul that defined the games thus far. It all came together well enough but was later expanded upon through the release of Re: Mind, the game's beefy expansion that rebalanced gameplay and added in hours of new story content to better cap off the story. All told, Kingdom Hearts 3 was another great game, building on a legacy that seems like it will continue well into the future.

-Devil May Cry 5 For those not in the know, Devil May Cry is a series of games that follow the life of Dante, a half-demon sword for hire as he does his best to kill monsters and eat pizza. It's a franchise known for skillful, precise, stylish combat mixed with goofy, over the top stories, usually involving Dante and his associates contending with the fallout of his family, the demon king Sparda and his brother Vergil. While not a flawless franchise, it saw several excellent releases over the years, but then went depressingly dormant. Devil May Cry 5 was the perpetual waiting game, but 2019 saw it finally come out, accompanied by mass acclaim and praise. it really seemed like all the years of waiting were well rewarded. DMCV features three playable characters; Nero, a fellow demon hunter first introduced in Devil May Cry 4, Dante, the series' staple protagonist, and lastly the mysterious V, a newly introduced character for this game. Together the three were tasked with working together to take down the demonic Qliphoth and its master, Urizen, an immensely powerful demon lord. The game looks gorgeous, marking the first time the games have looked truly next-gen. Accompanying this boost in visual fidelity is the franchise's staple; combat was finely tuned to be more stylish than ever, with each character having a variety of tricks at their disposal to dispatch the demon hoard that stood between them and Urizen. Devil May Cry was back, and it was better than ever.

-Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Bloodstained is the spiritual successor to the Castlevania series, helmed by its most prominent contributor Koji Igarashi. Starting its life as nothing more than a simple Kickstarter, it blew through its funding goal and a few years later saw its release on the current generation of consoles. It's not a particularly complicated game, but it is particularly fun, with it adapting many of the staples that made Castlevania so great. As a spiritual successor to Castlevania, the games play very similarly; both are side scrolling hack and slash games that take place in fantastical gothic castles, and both see protagonists with varied combat and magical aptitude on their quest to take down the castle's owner. In the case of Castlevania, that owner is Dracula, but in the case of Bloodstained, players are tasked with defeating Gebel, an alchemically modified human known as a Shardbinder. You play as another one of these Shardbinders, Miriam. Miriam and Gebel are the lone survivors of an alchemical experiment that gave them the ability to wield a power called shards, crystalline embodiments of demonic essence. The narrative is simple, but the gameplay is where it shines; as players progress through Gebel's castle, you can accumulate more and more shards, all of which give Miriam access to new abilities, abilities that go on to aid her in her continued exploration. This creates a very satisfying loop; explore the castle, collect shards, unlock more of the castle to explore. Augmenting her shards are a suite of craftable and upgradeable weaponry, a selection of melee and firearms that allows players to diversify their preferred playstyle and experiment with what works best in any given situation. Subsequent content additions have added even more to the game, in the form of new modes, difficulties, and playable characters, adding to the replayability and longevity of what was already an excellent experience. Despite starting from simple roots, Bloodstained rose up and became something all on its own, paying homage to its inspirations while cementing a name for itself as a new staple of the genre.

-Catherine Full Body While originally releasing in 2011, 2019 saw an expanded re-release complete with new characters, new stages, and hours of extra story content. At its core, Catherine and its Full Body re-release are unique gems in the gaming world. One part puzzle game, one part dating simulator, it blends the complicated world of relationships with macabre block puzzles, all the while weaving a beautiful tapestry about one man's quest for love. In it, you take the role of Vincent Brooks, an unambitious 30-something simply going through the motions of life. He has a steady relationship and a stable job, a group of colorful and enthusiastic friends, but it's clear from the start just how much he's stagnated. His current girlfriend, Katherine, is starting to ask the big questions; marriage, children, their future. Unable to parse these ideas, he loses himself in his time at the local bar with his pals, shooting the shit and getting sloshed. That is, until, a new flame suddenly appears; the seductive temptress Catherine. One thing leads to another, and it comes to pass that they spend the night together...maybe. This is where the game's narrative really kicks off, with Vincent having to navigate the day to day, attempting to reconcile his long-time love with his possible new fling. This story is juxtaposed against the game's core gameplay loop, which sees Vincent forced to climb the deadly tower of babel each night in his dreams. To do this, players must stack blocks and avoid the perils and traps that each stage presents, making a mad dash to the top of the tower before the bottom collapses in on itself and Vincent plummets to his doom. For you see, this isn't an ordinary dream; if you die on the tower, you die in real life, making this desperate ascent a race for his very life. Each stage of the tower represents the game's various core themes, and each gets more and more complicated as the game progresses. In the interim of these climbs, players are set about answering multiple-choice inquiries that influence the direction of Vincent's relationships, with each answer adjusting a conspicuous morality meter that eventually comes to determine which of the 8 endings you could attain. With Full Body, this number was increased to 13, to adjust for the inclusion of a new paramour; Rin, a mysterious piano player that sets up shop in Vincent's favorite bar. Both Catherine and its Full Body re-release are excellent games, but I was especially smitten with the layers of extra content and story that Full Body brought to the table, additions that made Full Body one of my favorite games of 2019.

