I still regularly play L4D2 with friends. Also it’s modded beyond all recognition. Zombies are anime girls. Tanks are Donkey Kong. Witches are hatsune miku. Smokers are yoshi. Hunters are assassins creed hoodies. And more. Every weapon is something else. The graffiti in safe rooms are Jayden Smith tweets. The list goes on and on. I love playing it with friends.

That being said, in 2025, while I love L4D2, in 2025 I think World War Z is the best Left 4 Dead-like. Terrible movie, great book. Great movie based game.

I’ve been playing BAZR on my steam deck. A rom hack of Super Mario 64 that turns it into a roguelike deck builder. The B A Z and R buttons, instead of doing their original things, now activate corresponding cards in your hand for actions like jumps, punches, etc with a limited number of uses. It was initially very intimidating and difficult but after a few runs I’m starting to get wins in and unlocking new decks and characters. That being said I 120 starred (100%) the original, and the same for SM64DS, so I’m quite familiar with the stages, and the game expects you to be.

Every run gives you a random starting stage, which you can change away from by collecting every star or paying coins to change stages (higher cost the more stars remain). Ideally you want those coins for buying and upgrading cards. Getting a star gives you 20 coins, plus whatever you collected along the way, plus a bonus/penalty based on how long it took you. Collect 16 stars and you’re taken to a final level consisting of all three bowser stages, back to back. Don’t run out of jumps!

For the price of free I’d recommend it for anyone who has previously played SM64. I don’t think it would be a good introductory version of the game. Link for the curious

Have you played owlcat’s other stuff? I got deep into Pathfinder Kingmaker but lost steam and stopped at some point. Have heard good things about wrath of the righteous, and would like some 40k content that actually explores that universe, but I kind of expect to have the same experience.

I loved citizen sleeper, though I agree, if you’re smart, it’s pretty easy to fall into a loop of “as long as I X, I’ll never run out of resources” after you’ve found your way a little. Citizen Sleeper 2 addresses this by having you travel between stations, meaning for much of the game you’re a bit less sure of what comes from where, but it’s ultimately pretty formulaic in that regard. There are also timed away missions where you only have what resources you bring and you need to have the right skills and allies or there’s a very real chance of (varying degrees of success and) failure which has plot implications. It’s much more linear, telling a story, rather than your story. Many decisions have more implications for allies than you, and the endings are much less varied, which I won’t get into for spoiler reasons. That being said, I’m a fan of both. CS2 is strongly antifascist not just in the stories it tells, but also in that you’re often NOT the most important person in the room during a scene, even if you are enabling change around you. I’ve heard people complain that “you aren’t even around for the climax” of some arcs, though, in my opinion, it’s generally because you’re focused on your own shit. YOUR stakes are low in the video game sense, because they’re grounded and focused on you, even if higher stakes conflicts are going on nearby. I was a fan, though I understood the criticisms.

Yeah the seraphites part wasn’t killer for me since with a little stealth you can take it at your own pace, but not long after that

was brutal. Took a bunch of tries for me.

I did have a great time playing TLoU2 with all the difficulty cranked up, EXCEPT for ally aggression set to super easy. This meant that while combat was more threatening, as long as I had a partner character with me, I felt like I had support and backup, and wasn’t alone in combat segments. Like I was really traveling with someone, rather than just having someone around to spout dialogue now and then.

This also meant that any time you’re alone, you feel it. When you’re alone you feel isolated and unsafe. Meant there was at least one alone encounter that was brutal, but also made the game more immersive. Highly recommend.

What are you talking about? It’s the best time of year to be on dating apps because the worst people are gone!

Yeah, makes me think of the Tulsa massacre back in the 20s

And, as a reminder, the third biggest anti-climate lobbyist in the world, who has consistently made “EVs aren’t viable until we have solid state batteries in a decade” statements for years to deliberately impede competitors efforts to push EVs.

Big “the purpose of a system is what it does now” energy

But it’s okay, because MY company is AHEAD OF THE CURVE on those 95% losses

It’s always a jarring experience, going from doing it constantly to not at all. You’re not the only one in that boat at the moment

Agreed. Fear and Hunger has it’s issues and I would not broadly recommend it to anyone. I would also say that the FREQUENCY of sexual assault in the game, and the presence of some weirdly sexual status effects like anal bleeding are a bit overboard. That being said, when one of the earliest enemies can sexually assault you, or maim your character in a way that leaves you able to keep playing, but effectively crippled, it really nails home not just that the world is dark, but that your assumptions about what is in the game don’t apply here. Anything could happen. REALLY anything. And exploring a harsh, hostile world with that expectation set is one of the best parts of the game, because it’s a unique experience that you just can’t get at that quality anywhere else.

It depends. The problem with purity tests is that you’re never 100% pure. It’s why even vegans hate vegans: you can never be vegan enough. I try not to judge, but I would judge if a friend, for example, bought a diesel truck with no use for it, or a cybertruck in general. That’s doing actual, active damage, at the expense of you as a person, why are you doing it?