💾 Archived View for appl.garden › play › milk.gmi captured on 2023-03-20 at 18:12:47. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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Another semester, yay! I actually have not completed any new games during winter break. The two gaming-related things I did during that time were:

I've been working on a *Low-Spec Certified (tm) Minecraft modpack*. It's a relatively generic skyblock pack, but with an extremely limited set of mods - some of the limitations might be interesting for those who've played skyblock packs before, but mainly I am just trying to make the pack lightweight for performance reasons. This was pretty exciting to me as I've always been interested in modded Minecraft, and even programmed some mods on my own as a way to learn Java, but I was never able to play an actual "proper" modpack due to them being quite resource-heavy. So this project is dedicated to people with subpar gaming machines, like me! It's not yet ready for release, though, so stay tuned for that.

You can follow the modpack development process here on Gemini!

I *100%-ed Spore*: got every Space Stage badge, including one for eradicating the Grox. This is an extremely grindy endeavor, but I've been listening to podcasts the entire time, which made it a very enjoyable pastime.

I've also revisited Omori, and what I mean by that is: I've found a blog post criticizing the game, and it changed my view of things.

"Omori has poor writing" by PeppermintBee

My past Omori review, which I have updated

I fell in love with that game's art, its music, and generally its overflowing *charm*, however, the game's ending left me with a vague sense of disappointment. I could not figure out why that was, so in my "review" I just chalked it up to the indie gaming scene being oversaturated with stories about mental illness. Turns out, that was not the problem: the problem was that Omori's story in particular is just fundamentally not good. The Tumblr post I linked earlier provides good arguments for this, explaining it better than I can, as I am not a writer and not a media analyst or anything.

Anyway, let's write an analysis of some media! I did complete two new games after the winter break:

Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk

Linux

https://nikita-kryukov.itch.io/pmkm

What is this game?

A very short visual novel, about 20 minutes long.

A short story about what sort of challenges everyday little things can be. Help the girl buy milk, be the first not to disappoint her.

Did I enjoy playing it?

Yes, this game is simple but brilliant. It takes the low-res horror of Discover My Body and Water Womb World, and combines it with very clever 4th wall breaking. The writing is, uhhhh...

The game is a small visual novel, showing either funny abstraction and wordplay or painful psychological episodes. The claim that history is based on real events will be too specific, so it is easier to pretend that it is just a set of abstractions and wordplay.

First of all, this is an artistic manipulation with word and form, only then - a game.

It was made by a Russian developer, and its itch.io page makes me question his English skills, however, the Russian version of the game is top-notch. The writing is a solid blend of unsettling and playful, and the protagonist is relatable on a deep level to me (I do not struggle with the same issues that she does, and don't know how realistic their portrayal is, however the general idea of "everyday little things" being challenging hits me quite hard).

This game gets a 9/10 from me, very highly recommended, if you are like me.

Playing it on Linux, or low-spec hardware?

Very lightweight visual novel with a native Linux version, this is the best-case scenario for this category.

Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk

Linux

https://nikita-kryukov.itch.io/milk-outside-a-bag-of-milk-outside-a-bag-of-milk

What is this game?

The first game turned out to be quite popular, so a sequel has been released months later, with much higher quality of graphics, expanded dialogue, and so on.

(The nice thing about being slow with playing trendy games is that you don't have to wait for the sequel, as it's already there!)

Did I enjoy playing it?

Sadly, the sequel did not produce as much emotion in me as the original. It starts with, in my opinion, completely over-the-top violence: I get that the main character is neurodivergent so she might exaggerate events, however, this does not change the fact that the first 10 minutes or so feel like this game is trying *way* too hard to be scary, to the point of absurdity. It was a bit hard to treat the game seriously for a while after that.

Aside from the intro, I really enjoyed getting to know the main character more closely: since the first game was so minimalist, it makes sense for a sequel to provide a more extensive backstory, this change is welcome. However, it feels like that really is all the game has to offer: backstory and conversations - there is not much a central plot, and the insane 4th wall breaking is not as insane, as it's the same as in the 1st game. The protagonist and the writing is overall still very interesting, but the game just does not seem quite as meaningful as the original: 8/10.

Playing it on Linux, or low-spec hardware?

Same deal as the last game, this one has better graphics but is still just a visual novel :D The developer has not abandoned Linux, which is nice to see.

-- gardenapple 2022-02-10

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