-Untitled Goose Game Untitled goose game is a simple premise on paper; players take on the role of an ornery, mischievous goose as it wreaks havoc through a small English town. Equal parts puzzle and stealth game, the goose has a laundry list of tasks it seeks to complete, from stealing hats off people's heads to infiltrating the local pub. It's not a long game by any means, but it has a ton of replayability in the form of additional tasks and challenges that only present themselves after your first playthrough. These range from time-based completions to additional bouts of mischief and all of them are incredibly satisfying to chase down. Untitled Goose Game has a quaint, painterly art style that compliments the charming simplicity of the game's premise, accompanied by a dynamic, classically-toned score that rises and falls in prominence as you go about your goosely business. All said Untitled Goose Game is a genuine treat, a brief but whimsical game that's just about having fun and goofing around.

2020

It's no secret that 2020 has been a rough year for a lot of folks. Between a pandemic, political controversy, and general drudgery, it's a year that feels like it can't end soon enough. But in spite of it all, 2020 was also a fantastic year for games. Serving as the last hurrah for the Xbox One and Playstation 4, we saw the release of some truly excellent stories that kept players going through the long months of an otherwise mediocre year.

-Animal Crossing: New Horizons Releasing right at the start of widespread quarantine, New Horizons supplied people with something they couldn't easily do in their own lives; escape. Animal Crossing New Horizons is the perfect escapist fantasy for the year it released in, seeing players partaking in an island getaway in the hopes of colonizing and forming an idyllic town on an untamed paradise. At their core, the animal crossing games are simple simulators. You create your character by selecting a few presets; hair, eyes, skin color, and then you're let free to explore your new locale. With this latest release, that locale is the aforementioned island, a small paradise in the sea dotted by trees and rivers, accented by flowers and weeds. You start your life on this new Island with a handful of other residents; the Nook Family, the proprietors of this island venture, and two random villagers who are looking to make a life on this island the same as you. Things start small, with everyone working together to set up tents and create a bonfire and find some food for a welcome party. Afterward, the game synchronizes itself to your console's date and time and sets you off on your way. Unlike other simulators on this list, Animal Crossing is a unique breed, running concurrently to the real world, continuously progressing in real-time. Flowers grow, trees produce fruit, and each day is a new adventure. It follows the general turn of the seasons for your respective hemisphere, celebrating holidays and alternating available activities with each passing day. As for what you can do yourself, the opportunities are legion; you can catch bugs, go fishing, search for fossils, chat up your villagers, visit other islands, and much more. As you progress, more ventures open their doors to you; catch enough bugs and fish, and you can elect to have a museum built to showcase your finds. Collect enough resources, and you can build new furniture and create plots of land that encourage more villagers to come and move to your island. Everything you do is in service of continued growth, but also serves just as simple fun, a charming, easygoing distraction from the concerns of the day-to-day.

-Final Fantasy VII Remake The Final Fantasy franchise is a long and storied one, replete with highs and lows. One such high was 1997's Final Fantasy 7, a game that quickly cemented itself as a fan favorite and an absolute classic. Now, in 2020, FF7 is back...sort of. See, FF7 Remake is the first in a line of games that will eventually go on to tell the entirety of the original FF7's story, which means that this release is only the first portion of a much larger narrative. Adapting what was originally the first few hours of the original game, FF7 Remake expands upon the opening section of its predecessor, simultaneously remaking the old content for modern audiences and adding in new aspects for old fans. FF7 Remake improves upon the original in practically every way, serving as a genuine remake that still manages to retain what made that original game so memorable and important to fans. The game might be new, but the heart is the same; FF7 Remake follows the story of Cloud Strife, an ex SOLDIER turned mercenary hired by an eclectic group known as Avalanche to dismantle a local power plant that's poisoning the planet. What starts as a well-intentioned but extreme case of eco-terrorism quickly explodes (pun intended) into a much larger story that sees Cloud and Avalanche bringing the fight straight to the corrupt Shinra Corporation and beyond, culminating in a battle against fate itself. Because this remake only covers a portion of what will go on to be a much larger narrative, it only scratches the surface of what makes the original FF7 so great, but it does so with gusto; the game plays and looks better than ever, bringing with it a heartfelt and compelling narrative that keeps you hooked the whole way through.

-Minecraft Dungeons Minecraft Dungeons takes the charming, voxel visuals and world of Minecraft and melds them seamlessly with a charming, easygoing dungeon crawler that's approachable for casual and experienced gamers alike. Where Minecraft is an open-ended sandbox game about building and exploring a blocky world, Minecraft Dungeons sees a collective of heroes on a quest to defeat the evil Illager, a powerful sorcerer whose armies have been sweeping the land leaving destruction in their wake. It's not a very complicated story about good and evil, but it doesn't have to be; Minecraft Dungeons prioritizes it's simple and easy to master gameplay first and foremost. You collect loot, battle recognizable Minecraft enemies, and progress through a litany of stages on your way to fight the big bad. It's not very long but encourages you to play it time and again, collecting better gear and trying your hand at the many difficulty levels for additional challenges. It's not the best looking or the best playing game that released this year, but it had heart and made for a short and entertaining way to pass the time.

