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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • I’m deep into Mandragora Whispers of the Witch Tree this week and having a blast. Played about 19 hours and it feels like I’m about half way. The story so far has been serviceable, but I do enjoy the world quite a bit and I also think some of the characters are pretty funny and well written.

    Gameplay has been excellent, combat has the right sort of depth to it without being crazy complex and the bosses have been very enjoyable. Good patterns and fun movesets. I’m just now at the second really big story boss and he’s a doozy. As someone who isn’t huge on platforming I am also happy to say the platforming segments aren’t really a big part of the game and have been very easy.

    Character customization has been another highlight and making builds is super fun between both the PoE inspired passive tree and choosing which active skills to use and choosing which active skills to upgrade. I’m doing a dual dagger build that dipped almost immediately into the adjacent Chaos Magic tree and while probably not a power gaming choice it is great how flexible the game is in what it allows you to do. Having a lot of fun so far with Chaos Echo and Shadowstep both giving teleports to the range-deficient daggers.

    Heavily recommended if you like Souls-likes and/or Metroidvanias!

    EDIT: Forgot to mention one thing. I really appreciate this game having difficulty sliders for both Enemy Health and Enemy Damage ranging between 40-160% (default 100). I haven’t used them yet, but knowing you won’t be hard stuck on a boss and worst case can just turn down the difficulty is actually quite nice. Helps my mental.








  • “Disco Elysium for the TikTok generation” is an oxymoron. It’s like reading a 100 page abridged Readers Digest version of James Joyce’s Ulysses. It’s missing the point.

    Furthermore, I am uncomfortable with changes and alterations being made to the game without the original creators participating. It’s the same reason I am vehemently against the extra fanfiction added in the Collage Mode patch, which at least Argo Tuulik I believe it was (or maybe Martin Luiga) has said should be considered non-canon.

    Finally, none of the minds who created the world and the writing we all love will get a cent from this mobile game. The only original creator still in the studio is Anton Vill I believe, who drew the thought cabinet.



  • I have very mixed feelings about it. I also adored the art and setting, and I really appreciate the historical research that has gone into making it. And there were some well written characters in there.

    But man, the game is sloooooow. The last act in particular was like pulling teeth. Reading is fine when what you’re reading about is interesting. There were so many banal, shallow and uninteresting conversations in there that really tested my patience.