Pixel Horse 🐎 @dickmandrake@elekk.xyz

Hi, I'm Mandrake and I'm a horse! 🐴​ I've been part of Elekk's community since November 2017. I enjoy listening to #darksynth and mostly post about #indiegames, such as what I've been playing recently and whether there's anything good being given away for free. I also have a collection of every single game I've played on itch.io, which I regularly update with short summaries for each: https://itch.io/c/895727/played #introduction #reintroduction

GOG are giving away Ultima Underworld 1+2, Syndicate Plus and Syndicate Wars for FREE until September 3rd (which you should consider claiming in case EA suddenly decides to delist them again) https://www.gog.com/promo/rerelease_ultima_underworld_and_syndicate

There was a big trans rights protest outside Downing Street earlier today: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/08/06/london-trans-rights-protest/ ​ ​ ​

So I've been playing Offworld Trading Company recently after claiming it for free on Epic a few weeks ago. Gameplay-wise, it's a fast-paced RTS about resource production and market profiteering. Most games last about 30 minutes and always end with everyone rushing to buy out each other out. Fairly complex, but the tutorials do a great job at teaching the mechanics.

Thematically, there's this rather cynical and dark subtext where, despite finally reaching for the stars and being offered the opportunity to make a fresh start, humanity instead chooses to replicate the exact same artificial systems of capitalism that it had back on Earth, screwing each other over in the pursuit of obscene profits but in space.

This week, Epic are giving away Minit and A Plague Tale: Innocence (one of James Stephanie Sterling's favourite games from 2019)
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/minit
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/a-plague-tale-innocence

Fullbright (Gone Home, Tacoma) co-founder Steve Gaynor has stepped down as creative lead (but continues to be a writer) for Open Roads after his controlling, belittling behaviour towards women led to 12 employees leaving the company in two years: https://www.polygon.com/22610490/fullbright-steve-gaynor-controversy-stepped-down-open-roads

Activision Blizzard is now being sued by their own shareholders for intentionally not telling them that the company's workplace culture was being investigated: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/class-action/activision-blizzard-hid-harassment-probe-from-investors-suit-says

The ABK Workers Alliance, a coalition of Activision Blizzard employees, has rejected the executive leadership's decision to hire a law firm as a third-party auditor and stated how they themselves will improve their workplace with employee-driven initiatives: https://www.ign.com/articles/activision-blizzard-employees-abk-coalition-reject-bobby-kotick-law-firm

The Great Ace Attorney is out in the West, so here's a (mostly spoiler-free) interview with Capcom's localization director Janet Hsu about the challenges of localising it: https://www.polygon.com/interviews/22519215/great-ace-attorney-chronicles-interview-translator-localization-japanese-western-audience

Here's a $20 Itch bundle full of short games with worse graphics, each one costing about 71 cents: https://itch.io/b/988/the-shorter-games-with-worse-graphics-bundle-round-2

I thought about posting a lengthy thread expressing my thoughts on the problems with the recent "official" app and the overall direction of the Mastodon project, but this blogpost by @packetcat summarises everything I have to say about it: https://asininetech.com/2021/07/31/irreconcilable-differences/

GOG are giving away Wanderlust: Transsiberian for free. It's a choose-your-own-adventure game where you travel through Siberia: https://www.gog.com/game/wanderlust_transsiberian #freegame

Some free games on Epic this week:

Mothergunship, a bullet hell FPS where you craft a massive gun: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/mothergunship

Train Sim World 2, a simulation which includes the Bakerloo Line: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/train-sim-world-2

Activision Blizzard's stock price dropped by 9% as a result of today's walkout, reducing the company's market value by $7.7 billion 💸 📉 https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/activision-blizzard-stock-lost-8-billion-market-value-discrimination-lawsuit-2021-7

Nearly 500 Ubisoft employees have signed an open letter expressing solidarity with the workers of Activision Blizzard and demanding real, meaningful action within Ubisoft and across the video games industry: https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-employees-say-theyve-had-enough-of-empty-promises-offer-solidarity-to-activision-blizzard/