-Ghost of Tsushima Ghost of Tsushima isn't a game to scoff at. One of the best looking games of the generation, this PS4 exclusive is one part historical timepiece, one part action-adventure, and one part stealth game. It follows the story of Jin Sakai, a samurai and one of the last survivors of the Mongol invasion of his home island of Tsushima, Japan. Left to die, he is found and nursed back to health by a wayward thief who teaches Jin the art of stealth and subterfuge, seeing him off on his quest for bloody revenge on the Mongol invaders that have encroached upon his homeland. To do this, he must first build up a fighting force of equal minded, skilled warriors, all while dismantling the various camps and operations the Mongols have set up in the absence of the defeated Samurai army. Jin can approach this in one of two ways; relying on his prowess as a formidable Samurai, Jin can challenge the many enemies in the game to flashy yet precise sword combat, or he can utilize the recently learned skills of stealth, infiltrating their encampments and silently picking the Mongols off one by one. There's no wrong answer to how you choose to play, although it takes some time for Jin to accept his new roles as both Samurai and assassin. Both methods of play feel equally as stellar, too; Combat in this game is incredibly polished, finely tuned swordplay that focuses on timing and well-planned strikes to dispatch your foes with ease, while the stealth feels tense and requires a distinctly tactical approach, planning your routes and cleverly dispatching foes so as to not raise suspicion. But the game isn't just about taking out your enemies. Ghost of Tsushima boasts one of the most beautiful open worlds I've ever experienced, a vibrant and gorgeous landscape dotted with myriad activities and side quests for you to explore and enjoy. One moment, you could be doing battle with a wayward group of Mongols or bandits, while the next could see you tracking a friendly fox to a shrine, composing a haiku in the shadow of a large tree, or recuperating your strength at a small hot spring while you ruminate on your adventures thus far. Ghost of Tsushima is an incredibly varied game, alternating between intense highs and calming lows, all coming together to become one of the best games of the last generation.

-Spiritfarer While I have not finished this game, it more than deserves recognition on this list. In it, you play as Stella, a young girl who takes over as the ferryman for the River Styx once Charon retires to the afterlife, tasked with providing for the wayward souls who live on the river as you ferry them to their final rest. To do this, Stella must collect various resources and build up her ship, outfitting it with living spaces and various commodities tailored to her current passengers. These aforementioned passengers will, in turn, begin to open up to Stella, tasking her with making certain foods or visiting different locales, all in an effort to give these wayward souls a proper farewell on their trip to the afterlife. Spiritfarer is a simple simulator game about resource management and exploration that showcases a lovely, genuinely heartfelt story about love and loss, one that will put a smile on your face as easily as it brings a tear to your eye.

And with that, I close out this hefty list, closing out the last generation. This compendium hardly scratches the surface of the last seven years' library, but hopefully, I did a good enough job remembering some of the games that made this last generation so great. There are a lot of games that I've still yet to play, resting in wait in my backlog for the time they get pulled out and given their due, but for now, this concludes my walk down memory lane. The last generation saw some excellent additions to the vast and ever-expanding library of video game history. Here's hoping the next several years can say the same. The start of the new consoles is off to a very promising start; in the last month or so alone we've seen excellent releases from both indie and big-name developers, fresh takes on old franchises, and new IPs alike. So, here's to the Last Generation, here's to the Next Generation, and here's to gaming overall; may it continue to thrive for years to come.

#A Look Back #Gaming #Game Review

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ficswithluv · 5 years

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Tatsu’s Choices: 2019 Awards

Ficswithluv launched in September of 2019, and we could not have possibly imagined that we would grow as quickly and wonderfully as we have!! You all send us such phenomenal recs every week, you've helped to spread love, positivity, and feedback to so many authors on this site, and we cannot wait to see how that continues in 2020!!!

Because you've all been so absolutely wonderful about sending in your favourite fics and telling us a bit about why you liked them, we thought we would continue the trend! Additionally, in order to celebrate our lovely affiliated authors, we’ve also decided to pick one fic from each of them to showcase their talents too!

And so we present ‘The Best of FWL’, where Tatsumaki* selects a handful of fics from each masterlist we've had so far, as well as from masterlists from every author associated with ficswithluv, and we highlight them in one large masterpost!

*Tatsumaki is the Discord Bot that the Admins use to choose bookclub fics. She randomly generates the fics using numbers. Hence: Tatsu’s Choices!

💌 ⇥ Affiliated Author

Best Seokjin Fics

⟶ all i want for christmas ➵ @sunkoos 💌

↳ Slice of Life AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Seokjin, your ever eccentric love of your life, proposes an unconventional idea you cannot deny taking him up on. »

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⟶ blood and mercy ➵ @sugasgrowl

↳ Mafia AU ღ sfw series

« There is a rat in Bangtan, but you’re going to fight for mercy. »

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⟶ bobsy die ➵ @jincherie

↳ Werewolf AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Fed up after a week of being ignored by your friend and crush, you march on over there to rip him a new one with hell on your heels and find yourself in a situation with more than you bargained for. »

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⟶ date night ➵ @bang-tan-fan 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ sfw oneshot

« you and your husband relax with a date night. »

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⟶ erasers ➵ @bloodpotato 💌

↳ Soulmate AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You never thought to contact your soulmate through the erasers you always lose until you lose something extremely important and irreplaceable. »

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⟶ ghost night out ➵ @spookitokki 💌

↳ Supernatural AU ღ sfw oneshot

« After bearing the sting of a rough rejection, you call Jin to come to the usual hangout in the middle of the night in hopes that he can cheer you up. It seems to work until you both are met with a dark presence and an unusual chill. »

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⟶ i thought i was alone ➵ @aroseforyoongi

↳ Roommate AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« On the day your boyfriend cheats on you, Seokjin is there to provide comfort and some greatly needed affection. He is the perfect roommate and friend. Always patient and willing to lend an ear. It is then, when you’re with him, that you realize that maybe you want more. »

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⟶ just say goodnight and go ➵ @vanaera

↳ Roommate AU ღ sfw oneshot

« The spirit of Christmas is yet to be felt as a blackout on a chilly December night becomes the icing on the cake of your horribly shitty day. You just really want to sleep tonight but your neighbor seems to have lost his mind again when he comes knocking on your door to demand for an uncalled sleepover. Said neighbor is Kim Seokjin, the famed crush of the university, and no, he’s not your friend. He’s most definitely not your crush and he’s absolutely not the reason why warmth fills your entire being when it’s not even summer. »

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⟶ not enough ➵ @jingabitch 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ nsfw series

« When Jin cheats on his girlfriend while on tour, it’s the last straw for their already strained relationship. »

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⟶ off script ➵ @baojinnie

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You’re my best friend, please don’t forget about me.The script says, you hug him, and promise him never, and assure him that he will always be part of your life, will he be a groomsman, or something?But then before you can do that, he stops laughing. He looks you in the eyes, closes the distance between you, and you have never seen him look so serious. Warms arms tighten around your waist and his lips brush the tears off your face before you realize they ever even fell. »

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⟶ olive me (loves olive you) ➵ @joopiterjoon 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw series

« A series of drabbles about you and your boyfriend, Kim Seokjin »

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⟶ peach parfait ➵ @jamaisjoons

↳ Enemies to Lovers AU ღ nsfw twoshot

« you and seokjin have always been at odds as the top two chefs at big hit academy of culinary arts. »

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⟶ pink panther ➵ @gimmesumsuga

↳ Hybrid AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« The one where your boss, Kim Seokjin, tries to show you how beautiful you are. »

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⟶ sempiternal ➵ @softlyjiminie 💌

↳ Hogwarts AU ღ sfw oneshot

« seokjin helps you get over your ex.»

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⟶ strawberry roses ➵ @peekaboongi 💌

↳ Cupid AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« When a chaotic man who claims to be a Cupid appears, your dull life is suddenly filled with laughter and strawberry roses. You’re just forgetting one important thing—magic never lasts past midnight. ; or, chaotic but domestic Jin trying to teach you how to make strawberries resemble roses »

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⟶ strings ➵ @holyfluffly 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You audition to be a BigHit backup dancer. .»

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⟶ the bough that broke ➵ @readbeneaththelines 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ nsfw series

« Jin is injured from an avoidable accident, leaving him partially paralyzed from the waist down. Reader is the nurse that is hired to take care of him once he gets back to the dorms and begins the physically and emotionally painful road to recovery. Will she have what it takes to spark determination in him to get back on the stage? »

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⟶ waterboy ➵ @dimpled-gukkie 💌

↳ Roommates AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Craigslist is very hit or miss for you, so maybe you shouldn’t have chosen to find a roommate that way. At least he’s cute though. »

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Best Yoongi Fics

⟶ all the room in the world ➵ @inkofyoongi 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ sfw twoshot

« After four years, you go back to Daegu for Taehyung’s wedding. However, things aren’t as you left them… and Min Yoongi either. »

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⟶ baby’s first christmas ➵ @hobisgorgeousass 💌

↳ Parents AU ღ sfw oneshot

« 3 months after you give birth to your first child, you and your husband start putting together the perfect first Christmas for your new family of three. »

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⟶ black magic ➵ @preternatural-fools

↳ Witch AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Yoongi is a witch who always has the sniffles because he’s allergic to the herbs/plants he’s surrounded by. »

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⟶ boseong breakfast ➵ @honeymoonjin 💌

↳ Strangers to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« it may be misfortune that brings you to min yoongi’s door looking for a place to stay, but luckily holly lodge has a vacancy. »

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⟶ catharsis ➵ @dovechim

↳ Roommate AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Where do you draw the line between fantasy and reality? Yoongi knows he has a kink that isn’t socially acceptable as kinks go. He’s already had several failed relationships in the past tucked under his belt as a result, so when you offer him a chance to live out his fantasy in a guiltless, no strings attached kinda way, what could go wrong? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ fear and dumplings ➵ @softyoongiionly 💌

↳ College AU ღ nsfw series

« You’re in your final semester at University when your Abnormal Psychology professor assigns you a partnered project surrounding your greatest fears.Lucky for you, your partner just so happens to be a cute boy named Min Yoongi. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ friend request ➵ @spoopysoph 💌

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You get a friend request from someone you don’t know. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ iron world ➵ @gimmeyoon 💌

↳ Cyberpunk AU ღ nsfw series

« Welcome to Iron World, the latest virtual reality online game. Choose your class, join a guild, and explore the depths of this planet. As one of the first 20,000 people to explore this brave frontier, how you enjoy this immersive experience is up to you. There is so much to do and see, you’ll never want to leave. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ maybe i’m a little dangerous ➵ @hollyhomburg

↳ Mafia/Soulmate AU ღ sfw series

« Rare soulmate marks don’t guarantee that you find your soulmate easily, and when your soulmate is the head of a mafia, being together will never be easy either… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ pure instinct ➵ @maptoyoongi 💌

↳ Hybrid AU ღ sfw series

« The instinct to protect someone we love is a powerful force. When Yoongi is given the chance to protect you, how far will he go? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ silly kitty ➵ @badbhye 💌

↳ Hybrid AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You and Yoongi visit your grandmother, and you have a realization. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ sugar, yes please ➵ @btsfiles

↳ Sugar Daddy AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You’re a college student with an aspiration for journalism, but the traumatic experience of being broke and lonely gives you an opportunity to try out something new: become a Sugar Baby. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ support ➵ @saikokirakira

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the touch of silk ➵ @floralseokjin

↳ Supernatural AU ღ nsfw series

« In a world where vampires coexist with the living, there are many humans looking for a cheap thrill…you’re ashamed to admit you’re curious too, putting to good use a dating app you find…but Min Yoongi is nothing like you imagined a vampire to be… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the way to your heart ➵ @joonary 💌

↳ Office AU ღ sfw oneshot

« when your office christmas party’s secret santa gives you absolutely no context on what kind of gift he wants, you have no choice but to get to know him better. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ true disaster ➵ @rmddaeng 💌

↳ Supernatural AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You’re a simple angel, the lowest of the Three Seraphic Spheres. On a hot, muggy day when you’ve nothing to do, a demon stumbles upon you. But who is he? And perhaps more importantly, what does he want? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ wrapped ➵ @btsunniemoonie 💌

↳ Boyfriend AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« In which your world crushes because you didn’t pay too much attention in biology class »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Yoonji

⟶ calming seas ➵ @barbyisafangirl 💌

↳ Pirate AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« the sea is rough and wild most of the time but eventually, it has to calm down. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Hoseok Fics

⟶ babysitters ➵ @httphopewrld 💌

↳ Boyfriend AU ღ sfw oneshot

« It’s your first time babysitting your sister’s son, Ryan. Not only are you nervous because you’ve never done it before, but because of your boyfriend decides to tag along. Surprisingly, your nephew and boyfriend get along well. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ bloom ➵ @guksheart 💌

↳ Soulmate AU ღ sfw oneshot

« your soulmate’s first words to you will be burned into the skin of your wrist upon first meeting them. no one anticipated that yours would turn out to be a world famous rapper by the name of jung hoseok. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ blue ➵ @littlemeowmeowschimmy 💌

↳ Husband AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You're pregnant…and the only thing that your boyfriend cares about is his job. His job…it frightens you everyday. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ by its cover ➵ @crystaljins

↳ E2L/Supernatural AU ღ sfw series

« Your annoying little brother Jimin accepts a dare and summons a demon into your living room. There are multiple problems with this. 1) Demons are the most hated species on earth.2) That demon happens to be Jung Hoseok, the most popular guy on campus 3) The fact that Jung Hoseok is a demon is his biggest secret and 4) Jung Hoseok hates your guts. You’re in for a wild ride. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ get wet ➵ @prolixitae 💌

↳ Dancer AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« sitting in on your boyfriend’s dance practice is probably your biggest kink. it’s also the reason you asked to be so shamelessly fucked in the locker rooms of his dance studio, in spite of the pending consequences. note: this is not an idol-verse fic »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ letters to you ➵ @jiminsmagicshop 💌

↳ Soulmate AU ღ sfw series

« When you read the first Email you felt intrigued and without any hesitation you send one back, not knowing that those emails would lead you to a new life or a soulmate. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ of hentai and gay panic ➵ @enchantedyoon

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« The story of how Namjoon and Hoseok meet and fall in love over hentai. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ peppermint ➵ @readyplayerhobi

↳ Office AU ღ sfw series

« Achieving your dream job is something that very people manage to do, which is why you’re all the more happier when you land a job on the film team at Poppin’ Culture; the biggest pop culture website, blog and YouTube channel around. What you don’t expect however, is to fall for the exceptionally shy and awkward colleague who is not even remotely your type. Or is he? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ perfidy ➵ @yminie

↳ Halloween AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Why do so many people in scary movies die? They trust the wrong people. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ ramen & company ➵ @sweetheartjeongguk 💌

↳ Ponyo AU ღ sfw oneshot

« in which hoseok has a plan of revenge, but it doesn’t work out in the way he hoped it would. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ say no to this ➵ @hobibliophile

↳ Best Friend AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« It’s been a while since you and Hoseok have spent time with each other, but he hasn’t forgotten how hard it is to say no to you. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ sweetest crush ➵ @minjoonalist 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« What would you do if your friend’s younger sibling suddenly asks you for sex? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ synchronized ➵ @bangtans-salty-sac-snacc 💌

↳ Soulmate AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Everyone is born with a timer on their wrist, counting down to the moment they learn who their soulmate is. Your timer is a few seconds behind Hoseok’s, the love of your life. And it’s those few seconds that keep you from ever being with him. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the keeper of the light and keeper of the night ➵ @spicykoreantatertots 💌

↳ Fantasy AU ღ sfw drabble

« yoongi is the keeper of the night. hoseok is the keeper of the light. sometimes they meet. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the most wonderful time of the year ➵ @lamourche

↳ E2L/Office AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ you’re my light ➵ @bts-poetry 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« A call from your best friend inviting you to the yearly Diwali celebration has you and your boyfriend really excited but what would happen when you stumble across your troublesome ex on such a good day? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Namjoon Fics

⟶ baby, please! ➵ @jungkook-me-down 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You can’t seem to help yourself these days. Lately you’ve been getting more and more into children. When your cousin asks you to babysit her daughter Hae, you never imagined the situation you’d be thrown into and the outcome of her visit. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ be my palentine ➵ @bangtanstanst 💌

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Being single on Valentine’s Day isn’t so bad, as long as you have an equally single friend to spend your night with. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ details in the fabric ➵ @jinitude 💌

↳ Widow AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Missing someone means noticing the little things, and those little things tend to hurt the worst »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ foreign heart ➵ @dejun-ge

↳ Idol AU ღ sfw series

« Namjoon was an ordinary person - as ordinary as you could get for an idol. But there was silly foreign girl who made him feel normal, like he wasn’t stuck behind a wall. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ home ➵ @hobidreams 💌

↳ Married AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Turns out, Namjoon can’t keep his hands off his wife after all. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ late nights ➵ @taeintedlove 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ love bytes ➵ @stutterfly 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw series

« It’s been a year since you first met Kim Namjoon, the passionate, talented English professor at the local campus. He’s always been clumsy and aloof, but he’s on a whole new level in terms of “technologically incapable.” One call to IT was all it took to pull you into his life, and with it a whole string of friendships full of flirtatious banter and undying support.

Your dating situation has been drier than the Sahara for years now, and you’ve wasted too many lonely nights drinking alone, so you try your hand at Tinder. But you’re not getting any bites. When the group finds out, they are more than willing to help–even Namjoon, though he finds it increasingly difficult to deny that he’s hopelessly smitten. You consider their opinions on potential Tinder dates while fighting off feelings you never knew were brewing for the caring soul who becomes the home you never had. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ more than words ➵ @ironicarmy 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You and Namjoon have been painfully -and blindingly- pining for each other since your teenage years, much to your friends’ chagrin. So, unbeknownst to both of you, Seokjin and the rest plan to finally make you confess during a ski trip. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ obligated ➵ @underthejoon

↳ Arranged Marriage AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Married by obligation, weighed down by circumstance. Except for those nights when you’re both drunk, falling into bed with one another and realizing you’re human. Occasionally this happens, occasionally you fuck. Until your life changes and you realize Namjoon, the very man you’re obligated to, might just be the very man that you crave. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ oh, death ➵ @loveejoon 💌

↳ Death AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« There’s no leniency with Death. you die when your time comes, without remorse. But why does Death look at you, and suddenly things change? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the rich man’s crochet club ➵ @kpopfanfictrash

↳ College AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« When they were freshmen in college, Namjoon began a club with his six closest friends. The one thing they all had in common? V i r g i n s as fuck. Obviously, they couldn’t call the club the Virgins Club though and so, the Rich Man’s Crochet Club was born. Until time passes and Namjoon is the only one left. Now, the Club has one, final mission: to get Namjoon laid. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the transfiguration tutor ➵ @purpletigertaetae 💌

↳ Hogwarts AU ღ sfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ time management ➵ @feralbangtan 💌

↳ Married AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« “No, no, no. I know where this is gonna lead. We do not have the time for sex. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ try me ➵ @jjkfire

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You wanted nothing more than to leave behind your old self when you graduated from high school and moved on to college to play rugby but when you see your high school classmate, resident fuckboy and captain, Kim Namjoon, at the rugby department orientation, you feel like everything might fall apart. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Jimin Fics

⟶ busan mental asylum ➵ @lovehrs 💌

↳ Doctor AU ღ sfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ but this isn’t love ➵ @daze-six 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ sfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ don’t move ➵ @jeonsweetpea 💌

↳ Idol/Stylist AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« You had a solo debut coming up and it was nerve wracking. What’s even worse is that the stylist in charge of your photoshoot was none other than Park Jimin. What’s wrong with Jimin? Oh. Nothing. He just hates you. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ fairytail ➵ @gukyi

↳ Fantasy AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You have a particular disdain for the beach. Jimin is here to change that. Oh! And he’s also a merman. So there’s that, too. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ fan-cam ➵ @cottonhxney 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Y/N watches how Jimin reacts, as recorded by fans, and can’t figure out how to feel about it. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ mon cœur t’appartient ➵ @jiminspjm 💌

↳ Werewolf AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Just let me love, you »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ peaches and piercings ➵ @matchakoo 💌

↳ E2L/College AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jimin, dipped in hair-dye and pierced in so many places that you just couldn’t keep track, doesn’t think you’re his “type”. You call bullshit. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ ring lover ➵ @flowerwrites06 💌

↳ Boxer/Ballerina AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jimin could fight every battle in his life until he started courting a delicate ballerina who can’t stand violence. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ spellbound ➵ @minflix

↳ E2L/Witch AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« The only reason you agreed to do this magical ritual with Park Jimin’s Circle was for the sake of your own Circle - to strengthen your individual magic. Yes, that means you’ll have to fuck him, but no, you weren’t happy about it because you hate Park Jimin. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ syndicate ➵ @jungkookiebus 💌

↳ Mafia AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the other half ➵ @silverlightqueen 💌

↳ Badboy AU ღ nsfw series

« In Winchester, y/n has it all. Gorgeous and glamorous. A friendship group just as gorgeous and glamorous. Fantastic grades. A handsome boyfriend with a family just as successful as hers. A doting dad and a brother just as beautiful as she is. An amazing school, and an even more amazing house. As many cars and clothes and bags and shoes, and as much makeup and money she could ever ask for. But when Winchester Academy puts on an exchange programme with Burnley Tech School, a high school in an underprivileged area, two completely different worlds collide, and y/n has her hands full, practically overflowing, dealing with her exchange partner, bad boy Jimin with a whole lot of baggage… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ the rules of heaven ➵ @seokoloqy 💌

↳ Angel AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Jimin is in love and Heaven doesn’t allow for it. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ what do you desire? ➵ @prisczero 💌

↳ Devil/CEO AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ what you deserve ➵ @jiminniethemarshmallow

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Taehyung Fics

⟶ across cyber space ➵ @goldenjulychild 💌

↳ Camgirl AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« It’s normal to have lots of admirers in your line of work, but the user strawberrylover312 is not simply one of them. As your relationship builds so does your doubt about him being too perfect to be true. After all, it’s impossible to find true love across cyber space, right? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ black irises in the sunshine ➵ @ddaenggtan 💌

↳ Greek God AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« anger is everything. other gods tease you for the short fuse, but it comes with the territory. people have called you stupid, have called you dumb, oafish, useless, incompetent, insolent, rude, arrogant. all of it. insults and mockery flung at you, but even your skin isn’t thick enough to deal with constant abuse. it’s the exact reason you keep going to the underground, knuckles bloody and bruised, fighting anyone that dared enter the cage. it’s the reason you go to the clubs, surround yourself with mortals and their writhing bodies. it’s there that you see him the first time, voice husky as it rolls through the room. it’s there you find someone who treats you differently than the rest. you just never expected him to be one of the muses. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ carnal cupidity ➵ @kittae

↳ Werewolf AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Things are a little tense in your relationship with your boyfriend, an alpha wolf and leader of his own pack. After another fight, you’ve had just about enough and decide to take matters into your own hands when his heat approaches. Your methods, however, prove to be more effective than intended… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ catching a case of the doctor blues ➵ @justimajin

↳ Enemies to Lovers AU ღ sfw series

« When asked about Dr. Kim, a string of beautifully aligned words are ready spew from your lips. You could possibly go on and on about how his wonderful stubbornness wasn’t similar to talking to a brick wall, or how his observation skills were especially great in preparing your blood vessels for a drastic rupture or even how one gracious stare of his nearly had you on the verge of ripping your essential documents in half. But it seems that, perhaps, there was a lot more to Dr. Kim then what meets the eye… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ cheap skate ➵ @taehyungforreal 💌

↳ Domestic AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Granny Park’s Gossip: Who doesn’t know Taehyung and his lady? Cutest couple in town, I’d say, and have been since they started dating in their college days. Oh, that was a while ago, though. And still, they’re happy as can be in that place they have together. Almost hate seeing one without the other, y’know, it’s like seeing just one testi- oh, right, I’m not supposed to talk like that. Anyhoo, I only say that because I saw Taehyung at a jewelry store the other day while I was buying my sweet Jiminie his presents. Maybe that boy’s finally gonna pop the question, but I do hope he’s got a good plan for it. Something sweet and romantic. Maybe I’ll find out after Jiminie gets back from that cabin he’s visiting. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ christmas cookies ➵ @mistysuga 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You are in charge of making the cookies for your family’s Christmas party, so you and Taehyung have a blast while doing so. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ don’t blame me ➵ @diortae 💌

↳ Cheating AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Kim Taehyung has always been there to soothe the sting of your failing relationship. But matters of the heart are never that simple. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ every word ➵ @jessikahathaway 💌

↳ Friends to Lovers AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« n/a. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ fever ➵ @yoonia

↳ Werewolf AU ღ nsfw series

« I wish I could hate you. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ frisky ➵ @uwugalore 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Sometimes, your fiancé was just… frisky. And boy did you enjoy it to the fullest. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ get you the moon ➵ @bymoonchild 💌

↳ E2L/College AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Life has its ways of fucking with you, but you know you’ve hit 50 feet below rock bottom after being tasked to do a profile feature on Kim Taehyung, the varsity football captain, for your school newspaper. Pure torment awaits you, but this is alongside glassy eyes, pink cheeks and conflicted feelings that you’ve never dared to imagine with the likes of the devil incarnate. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ glacier’s view ➵ @rosaetae 💌

↳ E2L/Dystopia AU ღ sfw oneshot

« Everyone knows when they were born— the date of when they enter the world. Everyone in this world not only knows their birth date, but also when they die, when they kick the bucket— the date of when they leave the world. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ not your typical flower shop story ➵ @jungtaeyoongles 💌

↳ Flower Shop/College AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You always goes to the cute boy next door’s flower shop across the street because hi yes he’s the cutest damn person you’ve ever seen, until one day a guy with tattoos and a severe obsession with the color black shows up in the shop asking for the ‘usual’ and you find out that your cute innocent little flower boy has a dirty little secret. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ sorrow ➵ @jiminsfault 💌

↳ Pianist AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« The man had you tight in his grip without knowing it, knowing you. For him, you were just a mere pair of eyes watching him, paying to listen to his work. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ suite 114 ➵ @haylokitteh 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ nsfw series

« An innocent staring contest leads to a not so innocent relationship. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

Best Jungkook Fics

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ blue raspberry ➵ @strawbxxymilk 💌

↳ College AU ღ sfw drabble

« Jungkook asks you to live life on the wild side »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ date in a box ➵ @jimlingss

↳ Dating Service AU ღ sfw oneshot

« If you’re in a hurry then we’re here to help you! Everything you need in a box. Delivery less than five minutes. Upgrade and we can personalize your date even more! Guaranteed 100%! Don’t fret, we’re here. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ dive ➵ @guktwt 💌

↳ Swimmer/Photographer AU ღ nsfw series

« This is a bad idea, you think, but there’s something so satisfying about seeing Jungkook so pliant and desperate under your touch. You’ve seen him in all his glory, a boy who’s made for the water and loved by all, but you think he looks prettiest like this; up close, pressed against your body, and under the warm summer light. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ drug wars ➵ @plumblackjeon

↳ Mafia AU ღ nsfw series

« She’s a babygirl Yoongi, and I think I’m in love with her. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ duvet days and vanilla ice cream ➵ @jhspetitegf 💌

↳ Sperm Donor AU ღ nsfw series

« Sick of waiting to fulfill your dream of becoming a mother, you stumble across an interesting site called bundlesofjoy. Here, you find not only the key to your future happiness, but further down the line, it turns out that site could have brought you more than you’d bargained for. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ enraptured and enthralled ➵ @smartkookiee 💌

↳ College AU ღ nsfw smau

« It’s your third year of college and you are finally into the spring and summer trimester. You never imagined you would be where you are now. Living the dream as a poor theater student. You get to be the big roles on stage and have hundreds maybe even thousands cheering for you. Finally being the one people looked up to in awe and want to see more of, to see succeed. It’s the dream… isn’t it? Though you adored it… something was missing from it… of course you weren’t going to quit but your passion and drive seemed to be fading. Do you really want to be an actor? Would you let your best friends down? Do you leave? These question swirled as you began to wonder if this is the right path anymore. Fortunately, who would have thought that a night of cabaret and the biggest competition of your life could change all of that? Or could… someone? »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ heavy machinery ➵ @solarjeon 💌

↳ Construction Worker AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jungkook works across the street, doing construction on a new apartment complex being put in your area. You’d rather not wake up to the beeping of heavy machinery every morning, so you decide to go over and give that brawny construction worker a piece of your mind. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ love letters ➵ @jjkwithluv 💌

↳ Poet AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You get a crush on a certain poet named Jungkook, while secret messages start appearing in your locker… you’d think that poetry and romance and mystery would go well together, think again… »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ mutual ➵ @seokjxnnie 💌

↳ Office AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Your boss was always talking about how her son would be perfect for you, promising that he was going to the staff holiday party. He turned out to be the hook up that happened a couple months ago, who you kept around for some good dick. »

• ────── ღ ────── •

⟶ picture perfect ➵ @moononthejoon 💌

↳ Historical AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« The king is dead. New portraits need to be done. But what happens when the painter is not who you expected? »

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⟶ pretty birthday boy ➵ @yoonminos 💌

↳ Established Relationship AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« It’s Jungkook’s birthday and you throw him a surprise party with the help of your friends. The thing that surprised you, though, was Jungkook buying himself a gift and asking you to use it on him. »

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⟶ rebound ➵ @ropeseok

↳ Enemies to Lovers ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jungkook relieves you from an awkward time at a party - in more ways than one. »

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⟶ waves of fate ➵ @ttaekimm

↳ Mamma Mia AU ღ nsfw oneshot

« Jungkook is a lifeguard who unfortunately loses his memory and got drifted by the sea ,but the waves brought him to the door of an exquisite hotel where he stays there and work with the manager until his memory come back. »

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⟶ what are friends for? ➵ @dusktilldawnstuff 💌

↳ Friends AU ღ sfw oneshot

« You (kinda) explore an abandoned building with you best friend Jungkook. »

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Best Poly & MxM Fics

⟶ breathless ➵ @personawife 💌

↳ Hanahaki AU ღ sfw oneshot • namkook • mxm

« n/a. »

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⟶ bts and their creampie kinks ➵ @jiminsoxyjeon 💌

↳ PWP ღ nsfw headcanons

« n/a. »

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⟶ euphoria ➵ @kimlinebiased 💌

↳ First Time AU ღ nsfw oneshot • namkook • mxm

« Jungkook has had a crush on the leader of BTS since forever. Now that Namjoon is helping write his solo for the upcoming album, this could be his perfect chance. »

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⟶ from summer to winter i’ll be yours ➵ @hungline

↳ Supernatural AU ღ sfw oneshot • jinkook • mxm

« Seokjin had learned long ago that he and Jeongguk could never really be together, but his time as summer is almost over and he’ll wait as long as he has to before winter comes to pass. »

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⟶ hypnagogia ➵ @joonsrack 💌

↳ College AU ღ sfw oneshot • taekook • mxm

« ‘‘So you’re telling me a creep has been following you around the University, waiting until you fall asleep and then jumping on you to kiss you in your sleep?’’

“Well, if you put it that way…’’

‘‘Are you joking right now? Is this a joke? Why aren’t you telling this to the goddam campus security? Better yet, does Kookie know? I bet with those muscles he works so hard for he could reduce whoever it is to pulps.’’ »

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⟶ in the dark ➵ @matchakoo

↳ Halloween AU ღ nsfw oneshot • jikook • poly

« Jungkook and Jimin have a very short attention span, and when you three are lost in the middle of nowhere with a truck that won’t drive, they busy themselves with you. »

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⟶ miss managed ➵ @misscheesecakeee 💌

↳ Idol AU ღ sfw series • namgi/ot7 • poly

« In a desperate attempt to debut BTS on time, BigHit hires you as their manager. »

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⟶ samhain’s blessing ➵ @softjeon 💌

↳ Vampire/Witch AU ღ nsfw oneshot • taegi • mxm

« How little vampire Tae found his way to Yoongi. »

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⟶ what i never knew i always wanted ➵ @rms-tulip 💌

↳ Hybrid AU ღ nsfw series • namseok • poly

« Who knew that one of the most magical yet devastating nights of your life brought someone into your life that just ended up completing the missing puzzle piece in your heart you hadn’t thought was missing until he showed you that it was. »

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